[Bob-san]

Ok basically the title explains it. Tell us what the wildest thing(s) you did in a flight simulator... include the formal game name, plane/helicopter, weather, and other details...

Game: Microsoft Flight Simulator 9 (AKA "A Century of Flight", "Flight Simulator 2004")
Airplane: Boeing 747-400, the world-travels variation
Weather: Building Storms preset
When: Today, at about 5PM EST
What happened...

Well, I was flying from Miami, Florida to Honolulu, Hawaii, finally to finish up in Narita (AKA New Tokyo), Japan. So, I was most of the way there, about 400nm from Honolulu on an IFR flight plan. I was up at 45,100 feet (max operating ceiling) doing about Mach 0.85. I flew quite a bit already, using time compression (16x) after canceling my initial IFR flight plan. I cancel the flight plan and go up about 10,000 feet to FL451. I put in the max speed they recommend; Mach 0.85 for cruising. I notice that it will smootly go to Mach 0.86. I decide to push the plane as much as I can (mind you I was on the hardest mode)... Mach 0.93... 0.94... I canceled out auto-throttle, pushing my throttle to the max. I hit at most Mach 0.95.

Well, I ended up about 300nm away, I slowed to Mach 0.85. At 250nm away, I requested an IFR flight plan to Honolulu for FL250; I slow down a bit and drop to that altitude, though not before hitting my own personal max-speed in the process. So, I have auto-throttle on, it's about -26*c outside. My pitot sensor decides to quit on me, while I am descending at 1800ft/min. So, I speed up rapidly; I hit mach 0.94, no stress warning. 0.95, still no stress warnings. 0.96, STILL no stress warnings. I end up at Mach 0.97 (topped out there) and came to altitude (FL250). I start taking some directions, and I get bored very quickly, about 200nm out.

So, I decide I want to do some funny stuff... barrel-roll the 747 again. Well, I cancel out all autopilot functions and take manual control of everything (my pitot sensor is still out). I pull the stick to the right, pull back on it, and rotate it to the left (to keep my nose above the horizon). Well, here came the problem... going at such a high speed (about Mach 0.85), there was way too much drag; the air started to act upon the 747 quickly. I lost all control; sinkrate! I immediately spiked to about mach 0.95, lose all forward momentum.

So, I am now sinking quickly... I remember back to what I usually do (and lose control), so I did something else (apparently the correct thing to do?). I pointed the nose down, cut engines, deploy full flaps, and open up the spoilers to get my airplane back into a controllable situation. Well, I managed to recover, about 20 seconds later, nearly breaking the speed of sound in the massive 747-400. I ended up at 1,770 feet above the Pacific, doing about 280kias. I slowed to 240kias (the speed limit below 10,000') and started getting radio messages from ATC; I was over 20,000' below my assigned altitude of FL250. I have the flight saved and running on my computer... I am currently at about 18,000' and climbing at a standard 1800ft/min, doing about 340kias to FL250, where I will return to Mach 0.85. Oh, my pitot sensor corrected itself during the maneuver I did... it turns out I did what seems to be a fighter-plane maneuver for (a) rapidly changing direction, (b) gaining excessive speed, (c) losing massive altitude, and (d) avoiding anything that could be following me. I did it all in a huge 747-400 without ever getting the Overstressed notice and only once getting the Overspeed notice (during the fall, of course)!

[Polpolion]

Once at this museum in Ohio, they had this simulator where you could land a space shuttle, and I did a barrel roll on it. it was crazy.

[Tamlin]

Real Life or Gaming ?

[Unknown Target]

One time I was in a BF-109F in IL-2 Sturmovik, and was flying in a dogfight server. I was pulling some hard maneuvers (even going under a bridge) to shake them off my tail. Eventually, I was pushing the plane so hard that I actually broke the flight model - for almost ten seconds my plane floated at about 50 km/h, upside down, 1000 m in the air. It wasn't a stall - I wasn't falling or losing speed. I was just sitting there. Eventually someone came by and shot me up, so I fell, but it was interesting nonetheless.


One of my favorite things to do in any flight sim is load up Jane's WWII Fighters and go deer hunting Editing the .ini file can put hundreds of dear on the map, and it's quite fun

[phreak]

i remember in Jane's ATF being able to time your dumb bombs just right so they hit a large aircraft such as a Tu-95 while in flight

[NGTM-1R]

Taking on the UMF in Falcon 3.0 Gold. That's the UnManned Fighter, and the thing will chew through a flight of your guys pretty quickly. Since Falcon simulates human physical limits on most difficulties, you will be badly outmatched in terms of performance. Normally I just have to use unlimited ammo and chuck a swarm of AMRAAMs at it at max range, and pray. (Though rarely indeed does anyone dodge when you ripple off a flight of six AMRAAMs at them.)

Somehow the UMF snuck up on me as I was happily picking off a wing of TU-22 Blinders. To this day I'm not sure exactly what I did, but I some how ended up with the controls crossed while trying to evade the UMF and flew through the Blinder formation sideways while spewing chaff and flares. The UMF followed me but ended up colliding with a bomber when it took the inside track of my arc. It had a tendancy to do things like that (or shooting down its own wingmen...not that it needed wingmen).

I also recall afterburning it over a Russian landing with a dozen ZSU-23-4s and Lebeds shooting at me, at about 100 feet, spamming 2000lbs bombs out with unlimited ammo on. It was insane, of course, and I didn't make it all that far before my own bomb blasts turned my F-16 into lawn dart, but it was incredibly fun with the free look external camera panned back and down. Just watching all those vehicles and infantry squads go "boom" was incredible.

