Video at bottom - after all my senile ramblings.
Yo folks - talk about happy chance! I've finally managed to get my new computer back up to the level where I can make vids again. Not very good ones; for some reason Fraps won't record sound; little box checked or no. I
was planning a tutorial video detailing the proper methods of trimming an aircraft in flight, but that's pretty much toast if Fraps won't record sound.
So I had plenty of footage, and thought I'd make a music video instead. One problem: Not much music available; and th music I listen to: opera, Gordon Lightfoot, Burton Cummings, etc. - was totally unsuitable for what I have in mind.
And then the happy chance kicked in. When I moved in here months ago, I found a nondescript CD left by the previous tenant at the back of a closet shelf. Naturally I ignored it - the chance of the previous tenant - who'd been evicted after going to jail for dealing - having music I'd like would be remote in the extreme.
Well, since I was bored and looking for suitable music anyway, I thought I'd pop it in and see what was on it.
It totally blew me away. I had to suit up and wobble my way back to the cyber-cafe to ask the young folks that run the place (it's a goth cyber-cafe...hehe) if they knew who it was. Fortunately my lil' goth chick filled me in.
I'm not much for modern music, but the band, Evanescence, is impressive as hell. Great sound, great look, very strong music. The second track was so perfect for what I had in mind I couldn't believe it; the song matched the manoeuvers I was already planning on paper.
About the video:
I make no secret about my opinion that the best freeware aircraft for MFS is Long Island Classics' Bellanca Decathlon. Admittedly,
I'm biased - by far the greatest plane I've got real-life experience is the Citabria; the Super-D's chubbier twin brother - flew her for years as a glider tow pilot until a heart attack grounded me permanently.
Bellancas - to those who don't know - are an utter delight to fly; tough, responsive, forgiving and fun.
Well, LIC did an utterly superb job with its release of the Bellanca Super-Deke. Their Scout is possibly even better; though IMO the VC suffers a little with its garish faux-wood panel. All of LIC's planes are marvelous; but for obvious reasons the Deke's the best of the bunch IMO; everything comes together - great model, great VC, a real virtual flight experience.
I've spent the last week or so tweaking its flight model to match the real plane - actually, to match the Citab, with the improvements a Super-Deke with spades would show. Springier spring-steel gear, confident aileron feel with neutral stability; twitchy, torquey but comfortable slow-flight feel, limited sustained inverted flight. (The biggest single difference between the two aircraft is the semi-symmetric wing on the Deke. That alone takes her out of the aerobatic-capable light ute category and places her firmly in the competition class.) I finally got the flight model to the point where I really feel like I'm flying a Super-D.
The video, 'Dawn in a Deke' is an attempt to show in four minutes what I feel about aviation, and about flying a Bellanca. And perhaps to show a bit of what it feels like to not be able to fly anymore; in a way, this is a bit of a goodbye to the air and the particular way the Deke slices its way through it. It's not
meant to be a blatant ad for LIC, but if that's how it comes across, then fine - IMO
everyone ought to have this bird in their hangar.
Some notes about the flight:
- Yes, you
do taxi a Citabria with the door open if you're a tow pilot.
There's a latch on the strut specifically for that purpose.
- The exterior shot of the takeoff is the only replay. Got any idea how many times I tried a good looking takeoff in tower view? With a twitchy airplane with spring-steel gear and a 180-hp Lycoming mill with serious grunt up front? Can't be done. So dont b!#ch about the 'replay' tag. Neener neener.
- Yes, I oversped the prop in that first dive. What can I say? It's a club plane - I'm not paying for it.
- YOU try hitting a 4-point roll square at 9 frames a second!
Anyhoo; I'm my own worst critic; I usually hate my videos, buteven I have to admit I did pretty good with this one. I uploaded it to Youtube and SimTV, but as yet it hasn't cleared SimTV.
Enjoy!
Dawn In A Deke
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