fandomhigh | Flight & Flying [Thursday, July 26, 3rd period]

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flight and flying

Flight & Flying [Thursday, July 26, 3rd period]

Anakin never bounced. It was undignified. But he was awfully smile-y today.

And no, he wouldn't explain why.

The flight simulator had been reconfigured again--this time to something that should seem a bit more familiar to Earth-based students: The F-16 Flying Falcon.

Anakin clasped his hands behind his back and began speaking. "This is one of the aircraft used by the militaries of this world," he began. "It's good in air-to-air combat as well as air-to-surface attack, can go more than 850 kilometers before it needs to be refueled and can withstand up to nine G's--pretty high tech for this world's standards."

He opened the simulator door and gestured to the controls. "As you can see, it's configured differently than the systems we've been using in the last few weeks, but the joystick and the trigger button are located in the same place. The F-16 just isn't as sensitive as the starfighter--you'll have to yank harder at the joystick to get the same reaction."

The way his lips quirked up made it a little obvious that he wasn't entirely oblivious to the innuendo that might've been found in that statement. "You'll also be dealing with the Earth's gravity, so turns won't be as fast, and if you make the plane go up too quickly, the machine's been equipped to simulate G forces, so you might pass out. That's not exactly what I had in mind for today, so please don't do that," he concluded quickly.

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All nice and neat!

Roxas

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The weapons are simulated, the catharsis is real.

Roxas is getting to the point where he's really enjoying this class - it's something entirely different to be able to have your feet off the ground for extended periods of time. He's never seen anything like the F-16, same as he'd never seen the Pod Racers or the X-Wings, but he thinks he's getting pretty comfortable with them.

He takes most of the time of his practice run to get used to the controls, to get used to the differences between the Falcon and the X-Wing last week. He thinks he prefers the X-Wing; Anakin's right. The controls are not even half as sensitive, and it's actually something of a struggle to control the jet like he wants to control it.

But hey, he doesn't pass out, so he's pretty happy with that as a first run.

It took longer than what it normally would have taken for Andros to adjust to flying but he was eventually able to figure out the controls and how to fly the F-16.

Having missed the previous classes due to ~~handwavy~~ reasons Irulan stared at the controls and tried to fly the machine, suffice it to say, she wasn't doing very well.

Anemone practically bounced into the simulator, itching to get her fingers on the Falcon. The podracers were cute, and zero G was fun, but this was what she had been created for.

She's not pleased with the lack of response from the controls, and it's not nearly as fast as her darling TheEND, but it's good enough for now.

She spun and twirled the plane through the course, delighting in pushing it to the outer limits of its capabilities.

Having missed the past two classes, Adam had nothing to compare the F-16's systems to, unless you counted his experiences with Zords.

He took his time getting used to the controls, which was sooner than he'd expected. Adam got through the practice run fairly well. No passing out here.

Through some strange miracle combined with a lot of luck, Marco managed to make it through the run, minus a few minor damages.

Sam was getting more and more excited about getting to work in the simulator with each passing week. It took him a little while to get used to the controls, but they felt more natural to him than the previous overly-sensitive controls.

Rikku, in an amazingly good mood, bounced into the simulator and took a bit to familiarize herself with everything.

The controls aren't nearly as sensitive as last week's, but she almost prefers that ... you have to really mean it, and when she gets into the simulation, she's more inclined to yank than nudge anyway. She could do with more manueverability, but that's the trade-off.

This class rules.

Although Johnny would still rather be working in two dimensions instead of three, he found the Earth planes much easier to use than the outer space ones. He liked the F-16's controls better than the far more sensitive ones on the spaceships, and found that he was able to maneuver the planes fairly well. It didn't take too long before he felt surprisingly comfortable with the joystick ~~not dirty~~.

He still leaned into the momentum of the turns when he spun the plane, but it was hard to quash old ingrained habits.

You are looking for five targets located in a mountain range. They vary in size from a several story-tall building to a small car. The average pilot can make it through the run in about 12 minutes. A beginner'll take up to 20 minutes and still be in the general acceptable range.

Anakin scorched through it in 5 minutes flat.

Yes, it's insane.

Roxas: not a pilot! But he's enjoying this workshop, he's liking the flying and he's only died once. He thinks he's doing fine.

He does not, however, like mountain ranges when he's flying; he found that out the first time he flew the Pod Racer. Valley, mountains, whatever. He'd really prefer nice, flat terrain. Less inclined to die that way, see?

As is, however, he manages, yet again, to Not Die. It takes him 18 minutes and roughly 45 seconds to finish the run, and the sim is still in working condition when he finishes.

He thinks that's pretty much acceptable.

Anemone was probably cutting the mountains a little close, and it was a very good thing that she didn't have Artoo riding shotgun this time. A very very good thing.

She finished in 8:47 without a scratch on the plane. "Too slooooooooow." Anemone sulked as she stroked the controls longingly. "It's not your fault, sweetling. The silly humans don't know how to let you evolve yet. I bet you could go faster with a Compac Drive. Would you like that? Hmmm? Yes. Maybe we can try again later, after everyone else has had a turn."

Sam took things nice and slow to not splatter himself on a mountainside, and managed to make it through the run in a little under 20 minutes.

Adam wasn't about to try and make or break any records here. Though it was kind of similar to how he used his Zords, especially the terrain around him.

He finished the run in about 18 minutes. Which wasn't bad at all.

Rikku would have done way better on time if she hadn't found it impossible to locate that last damn target.

... okay, and if she hadn't blown a couple minutes in the middle just doing swoops and barrel rolls. Shhhhh.

Still. 19 minutes isn't that bad, right?

Johnny thoroughly enjoyed the mountain range. A couple of times, he took the plane in closer to follow the slope of the hills, before launching back out into space and breaking into a barrel roll before getting back to the course.

As such, he was almost disappointed that the main goal of the assignment was to bomb targets on the ground. He hit the larger ones easily enough, but had to circle back in order to hit a smaller one the second time around. He also hoped that there weren't any people in those targets.

After all that, he managed to come finish in about 14 minutes. He did, however, forget completely about the last target. Oops.

Classic dogfighting. You are up against three airplanes that are heavier and less maneuverable than you are, but they have longer-range weapons.

Try not to die.

Bollocks.

He needs to get better at the whole 'in-flight fight' thing. He's not too good at that.

(Something tells him he's always going to be a better fighter with a weapon in hand and his feet on the ground)

So, he manages to shoot down the first airplane by sheer good luck more than anything else; he leans too hard on the control stick and tilts the F-16 hard enough to miss the shot, and takes it down with a couple of shots.

The next two manage to get him with a couple of shots, too - a couple of shots each, and Roxas swears, words that he's sure his mother would smack him around the ear for using, and climbs out of the sim with a sour look on his face.

Rikku? Still doing the victory dance.

She has coffee, too, and enough cookies for the whole class if someone has a bad flight.

Irulan approached Anakin and stepped forward weakly, "Excuse me, professor?"

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Practice Run

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Exercise 1: Air to Surface

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Exercise 2: Air to Air

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Talk to each other

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Talk to the TA

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Talk to Anakin

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OOC

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