Phantom Server Still Active?
I'd debate that. If you're really flying a tight show, unless you don't have the minimum stick and rudder skills you should already have, it's more important to spend your time practicing your own show... building that muscle memory and repetitive skill set. A lot of it just comes down to repetition.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
"Repetition is the father of learning, so rinse and repeat. Get some instruction and do the thing you want to get better at an annoying amount of times." - Learned that playing hockey
I'm not debating that diversifying ones flying helps. I log about 80 hours per month in a real jet and there's without question certain skills sets that transfer between the real and virtual, a sense of feel for what the plane does. Spot landing a 80,000 lb aircraft after a hand flown visual approach isn't _that_ different from the disciplined hands and touch you'd need to fly paint.
The reason we use phantoms (and in the past ran an automated phantom server that was open to the public) is repetition, "the father of all learning". Now, as far as the original question goes, we don't have a public phantom host anymore and the reason is simply that we're focusing to be as time efficient as possible within the squad to get back to the level we expect from ourselves. That's where the priority lies. Following that it lies with Semi-Finalists trying to make the team, which also doesn't require there to be a public phantom server up and running for the masses.
Since the VPJT & VBA seemingly have much more free time, has a public phantom server been thought of? I'm sure there's enough interest community wide for others to learn the ins and outs of your demos and broaden their skill set!
P.S.
"Repetition is the father of learning, so rinse and repeat. Get some instruction and do the thing you want to get better at an annoying amount of times." - Learned that playing hockey
I'm not debating that diversifying ones flying helps. I log about 80 hours per month in a real jet and there's without question certain skills sets that transfer between the real and virtual, a sense of feel for what the plane does. Spot landing a 80,000 lb aircraft after a hand flown visual approach isn't _that_ different from the disciplined hands and touch you'd need to fly paint.
The reason we use phantoms (and in the past ran an automated phantom server that was open to the public) is repetition, "the father of all learning". Now, as far as the original question goes, we don't have a public phantom host anymore and the reason is simply that we're focusing to be as time efficient as possible within the squad to get back to the level we expect from ourselves. That's where the priority lies. Following that it lies with Semi-Finalists trying to make the team, which also doesn't require there to be a public phantom server up and running for the masses.
Since the VPJT & VBA seemingly have much more free time, has a public phantom server been thought of? I'm sure there's enough interest community wide for others to learn the ins and outs of your demos and broaden their skill set!
P.S.
Yes sir, Maverick!Burner wrote:"That's pretty arrogant considering the company you're in. I like that in a pilot."
- Cmdr. Mike Metcalf
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SilentEagle
- Virtual Thunderbird Alumnus
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I guess I'd agree somewhat. Different shows require different stick and rudder skills. It makes me diversified, but at least I don't get burned out on repetition.Beaker wrote:I'd debate that. If you're really flying a tight show, unless you don't have the minimum stick and rudder skills you should already have, it's more important to spend your time practicing your own show... building that muscle memory and repetitive skill set. A lot of it just comes down to repetition.
One thing it does do for me is it improves my situational awareness skills when I have to learn new shows, new environments, and new timing. When you fly the same show all the time (for ex: our VPJT show) I don't even have to think about what I'm doing or pay attention to my surroundings because it's all automatic. That's a dangerous situation if someone screws up in real life.
I've found that there are so many endless facets of the demo, at least for us, that it's pretty hard to say you've found a place where you can be complacent... and I've been going strong on the Blue Angels F/A-18 demonstration for 2 and a half years now. If you can't find something that you haven't perfected yet, you haven't dug deep enough. 
I've flown every position in the formation possible, and with little to no practice could probably pull off a decent looking set on either side (being ambidextrous), but I can honestly say that I have never flown anything perfectly. Close (sometimes very close), but never perfect! That's including six years and counting with the Virtual Thunderbirds... countless hours in both real jets, props and flight sims for the better part of two decades. 
Even my best checkrides weren't perfect by any stretch, yet never in "failure territory" either (having never failed a ride, stage check or proficiency check... knock on wood), but I've always had a drive to improve on whatever mundane details I goofed up or knew I could've done better at. This desire to never be satisfied is something I think not only motivates us, but is necessary in our demo(s). In real life you pay with your life if you become too complacent, here you get to fight and fly another day (if you can live down the taunts and any freshly earned callsigns for your screw ups).
Even my best checkrides weren't perfect by any stretch, yet never in "failure territory" either (having never failed a ride, stage check or proficiency check... knock on wood), but I've always had a drive to improve on whatever mundane details I goofed up or knew I could've done better at. This desire to never be satisfied is something I think not only motivates us, but is necessary in our demo(s). In real life you pay with your life if you become too complacent, here you get to fight and fly another day (if you can live down the taunts and any freshly earned callsigns for your screw ups).
