The+OzZiggy+flying+guide




 * OzZiggy chalks up another one !!!**

**Don't Drive the Plane,..Fly it!**
//**One of the most common things I hear from new "online EAW" pilots is "I keep Spinning!, how come this happens?"**//

Spinning kills more newbie pilots in this game than in any other flight sim I have ever played. In EAW, on full realism settings, the usual cause of spinning is over aggressively trying to make your aircraft change directions. In short your pulling on the stick to hard and attempting to "drive" your plane. Smooth and gentle flying can achieve the desired bank or climb with much greater success than doing the "I will need a replacement stick" jive. By pulling on the stick to hard you often cause your aircraft to go into what is called an accelerated stall (so called, high speed stall). It is very simply explained as, "you have forced your plane to a point at which the wings are acting more like a sail than a lift generating device", consequently you spin.

//**Words of encouragement from a new EAW online pilot:**//

To all new EAW pilots, using full realism is at first hard and frustrating, but please persevere because with practice you will come to like these settings and will refuse to fly with anything but "full realism". Thanks for the input via my forum Mug :).

What do I mean by smooth and gentle flying. This is hard to explain in words, but a good teaching experience is to jump into a Spitfire mkIXc(any plane will do, but I like the spit) and put her into a bank. As you know, by pulling back on the stick while in a bank you will cause your turns to become "tighter". Once in this bank start to pull back on the stick gently. As you do this look at your speed indicator, your speed should start to drop. Eventually your speed indicator will turn from green to yellow indicating that you are about to stall. If at this point you kept back pressure on the stick you would stall and then spin. The trick is to watch for that tell tale "yellowing" of the speed indicator and ease back pressure off the stick and build up speed once again so you can continue your turn. It should be obvious to you now that had you yanked back that stick quickly the yellowing of the speed indicator would of happened so fast you probably wouldn't even register it because you'd be to busy conducting the stall recovery procedure. Practice this banking, putting the Spit into tighter and tighter turns, vary your speed by using the throttle (see how quickly you end up channel swimming..I am a master at this lol).The slower you go the more gentle you need to be. Most of the veteran EAW pilots can "ride the stall" by keeping the airspeed "in the yellow" but not pushing the plane over the edge. This requires gentle smooth flying, its an artform worth learning among so many others, but hey, its a start.

//**The second most common thing I hear is "how do I get out of a spin?"**//

Spinning in some planes can be catastrophic. For example, if you spin in the 109G6 and your altitude is low...say "goodbye cruel world" because more than likely, you're going in (the G6 is nose heavy and makes it hard on you). However, my general response to a spin is to PANIC!, swear loudly and do the spin recovery procedure. First thing you should do is put the stick full forward, then cut the throttle, put full rudder on in the opposite direction to that of your spin and last but most importantly, pray like hell someone isn't shooting at you! while your doing all of this.

Some feedback via the forum from those magnificent men in their flying machines, Llv34! "In the case of G6 I'd like to add : apply full flaps Helps a lot!, and remember to take the flaps back up too, cause they get damaged fast;). Also, something to try at the same time with all these spin recovery procedures, is to push the stick to the side of the spin!" . You have the authors thanks for the input guys :).

//**Trouble shooting, still spinning?**//

If your still spinning you may want to try decreasing your joystick sensitivity in you're EAW.ini file. This may be particularly important if you are prone to heavy handedness. Get the program that allows you to adjust these settings and more via a simple interface. Its called EAW control and the latest version is 1.5.

If you want the 1.5 EAW control add-on click topics and scroll down the page to Stardog's Propsim Shack link.

**Flaps and Rudders...use em or lose em**
//**If you think you can fly without the aid of a rudder, look at this pic, and think again!**//

The rudder is one of the most under-used parts of the plane by the new EAW online pilot. In fact, I rarely used it before coming online (even though I had rudder twist on the handle of my MS Force Feedback stick). Now I cant possibly live without it. Why you ask?, what does the rudder do?, when do you use it?

//**What does the rudder do?**//

The rudder changes the direction the the planes nose is pointing along its lateral axis (I believe this is called the yaw of the aircraft, but I could be wrong). So in practical terms how does this affect my flying. Well the most important thing is that by using the rudder you can change the rate at which you plane rolls. Try it, get back into your Spitfire(or any plane you like) and do a roll at speed without the rudder. Now try it with full rudder in the same direction of your roll (I believe this is called a snap roll). Then again with full rudder opposite direction of your roll. You should notice that a roll with full rudder in the same direction is very quick and very "tight". In comparison, the roll with full opposite rudder is a slow "lazy roll" (i.e. the roll is a lot wider). The roll without rudder lies somewhere in-between these two.

