Gunship Academy
by Richard Sheffield
Tutorial 2: Turning
Set your INS cursor to position A on the map (Figure 6-3).
Take off and line up the INS indicators. Maintain level flight at 100 feet at a speed of 100 knots. Note that at 100 feet you're below the tops of the hills, so you'll have to maneuver to avoid them.
Let the first hill pass by on your left and then push the stick slightly to the left to put the aircraft into a shallow turn. If you start to lose altitude during the turn, you're turning too steeply. Apply a little right stick to compensate. You should be able to make gentle turns without losing altitude.
Once you pass to the left of the second hill, reverse the turn and bank the aircraft gently to the right. Continue using gentle turns to weave in and out of the hills as shown on the Tutorial Map 2. If at any time you get lost or confused as to which hill you should be heading toward, simply refer to Figure 6-3 and the CTR display.
When you pass over the second road, you're nearing the edge of the area. Go to the map screen and place the cursor over the base in the center of the map.
To get turned around, you're going to perform a steep turn. Steep turns will cause you to lose altitude, so as you start the turn, pull the stick back a little to compensate. Now push the stick hard to the right. Keep an eye on your altitude and the INS cursor. When you're heading in the same direction as the cursor, apply hard left stick to pull out of the turn and apply enough forward stick to stop gaining altitude (compensating for the pitch up you applied before the turn). Maintain an altitude of 100 feet and a speed of 100 knots.
On your way back to the base, you can weave between the hills again but this time practice using steep hard turns. Don't forget to pitch up when entering the turn and to pitch down when leaving the turn to maintain your altitude.
Make a nice smooth landing at the base.
Practicing this lesson will show you how to maneuver the aircraft in the Realistic Flight Mode. It also reinforces the concept of controlling your altitude with the cyclic stick and keeping your hands off the collective except when absolutely necessary.
Table of Contents
Previous Section: Tutorial 1: Takeoff and Level Flight
Next Section: Tutorial 3: Low and Slow/High and Fast