BFM Lesson #6 Flat Scissors

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This tutorial video covers the Flat Scissors.
It explains:
- What a Flat Scissors is and how you end up in one
- How to fly a Flat Scissors offensively
- The concept of "unloading"
- How to fly defensively and force a Flat Scissors
- How to know when to reverse against a bandit
- Disengaging from a Flat Scissors
Comments and feedback are always welcome, so if this video helped you out hit the like button and let me know in the comments below. Cheers!

[@wallyknew]

Unloaded rolls, very good bit of advice.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yeah unloading is something many people don't know about or consider doing for sure

[@jonhimself77]

@@RequiemsACTL Could you explain more? Never heard of it before. I can understand in pitch because >lift >drag, if you were in a parabola descent you should accelerate fastest. I'm guessing (amongst other ideas) in that if you unload the wings the one you want to drop wont be fighting the roll direction due to no lift.... but isn't this countered by the lifting wing? I study aero and I've learned more from air combat than most text books :)

[@buggerall]

what is worse, it doesn't seem to work for me. I've tried it several times and in the spit roll rate appears to be exactly the same loaded or unloaded. It's really wierd!

[@Leon_Portier]

Recently learned the flat scissors manouvre. Today I got surprised in a P40 against a 109 F4, I scissored him off and he ran!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Leon Portier Excellent work!

[@jonredcorn862]

Can you do a video on some of these really great small tips, like dropping the nose before a reversal. I notice you have a bunch of these great flying tips but don't have them consolidated into a single video. Would be really helpful. Thanks for your time.

[@RequiemsACTL]

I totally understand what you mean Jon. All of these little things require the right context to be shown properly though, so even though the "unloading" is something you may have not seen before this video...you can be certain that these kinds of tips will pop up consistently across various videos because they are a reoccurring concept used often. It's kind of why I'm numbering these lessons now, as I'm creating them in a progressive way to build on the earlier concepts seen in previous videos otherwise I end up re-explaining things every other video which just adds to their length. My goal is to create "5 minute BFM" videos now that the more in-depth theory stuff is completed.

[@JustPlaneStupid69]

it wasn't until i saw this exact video that i started understanding where i was having the most trouble with my extensions. thank you so much!

[@Sneaky1ne]

pretty epic when you enter this dance with another player, even if I lose I kinda enjoy the whole thing.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yeah it's especially tense when the guy is taking shots at you each time his nose points at you

[@Mucologist]

Expert advice. Top drawer! It is packed and needed more than one run-through to get it down. Love watching the maneuver in action. Thanks,

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Mucologist, I know it's packed but I hate the idea of just blabbing on and on making some video 30 minutes when I can get it done in 10mins or less :-) (my goal for the BFM demonstrations)

[@HungrigerHugo89]

Thank you very much, I keep rewatching these vids to improve my flying....and you know what, it works :D

[@psychoyuri3283]

Super! I finally might stand a change in a dogfight. I always had 0,0% knowledge about what to do when I came into a dogfight. I always am the one who get shot down. I hope my brain doesn't let me down and be able to remember this in the heat of the moments. I will try and practice this later this week. Thanks for the video's you upload on this channel.

[@RequiemsACTL]

You're welcome Yuri! Just remember it takes time, so you won't remember all these things the first few attempts. You'll find yourself thinking about what you need to do which will slow down your decision making, but with enough exposure and practice you can start being proactive about what you want to do and the results will come :-)

[@TheRaptorXX]

Cheers Req, another gem!

[@marco2571]

Never seen before a video made better than these. Congratulations for your awesome work and sincerely thanks for it.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Marco, appreciate it!

[@jandewezel]

Nice, i really should watch your video’s more often. The BF 109 can be so tricky fighter against fighter.

[@arthipex8512]

One of your best so far!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Arthipex, hopefully that trend continues :-)

[@Corsair8X]

Didn't know about dropping the nose before the turn. That is a very helpful tip. I'll start using that.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Just remember your aim is to achieve zero G so don't push over excessively hard. In a real airplane it's easy to know when you're zero G but in a sim it's a bit harder to tell as you rely on your sight picture raising very slightly to recognise it.

[@demikelis11]

Great video! Thank you for taking the time to mak it.

[@michaelbaker1524]

Love it. Keep em up!