//**When do we use the rudder?**//

As we all know, the rate at which your aircraft rolls is equivalent to the rate at which your aircraft can change direction. For example, imagine you've got some one on you're "six" and you're in a tight turn to the right. If you want to change direction to the left and try to throw him off, you can (if you have got enough altitude) roll your aircraft onto its back, keep rolling until your facing to the left and then pull back on the stick to start the turn to the left. To do this quickly you should apply full rudder right and roll to the right,... as you come to face left, centralise rudder and pull back on stick. Similarly, if you have someone behind you (gaining fast)and you're feeling really lucky you can try to do that lazy roll to bleed off speed and attempt to make them over shoot. This is a dangerous move, I mostly use my "lazy rolls" when following people (so I don't overshoot).

The use of the rudder applies in the vertical fights as well. Say you're following some one through a series of high turns. You know when the guy climbs for a short while at say an angle of 45 degrees and then rolls his plane slightly over onto its back, completing the move with an almost vertical dive. To keep on him when your climbing, put on slight rudder in the same direction as you're climb then roll your aircraft through the identical move to his. Alternatively, climb as normal and at the apex of your climb give it full rudder and roll in same direction. This will put your plane onto its back and now you pull down into your dive (diving down onto your opponent, hehehehe).

Last but not least, the rudder can tighten your turn in the horizontal axis. Try putting your plane into a right turn, giving it slight right rudder. You will notice that your nose drops into the turn. Should you complete a full 360 turn you will also notice that you have lost altitude.In fact, if you were to keep turning like this, you would eventually corkscrew your way to the deck(splash time). This corkscrew like move can make your turns really tight but at the cost of altitude (a precious commodity). Often you will see the veterans "corkscrewing" down to cut in behind and enemy, or if your real lucky they will be corkscrewing to throw your aim off when you are following them into a dive.

Another trick use your ruder to correct your aim. If your aims a bit off and you find the opponent just to one side of you. Give it a little rudder and blast him from the sky!. This is good for correcting in steep, fast diving attacks.

In Summary, "If you don't use the rudder you will be out-rolled, and being out rolled means eventually you will be outmaneuvered and the guy that is using his rudder will get you".

Another almost forgotten piece of equipment on the plane is the Flaps. Yes those big bits at the trailing edge of the wing that can be deployed and retracted are a very important tool in the EAW dogfight.

//**Flaps, what are they and when should I use them?.**//

Now that you are a god of slow flying and ridding the stall-(you have read "the basics" right?)- you will probably be getting into those really awkward tight turning/looping contests(I say awkward because in team fights there are safer ways to fly). I bet you are also finding that some pilots can still out turn and out loop you in these contests. I also bet your thinking ok the "slower I go the tighter I turn,.. so how is this guy always catching me,.. I am already ridding the stall" (air speed indicator is yellow). The answer to your lamentations is that the cunning devil behind you is using his flaps!

Flaps do a number of things; they lower your stall speed, they improve the rate of climb, they make subtle changes to the angle of attack at which your wing operates effectively and they increase drag (therefore decreasing top speed). Flaps are mainly used by planes when landing and when climbing, but in a tight combat they are are god-send.

Here is the trick, when you are in a slow tight turning battle deploy your flaps to full (you will have to be going slow enough to do this unless your in the p51 etc). You will notice that all of a sudden the radius of your turn gets tighter. Also you will find that you can fly slower without stalling,...and the slower you fly the tighter the turn is ( I think kosmic and I had our Spit IXc at 160kmph in one of our "lets do ballet" turning fights). Go practice this, vary your flap deployment from 1/3 to full..have fun trying to see just how tight and slow you can turn :).

