fandomhigh | Flight and Flying [Thursday, July 19, 3rd period]

When the students arrived at the flight shed, they'd immediately notice that the sim had been completely reconfigured.

"This is an X-Wing starfighter," Anakin said with a smile. "Today we're going to practice flying in a zero-g environment."

He waved at the door and Artoo rolled into the shed and tweetled politely, then came over to the sim and plugged himself into the droid-shaped hole on the back of the sim. "This is Artoo," Anakin, smiling. "He's your copilot of sorts who can get to mechanical problems while you're flying. For example, fixing shields that have been damaged by laser fire. He'll also scream at you if he thinks you're going too fast."

Anakin had learned to ignore that sound early.

He pointed into the inside of the cockpit. "There are a lot more controls in the X-Wing than the podracer, obviously. Here you need to regulate atmosphere, gauge fuel and weapons' levels, as well as communications, landing gear and assorted other bells and whistles."

He smiled at them. "But don't worry too much--you're not going to be tested on this." He sat in the cockpit and ~~handwavily~~ showed them how to make the ship speed up, slow down, turn and spin. "Obviously, this moves much faster than the podracer," he said, "and the sim has been programmed with the grav you'd have in your cockpit, so if you spin yourself too fast, you will make yourself sick. And then you will be cleaning out the sim."

Anakin clasped his hands together. "Okay. You'll each get a chance to try the sim out to learn how it works. You'll be in a program set way out in space so there's nothing for you to hit if you can't figure out how to steer right away. Once you feel more comfortable, there'll be a choice of two courses to run through--one that's strictly testing you on mobility, the other than also allows you to use the laser cannons."

He gave the class a cocky smile. "Before you came in, I set a new record on the sim for time and accuracy. See if you can come close."

Taking Over Me - Evanescence

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Spin and get sick and Anakin will make you clean it up.

Johnny didn't like the X-Wings as much. The podracers were close enough in feel and design to motorcycles that he felt comfortable in them, but in the x-wing he felt as though someone had shoved him in the cockpit of an airplane. Working in three dimensions instead of only two made him feel like a kid, having to relearn driving skills all over again.

It also made him nauseous from all the up and down and spinning the x-wing did.

Having the droid co-pilot was a big change for him too. Johnny was used to riding on his own, and only relying on his own skills, so having someone else seemingly in the back of his head helping to drive and telling him what to do was rather unnerving.

Still, after a good deal of practicing, and one break in the middle to fumble around for some gravol, he seemed to be getting the hang of things. He wasn't a great pilot, and would still be way more comfortable on a bike than in an x-wing, but he could at least get it to go where he wanted it to.

Andros practiced flying the X-Wing, even if it did take him slightly longer than what it normally would have taken since he was trying to be careful not to further damage his injured wrist. It wasn't the best flying that he had ever done but it was still pretty good.

Rogue remembered this from taking the workshop last session, not that it made it any easier for her to fly, of course.

"You're doing fine," Anakin said quietly as he watched her.

"Thanks," Rogue said, managing a small smile. "As long as I don't throw up, I'll be okay."

... this is much better than last week. Roxas didn't like the podracers much - they go too fast, and they're open. These ones are closed so it makes it seem safer to him to sit in it.

He's not great with it, first time, however - he's only 16, and can't drive anything normally, so this is something new. But last week with the podracers have helped a little, and he gets the knack of the controls after a little while.

Suffice to say, however, that he looks a tad green when he finally gets out, mostly because he's not used to zero-gravity. But he leaves no mess behind, the thoughtful boy.

This is more like it! While the podracers were cute, *this* was much more Anemone's style. While most of her combat experience was in atmo, she had taken TheEND out into the black more than once.

Before climbing in the sim, she paused to talk softly to Artoo and admire his design. She considered it only polite to get to know her co-pilot, even if she had no intention of listening to him. Besides, he was very shiny, and she couldn't resist lightly trailing her fingers over his dome.

It took her about about ten minutes to figure out the controls, but once she had the hang of it, Anemone was gleefully spinning the X-Wing to check out the response time.

And she was completely ignoring any screaming coming from Artoo.

Though the X-Wing was a bit more advanced, it was similar enough to the ships that Qui-Gon had trained on that he didn't need too much practice. In fact, he found it a little easier than the ships he was used to because of some of the improvements. The S-foils provided much great stability -- especially during some of the more extreme maneuvers -- that Qui-Gon appreciated, considering some of his attempts during his Jedi training.

The X-Wing being more complex than the podracer, River found it more of a challenge. Just high speed was an adrenaline kick, but so was managing more complicated controls, and in a more rewarding way.

Flying rocks. This is totally different from the podracer, and it feels more like something she's used to, although comparing the Fahrenheit to one of this sleek X-Wings is like comparing a dumptruck to a Camaro.

It handles like a dream and she can't help going for a few barrel rolls, and flying way faster than she can handle, and taking sharp turns just to feel the torque.

Luckily, she's got a high tolerance for nausea, or else she'd totally be mopping out the sim. Rikku's pretty sure it'd be worth it anyway.

Sam went in with two goals - to learn at least the basics of making the X-Wing work, and to not make himself throw up. If he could get used to moving at a decent pace, well, that would be a bonus.

Flight and Flying [Thursday, July 19, 3rd period]

Learn to fly the X-Wing

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