[@GridironGameSim]

This is the tutorial I've been looking for for over a year.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Cheers Gridiron, sorry it took so long! LOL

[@MrNonaste]

An excellent lesson. Always wondered what the devil is this "scissors" thing is, what it looks like, how you do it. This is the best explanation I've encountered that enables me to practice the maneuver. Thanks.

[@RequiemsACTL]

You are very welcome Ray :-)

[@tea7923]

Keep it coming, i'm learning alot from this, espcially from thailand. :/

[@zakkyummms]

You deserve so many more views.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Much appreciated Zakky. I know what I do is niche so it's not a big deal. I make these with an ex-fighter pilot so it gives me great satisfaction knowing if they're good enough for him then I know they're good enough for you guys to watch! If I did this for the view count I would be making videos in War Thunder or Battlefield anyway ;-)

[@MikoMuru]

My brain has just been enlightened after watching your vids. I feel like i was a caveman dogfighter after watching this

[@robcooper8891]

Very helpful. ThAnks

[@RequiemsACTL]

My pleasure Rob, glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@old_guard2431]

Echoing other comments - i have done some reading on maneuvering over the years but I don't recall the "unloaded roll" coming up before. A lot to take in, I keep coming back to these.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Hey Guard, it's been a while! I'm not sure if the concept of unloading needs it's own video as I try to include it when I can, but I guess for those who don't watch everything I make they may miss it.

[@CZ350tuner]

Could you do the rolling scissors, vertical rolling scissors (a popular P-47 trap manoeuvre) and the Retournement (both conventional and inverted).

[@Eucsneto]

Wow... perfect video... very nice. Thanks very much. Post more scape manuevers videos, and how to revese situations. I like to fly bf109 for exemple... and there is situations where you are surprised by a turn figter on your six and you are in a low energy state. I find myself in that situations alot of times hahaha :P Thanks again. Please more!!!!

[@RequiemsACTL]

I'll be getting to all sorts of things like that but I'm doing things so learning will be a natural progression as there is no point is just jumping around all over the place. You'll see more of it as we move forward :-)

[@Eucsneto]

The Air Combat Tutorial Library ....Nice. What is your nickname in BoS? Do you use to fly at WoL?? Would be nice to do a duel with you in some training server like 72AG :)

[@RequiemsACTL]

My online name is SYN_Requiem, but you may have seen other tutorials by me in Rise of Flight under the name Requiem10NS. I fly on WoL or TAW, but I don't get much time to fly nowadays as I spend most of my free time flying scenarios to create the content you see for these videos. Honestly I've never dueled much ever but if you see me on Berloga or Discord I'll oblige if I'm asked.

[@Eucsneto]

Nice.... hope to see you online. And looking forward for more videos.... (scape and reversal manuevers pleaseee)

[@loneraider6500]

thanks it helps with il2 and warthunder

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yep these videos apply to whatever sim you fly!

[@TheGentleUncle]

About the disengagement in the end, doesn't it depend to an extent on the bandit's ability to react to your change in direction while trying to reduce his turning room? For example if he enjoys a high roll rate and perceives it fast enough won't he be able to mitigate the significant increase in distance that you can achieve? But I suppose he would also need to not have a huge plate of armour behind him to be able to see you at that point...

[@Cody-od2fr]

Awesome! Can you try Rolling scissors next?

[@RequiemsACTL]

Hey Drifter, yep that is something being worked on too :-)

[@Cody-od2fr]

Thank you!

[@Cody-od2fr]

Hahaha, cool! goodluck! :D

[@Eucsneto]

I restart to study closely (taking notes) your BFM videos. I think I miss what you mean with high LOS rate (due to my bad englilsh). Do you mean that is the rate of travel of the bandit from the back to the front of my canopy??

[@RequiemsACTL]

Exactly.

[@d4cndev]

Is there a way to get that same map you are showcasing for us? 2:16 I would love to inspect my own fights, Learn and starting to take notes, but this visual aid you got here is so good! Is this within war thunder still?

[@RequiemsACTL]

It's a program called Tacview, in this video I'm using the Il-2 Great Battles series

[@d4cndev]

@@RequiemsACTL I thank you so much for such a quick answer back! Ill give it a look for sure! See you in the skies brother! o7

[@Worr]

Any tips for redefining the fight back into a 2-circle fight? Is it preferable to disengage if you put yourself in a disadvantageous flat scissors, e.g will redefining into 2-circle fight inherently just make the disadvantageous position even worse? I feel like the flat scissors also allowed me to gain momentum in negative fights, e.g pushing it towards a neutral fight again. During this phase I feel in control of the fight - but I feel clueless as to how I sometimes manage to continue that momentum into a positive fight and other times fall back into a negative fight again. Basically I feel confident in transitioning from negative to neutral, but clueless on how to continue that transition from neutral to positive. Any tips here? Also, even though these videos are not specifically made for Battlefield V, I feel like this series teaches me a lot. Thanks for a great series and I hope there is more content to come!

