Flight and Flying, Monday, May 9, 2016

[sith_happened]

Anakin, clad in Jedi robes, stood in front of a massive flight simulator, a tiny smile playing across his face as he scanned the students before him. "I'm Anakin Skywalker," he began, "and this is a class to teach you how to fly atmospheric- and space-based aircraft. Hopefully all of you are from cultures where air flight is not a new concept. If you aren't, this is going to be a rather steep learning curve. As it's our first class together, we're going to be doing a bit of information gathering with your introductions, so please give us your name and your favorite aircraft, even if you've never flown it personally."

"What we're flying today is called an X-wing. You might've seen these around the island before." And Jaina was not at all bitter that she didn't have hers here right now. Really. Shut up. "Where we come from, they're a common starfighter, equipped with weaponry, navigation, and hyperspace capabilities. They also fly with the help of an astrometry droid, who pitches in to help in flight, or who can make some emergency repairs if you take a hit in battle. They're generally pretty handy outside of a ship, too."

"If they ever stop yelling at you about piloting choices," Anakin grumbled. His relationship with Artoo had been an interesting one. "We have two different scenarios that let you take advantage of either the X-Wing's shooting prowess or its speed." He smiled. "Jaina and I have set some pretty impressive records on the sims, if we do say so ourselves, so don't feel like you need to compete with them. Just get a feel for how the X-Wing works, and how the simulator reacts. Remember that simulations let you try things that would absolutely kill you in the real world, so feel free to push it a bit."

This was why Obi-Wan hated flying with you, Anakin.

Jaina sighed a little, foreseeing a summer of being the simulator bad cop. "But try not to crash, okay? Humor me."

Comments

Re: Introductions!

[goforthe_optics]

"I'm Tali," she said, waving a hand and sadly breaking theme by being both from the future and from this galaxy, "and I'm not much of a pilot myself, to be honest, but if it's a ship I can fix it when it breaks down. I mean, I've had some lessons, but not much opportunity to actually apply them, so . . . I thought it would be interesting to see what it's like at the controls for once."

RE: Re: Introductions!

[solo_sword]

"And it's always good to see what all goes into the work," Jaina agreed. "It can help you understand it better."

Re: Introductions!

[goforthe_optics]

"That too," Tali said, nodding. "Knowing exactly how to fine-tune the drive core is well and good, but knowing why I do it, and how that helps the pilot? That would make me more effective. Besides, I'm always interested in other worlds' technologies."

RE: Re: Introductions!

[solo_sword]

"I like the way you think," Jaina said approvingly.

Re: Introductions!

[goforthe_optics]

"I've worked with some . . . very particular pilots," Tali said with a faint chuckle. Well, just one, really, but it was Joker, who'd earned the right to be that particular as far as she was concerned. "It's in my best interest to get it right, too, if I ever want a few minutes' peace."