BFM 101 - Turning your aircraft

This series will cover the essentials of Defensive BFM that you need to survive a dogfight in DCS World. The second in the BFM series and another set of fundamentals before we get into fighting each other. This time, turning. I'm not a fighter pilot, and this video is only applicable to the game environment. BFM is almost entirely about turning and angles. If you don't know the basics of turning, you're never going to get to employ any of those sweet missiles that you want to try, and you'll end up out of chaff and flares, and maybe out the aeroplane too.
Chapters
0:00 Intro and caveats
1:08 Aims of the video
2:10 Definitions
2:46 Turn Rate vs Turn Radius
6:00 Instantaneous turn performance
8:06 Vertical turns
9:15 The 'Energy Package'
9:43 Conclusion
By the end of this video you should be able to:
- Understand the key definitions relating to aircraft turn concepts in BFM.
- Understand the difference between turn rate and radius.
- Understand the effect of gravity on turn performance.
The resources used to construct this video were: www.calctool.org/CALC/phys/new... www.omnicalculator.com/physic...

[@whodoesnt3745]

this series you've put together for us is absolutely brilliant big thank you from this random entity on the internet

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thank you for watching. There will be more in the future, but for now real life has to take my time up! ~Tyro

[@xl0p346]

Nononononono, I'm clicking "like" before double clicking DCS. If I don't I will forget. But this content deserves more likes.

[@Mako-sz4qr]

I’m glad your making these tutorial again I have watched your first collection like several several times over and over again. Your brilliant at this really. I hope there is a energy management and how to work the throttle I think that for me I haven’t figure that out yet, I’m always full throttle and pulling back on the stick. Thank you !

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

In most aircraft you will be at max power most of the time in BFM. Aircraft like the F-16 and Tomcat need a two-handed technique, particularly when fuselages are aligned. Thank you for watching and commenting - it is really appreciated.

[@mahela1993]

You sir are what all university lecturers should aspire to be!

[@iheart545x39]

These videos are well researched and excellent, thanks for taking the time to do them.

[@Zahadumgoth]

Thank you! Indeed short and informative. After almost 10 years of not flying DCS its very useful to remind all these things without wasteing a lot of time.

[@unityxg]

This is a highly underrated video..

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thanks for watching - I’m glad people are still finding them useful

[@borkug1566]

These videos are incredible. It's first time I'd starting to understand these concepts.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hey, thanks for the comment and we are trying to re-circulate older videos like this to get newer watchers that aren’t looking in our video history. Spread the word with your friends and join a tactical group if you can 😉

[@OLIV3R_YT]

Great videos, keep it up!

[@JerDog1984]

Awesome. Thanks!

so much to learn

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Indeed, learning, practicing, and fighting is how the real guys get there.

[@EduWushu]

Ok that was a hell of a lot of information compressed in 10 min. It is an awesome collection of videos. You have any source where the things you explained here can be expanded upon? I feel like i need some less condensed walkthrough to some of the concepts you describe

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Hi Eduardo, thanks! Try Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvring by Shaw as a starter. ~Tyro

[@boukhanchouche1]

What a great channel Thanks for all the infos Please can you make à serie about dodging missiles s300 and patriot ?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

It will come, but those are hard systems to evade if you get netted by them! Check out our friend Tactical Pascale for his take - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHrac358btyglbs

[@zezblit]

Curious whether you have a background in teaching or instructing, because these are so incredibly well made and put across

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Thanks Jake. Just a lot of research really. I’m in no way qualified to teach this stuff! ~Tyro

[@guywardvlogs9376]

Incredible series! Are you using a vr headset in these situations, If so what one ? My quest two for bfm only lets me see a blurry dot

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

I use a Quest 2. You may want to look at optimising your setup, and perhaps headset fit. The downside of the Q2 is that it isn’t adjustable in terms of IPD etc and that can lead to blurring.

[@rob7566]

Quick question? I just did as you said and hopped in my f15 an had a practice but I'm still struggling to find her rate band, any help or advice on her band would help me in the merge thanks.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

I think from memory the F15 rates best around 400-450 but others may have better numbers, I don’t fly the Eagle. Thanks for watching!

[@Duggi_yt]

Do we need to hit brakes to cut the angles of turn radius,if yes then which angles are best to hit the brakes?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

There are very few situations where you would want to waste energy by deploying brakes, possibly if you are well above your rate band and need to slow rapidly because your radius is huge, but that's going to be a fringe case. In order to transition from Rate to Radius, you are better off increasing your pull (load factor) in order to bleed that energy off while transiently increasing rate. ~Tyro

[@Duggi_yt]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP makes sense , thanks!

[@number3729]

Thanks for making these. This video is labeled BFM Fundamental 2. Where is Fundamental 1?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6PHiISlhLeMiKs

[@waltzb7548]

Are you using any top or bottom rudder in these turns where your Bank angle is in excess of 70 and up to 90°?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Not that I’m conscious of. The turns are all loaded. Because you’re looking to maximise rate and minimise radius, angle of bank controls altitude primarily and stick back pressure (read also G load or alpha) controls speed

[@waltzb7548]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP thank you for responding! Got same from a Top Gun instructor on the Ask a fighter pilot channel. Have some friends that are private and commercial pilots but felt that you needed top rudder but they never banked at that angle. I think between your response and Vincent Aiello that pretty much settles it thank you.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Yeah, civilian pilots rarely sustain max performance in their aircraft and sometimes the techniques aren’t intuitive. I’ve had similar with people learning formation wanting to add top runner while on the outside of a turn to avoid ‘falling’ onto the inside aircraft. Thanks for watching.

[@iCanHazTwentyLetters]

Your reverse psychology worked.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Reverse psychology? Never like anything you haven’t watched all the way through!

[@iCanHazTwentyLetters]

@@AIRWARFAREGROUP I clicked the like button is what I'm saying. I'm intrigued/confused by your comment about seeing the whole video. Are you using analytics to see which commenters have seen the whole video? (should I be concerned about cybersecurity?) I usually leave a second or two (at the end of the video) so the youtube app doesnt launch a barrage of unskippable ads at me. This is the only way to leave a comment for me.

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Good news, AWG is 100% Ad Free! kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJCbhXeeiciWgrM

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

No on the analytics...we just encourage people to practice in DCS more over Like, Subscribe, Share of the video. Our goal is to reach out and provide good information and we're not necessarily concerned with subscribers, likes and such, but it is a good gauge of how we are doing...we appreciate positive and negative feedback. Our forum here will always be open to others sharing experience and corrections as needed. Hope you like videos. Cheer, ~JUICE

[@pamper2697]

whenever I turn in dcs, my plane always does a flip and I lose control and die, how do I prevent this?

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

Get help from a DCS community maybe? This is not a video game and it mimics real flight. Fly the plane and try not to throw it around in the sky is the only thing that I can think of. Check your controller settings and see if you have anything double bounded to the flight inputs. 4YA and Tactical DCS are two great communities that I would recommend. 👍

[@matka5130]

[@mersyndol]

A still air mass?? WTF is that??? Pressure is dynamic!

[@AIRWARFAREGROUP]

It’s a notional construct to describe a theoretical ideal. It’ll never happen, but it explains a fundamental condition. It’s a bit like the International Standard Atmosphere.