[@RequiemsACTL]

Thanks Worr, great to hear these help you even in BFV as that's the goal of these videos. I'm a flight instructor / airline pilot and a gamer, so I create these for you to use them regardless of what simulator/game you use..if it's using an airplane they should work :-) I've played a lot of hours in BFV and all the previous versions too, but I very rarely use the airplanes in Battlfield because of how they fly and their view limitations (ie - can't free look without disengaging flight controls) so that's put me off flying in the Battlefield series. With that said, I loved flying the helicopters though! Anyways...if you can outperform him in 1C even if he should beat you then you won't need to redefine into 2C. Redefining into 2C really depends on your timing and minimising your vertical/lateral displacement from the bandit depending on which way you attempt to redefine the fight (vertically or laterally). Use your hands to imagine how the planes are maneuvering against each other space during a 1C fight to get an idea...if you try to switch to 2C to come back towards the bandit at any point other than when you cross at the merge you will make your situation worse and provide the bandit with turning room to use against you. You can always extend away at the merge, fly off, and then come back and attempt to force 2C again. Otherwise you should lead turn him coming back into the merge if you can, often forcing him to turn into you which will force the fight 2C unless he reverses, then you should reverse if you see him do that to keep it 2C, extend and reset, or accept a 1C fight. Lead turning (BFM Lesson #4) is an extremely underutilised aspect of BFM in online players. Many of them are just focused on taking a high aspect low % shot at the merge instead of trying to get better position for a higher % shot later. Once you've gone from defensive to neutral then it's a matter of getting into a position with low enough range, aspect, and closure (RAC) to give you the highest % chance for a shot. Achieving that position requires you to manage your pursuit curves against the bandit correctly. This requires you to recognise those cues of how RAC are changing and act accordingly based on that. When it comes down to it, all offensive maneuvers are just special names for pursuit curves. I'm always working on new content, but I work on these with other real pilots / fighter pilots who review them before I make a video public so my video process takes longer than a regular gaming channel.

[@Worr]

@@RequiemsACTL First of all BFV supports decoupled freelook as of two patches ago. I think I will have to refresh my memory on the terms again to fully appreciate the reply, haha. For now I've done the flat scissor and against enemies that reacted properly I've accelerated out of the 1C into 2C to give myself an advantage in turn rate (while the bandit throttles down and expecting me to turn into him again) with decent success. My biggest issue now is dealing with multiple bandits as a solo fighters. Any advice on target priority?

[@RequiemsACTL]

@@Worr Interesting. I'll have to see if I can use TrackIR with BFV then and if it works with my HOTAS.

[@faxoli]

Newbie here been having hard time getting behind the ai when they start headon. Will practice this

[@RequiemsACTL]

Welcome to the simulator world Faxoli! Keep in mind that this situation can occur from any of kind of position and not just from head on. It was just simpler to demonstrate the concept that way.

[@faxoli]

The Air Combat Tutorial Library thanks 🙏 i have come from the racing simulator world. Adding the vertical dimension is tough but one step at a time.

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yep, thinking three dimensionally is definitely an adjustment to make but it's all about the baby steps (BFM 1-5 are the strong foundation to build on)

[@tea7923]

Could you make a Gun sight guide for the P40?

[@RequiemsACTL]

I do plan on it. In the meantime though you can find the Angle Off rings for the P-40 sight in the gunnery supplement I made here: www.dropbox.com/s/s4kl8jgkouw8wqb/Angle%20Off%20Charts.pdf?dl=0

[@Dezzasheep]

Is it recommend to reduce throttle as the scissors are performed? To help the overshoot?

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yes that would help especially if you're already too fast, but you need to be mindful of your airspeed so you don't stall as well.