//**Beware! flying under flaps is one of those "gentle arts" otherwise its stall city.**//

Flaps are also useful in the vertical axis. You know how you always get out looped,..you guessed it, once again that fiend behind you is using his flaps. Using flaps in loops can be tricky, if you're heavy handed then your plane is going to stall. So here is something to build on whilst you adjust to smooth/gentle flying. Before going into a loop dive ever so slightly, build up some airspeed. Then start the climb into your loop as you go up the loop deploy full flaps. As you proceed up the loop retract to 2/3 then to 1/3 and finally as you go over retract them fully. On your way back down deploy them in stages again until your at full flaps when pulling out of your loop.When doing this you will notice your airspeed bleeding off rather quickly as you go "up the loop"...this is the danger point,...if your not careful you will stall and spin (then you are most likely toast). Always watch that speed indicator, if it goes yellow and you don't think you can ride the stall, retract your flaps, ease up on the stick and let your plane "fly itself" through the rest of the maneuver (don't "over fly" your plane). Should you succeed in your flap aided loop you will have changed the shape of your loop from its normal circular look, to a loop with a sharp entry, a flat over and a sharp pull out. In short you loop has become sharper. Also since the flaps slow you down (and allow you to fly slower) you have most likely pulled a tighter loop as well. Remember a loop is just a vertical turn, with the added danger of loosing a lot of airspeed.

The flap aided loop described above is what I like to call a template. I often use full flaps through the entire loop. Sometimes when I'm behind someone I'm under full flaps the entire time. Try it out, it works for me, but remember to always**"be gentle".**

**Zooming and Booming**
how to use altitude as an advantage

//**"So what's the big deal about altitude, all we need to do is out turn the guy right?"...WRONG!**//

Getting a handle on "Zooming and Booming" or energy fighting as it is correctly called is your first step along that slippery road of "thinking while you fly". Yes people, its time to use the Grey matter, otherwise a pilot who knows Zoom and Boom -(the enlightened ones, lol)- will make you take a DIRT NAP!

//**So what do I mean by energy fighting?**//

Energy fighting simply means keeping an eye on your opponents speed and altitude. Energy is defined in this case as how much airspeed the target has to play with. For example, if we are both in a Spit IX and I am doing 500kmph and you're doing 400kmph, I have more energy. Should we both now put our planes into near vertical climbs, I would out climb you considerably as your energy pool of 400kmph, would bleed off to the point at which your plane would start to stall, forcing you to stop climbing or spin. I however, would still have 100kmph energy to play with and keep on climbing. The end result is now I have an altitude advantage(lets just say its 500m). Altitude in this case can be defined as "potential energy". In short that 500 meters can be turned into energy (airspeed) by simply diving. To get the most energy out of an altitude advantage vertical dives are best. Obviously, to get the most altitude for your energy expenditure, vertical climbs are likewise best. Ok, you now know what energy is- (and you thought it was what made the TV work..just kidding!).

//**So how do you use energy to fight with?**//

One of the simplest and most effective ways to energy fight is by taking the fight vertical. Lets assume you have 700m altitude advantage on your opponent, and you have approximately the same speed, say 300kmph. What you need to do is maneuver yourself so you are approximately above and behind your target(rear quarter). You can check this by rolling your plane onto its back and looking down by using the top snap view (or you can use that stupid padlock thing which destroys the feel of the whole situation). Once you are positioned properly dive down (near vertically) on your opponent. He will most likely see you (darn padlock) and attempt a break turn. If he does this, adjust your aim using your rudder..or simply roll to accommodate his direction change and keep on diving. As you close, fire short controlled bursts at the target(or if your on target let him have it!). Once you have done your attack run, pull up- (not too sharply or u will lose speed)- and climb preferably near vertical. In your dive you should of gained a lot of energy(airspeed) and you now trade that speed for altitude. This altititude can then be used to repeat the whole process if need be. Some dangers in this move are diving to fast and ripping bits of your plane. Even just as catastrophic, hitting the speed at which your planes starts to not respond to your frantic suggestions to pull up(this is called compression). You must set up your energy dive properly and each plane has its own dive characteristics. For example, a Tempest dives much better than the Spit IX and it will take a lot more speed before the wings fly off and for you become a lawn dart (you can still do it ..just at incredible speeds!). You may hear talk of so called "energy fighters", i.e. people referring to a particular plane as an energy fighter. While it is true that some planes are more suited to energy fighting than others, you can still energy fight in any plane in EAW. I have energy fought in a Hurricane. Admittedly it was against another Hurricane,...but you get my point ...energy fighting is a tactic that is not bound specifically to planes like the Tempest etc.

