Pilot death on landing/ditching

[Denum]

Is far too sensitive now.

 

Wounded pilots are dying on hard landings. I bounced once and died on the second impact. 

 

Fresh pilots are dying on gentle landings in the field. 

 

Landing at objectives on rough terrain is nearly impossible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CUJO_1970]

+1

 

It's really bad now...please take a look at this, the majority of belly landings result in instant death now.

 

Example: yesterday I shot an aircraft and debris came back and bent my prop (109G-14)...decided to belly in near a road in a field...lowered speed, laid it down easy and *poof* instant pilot death.

[Tea-Pig]

I'd agree. Several times recently I've nursed a shot up plane back to base with oil on windscreen or engine/airframe damage and landed bumpily, but successfully, only to have the pilot die on touchdowns that don't even break the undercarriage. It makes me feel there's no point in making the effort to RTB when damaged and I might just as well end the mission and re-spawn.

[Denum]

 

This from before update, they may have tweaked it since then. I'd have to try it again and see. 

[Hanu]

I once even died when my smooth parachute ride reached finally the ground. I was not even injured AFAIK.

[Swing]

+1...Did the developers signal that they were going to look into the problem?...landing in open field without landing gear is now impossible...Instant death most of the time...

[Nus]

Parchute landings are instant death after latest update, also landed a YAK 1 in field with wheels down,  right at the end the plane gently tipped over, dead pilot.

[Hanu]

Yes, this is now waaay overcorrected. Takes away one of the biggest joys when you manage to reach home / friendly area after been shot to almost pieces, just to die after hitting anything.

 

Sure it was way too easy earlier, where you survived almost anything except when the plane blew up.

[Hanu]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:46 PM, Denum said:

 

This from before update, they may have tweaked it since then. I'd have to try it again and see. 

 

No, happened again to me today. This is the a biggest issue currently which makes starting IL-2 much less interesting.

[Heliopause]

Belly landed an A20. Instant death.

[IslesProf]

I've also found that even the most textbook belly landings off runways seem to kill the pilot. By their very nature they are a bit bumpy, but that shouldn't be killing the pilot. 

 

The only way I've found to ditch successfully in fields is to fly as slowly as I can, with flaps down, then use full rudder and opposite aileron to slow further as the plane stalls out. Obviously can't do that if your rudder is knackered.

 

Admittedly I don't fly in real life, but this doesn't seem quite right. 

[69th_Panp]

Way too sensitive now!!  short of landing like a butterfly you will die 

Edited February 5, 2022 by 69th_Panp

[Angry_Kitten]

The pilot death at landing is way to excessive. I had time to fly this week, tested the take off feature in the single player for once. Overall its fun but the following... 

 

German planes are suicide machines.  

 

I mean, i had issue dealing with the engine torque, but when you are pulling doughnuts, tip the wing tip into the ground,  rip a flap or aileron off, the pilot should NOT die the moment the plane comes to a stop.  

  

               I did that with spitfires, yaks, lags, an il2, a pe,  and they survived.  Had a yak rip an elevator off the tail, and when i got the wings leveled out, i was able to take off and reach an alititude of about 300 meters before i flipped over and went down. 

 

The hop and skip method of breaking was used in world war one as taught in Red Baron... its how i land in the flying circus. 

 

In anything except a russian designed plane, a hop and skip WILL KILL YOU,  when im screaming down the plains at a whopping 45 kph, and go over a 1 meter tall rise, when i come down ON MY WHEELS   the pilot SHOULD NOT DIE.  

 

If the wheel gets ripped off,  you die.. 

 

But the funniest thing is, i was also testing bomb fuses.  It turns out that if your parked, you can drop a bomb.... and even when its a sc 1800 the plane is NOT damaged... 

 

[69th_RedHawk]

1. 69th_Hobbes — 02/02/2022

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnODYKx5ics&ab_channel=AirSafetyInstitute

    

   YouTube

   Air Safety Institute

   P-51 Engine Out, Off-Airport Landing - clip

   

    

    

    

    

    
2. [6:23 PM]

   I'll just leave this in here

Hobbes brought this to 69th and I think that it should be viewed by all.

