Flight and Flying (Friday, May 26, morning)

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin stood in front of the Flight Club shed with his hands hidden in the folds of his robe, looking every inch the confident Jedi.

He gave a short nod to the class as they assembled in front of him. "Welcome," he said. "My name is Anakin Skywalker. You can call me Anakin or Master Skywalker--I don't really care." Secretly he was hoping someone would call him Master Skywalker, but he wasn't going to mention that. He looked at the students and continued. "Today, we're going to fly podracers." He cleared his throat and opened the door. "Well, in a simulator, anyway." He gave a small smile to Rory and Sam. "The last one I built was made for, um, much smaller people."

Inside the shed were two 6 foot-long simulators sitting side by side. Anakin walked over to one with evident pride. "Okay," he said, pointing at the controls, "everything you need to fly a podracer is located on its handlebars. You push them forward to go faster, pull back to slow down, and pull one or the other towards you to turn." He pointed at the buttons in the center of the console. "That controls the engines," he said. "You push the big button to light them up, and on these two models, you can push it again for an extra burst of speed." He looked at the class. "Which burns your fuel very, very quickly, so save that until you need it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Normally, these things are attached to giant engines--like 6 or 7 meter long engines--but these aren't real, and the simulator won't really give you the loudness that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the left-hand simulator. "This one, properly piloted, can get up to 950 kilometers an hour. The other can get up to 900. To fly a podracer at those kinds of speed requires iron nerves and split-second reflexes."

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Okay. Today you can take a turn learning how the simulators work, then I've put you into pairs to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "And if you'd like, after that you can fly against me. Fair warning, I built the real version of this podracer," he patted the left-hand simulator, "and used it to win a race when I was nine years old. And I won't give you a head start."

[OOC: Plz to wait for the amazing OCD... Done! Fly away!]

Oh, and in terms of simulator, mod yourself through whatever twists and turns you think you'd make, especially in the comment where you're by yourself. The modifications that Anakin has made cause the simulator on the left (the one that looks like his podracer) to be much more likely to spin into walls and down canyons and stuff if you don't have super-reflexes--but it's a sim, so you'd only get a "game over" type deal--no real damage.

ETA: He finally noticed that the sim was hinky. Both now work like they should, so you're on equal footing when you face off against each other.

Comments

Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

You're going in a giant circle in the middle of a desolate desert planet. There are cliffs and canyons, angry natives shooting at you, and fellow (simulated, naturally) pilots trying to run you off the course.

And Anakin has accidentally forgotten to take the left-hand simulator off of the enhanced-senses setting, so those controls are way, way sensitive.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

Peter's not a complete idiot. He stands back to watch some of the more experienced students go first before making his own attempts.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Figuring it probably wasn't the best idea to go into a race against Aeryn without at least trying the podracer out first, Cameron headed into the simulator.

The simulation started up and Cameron tried to ignore that all the other racers had taken off without him already. Getting a hang of the controls was more important right now and he gently tried it out in the first straight stretch. A right turn and he was getting more comfortable and started to speed up. Another right turn and he pushed the speeder faster. Left turn and... The speeder responded a lot faster than it had with the right turns, Cameron tried to compensate but as he'd been going pretty fast he was too slow and crashed right into the wall.

"Whoa," he blinked as the simulator went blank.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin grinned. "Nice try," he said.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

"I'm not done yet," Cameron said, trying to comprehend what exactly had happened there.

He restarted the simulation, this time taking off in time with the other racers. He wasn't exactly sure how he avoided crashing with anyone in the start off, he came pretty close a few times but after a while he settled in a position with only two racers behind him.

First right turn went fine and Cameron speeded up even more. Second right turn, one of the racers was gaining on him but he managed to stay ahead. Slowing down for the oncoming left turn, this time he waited longer before pulling into the turn. He grinned as he made it, only to find another sharp left turn following right behind. He pushed down on the left control, the pod turned smoothly but the racers following behind him didn't and barreled right into Cameron.

"Frak!"

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin winced sympathetically. "Ouch."

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[demonbelthazor]

Bel immediately looked for the guns on the simulator and found none. Sad. But he settled in and tried to race, wobbly at first, then more steady. Once he got the hang of going straight, he tried to bump the racer to his left. He hit the racer, then spun out of control into the cavern wall. Ooops.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin wasn't smirking at all. Well, maybe a little bit. "Hitting the walls tends to be bad," he pointed out. "Want to try that again?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[demonbelthazor]

Bel peered suspiciously at Anakin, wondering if he'd rigged the controls. "That was kinda fun," he said. "Sure, I'll give it another go."