[Nuke]

i imported the scenery from fs2000 into cfs2, and had a nice dogfight with a zero up the side of the sears tower. he was dead before we got to the top.

[Dysko]

Some years ago, playing CFS2 I wanted to do a low passage above a carrier with the hook extracted to see what happened. I caught the cables and pulled up, increasing throttle. My Corsair did some strange, nice maneuvers before splashing in the water.

I'm trying to replicate it in Il-2 1946, but I haven't succeeded so far.

[Col. Fishguts]

Back in the days of Flight Simulator 3.0, I spent many hours trying to land the Learjet on aircraft carrier (which didn't have arresting cables). It was doable by approaching slowly below the carrier deck, shutting down the engines about about half a kilometer before touchdown, flaps to max, spoilers out and then pull up just at the right time so that it would stall exactly when reaching the deck, thus 'softly' crashing on the carrier.

[Bob-san]

Heh some interesting stuff. I missed out on those CFS's...

Anyways... i finished up the flight with a rather dangerous landing... apparently ATC doesn't know when to give clearance orders!!

Basically I came onto the island at about 6000 feet, orders to come around toward the airport for a Visual 26L approach (iirc)...

Basically went to the effect of...
"Landmark 1123 heavy, descend and maintain 6000 feet, altimeter 2952, maintain 6000 feet until established on the localizer"
"Landmark 1123 heavy, descend and maintain 2000 feet. Report runway in sight"
"Landmark 1123 heavy, cleared visual 26 left approach. Descend and maintain 2000 feet"
"Landmark 1123 heavy, cleared to land, visual runway 26 left."

I came in very high.... cut throttle to idle, flaps to full, gear out, spoilers up. I somehow managed to land without more overstressing...

Anyways... I've done other stupid things without destroying the aircraft... and quite a few things destroying it...

[Unknown Target]

I used to import Flight Sim 98 aircraft into Combat Flight Sim 2, and fly around with my killer Cessna 182 armed with six .50 guns

[Dysko]

I did a similar thing: 737 with tons of bombs

Some years ago, I downloaded GMax to try to learn modeling for CFS3. At the time, I  had a crappy internet connection, so I couldn't look for tutorials. I made a teapot, used the flight model of the Ascender and strafed Germans with a jug... literally!

[IPAndrews]

Flying towards the golden gate bridge. Ejecting so my plane went under the road and seat went over the road.

[Dysko]

With which sim?

[IPAndrews]

A very unrealistic, old, Amiga one.

[Sandwich]

Machine: Mac 512 (kb memory).
Game: Harrier Strike Mission
Year: Uhh... 1992?

This flight sim was so complicated (for a 14-yr-old me) that I could only play it with me controlling one half of the keyboard, and my friend controlling the other half. I don't recall anything in particular we did, but it was a really crazy way to play the thing.

Anyone else ever play that game?

[Trivial Psychic]

I recall once long ago playing on the first Red Baron game on my Mom's old 486.  I was flying my favorite, the Fokker Dr.1 and I was engaging a couple of observation planes over the front, along with their escort.  I flew headlong into the formation and took several shots at one of the lead fighters as I passed them, in a head-on pass.  Normally I would do a sharp 180 degree turn and come in somewhere to the side and behind the formation and engage in a dogfight.   This time however, I somehow timed my use of the large rudder on the Dr.1, and during the bank prior to the intended 180 degree turn, I ended up doing a 180 degree vertical turn.  Unlike simply pulling back on the stick and doing an Immelmann, I never gained any altitude, lost any airspeed, and I was completely level when I came out of the maneuver and not inverted.  Combining the rudder, ailerons, and elevators, I had somehow spun my plane around on the bank axis during the vertical maneuver, so I suddenly found myself right on the six-o'clock of the guy I'd fired on during my initial pass.  It took me a split second to realize what I'd done, and a quick volley of fire to bring it down.  I've never managed to repeat that maneuver in any flight simulator.

Another time, while playing Rogue Squadron 3D, I was pulling on the stick so violently that I broke it off at the base.  I attempted to continue the mission by holding the base with one hand and moving the stick stub with my thumb, while controlling the buttons on the stick grip.  Fortunately, it was a cheap stick.  My tastes for flight sticks grew in price and complexity from there on out.  I now own a Saitek X52 (not Pro).

[Inquisitor]

I made a habit of landing planes you should  not land on the Aircraft carrier in MS Flight Simluator (the first one, on 3.5" floppies).

Landing without tail cables was a bit hit or miss

[Bob-san]

I prefer landing anywhere I get a problem... especially with the 747. I have landed pretty much anywhere... I flew a Cessna down into a forest in Serbia, a 747 on a mountain, and I have landed many aircraft without landing gear... and somehow survived (by glitch or by design, I don't know). I once flew a F14 Tomcat at max speed at about 12 feet above the Pacific. I think I was going from California to Hawaii, then Hawaii to Tokyo.

[Dysko]

I have the habit of passing through hangars in YsFlight. Once, in a multiplayer session, I passed through an hangar with my F-16, then I looped to pass again in the same hangar. When I passed the second time, I didn't notice another pilot who was going to pass in the same hangar... I passed, then I saw "HOLY ****!" in the chat messages. I asekd why he said so, and he told me we miraculously avoided in-flight collision since we were really close...