Hello Thunderbirds!

Knox · Post by **Knox** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:26 pm

Hi Thunderbirds,

Just stopping in to say hey. Recently seen your Smoke On Video, plus others and I gotta say you guys are very talented. Me on the other hand not so much (formation flying anyway).

However I've tried your Phantom server just yesterday and I have to say, it's tough. I never imagined it to be so hard. Must take lots and lots of dedication, practice, and teamwork.

Just a little about me:

I'm 22 years old, Male, currently live in Puyallup, Washington. I am currently serving in the United States Air Force, as a Aerospace Propulsion Journeymen at McChord AFB, WA, where I repair/work on C-17A Globemasters Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofan engines.

I've flown flight simulations since 1999. I started out with Jane's USAF. I have also flown these other titles.
- Jane's WWII Fighters
- Jane's F/A-18
- Jane's F-15
- Strike Fighters: Project 1 / Wings over Vietnam
- IL-2 AEP/FB
- and of course Lock On.

Never even attempted formation flying ever. I'm used to turn'n'burn dogfighting.

Also play the Silent Hunter series. Anyways...

Looking forward to seeing more videos and you guys at VFAT. I'm gonna keep practicing my formation flying. Your videos have inspired me to try to become better at controlling the stick.

Take care, and see you in the skies!

Knox

Post by **Lawndart** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:57 pm

Hello and welcome to the forums Knox!

Seen you around Ventrilo, but been too busy to chit chat. Will try to stop by and talk to you sometime soon.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it takes practice! Lots of it and a lot of "P's" for sure: Practice, persistence, perseverance and patience... and then practice, practice, and practice again.

Whack · Post by **Whack** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:19 pm

Hey Knox!

Thanks for taking the time to say hello. Many kudos to Redeye for his work on the Phantom server. It's amazing the advancements we've made as a community even in the last couple of years. I'm glad you're taking the time to try it out.

Thanks for your service in the USAF!

Post by **Panther** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:21 pm

Hi Knox, welcome to the forums.

As Lawndart mentioned, it does take a lot "P's" to achieve the goals that we have set. With a lot of practicing, you will gain the muscle memory for your stick and throttle hands. Which will make it a lot easy to fly in formation.

Again welcome to the forums and we'll see you on Ventrilo.

Luse · Post by **Luse** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:08 pm

Glad to see your made your way onto the forums

I will only copy what everyone else here has said, lots of Practice And Patience and it will all come with time.

Rock · Post by **Rock** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:01 pm

Hi Knox and welcome to our forums! Glad to hear that you made it into our Phantom server and definately don't hesitate to ask for help if you find you need it in any way. There are a ton of great threads in this forum that will help you with virtual formation flying. Hope you have fun with it as this is a terrific hobby!

c130dcc · Post by **c130dcc** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:13 pm

Hey Knox! Again welcome to the Thunderbirds forum the videos are good, but you have to see these guys live to really realize how good they are and what they put into it. As a fellow mechanic and 24 years in the Air Force we can appriciate it more then most. As for the C-17 well lets just say I'm a C-141/C-130 guy, LOL, but keep up the good work and stay safe. I'm an amature too so any time you need a partner let me know and we will learn togather. I've only flown Lock On and love the A-10. In real life I'm a level 2 Skywest mechanic on the CRJ-200/700/900s and just got my run-taxi on 700/900s. If you need someone to talk to ever while deployed or otherwise let me know. My e-mail is in my profile.

Joker · Post by **Joker** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:48 pm

Welcome to the forum Knox. Hey, you and I flew yesterday

Not too bad just gotta work on the throttle correction. Other than that, not too bad. But yup, it's all practice, took me 6 months to get pretty good. No where near as good as the Thunderbirds, but eh, it's all about having fun and taking pride in what you do.