I'll chime in here seeing as I think I started this "debate" by mistake...
I've been flying simulators for over 20 years now, all different types and shapes and forms.
I've been with the VRA for over 5 years now and flown a variety of posistions but never as solidly as I do now in #8.
In real life I've only flown props and that was many many years ago in the Air Cadets so have a remote feeling of what flying a plane is like, but no where near the experience most of you guys do.
When I was a recruit for #8, I used to fly the VTB 2008 routine in #3 with the F15 and then when I flew thew SU27 in RED8 and on the wing, I was so much more stable.
I think that contributed to my formation flying massively in trying to stay close on the wing in the 15 compared to the 27 is a world of difference, for me anyway.
However, when I got my stability pretty good with the 27, I stopped flying the 15 and kept flying the 27 with our phantom and of course on practices and I won't fly the 15 again for a while at least until after our shows are done.
For me personally it helped a lot in the beginning flying the two different jets, but now I wouldn't use that for trainig myself. Flying with the 27 all of the time with our phantom or the team is the only way to go for me now.
And of course the A10 in DCS.
Man I'm so unstable when trying to tank I disconnect in about 10 seconds.
I'm fine in slot or wing of the tanker or any other jets and of course try to ignore the boom in my nose but when I crack that stability, I think my VRA will improve along with it.
There is a line said in the film Contact, "small moves Ellie", and I have always had that in my head, and say to myself out loud, when I think I'm getting unstable, that's my calm phrase.
Of course I change Ellie to Ells, unless at weekends
I think the main thing is do what you think is best for you. I am sure we are all different on our training approaches and relaxtion techniques before a show (Beaker and I were talking about this recently).
With all that said I'd stil llove to fly with the VBA and VTB some time to get a "feel" for how you fly compared to us as I imagine all teams are different.
I've flown a routine with Blaze on a phantom (albeit not VPJT) and that was errrm "interesting" on my part, but again was F15.
Anyway, to end my 2 cents as you guys say, or two penneth worth as us Brits say...
"Each to their own"
I've been flying simulators for over 20 years now, all different types and shapes and forms.
I've been with the VRA for over 5 years now and flown a variety of posistions but never as solidly as I do now in #8.
In real life I've only flown props and that was many many years ago in the Air Cadets so have a remote feeling of what flying a plane is like, but no where near the experience most of you guys do.
When I was a recruit for #8, I used to fly the VTB 2008 routine in #3 with the F15 and then when I flew thew SU27 in RED8 and on the wing, I was so much more stable.
I think that contributed to my formation flying massively in trying to stay close on the wing in the 15 compared to the 27 is a world of difference, for me anyway.
However, when I got my stability pretty good with the 27, I stopped flying the 15 and kept flying the 27 with our phantom and of course on practices and I won't fly the 15 again for a while at least until after our shows are done.
For me personally it helped a lot in the beginning flying the two different jets, but now I wouldn't use that for trainig myself. Flying with the 27 all of the time with our phantom or the team is the only way to go for me now.
And of course the A10 in DCS.
Man I'm so unstable when trying to tank I disconnect in about 10 seconds.
I'm fine in slot or wing of the tanker or any other jets and of course try to ignore the boom in my nose but when I crack that stability, I think my VRA will improve along with it.
There is a line said in the film Contact, "small moves Ellie", and I have always had that in my head, and say to myself out loud, when I think I'm getting unstable, that's my calm phrase.
Of course I change Ellie to Ells, unless at weekends
I think the main thing is do what you think is best for you. I am sure we are all different on our training approaches and relaxtion techniques before a show (Beaker and I were talking about this recently).
With all that said I'd stil llove to fly with the VBA and VTB some time to get a "feel" for how you fly compared to us as I imagine all teams are different.
I've flown a routine with Blaze on a phantom (albeit not VPJT) and that was errrm "interesting" on my part, but again was F15.
Anyway, to end my 2 cents as you guys say, or two penneth worth as us Brits say...
"Each to their own"
I think I'd be fun trying ones hand at how each team flies (not just their show, but each team's way of flying), or even ride in the backseat (F4) with a pilot during practice since this is the coolest new camera view. I know what's normal for us is not for others, and we perform similar if not the same maneuvers very differently. The only problem is having time (and while I can only speak for us, we need to get back on our feet first)...
I few years back, however, I remember taking Frazer and Kato on my wing for a small number of rolls around VFAT time...... You should ask them about that sometime!
Think it was fast back then... try now.
I few years back, however, I remember taking Frazer and Kato on my wing for a small number of rolls around VFAT time...... You should ask them about that sometime!
Think it was fast back then... try now.
