Polikarpov U-2VS (Po-2) for Flight Training?

[No56_Badger85]

Hi all!

 

I fly almost exclusively in IL-2 Sturmovik: Flying Circus but am wondering about using the U-2VS as a dual-controls trainer for new recruits into our RFC virtual squadron. I'm trying to determine whether this is feasible and so have a few questions:

1. If two people are flying in the same U-2VS on multiplayer, can they switch off who controls the aircraft (front seat or back seat) or are the back seat pilot/gunner's flight controls only cosmetic?
2. If the trainer pilot owns a U-2VS in the IL-2 store, does the person joining him as the gunner on multiplayer have to own the aircraft as well?
3. In the IL-2 store, when you "gift" an aircraft to someone, can they transfer that aircraft back to another person for free (i.e. we may want to "own" only a couple of trainer U-2VS planes for the squadron that the new recruits can loan for their training, but we don't want to require for them to purchase the U-2VS since we're only training on it briefly to ultimately fly in Flying Circus)?

 

Thank you!

 

P.S. Fun fact: my grandfather flew in the Polikarpov Po-2 during his navigator training in the Soviet Navy's air service during WWII (then later trained in the Il-2 and Pe-2, the latter being his assigned aircraft).

[[DBS]Browning]

Only the pilot can control the U-2.

[=FEW=fernando11]

43 minutes ago, [DBS]Browning said:

Only the pilot can control the U-2.

Indeed. Being able to fly planes when a copilot exist would be awesome...

That said. You could joing as the gunner/backseat Pilot and walk the trainee on what to do and how to do it.

 

I'm almost sure the backseat instruments do work.

 

3. You could set up a "trainee" acount. And then multiple people can log in, one at a Time, to try the game, train, and once he is over the next guy logs in.

[Jade_Monkey]

1-No

2-No

3-No. I see the good intentions but I'm pretty sure it's against EULA.

[Lusekofte]

Getting a two human player cockpit is something ED has worked a long time getting. I think they have implemented it in 2 or 3 modules. 
Looking at the problem getting sold PO 2 to enough people do not render a development of such things in future. Making it more expensive would make it impossible. But I like the idea myself

[RedKestrel]

One of the rationale's behind dual training is having someone who knows the plane to be there in an emergency. In this case, the pilot cannot really die and the plane is digital, so there is nothing saying the pilot cannot simply learn that way. if you want to avoid take off and landing they can air start. Not sure what utility there would be in having dual control in a sim.

One thing that you could possibly try as far as having U-2s to loan out, is have a 'loaner' account with a single U-2 available. The new pilot would log in with that account and the U-2 would be available to them. You could just change the password between pilots to make sure only the new recruit is using the U-2. I don't think there's anything legally wrong with having an account that you let several people use, so long as only one person at a time is using it.

[No56_Badger85]

Thank you all for the replies and to =FEW=fernando11 and RedKestrel for the trainee/loaner account idea (I didn't think of that). But, since there's no dual control option, I don't think the U-2VS makes sense for Flying Circus training specifically, since the Bristol Fighter can be used instead (the observer/trainer can kind of crane over the front pilot's shoulder if the trainer needs to see a gauge). Thanks again!

[=FEW=fernando11]

4 hours ago, No56_Badger85 said:

Thank you all for the replies and to =FEW=fernando11 and RedKestrel for the trainee/loaner account idea (I didn't think of that). But, since there's no dual control option, I don't think the U-2VS makes sense for Flying Circus training specifically, since the Bristol Fighter can be used instead (the observer/trainer can kind of crane over the front pilot's shoulder if the trainer needs to see a gauge). Thanks again!

Basicaly yes. You are right

 

But I'm almost sure the second Pilot has His own set of working gauges. Not super important, but maybe usefull

[VampireNZ]

On 3/24/2020 at 5:32 AM, No56_Badger85 said:

In the IL-2 store, when you "gift" an aircraft to someone, can they transfer that aircraft back to another person for free (i.e. we may want to "own" only a couple of trainer U-2VS planes for the squadron that the new recruits can loan for their training, but we don't want to require for them to purchase the U-2VS since we're only training on it briefly to ultimately fly in Flying Circus)?

 

Looked into this recently as was having some issues with a gift of BoS:P.

You can either activate the 'gift' in which case you can't transfer it to someone else, or you can re-gift it to someone else. This re-gifting can be done twice only, and if any of the recipients activates it then it cannot be re-gifted. Hope that makes sense

[No56_Badger85]

Yes @VampireNZ, thank you for clarifying!

[zan64]

i do use mine to tool around with and do turns around a point and GA things like that, i mean irl you solo after just a few hours , in game not really necessary i think to do flight instruction beyond talking somebody through on discord or flying next to them