//**So how do I get the altitude advantage to start with?**//

You now know the basics of how to energy fight, but as you can see you need an energy advantage to start with. It can be easy to get an energy advantage in a plane that outmatches your opponents in top speed. Say for example, your in a spit IX and I'm in the Tempest. We approach head to head, I put the tempest in a shallow dive, we merge..you turn in,... I now start to climb. I am in the faster plane so at the merge I will have more energy(also remember my very shallow dive adds to my ability to gain airspeed). Your turn in towards and most likely in behind me has caused you to bleed off speed. Now I just simply out climb you using my vastly more abundant energy reserve to gain altitude. This is a very simplistic explanation, but it you get the idea, you must force your opponent to loose energy while maintaining yours. This is easy to do if your plane has a faster top speed and or, a better rate of climb. In fact, if you look at the development of aircraft throughout WW II you will see the importance that aircraft designers put into creating planes that could out climb and out run the enemy; "the so called energy fighters".

//**Great you say, but what if we are both in similar or identical planes?**//

Now the trick of energy fighting comes down to who is smart and who is dead. To quote Greywolf of NJG88 "In my humble opinion, energy fighting is a state of mind". Greywolf's statement is very true. You must always look for the opportunity to exploit your opponents lack of energy. You can very easily change a turning fight into an energy fight. What you have to do is look for the chance to do it..always watch your opponents speed and altitude. If in the course of a battle your opponent ends up with less speed and is at the same or lower altitude, then its time to turn the tables and energy fight. Let me explain a little example.

We are both in Spit IX's, we start head to head, as we merge you cut in low, and do a diving turn. I however cut up in a climbing turn after diving very slightly on the way into the merge(in order to keep my speed high). You are going faster because of your diving turn, so you have more energy. However, you also bleed of more speed trying to turn in on my tail, because you are trying top pull up into a tight turn at high speed to follow me. I now, reaching the top of my climbing turn, have the altitude advantage. It may be as little as 300m, usually its about 500m. As you climb out from your turn I dive ....the result you loose speed and I gain it. I now watch your airspeed. I see it fall as you climb and then gain speed as you dive to avoid the stall or follow me (i.e. reaching the top of your climb). When you are diving, I start to climb in at a high angle, my extra speed gained in the dive allows me to climb a little higher this time. Once again you start to climb after pulling up from your dive. By this time I'm probably at the top of another steep climb and about to dive down on you again gaining more speed in my dive because you are now further below me. I follow this dive with another climb as you are forced to dive again. at the end of this climb I will have approximately 700-880m altitude advantage on you and from here on in I can dictate the battle by taking the fight "vertical" as was described before.

It is a simple rule when your opponent dives you climb, the trick is spotting the right time to do it

I will include more on energy fighting in my "advanced energy fighting" page and will constantly refer to it in my "moves and grooves" page. Both of these pages are under construction and will be released soon.

**Moves and Grooves**
some handy hints for school leavers

//**"this one is for the boys"**//

I hope the previous pages have helped you in your endeavor to become the scourge of the European skies. This page is a collage of "stuff" to try when you are real desperate! and some hints on how to avoid being set up, and how to set someone up, for the kill!.

//**How to cut the corner on a circular turning fight**//

One of the most instructional maneuvers I have ever learnt. Imagine we are in a turning fight to the right in the horizontal axis. I am behind you but cant quite gain enough to get in a shot ..so we end up doing slow tight circles and loosing altitude until we end up at sea level or one of us stalls in as we push it just a little to far!. One way for me to "cut the corner" on our circle is to simply ease off from our present turn to the right and and climb at an angle of 45-60 degrees while still banking to the right. This takes my turn out of the horizontal axis and into the vertical axis. As I am climbing -(the time spent doing the climb is up to you, but I recommend only a short climb as your energy state will be low due to our tight turning)-you continue your turn in the horizontal axis. Reaching the apex of my climb I roll my plane onto its back (using full rudder) and then pull back on the stick to put my plane into a near vertical dive .When I pull out of this dive I will have cut back in on your turn and be more directly behind as your horizontal turning puts your plane into my path. . This type of "cut- back" turn will also give me a better shot at you as I have now decreased the deflection I will have to shoot at.

The theory is, that by turning in the vertical axis I will have flown less total distance than your plane-(because I avoid all those lengthy corners of the circle that you were flying in)- thus I have changed the direction that the nose of my plane is pointing quicker and hence I end up behind you. Note that several small cut-back turns are sometimes required to get in behind a "hard" turning enemy if you both start off low and slow. It is my belief that if my opponent starts pulling this sort of stuff, he or she is one to be wary of. I think it represents that the pilot is now thinking of how to fight in a true 3-dimensional sense.