His second attempted ended when he rammed another podracer, destroying both vehicles. Bel was actually kinda gleeful about it.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin grinned. "You've seen the Boonta Eve Classic?" he asked, gesturing at the simulated wreckage. "Because that was a traditional manuever. You just have to clip the guy a little faster to avoid getting caught in his engine wash."

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory...had never flown anything like this. But she was a good driver, really, and figured this couldn't be that hard.

And it wasn't, as she made her way around the circle as steadily as she could.

Then she lightly bumped the left.

Hi, wall.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin frowned. That was the third person to have problems with the left hand controls.

"Mind if I take a look at the controls?" he asked. "Something doesn't seem correct."

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Go for it," Rory said dizzily. "It's kind of sensitive, or something."

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin hopped into the podracer, running through the program with the ease of long experience.

"I'm an idiot," he muttered halfway through, stopping the run abruptly and retrieving his toolbox.

A few minutes of time with his wrench--students listening closely would've heard some new and exciting Huttese curses--and he closed the control panel back up. "There," he said, blushing slightly. "Now it's not set for Jedi reflexes. Sorry about that."

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[pure-blooddraco.livejournal.com]

Draco was sort of freaked out about the natives shooting at him at first. After some wobbling and confusion on which way was left Draco got the hang of the podracer.

He tried to do a fancy move to avoid getting hit by one of the other racers but ended up bumping into a wall.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Don't hit the walls," Anakin pointed out helpfully. He smiled. "And the Tusken Raiders are generally terrible shots, so unless you get close, they won't hit you or the machinery. Want to try again?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

Peter may have been repeating Anakin's instructions about how to control the podracer under his breath as he first got into the simulation. Convincing himself that this really wasn't real, he tried it out.

Luckily the first bit was a straightaway so Peter could slow down after misjudging the sensitivities of the controls. "Right, like a horse, got it," he muttered. Taking the first right turn fairly slowly, he grinned and tried the second right at a bit quicker pace. The upcoming left turn threw him for a loop, but he adjusted quickly enough to just barely skim along the wall. Using a bit too much enthusiasm for the next turn, he threw himself into a spin before crashing. "Right, well, need to avoid that part next time," he said with a grin.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Not bad for a first try," Anakin said, eyes twinkling. "Want to go again?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

"I'd say try to stop me," Peter replied with a grin. "But then you're the teacher and might take me up on it."

With more confidence this time, Peter started the simulation up again. He kept up a faster speed this time, trying to anticipate the turns. All the other racers were ahead of him so he didn't have any troubles with them, and he ignored the people taking potshots on the course. Finally he underestimated his speed and flew into a canyon wall almost sideways as he tried to turn out of it's way. The wall won.

"And you learned to fly these as a kid?" Peter asked, definitely impressed.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[chasingsnitches.livejournal.com]

Cedric's never been in something like this before but he's got a good feel of how to control something tightly. Still, the feel is different, foreign and he bumps along for the most part, trying to become familiar with the controls.

And, since he's concentrating too hard on the controls, he's easily taken out by the angry natives. The racer skids to a stop.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin nodded. "It's mostly instinct," he said finally. "All in the hands. Don't think about what you're doing--feel it."

Yes, he actually thought that made sense. Poor guy.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam climbed eagerly into the simulator, ready to fly again. Luckily, her hand-to-eye coordination had improved with age over the past twelve years. She started it up, then started flying low over mountains, practically skimming the rivers, but arcing high over the natives. If Anakin was watching, he'd probably be able to tell she was a trained pilot.

Unfortunately, while evading some of the other pilots chasing her, she forgot what she was flying and tried to do a barrel roll. And promptly exploded, oops.

"God, what a rush!" She grinned at Anakin like a loon.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin grinned back. "Yeah, no barrel rolls in a podracer," he said. "Nice moves, though. Is it a bit like flying the F-16?"

Because obviously she knew what she was doing.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"More speed, but not as much manuverability," Sam answered automatically, before she processed that she'd been caught. "Um, from what I could tell from the co-pilot's seat."

Hopefully Anakin bought it.

Re: Individual tries in the podracing simulators

[can_be_more]

Aeryn's had to fly in training simulations like this before. The craft itself takes some getting used to, but she can manage.