10 July 2010
Wx Cnx
Low clouds and heavy rain cancelled all our flights yesterday, but we stuck around for tactical formation academics. We learned just the very, very basics of the maneuvers fighter aircraft most commonly perform during a typical mission. Even though we just scratched the surface of what air-to-air combat is all about, the whole thing was highly motivational. We were all reminding each other how most people, even within the Air Force, think that air-to-air combat is just Top Gun, like a video game where you just point and shoot. With todays most modern aircraft it's true that sometimes it can be like that, but dogfighting has roots in highly sophisticated tactics developed over many, many years that involved complex geometry, energy rates, 3D physics, and far more than just, "Too close for missiles, I'm switching to guns." For now I can look forward to chasing around other aircraft as soon as next week playing follow the leader in the sky.
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I like learning new things from you and hearing your perspective. People mostly don't know a lot about a lot of things, so we generalize and presume. Good thing that doesn't make it true.
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