 

[69th_Panp]

I remember this one, not only did he land in a wheat field, but he hit a concrete pillar with the right wing. crashed her in sideways after hitting it. If you look at the airspeed indicator at 2:54 , he hit the ground at 105 mph 

Edited February 5, 2022 by 69th_Panp

[TheSNAFU]

I am finding the pilot far more sensitive than it used to be. I have recently ditched a few times in an open field where the landing was fairly soft with little damage to my p51D yet I was killed each time. Something has definitely changed though I don’t know when. Sucks when I’ve had a long successful pwcg campaign but get killed in what we’re clearly walk away wrecks. Hope the devs are looking at this. 

[Angry_Kitten]

On 1/3/2022 at 12:46 PM, Denum said:

 

This from before update, they may have tweaked it since then. I'd have to try it again and see. 

 

 

was killing me for that kind of damage. 

 

tried to take off in german fighters, it was a bad relearnign experience for me. 

 

I never got off the ground really, but in all the 109 and 190s, rotating the plane like that, dragging a wing tip in the dirt runway.  the plane would come to a stop when i pulled the throttle to idle, BUT the pilot would then die. 

 

WHen doing that stuff in spitfires and soviet planes, i NEVER died whatsoever. 

 

There is a disparity in the game.

[anwhitmore]

 I agree. Something has changed. I ended up here because I noticed the issue and decided I wasn't imagining it and was going to post a bug report. I also noticed that mid air collisions are also now fatal, regardless of severity. I just watched my MC202 flat spin to the ground after clipping wings with a Sturmovik, The 202 looked completely intact but I was an instant kill. I have also experienced numerous belly landings resulting in instant death whereas before I would have expected to survive.

 

Hopefully they will look into this soon and have a think about rebalancing it.

Edited February 8, 2022 by anwhitmore

[SCG_motoadve]

55 minutes ago, anwhitmore said:

I have also experienced numerous belly landings resulting in instant death whereas before I would have expected to survive.

Before you could survive any kind of ditch, was kind of arcade.

 

Agreed, on pilot instant death for the minimum mid air collision, kind of too much.

 

As for ditching, if you do it perfect, you survive every time, has to be a very good ditch though, slow, smooth and   Hardly any vertical speed. 

Not touching flaps or gear just prior to touch down.

I have done 20 in a row and survived all of them, gear up, gear down, roads, fields etc.

It is more forgiving than real life if done properly.
 

But if you hit an object even at 5 mph you die. ( needs to be fixed)

[69th_Panp]

pin dropping ?

[anwhitmore]

The mid air collision death HAS to be fixed. Again I had a wing clip, this time with a Mig 3 and I died instantly...

... while watching my intact MC202 flat spin to the ground.

 

Surely that cant be right!

[Sowercrowd]

 

Well I'm at the point now where I think I just need a longer break from this sim. It's just so annoying to die on a soft belly landing after barely making it to your lines. It's far too unbalanced now.

[Giggles]

Well I havent tried doing much landing in the month i have been borrowing my friends laptop.  But the thing I noticed is that its completely impossible to track the variables. 

 

Sometimes parachuting itself will kill me if i have the plane climbing when i jump,  but at level flight or decline i live just fine when i jump. 

 

I have done belly landings that killed me on impact.  I have had a low speed impact of nose into the ground that i lived with severe injuries. 

 

Ive had numerious straffing runs on airfields where i somehow managed to bounce my belly armor off of a parked plane and spun out on the field and live.

 

 

[anwhitmore]

Agreed, Sick to death of dying at the slightest heavy landing and heaven forbid if you nose over, you never survive those anymore, regardless of how violent (or soft) it is. A long break or at least until the devs rethink the pilot kill model is definitely needed... shame.

[56RAF_Roblex]

I do agree that it was too easy before and is now probably too far the other way. I have survived belly landings recently but only if the ground was level and I could ease it down very gently.  Any bumps and it is all over.   On the other hand,  in real life some aircraft like the Typhoon were almost impossible to survive a belly landing in even on the airfield because of that big chin.   You would always bail out unless your canopy was jammed.

[Alastair_S1D]

It is actually pathetic. I was just in a fight on finnish server I got shot to heck after taking 3 aircraft down in a sortie. couldnt make it back to base. Pulled the 109 right back till she was stalling touched the ground *DEAD*. Sometimes I feel the devs don't know what they are doing. 

