More Pics of the F-16 to wet your Appetite 'Large Post'

[saprintz 82]

Just a quick question:

This 'real' photo shows the fuselage/nose.....

In this screenshot from a very similar viewpoint there's no fuselage at all. Why is that?

The answer is basically... FSX eyepoint settings. Plus, the F-16 HUD's field of view is approximately 1 degree up to 14 degrees down... i.e, the HUD is looking down towards the runway. Necessary due to the high AoA (13 degrees) needed for landing. And that explains why the gun cross / waterline / longitudinal axis / boresight is so near the top... and also why, in all those F-16 HUD videos out there, you can't see much sky at all when on the runway.

Plus... in the picture you posted, the camera had to be in front of the pilot's real eyepoint, explaining why he could see more of the front of the plane. That the relevant lens is a little closer to the HUD glass than usual is also supported by the relative size of the symbology, in comparison to the HUD glass; move a lens forward towards the glass and the symbology seems to get "smaller," move the head backwards and the symbology appears to get bigger. This is due to "collimation," which of course is a feature in real life, and... which HAS been achieved in this sim! A first in FSX and in fact in any MSFS sim! It's really very nicely done. The TrackIR people, especially, are going to be thrilled. Once you get your hands on this you'll see exactly what collimation is and why it's important. Combined with proper scale and symbology / scenery conformality, it means that the HUD works very, very close to the real thing. Basically, no matter where your head is, the symbology is accurate, so that the flight path marker always marks the true flight path, and the HUD horizon line always matches the Earth's actual **theoretical** horizon. (Theoretical horizon being a whole different post, which I'm sure will be necessary in a few weeks. ;-)

All of that being said, I've been told that when landing or during any critical situation, the pilots naturally move their heads forward, towards the HUD, meaning that your pic is certainly not unrealistic. I'm pretty sure you can at least see part of the "needle" in real life, especially while landing. That -14 field of view pretty much hugs the top of the plane's nose.

[holografique 0]

All of that being said, I've been told that when landing or during any critical situation, the pilot's naturally move their heads forward, towards the HUD, meaning that your pic is certainly not unrealistic. I'm pretty sure you can at least see part of the "needle" in real life, especially while landing. That -14 field of view pretty much hugs the top of the plane's nose.

I can definitely attest to the pilots usually moving their heads forward during landing.

some years ago I was doing all the sound-design / recording work for another known military flight simulator company, and I spent quite a few days at McKentire AFB just outside of Columbus, SC, where the South Carolina ANG is stationed at (all Block-52's). I spent a number of hours at the end of the runways watching them do touch-n-go landings, and everytime they would land, I could clearly see the pilots literally looking forward and down outside the cockpit as if to make sure they could clearly see the runway. Im assuming this is because due to the AOA during landing, if they were to stay seated back, it would be difficult to ensure that Flight Path Marker and AOA is accurate based on the actual runway...

One of the pilots told me the trick to always ensuring proper AOA and glide-scope during landing was that once you are at the proper approach distance from the runway, to simply put the FPM slightly at the edge of the runway, while ensuring the FPM was also in the middle of the glide-scope bars that appear when you are in nav mode and gears-down (obviously getting the proper altitude and proper air-speed to get the symbology to match up). this method definitely did the job just fine in falcon 4.0, etc. but im sure they don't trust it all the way once they are about to hit the tarmac

cheers.

[Vigilius 1]

I'm not so technical as Saprintz, in any case I see the nose and the pitot tube in the VC; with the TrackIR I see something similar to the reality (sorry for the image, I take it in a hurry

[holografique 0]

I'm not so technical as Saprintz, in any case I see the nose and the pitot tube in the VC; with the TrackIR I see something similar to the reality (sorry for the image, I take it in a hurry

vigilus,

if you don't mind, would you try moving your head forward towards the Track-IR sensor (which essentially does the real-time zooming) and see if you can see more of the nose? in the screenshot you took, your field-of-view appears to be as if your sitting farther back with your head resting against the seat. so we can just barely see the tube/nose of the F-16...

I recall when I had my Track-IR 4 Pro, it supported real-time zooming, so it would zoom in / zoom out based on how you moved your head closer or farther away from the LCD screen and the Track-IR sensor. I used to use it all the time to fly the T-38A model for FS2004, and if you moved your head forward, more and more of the nose/tube would become visible, just like in real-life! (well, I can only imagine it was like in real-life since I've never had the honor of flying a T-38A).

cheers!

[saprintz 82]

I'm not so technical as Saprintz, in any case I see the nose and the pitot tube in the VC; with the TrackIR I see something similar to the reality (sorry for the image, I take it in a hurry

Man, Vigilius, you guys have got to stop posting screens with those crappy right MFD colors. Heheh. I'd just like to ensure everyone that the final product will not look like that! ;-)

[Vigilius 1]

Man, Vigilius, you guys have got to stop posting screens with those crappy right MFD colors. Heheh. I'd just like to ensure everyone that the final product will not look like that! ;-)

I say that I'm in a hurry

Next time I switch off

[Steffenm 0]

Mathijs said that they have problem with the manual. It is so big that it can't fit into dvd case, so it must be quite thorough

Sounds very promising indeed. I remember buying MS FS95 and the box was really heavy, full of manuals and goodies. I miss that feeling today with the new slim DVD cases. 

[Ry4nVan 0]

Just wanted to share with you F-16 enthusiasts-

I put together a video from my second flight in an F-16.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHgrIlJG4g

And for folks still interested, here's the video I put together of my first F-16 flight last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5or0tF06X1I

Hope you guys enjoy! I can't wait for this F-16 sim release... I can start practicing before I submit my package for a pilot's slot

[holografique 0]

ryan, killer video's, thanks for the links! must have been a hell of a ride!!!

[JamesChams 108]

Just wanted to share with you F-16 enthusiasts-

I put together a video from my second flight in an F-16.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHgrIlJG4g

And for folks still interested, here's the video I put together of my first F-16 flight last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5or0tF06X1I

Hope you guys enjoy! I can't wait for this F-16 sim release... I can start practicing before I submit my package for a pilot's slot

Thank you for sharing .... Good luck with getting "Qual.'ed"!

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

I will continue to show progress in the special F16 forum...

http://www.forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?showforum=141