Rise of Flight

[fergie]

I was at my dad's house this weekend, I was teaching him how to fly first world war biplanes on Rise of Flight.

 

I managed a spectacular dogfight involving a Sopwith Camel, a SPAD VII & myself in my Pfalz. III.

 

The SPAD came down within the first 2 minutes of the hair raising battle, I employed a simple bait and boom tactic by climbing in a gradual large circle, the pursuing aircraft was forced into a tighter circle whilst attempting to bring me into his sights, eventually he stalled and had to fly straight. I kicked the left rudder to full and dived onto the SPAD's tail, 1,2 maybe even 3 seconds of burst fire and thick puffs of tar black smoke began to bellow from the aircraft's engine as it fell towards earth. The SPAD spiraled into a river, a fatal impact for the pilot on board. 

 

Next I had to take on the Camel, he was faster, more agile and constantly on my tail, I received serious damage to my right wing but not enough to down the aircraft. I couldn't out climb him or even out turn him so I employed another tactic, I allowed the Camel to approach my tail at which point I would jink right and then immediately snap left. The Sopwith would briefly lose my tail giving me enough time to track onto his, the battle lasted a few minutes before I managed to get a decent shot on the Camel. I would out maneuver him briefly before he would get straight back on my tail, eventually he was caught out and unable to compete with my Pfalz IIIs great low level stability, a quick burst from the machine guns and his propeller stopped, victoriously I watched as the wounded warrior was forced to ditch his stallion.

 

I ran out of fuel before I managed to make it home and had to land out about 10 miles from where I downed the Camel, luckily for me I was on home territory.

 

We don't play this game nearly enough, plus it's one of the few online death match orientated games that I'm actually pretty good at.

http://riseofflight.com/en

[Hoax]

Sounds awesome.  How realistic is the flight model?  I'd love to fly one of these airplanes.

[razgriz33]

I have to guess very realistic, very frustrating and not quite the same style as flying as modern aircraft. Touching down and not retarding the throttle for example, otherwise your bicycle landing gear will veer you off into random ground spins.

[Hoax]

Touching down and not retarding the throttle

 

Never land with power on!  I've had a few bollockings for that.

 

I wonder what these aircraft are like, they seem pretty unforgiving - no stall strips, warners, etc.  Plus skidding as Fergie mentioned would be eye watering - when you stall and skid the aircraft snap rolls to inverted in the opposite direction, I did it in an Extra 300 and it gives me nightmares.

[fergie]

Never land with power on!  I've had a few bollockings for that.

 

I wonder what these aircraft are like, they seem pretty unforgiving - no stall strips, warners, etc.  Plus skidding as Fergie mentioned would be eye watering - when you stall and skid the aircraft snap rolls to inverted in the opposite direction, I did it in an Extra 300 and it gives me nightmares.

 

When flying in the straight six cylinder engine aircraft, the flight model is quite forgiving, stalls can be recovered with a bit of concentration and effort.

 

Rotary engine aircraft give horrendous torque steer on ground and in air, let go of the controls in a Sopwith and eventually the plane will turn itself into a stall and then a spin if the controls aren't caught. Stalling a Sopwith Camel or a DR.1 is usually fatal as they quickly begin to spin into an unrecoverable dive.

 

Landing runs require finesse with the rudder, when the aircraft reaches slow speeds there is a tendency for the tail to flick round on the landing run, it can usually be rectified with early applications of opposite rudder and a little power (much like how you would recover over-steer in a sports car)

 

I was watching a documentary on the Camel and one of the experts they had on the show reckoned a modern day private pilot would crash and likely be killed a few minutes after taking off in a Sopwith Camel. Totally different kind of flying!   

[Hoax]

When flying in the straight six cylinder engine aircraft, the flight model is quite forgiving, stalls can be recovered with a bit of concentration and effort.

 

Rotary engine aircraft give horrendous torque steer on ground and in air, let go of the controls in a Sopwith and eventually the plane will turn itself into a stall and then a spin if the controls aren't caught. Stalling a Sopwith Camel or a DR.1 is usually fatal as they quickly begin to spin into an unrecoverable dive.

 

Landing runs require finesse with the rudder, when the aircraft reaches slow speeds there is a tendency for the tail to flick round on the landing run, it can usually be rectified with early applications of opposite rudder and a little power (much like how you would recover over-steer in a sports car)

 

I was watching a documentary on the Camel and one of the experts they had on the show reckoned a modern day private pilot would crash and likely be killed a few minutes after taking off in a Sopwith Camel. Totally different kind of flying!   

 

I can imagine the rotary engine being a nightmare to fly at the edge of the envelope.  A huge piece of metal spinning around on such a small aircraft is going to have very dramatic effect, the rotary must be atleast 10% of the total weight of the aircraft!

 

A private pilot, and for sure an airline pilot, could get themselves in to a lot of trouble with one of these machines.  Design choices and items we as pilots take for granted now, stall warners/strips for example, are totally absent.  Your average SEP is a world away from these machines, let alone an airliner with its 'follow the magenta' lifestyle.

[razgriz33]

Give it a go you'll enjoy the challenge. That or DCS Huey