//**One of the most evolved uses of the cutback turn is in the maneuver called the Yo-Yo**//

The Yo-Yo is an invaluable tool in the box of tricks that all EAW pilots must develop in order to become successful. Imagine you find yourself 1000ft below your opponent(me) and that I am screaming down at you from behind in a steep dive. Naturally, to avoid your immediate doom you break-turn. Lets just say you break turn in to the left(naturally your break turn is horizontal as this provides me with a very hard target to hit). Should I attempt follow your turn to the left I will become the victim. My speed has built up during my dive and you can turn much tighter because you a simply flying at a slower speed. At this point I could climb and try for another pass later on as described in the zoom and boom tactic or I could perform what is known as a high Yo-Yo. The Yo-Yo is simply at cut back turn tacked onto the end of a dive. Instead of trying to follow your turn to the left I pull out of my dive at an angle of 45-60 degrees to the left. I climb about 600ft (approximately when you see the sun through your front view) and then roll over on my back and dive (approximately vertically) down...my vertical climb will have accounted for my energy advantage, and as such will not over shoot you. Furthermore, should you have continued your break-turn I will now be diving down onto your tail. For a graphical illustration of the high yo-yo please go to the following link.

To high Yo-Yo graphic compliments of air combat maneuvering :)

The Scissors how to avoid being killed when someone is on your tail. Notes in italics brought to you by No609_Relent, a former student and now definately the master.

Ever Wonder how to get someone off your tail? ..cant shake them? ..starting to panic well the "scissors" is one of the things you should be thinking of trying. This maneuver is really a low altitude move and is most useful when all your other options like "half-looping to face your enemy" are out because the guy is just to close.

To begin the maneuver, keep your throttle up, roll your aircraft 90 degrees to the right or left, and pull back on the stick, being careful not to pull so hard that you stall. After you have changed direction approximately 80-90 degrees, and flown relatively straight for short time (depends on your preference), ease up on the stick, roll the aircraft in the opposite direction and pull back on the stick once more, then continue this cycle. If you could trace your movements from above, the maneuver looks like a sine wave, or series of stacked S'.

The theory is simple. The attacker gets into the routine of responding to your scissor motion...in doing so the attackers roll is always slightly behind yours in the sequence of events. This means that the attckers plane will have moved in the forward direction fractionally more than you have, since it takes time for the attcker to see and react in order to follow your roll and subsequent sidewise bank. In short, after several such scissors the attckers palne is moving more in the forward direction than you and thus you have change the opponents plane relative position from behind you to beside you. You can greatly enhance the effectiveness of the scissors by trapping your attacker into entering the scissors at a faster speed than you thus increasing his motion foprward relative to you during every cycle of the scissors. This can be achieved by making your opponent dive after you and then you cut throttle and enter the scissors. Meanwhile your higher speed opponents speed may just make him overshoot you after two or three cycles of the scissors, and this is what we aim to do by going into the scissors "make them overshoot"

//**Here are some of Relents hints on what to do to help your scissors be successful**//

1) Use your flaps. By using flaps, you can turn tighter, thereby give you an oportunity to cut inside your opponent faster. Be warned that while this increases your stall speed, it also slows your aircraft down, so watch your airspeed.

2) Use your rudder. By using your rudder, you can turn a little tighter by introducing the effect of yaw as well as changing the angle of attack. Again, be warned that this will slow down your aircraft so watch your airspeed.

3) Introduce a rolling motion at the end of each scissors cycle. As you are pulling back on the stick, instead of simply rolling 180 degrees and pulling back again, try to do a "barrel roll" type of maneuver by rolling, pulling up slightly, and using slight rudder in the opposite direction of the bank. This will make you a more difficult target, and may get you above your attacker. From behind, this motion will make your scissors look like a figure 8 on it's side (a yo-yo motion) instead of a flat line.

4) Time your roll/turn cycles based on your opponent's actions. If possible, keep your eyes on your opponent at all times, or as much as possible - this means using your padlock view if you can. If you are observent, you may see them extend too long, or not enough as they match your moves. That's the time to quickly go the other direction and attempt to parallel their flight path. If you've gotten to this point, you have been successful at entering a neutral state with your opponent. Now's the time to adjust your throttle, flaps, and rudder as necessary to cut the corner, get behind your opponent and shoot them down!

Thanks Rel, for contributing to my page ... although I hate the use of the padlock view....your a champion!