[2019-12-07] Virtual Thunderbirds - Live at VFAT 2019

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Lawndart
Virtual Thunderbird
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[2019-12-07] Virtual Thunderbirds - Live at VFAT 2019

Post by Lawndart » Mon Dec 16, 2019 3:13 pm



The Virtual Thunderbirds were invited to perform live at the 15th anniversary of the Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams (VFAT). The event, a virtual airshow was held by VA (Virtual Airshows). We were honored to participate. This performance is dedicated to Tab "Redeye" Harris who, after 15 years with the team, and upon completion of this flight, retired from his position with the demo team.

With an international gathering such as VFAT, most, if not all teams experienced grave technical and personal difficulties in the weeks prior to and during the event. The Virtual Thunderbirds are no exception to this, the "VFAT Curse". Within two weeks of the show, two flying machines were rebuilt from scratch, and one of the pilots experienced an injury which made use of rudder excruciatingly painful. Serious issues such as network disconnects, lag, and software failures also made their appearance during the live show as the No. 3 (Right Wing) pilot experienced a full HMD failure which forced him to reboot just prior to the Diamond Roll. Our No. 5 (Lead Solo) pilot experienced debilitating network lag in the top of the Delta Roll. We chose to replace footage in certain maneuvers where software, hardware, or network failures were beyond our control with footage from our practice on the evening prior to the show. Some other maneuvers where our missing aircraft remains in this cut is because the absence doesn't detract from the form.

Footage replaced is: DR, TDC, PIR, DER.

We hope you will forgive the replacement, it is done for the sole intent of giving the viewer a much more pleasing experience.

This is not an animation, these are human pilots flying in virtual reality headsets, in home built simulator cockpits, using DCS World by Eagle Dynamics and performing live from their homes in North America.
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