[@Dezzasheep]

@@RequiemsACTL Great thanks! Will give this a go on Berloga 👍

[@Khurtes]

Hi, thanks for your videos. I would like to ask you some suggestion about how to improve my performance of this maneuver, because I can't get it working. Most of the problem I have is when a spitfires (mk V or IX) tails me: I usually play FWs (A5) and due to their high roll rate It should be easy to use a flat scissors to at least disengage and run away. I usually get to the point where the scissors begin, but after the first pass, the spitfire usually cut down its throttle to close the turn and, despite my higher roll rate, I have to choose between cutting my power too and transform the scissors in a stall fight (which ofc I would loose) or to keep the power on and give the bandit a clear solution of fire on my full profile. Even if I manage to dodge this attack, the bandit can now perfectly see my intention to extend and use its superior turn rate to follow me in the dive having some time (the mk IX has a lot of time) to shoot at me before I could get enough separation. Thanks for your help

[@RequiemsACTL]

Try and initiate the scissors at a shorter range or cut your power a bit more dramatically to create a higher closure than he wants. If the bandit has enough time to slow the closure down to get multiple shots at you then you may have started scissoring a little bit too far away. Hard to know without seeing a track.

[@Khurtes]

ty for your answer. I will try to delay the start as you suggest. Eventually i will record the fight next time.

[@kentwilliams4152]

As you know the A5 has outstanding weapons, and a beautiful roll rate, but a large turn radius. That could be your problem.

[@kentwilliams4152]

An unloaded turn is better? Gotta try that. Thanks…

[@RequiemsACTL]

You'll want to be unloading in the roll to improve the roll rate, not the turn itself.

[@tea7923]

Last comment promise, just asking because I practice but don’t have a steady hand, can you make a stability guide?

[@RequiemsACTL]

It's fine really. I'm here to help answer questions! Stability is something that comes with practice. As a start, have a look in your settings and put in a curve value of 20 to your pitch and yaw axis in-game.

[@tea7923]

I am very glad I am able to speak with you because I am 15, overseas, and I do not pick up things very quickly with school going on also. Basically, thank you for responding and I will try it. Keep using those cool visual effects!

[@ricardoleitao-bolelas-5858]

How do we know we are around the zero G in the runaway dive?

[@RequiemsACTL]

In RL you would feel yourself go weightless against belt straps obviously. In a sim though you have to use visual cues, so if your airplane has a G meter (either on a HUD or instrument) use that otherwise look for your view to shift slightly upwards. This is indicated by gunsight or canopy movement. If you watch the gunsight markings in particular during positive, zero, or negative G maneuvers you can catch the subtle cues and get used to looking for them

[@Maxtherocketguy]

4 years later

[@RequiemsACTL]

These videos are going to be around a long time :-)

[@Worr]

What is line of sight rate defined as?

[@RequiemsACTL]

It's covered in BFM Lesson #2 I believe, but it relates to how fast the bandit moves across your canopy or horizon.

[@Martin_Gregory]

Have you explained somewhere why you can roll faster unloaded? That's not clear to me...

[@RequiemsACTL]

You could probably try here kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5LOamp8lNOVbJY Essentially when unloading you're accelerating at 0G, so by being at 0G the plane is minimising the weight it has to counteract in flight using lift. If you just dive and keep the nose at the same attitude the plane will be maintain 1G, so the lift produced by the wings is greater than at 0G which is going to create higher drag that will slow your acceleration.

[@Martin_Gregory]

@@RequiemsACTL Thanks. I see that this maximises acceleration by minimising drag, but am still not clear on why it improves the roll rate, which is a differential lift kind of thing....

[@MrBigBrainThe2nd]

where do u learn the lingo? like what is a reversal? LOS rate? where do i learn this stuff

[@RequiemsACTL]

All my BFM Lessons built on the knowledge from the previous lessons, so these terms are introduced in previous videos of mine and are assumed knowledge. For reading material you can check out those such as Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering by Robert Shaw for real life experience or "In Pursuit" for an online multiplayer oriented document.

[@MrBigBrainThe2nd]

@@RequiemsACTL ok, thank you

[@CZ350tuner]

Golden rule with flat scissoring: Never scissor with an opponent who can scrub energy far quicker than you!! That's any heavy fighter (Bf-110, P-38, etc.) or anything with airbrakes or anything with a tail gunner. In scissoring he who can scrub energy quickest ends up on the tail of the loser!! If one realises that you're in this "cannot possibly win" situation then break the flat scissor by pulling Split S (altitude permitting).

[@Charlieboterman]

Ow, that's what i've been doing wrong...

[@RequiemsACTL]

Yep it can definitely hurt if you end up in this and you didn't intend on it!

[@deadbeef576]

An energy fighter like the BF109 shouldnt get into a flat scissors