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

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flight and flying

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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Name and call sign, if you have one.

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

You're flying through a asteroid field. Duck, dodge, and spin to avoid being squished like a bug.

Don't cut it too close or the R2 unit will scream his head off.

The average pilot can get through the course in 12 minutes. The average Jedi can do it in about 9.

Anakin's new record is 7:20. Artoo was not happy.

You're flying through the trench run on the Death Star, a course full of sharp turns. There are five laser turrets shooting at you that you must destroy, as well as a thermal exhaust port at the end of the run that needs to be taken out.

Luckily, there are no TIE fighters coming in from behind. Not that Anakin wanted a rematch on this particular scenario.

An average pilot can go through the run in about 12 minutes. Anakin smoked it in 6 minutes flat.

Talk smack, talk scores, talk, talk, talk.

Who is probably not grinning like a dork every time she looked at Anakin.

Probably.

He's in a great mood today. For once. It's kind of frightening to see him smile.

I'm at work for the early part of the day PDT, woe.

Feel free to mod Artoo's screams and the course as you'd like, but if you're not a Skywalker/Solo, you won't come close to beating Anakin's scores.

He spent hours reaching his level of Marty Stu skillz.

Take as many tries as you want going through the trench or the asteroids, but remember that canonically, everyone but Luke and Wedge died in the trench. It's not video game easy. I'll mod the sim accordingly if I think you're making it seem too simple.

Johnny Blaze. His call sign would probably just be Blaze.

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.

Johnny was glad he'd taken the gravol earlier, because he was pretty sure he would have puked in the cockpit without it. As it was, he flew through the course in a half-panicked mode, spinning to get past obstacles only to discover more asteroids behind him, gripping the controls so hard he thought they would break, and nearly slicing the cockpit and navigation droid clean off the ship at one memorable point.

Needless to say, Artoo screamed for most of the run through the obstacle course.

He manged to make it through the course in a little under 15 minutes, almost twice Anakin's time.

Andros

Johnny's good at the flying, but really bad at actually fighting back.

And so while he managed to dodge the first laser turret, he was taken down by a direct hit from the second one.

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.

River Tam

Johnny hung back after his turn in the simulator was over. He hoped that not all the lessons would involve getting shot at.

Rogue

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

Roxas

... 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.

The asteroid field is somewhat easier to navigate than the canyon-like one last week. Things are mostly spaced further apart, more open space to maneouvre in, and this is so much better.

The spinning really makes Roxas feel queasy (he throws up in his mouth at one point, thinking that he should not have eaten breakfast) but he manages not to break anything.

And R2 doesn't scream too loudly. Much. The ringing in Roxas' ears would probably clear up in an hour or two.

And he's back to the same panic as he felt on the podracer course, only this time with added lasers! FUN.

He doesn't manage to finish this one at all - gets taken out by the first laser turret, really. Anakin should probably just be glad that Roxas didn't knock a few wings off the X-Wing.

Anemone

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.

Familiar, so very familiar. Like dodging Coralians, or playing tag with the typeZERO.

There was a bright anticipation in her eyes, and a slightly manic (and mildly disturbing) smile on her face as she began the run.

She finished in about 9:36. "Hmpf. Too slow. Again." She glared at Artoo's protests. "What? There's no reason this should take me more than eight. I'm not going anywhere near too fast. Wimp."

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Page 1 of 6

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

Sign in [July 19]

Learn to fly the X-Wing

Obstacle course #1

Obstacle course #2

Talk to each other

Talk to the TA!

Talk to Anakin

OOC

Re: Sign in [July 19]

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

Re: Obstacle course #1

Re: Sign in [July 19]

Re: Obstacle course #2

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

Re: Sign in [July 19]

Re: Talk to each other

Re: Sign in [July 19]

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

Re: Sign in [July 19]

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

Re: Obstacle course #1

Re: Obstacle course #2

Re: Sign in [July 19]

Re: Learn to fly the X-Wing

Re: Obstacle course #1