Need a POV to watch acrobatic practice

[FlintSteele]

I need to practice basic control of the plane and to be able to watch the plane as I try out barrel rolls, loops, turns etc.  I haven't found a camera view that will let me watch the plane from the ground so I can see what I'm doing from outside the plane.  F2 and F4 views follow the plane around and make it difficult for me to see what's going on from a stationary perspective.  Fly by goes by too fast.  I would appreciate any tips that would help.

 

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

F11, you can fly to any position you like.

[Rjel]

31 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

F11, you can fly to any position you like.

You can set the camera to track yourself in F11 but only so far from the camera before you lose the lock. If you set the camera at mid point of a runway, you can usually fly a mile or two around the field and still keep tracking. 

[oc2209]

I'm not sure if this is what you want, but I think it works better than watching from a ground position:

 

Spoiler

 

 

You could use an AI plane that won't change course much (like a friendly transport plane, for example), and then practice doing maneuvers around that plane. Record while doing so. Then, go back and watch everything you did from the second plane's perspective.

 

I manually track my movement with the mouse, and it works well enough.

[FlintSteele]

Thanks guys - all good suggestions.  Got some ideas from all your replies, did some experimenting and think with the record/playback capability along with the mouse tracking and views available, I'll be able to try out the stuff I want to learn.  

[oc2209]

1 hour ago, FlintSteele said:

Thanks guys - all good suggestions.  Got some ideas from all your replies, did some experimenting and think with the record/playback capability along with the mouse tracking and views available, I'll be able to try out the stuff I want to learn.  

 

You might prefer locked view (by default, F8+RightShift) from the other plane. It's smoother to watch than manual camera control, but you will occasionally lose sight of your plane. Here's a recording I just made to test it (I'd never tried it before):

 

Spoiler