[334th_KermitLeFrog334]

Just nursed a 109 back with a damaged engine (combat power on too long) but no other damage. Perfect approach and landing. Died as I touched the ground.

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

Yes , there is something wrong with emergency landings.  Pilot death is exaggerated as planes explosions and asymmetric lift when wing is damaged. 

[Yogiflight]

18 minutes ago, 1PL-Husar-1Esk said:

asymmetric lift when wing is damaged. 

and absolutely no yaw. You fly straight, however the additional drag is only far out on one side.

[WarSlothdsbeckett]

Had to conduct a belly landing on 2 missions over the last few days, both times the pilot died. They were both gentle but the second one was smooth as silk and still killin the dude inside... help?

 

[FL_Valkyrie]

This seriously needs a fix, it cant be that no matter how smooth my ditch is i die every time, when pilots in ww2 had rougher landings and lived to tell the tale

Edited August 8, 2022 by JG2_Nagisa

[AKA_Greywolf]

To IL2 developers, I know you have a lot on your plate with the work your doing on the Normandy map. But seriously you guys need to fix this issue. I don't know when your many developers decided that you needed to screw with the pilot lethality issue but trust me on this one you got bigger fish to fry with this sim.

 

Your driving people AWAY from your sim because of this issue with guys getting killed on landing, belly landings, soft crashes where the airframe is hardly damaged is not doing this sim any good.

 

Bigger issue is how the hell a Tank (mostly the german tanks) can drive out of a 1000lb bomb crater after it has had it dropped on it's head. 

[Bulhoes_Neto]

 

[[Warship]MidnightLightnin]

This is stupid sensitive since it was changed. It's really frustrating to nurse a damaged plane back to the runway, land really gently, but find the pilot dies anyway at the smallest bounce. 

 

Please Please Please make this more realistic, pilots do walk away from crash landings.

[JGr2/J5_Hotlead]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1252692766

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1528178881

 

This really has been an issue for a while now. And it has definitely driven people I know away from the game and made them say they are far less likely to purchase future modules. That is a crying shame as this is (for the most part) an awesome game and community. But I can understand their reasoning and can't fault them for it.

 

Perhaps this will be part of the comprehensive DM review the devs are working on? I know they have a lot on their plate. I feel they'll get to this when they have time. It's just a matter of when. (Of course, it's easier for me to say that here from my calm office at work than it is for me to say that after I've just died for the umpteenth time in a gentle ditch. ??)

Edited August 26, 2022 by JG1_Hotlead_J10

[RedeyeStorm]

Hmm guys is this happening in MP or SP? Nobody is clear on that. I play SP and do not have this issue. If it is MP only that might be an indication where to look.

[Ghost666]

It seems to be happening in both SP and MP. But it seems to be more pronounced in MP. I play SP only and it's happened to me a couple of times. 3 point no bounce SMOOOOOOOth landing with a wounded pilot, and I died.? 

[AKA_Taipan]

AKA Squadron fly SP and MP and in both cases, it's about a 98% + chance of dying no matter how soft or well you ditch.

Our Squad has chaps who flew combat aircraft and were certified instructors and even they die on ditching using their wealth of knowledge.

This has gone on way too long and something must be done about this or, as has been said, it will put people off and they will stop using this great sim or they will just bail out rather than try to get the kite home which I think turns it into something it's not supposed to be.

Worst case, people will stop buying future modules altogether. 

[Eraseri]

Just started playing IL-2. I just had a small crash in-air which resulted in some minor damage to my Yak-1. I was merely starting on mission and saw the airfield so I figured might as well try to land. My engine was performing badly and eventually gave up. Nevertheless I managed to get flaps and landing gear down and even landed! It was astonishing to see I died on the impact even though there was no damage to landing gear whatsoever. Plane rolled to stop in good condition but pilot hanging dead inside.

 

If I had known this few days before I'm not sure if I had purchased Normandy.........

[RossMarBow]

I died landing in a stuka - after landing cause my plane got a touch sideways 
it seems that any horizontal G is instant death
which is kinda funny considering I had the cockpit open and my pilot was strapped in
so impossible for him to knock himself out