My story - Hans140

[Hans140]

Hello guys,

 

I just wanted to share my story of a sim pilot becoming a pilot of real WW1 replica planes. I used to play o lot MP ROF between circa 2014-2018 some of you may remember me from the servers. I was a true Camel jockey since my hearth belongs to that twitchy crate. As ROF was phased out and replaced by FC I too took a major turn in my life and became a member of a small group of pilots keen on replicating the WW1 dogfights. We are located in Central Europe and call ourselves Pterodactyl Flight. I finished the pilot lincence for LSA needed to fly these planes as well as glider pilot licence (another passion of mine) in 2021. I am currently flying reproduction Fokker EIII as well as building my own Sopwith Camel replica. I attach some links and pictures not as much as a flex, but more to let you know why you don´t see me around FC anymore. From my perspective, as soon as you start flying the "real" things, you just don´t feel like flying the sim anymore..

 

Salute to the old bards and the new pilots as well S"

 

Jan aka Hans140

 

 

Some pics from the Camel project..

Some good old ROF days agianst guys from J2

 

 

[AOB]

Fantastic work thanks for posting.

[JGr2/J5_Klugermann]

I remember you Hans

[No.23_Starling]

On 12/27/2023 at 11:29 PM, Hans140 said:

Hello guys,

 

I just wanted to share my story of a sim pilot becoming a pilot of real WW1 replica planes. I used to play o lot MP ROF between circa 2014-2018 some of you may remember me from the servers. I was a true Camel jockey since my hearth belongs to that twitchy crate. As ROF was phased out and replaced by FC I too took a major turn in my life and became a member of a small group of pilots keen on replicating the WW1 dogfights. We are located in Central Europe and call ourselves Pterodactyl Flight. I finished the pilot lincence for LSA needed to fly these planes as well as glider pilot licence (another passion of mine) in 2021. I am currently flying reproduction Fokker EIII as well as building my own Sopwith Camel replica. I attach some links and pictures not as much as a flex, but more to let you know why you don´t see me around FC anymore. From my perspective, as soon as you start flying the "real" things, you just don´t feel like flying the sim anymore..

 

Salute to the old bards and the new pilots as well S"

 

Jan aka Hans140

 

 

Some pics from the Camel project..

Some good old ROF days agianst guys from J2

 

 

Epic.

 

Out of interest, how did you manage to convince your wife? I ask for a friend…

[Duckman]

That is mind blowing. 

 

Can you just give a quick review of how the real thing feels compared to the sim? Very curious. 

[Zooropa_Fly]

So you made an EIII in the spare room. You have large windows ?

 

As posted above, pretty mind blowing - enormous kudos to you.

Some of the flying is indeed very ballsy, it looked so real it could almost be RoF.

 

If you ever turn up for an airshow and see a Mamochka lined up for a seat in the DVII - feign illness immediately.

 

Salute !

[Hans140]

19 hours ago, US103_Rummell said:

Epic.

 

Out of interest, how did you manage to convince your wife? I ask for a friend…

Well it was actually the divorce that triggered the change. Not sure the friend´s wife will like that answer:)

[Hans140]

2 hours ago, Duckman said:

That is mind blowing. 

 

Can you just give a quick review of how the real thing feels compared to the sim? Very curious. 

 

I can only speak for the EIII as the SE5a is flown by my friend, the most skilled pilot I know. The EIII is super sensitive on rudder and elevator as they are floating surfaces with no feedback. The more modern arrangement with stabilizers gives you much more feedback on the stick especially as the speed increases. The replica has ailerons, so no wing warping there, but overall the airplane is super unstable with CoG way aft and you have maintain pressure on the stick at all times. Once I wore slippery gloves and my hand slipped from the stick. It was actually very low to the ground just after take-off and the airplane immediately went into sort of candle nose up - very scary:)

Landing is another chapter altogether. With tail skid and no brakes you cannot handle any crosswind above 4 knots. It really likes to ground loop. You are left with basically always land against the wind no matter what. Needles to say modern airfields and their controllers don´t like it very much:)

2 hours ago, Zooropa_Fly said:

So you made an EIII in the spare room. You have large windows ?

 

As posted above, pretty mind blowing - enormous kudos to you.

Some of the flying is indeed very ballsy, it looked so real it could almost be RoF.

 

If you ever turn up for an airshow and see a Mamochka lined up for a seat in the DVII - feign illness immediately.

 

Salute !

Salute! The SE5 in the video is flown by the best pilot I know the leader of the group Petr Svoboda. The room where I have the Camel fuselage is rather small so it goes in and out through the window.

 

Btw. if there is one thing the sim teaches you it´s to get used to the proximity of other airplanes. I find that formation flying and general close quarter airshow dogfight does not give me as much chills as some other guys. Not sure it is necessarily a good thing though  

 

Oh yeah Mamochka.. good old rival from the Island map. I remember he likes to ram you when he gets frustrated after you shoot him down couple of times:) 

[Guest deleted@83466]

Those planes a very very cool, but also frightening!  I think I’ll stick to playing video games in my 1G comfy chair! ?

[BMA_Hellbender]

You guys are

• Awesome
• Crazy (some of those head-on passes were really close)

 

I am

• Envious as hell (but still slightly concerned)

 

I have a simple question: how much did it cost you to build and maintain such a machine?
 

 

23 hours ago, Hans140 said:

Well it was actually the divorce that triggered the change. Not sure the friend´s wife will like that answer:)

 

As someone who's getting re-married in 2024, I feel this in my soul.

 

 

EDIT: 

 

Actually, on closer inspection, this here (S.E.5a video at around 1:45) is totally NOT OK:

 

The S.E.5a pilot is looking at the D.VII in the distance and suddenly the E.III comes into view in a near collision course. He could NOT have been looking at him from that angle. You guys are going to get yourselves killed.

 

 

 

I mean it's your lives and all that, but you're so close to the ground and there's an audience nearby. Please don't hurt anybody except yourselves.

 

Edited January 4, 2024 by =IRFC=Hellbender
watched the entire video

[JGr2/J5_Klugermann]

2 hours ago, SeaSerpent said:

Those planes a very very cool, but also frightening!  I think I’ll stick to playing video games in my 1G comfy chair! ?

 

When are we going to get the band back together ?

[ST_Pirato]

Hello Hans140, that's some cool stuff. I remember your name from the old RoF days.

[Zooropa_Fly]

1 hour ago, =IRFC=Hellbender said:

The S.E.5a pilot is looking at the D.VII in the distance and suddenly the E.III comes into view in a near collision course.

 

I'd have to trust that the EIII pilot had eyes on the SE5 and was in control of the pass - seemed to be a few feet below him.

Was damn close though.

 

 

Piri - great to see you S!

[Hans140]

3 hours ago, =IRFC=Hellbender said:

You guys are

• Awesome
• Crazy (some of those head-on passes were really close)

 

I am

• Envious as hell (but still slightly concerned)

 

I have a simple question: how much did it cost you to build and maintain such a machine?
 

 

 

As someone who's getting re-married in 2024, I feel this in my soul.

 

 

EDIT: 

 

Actually, on closer inspection, this here (S.E.5a video at around 1:45) is totally NOT OK:

 

The S.E.5a pilot is looking at the D.VII in the distance and suddenly the E.III comes into view in a near collision course. He could NOT have been looking at him from that angle. You guys are going to get yourselves killed.

 

 

 

I mean it's your lives and all that, but you're so close to the ground and there's an audience nearby. Please don't hurt anybody except yourselves.

 

All I can say we do our best to give a good show while staying as safe as possible in this environment. Petr (pilot of the SE5) is a bit of a loose cannon, but also the best pilot I know. The gopro has been fitted to the left side of his flying goggles. Meaning his field of view goes far more to the right than it can be judged from the vid. He has seen the EIII coming from his right.

 

The airplanes are LSA replicas scaled to approx 90% with modern Rotax engines. This keeps the running cost comparately low, but you still haver to build the aircraft yourself. 

3 hours ago, ST_Pirato said:

Hello Hans140, that's some cool stuff. I remember your name from the old RoF days.

Hi Pirato, good to see you still around! I remember you as well from the old ROF days:)

[Guest deleted@83466]

10 hours ago, J5_Klugermann said:

 

When are we going to get the band back together ?

When Lorne Michaels offers us $3000.

[JGr2/J5_Baeumer]

One of the most interesting things you have demonstrated here, is the rate of bullet consumption with the overwing cartridge 'changes' and how really inexpensive our online hobby is to scratch that itch.  Excellent and looks like a tremendous amount of fun....makes me want to hop on the server but even more to experience the real thing!

 

PS  I remember you too!

 

[Hans140]

18 hours ago, JGr2/J5_Baeumer said:

One of the most interesting things you have demonstrated here, is the rate of bullet consumption with the overwing cartridge 'changes' and how really inexpensive our online hobby is to scratch that itch.  Excellent and looks like a tremendous amount of fun....makes me want to hop on the server but even more to experience the real thing!

 

PS  I remember you too!

 

One thing I have realized doing this kind of flying is how gun jams are situations you have to deal with almost constantly. Of course we are using blanks which are more prone to jams..

Edited January 7, 2024 by Hans140

[US103_Baer]

I remember watchng that SE5a one a while back. Amazing but nuts. Please  stay safe

[Guest deleted@83466]

In the event that you tip over on landing, does that control post (what do call that) provide any protection?  Is it sort of like a roll bar, of sorts?  In our simulation, smart pilots always had an auto-duck snapview tied to a joystick button, especially when flying the Eindecker or Dolphin.  I don’t suppose you have one of those buttons on your real control stick, so that’s why I’m asking.

I’d never get in such a thing, but I always raise a glass to those cheeky badgers that find themselves living their dreams!

 

Edited January 10, 2024 by SeaSerpent

[Wizz]

Hi Hans140, thanks for a fascinating insight into your new life in aviation proper!

 

I had to comment because your story reminded me a lot of my own. I grew up enjoying flight simulators and particularly helicopter sims. In the last couple of years I went and got my commercial helicopter license and now work in the aviation industry. As you mentioned, I've moved away from flying helicopter simulators because it's so hard to enjoy it when you do it for real. But, coincidentally, that's what drove me to Flying Circus in the last few months! While I'd dabbled in RoF (probably less than ten hours) years and years ago, I've fallen in love with these amazing machines, and the rich and deep history that comes along with them.

 

Safe flying friend, and if you ever need to scratch that online flying itch again, might I humbly suggest the wonderfully slow, unstable and amazingly fun world of rotary wing aviation!

Edited January 10, 2024 by Wizz

[Hans140]

On 1/10/2024 at 2:44 AM, SeaSerpent said:

In the event that you tip over on landing, does that control post (what do call that) provide any protection?  Is it sort of like a roll bar, of sorts?  In our simulation, smart pilots always had an auto-duck snapview tied to a joystick button, especially when flying the Eindecker or Dolphin.  I don’t suppose you have one of those buttons on your real control stick, so that’s why I’m asking.

I’d never get in such a thing, but I always raise a glass to those cheeky badgers that find themselves living their dreams!

 

Well I hope I will never have to find out. But in theory it should. Not sure any ducking would help in that situation as you would end up hanging in your straps upside down..

On 1/10/2024 at 12:47 PM, Wizz said:

Hi Hans140, thanks for a fascinating insight into your new life in aviation proper!

 

I had to comment because your story reminded me a lot of my own. I grew up enjoying flight simulators and particularly helicopter sims. In the last couple of years I went and got my commercial helicopter license and now work in the aviation industry. As you mentioned, I've moved away from flying helicopter simulators because it's so hard to enjoy it when you do it for real. But, coincidentally, that's what drove me to Flying Circus in the last few months! While I'd dabbled in RoF (probably less than ten hours) years and years ago, I've fallen in love with these amazing machines, and the rich and deep history that comes along with them.

 

Safe flying friend, and if you ever need to scratch that online flying itch again, might I humbly suggest the wonderfully slow, unstable and amazingly fun world of rotary wing aviation!

Hi, choppers were never my thing tbh. But they are still better than autogyros imho - these things are just so ugly the ground repels them (and thats why they fly) ?