Learn to Fly and Steal with Your PC

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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The crazy dude, Richard Russell, that stole that commercial turboprop Q400 airplane last week apparently pulled off some "incredible maneuvers" according to Alaska Air CEO Brad Tilden. Crazy dude is documented asking air traffic controllers, "Pilot guy, can this thing do a backflip, you think?" What makes all noteable for our tech news is that apparently Russell was self trained on video games.

He told air traffic control: "I've played video games before and I know what I'm doing a little bit." Russell said he knew how to "put the landing gear" down. He appeared to struggle at times, however, telling air traffic control: "I have no idea what all that means" and fretted about his fuel supply declining.
 
lol maybe he should of played less HAWX and more flight sim X.. he might of actually figured out how to land it. sucks for all the people this guy's retarded stunt effected but glad my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him sitting in jail cell for the next 25 years.
 
I can believe that people learn how to fly an aircraft well enough from a video game well enough to get a real one off the ground. Landing it can be a bit harder, especially if your goal is to exit this world in a blaze of glory after joyriding with the thing.

I just hope that this doesn't mean that buyers of flight sticks and airplane simulators don't get on a watch list. I feel like I'm on enough of those watch lists as it is! :D
 
someone released the ATC tower conversation - part 1 -

part 2 -

im pretty sure he died from crashing. but 2 f15 were scrambled. probably not from mcchord afb as they usually only have heavies stationed there. most likely a close by guard base
 
That was the first thing I said, flight sim time. Fuck I've rolled a 737 in flight sim x...
 
So the Aces High WW2 combat flight sim group I participate in currently has wild speculation that he used to play that game. People claim to recognize his voice. But he hadn't been seen in the game for a few years.
 
I guess this might by why MS doesnt make the worlds best selling flight sim anymore? or anyone else for that much matter cept for DCS but thats Military
 
jhymesba said:
I can believe that people learn how to fly an aircraft well enough from a video game well enough to get a real one off the ground. Landing it can be a bit harder, especially if your goal is to exit this world in a blaze of glory after joyriding with the thing.

I just hope that this doesn't mean that buyers of flight sticks and airplane simulators don't get on a watch list. I feel like I'm on enough of those watch lists as it is! :D
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just for that im watching you know :p
 
I learned how to fly from Pilot Wings on the SNES and could've handle the landing, no me pro blo!
This guy must've been a Star Fox kid, thus the shitty landing. Nice barrel roll tho, you made Peppy proud!
 
The Mad Atheist said:
I learned how to fly from Pilot Wings on the SNES and could've handle the landing, no me pro blo!
This guy must've been a Star Fox kid, thus the shitty landing. Nice barrel roll tho, you made Peppy proud!
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OMG i LOVED Pilot Wings! I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it. Good times.
 
jardows said:
Great. Getting ready for the calls to ban flight simulator games.
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While they are no doubt inevitable as a pilot I feel obliged to point out: Those sims arent very good. You have to spend a good chunk of change to get a sim that is close to realistic.

Bottom line is planes WANT to fly for the most part...its not hard to believe he got it off the ground. Turn it on, line it up with the runway, add power and the plane does the rest.
 
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sirmonkey1985 said:
lol maybe he should of played less HAWX and more flight sim X.. he might of actually figured out how to land it. sucks for all the people this guy's retarded stunt effected but glad my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him sitting in jail cell for the next 25 years.
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He clearly had no intention of landing it. He was suicidal.

I think just about anyone who has flown in Microsoft Flight Sim could land a plane, with a little help from ATC.
 
He may have made it further if he brought more coins.

hqdefault.jpg
 
hoxlund said:
someone released the ATC tower conversation - part 1 -


part 2 -


im pretty sure he died from crashing. but 2 f15 were scrambled. probably not from mcchord afb as they usually only have heavies stationed there. most likely a close by guard base
Click to expand...



They scrambled from Portland. There's video of them trailing him and some sweet photos of them taking off.


They appeared to use afterburners and went super sonic (multi booms were reported).





https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkStVWpU8AMrn63.jpg


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkStUAUV4AAZet9.jpg
 
fightingfi said:
I guess this might by why MS doesnt make the worlds best selling flight sim anymore? or anyone else for that much matter cept for DCS but thats Military
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No, my understanding is Steve Ballmer was looking to cut all recreational software for Windows and focus an entire gaming shift on Xbox. Flight Simulator fell under that umbrella, and he only realized the error after it was too late. At the time of closure they had many professional contracts still coming in.

Lockheed owns it now.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
lol maybe he should of played less HAWX and more flight sim X.. he might of actually figured out how to land it. sucks for all the people this guy's retarded stunt effected but glad my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him sitting in jail cell for the next 25 years.
Click to expand...
I think it may have been cheaper to pay for the jail dollars then the automatic crash investigation that occurs anytime an aircraft crash occurs. Those investigations are so much money and especially useless in this case. I get it when it's an actual accident. But we should wave off the investigation in something like this where an idiot was in control and just crashed it himself. We don't need to know the exact cause of how the idiot screwed it up. Just clean up the crash site and recycle it and move on. Way cheaper.
 
pendragon1 said:
most likely intentionally...
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I don't think so. He didn't sound suicidal on the radio. He was instructed to land at an airbase and didn't want to because he was worries about how he would be treated.

He also seemed very worried about how quickly he was going through his fuel.

Someone who is intent on killing thrmselves probably wouldn't be too concerned about these things.

I'm thinking he was probably just nuts, didn't give too much thought to what would happen at the end of his joyride, and tried another stunt and got too close to the ground.

Apparently he stalled that thing and somehow recovered right before hitting ground a couple of times.
 
EODetroit said:
So the Aces High WW2 combat flight sim group I participate in currently has wild speculation that he used to play that game. People claim to recognize his voice. But he hadn't been seen in the game for a few years.
Click to expand...

Interesting. What was his nick? I miss playing Aces High. If more people were playing these days, I'd probably jump back in.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I don't think so. He didn't sound suicidal on the radio. He was instructed to land at an airbase and didn't want to because he was worries about how he would be treated.

He also seemed very worried about how quickly he was going through his fuel.

Someone who is intent on killing thrmselves probably wouldn't be too concerned about these things.

I'm thinking he was probably just nuts, didn't give too much thought to what would happen at the end of his joyride, and tried another stunt and got too close to the ground.

Apparently he stalled that thing and somehow recovered right before hitting ground a couple of times.
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maybe guess we'll have to wait for a report.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Apparently he stalled that thing and somehow recovered right before hitting ground a couple of times.
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The crazy guy was talking to a pilot via the radio and had mentioned he was at flight idle. The pilot told him to increase power to 50% at that point. I'm not surprised he stalled.

At least with the investigation, we'll get some cockpit audio that wasn't transmitted.
 
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katanaD said:
with the right hardware, you can train very well on a sim
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except for how you will react when you don't give enough opposite rudder while banking and you wind up pulling negative G's and the instrument panel suddenly disappears due to blurred vision.

EODetroit said:
He taught himself by watching videos, studying manuals, and playing flight sims.
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and to think, all the gamers who love playing COD ;)
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I don't think so. He didn't sound suicidal on the radio. He was instructed to land at an airbase and didn't want to because he was worries about how he would be treated.

He also seemed very worried about how quickly he was going through his fuel.

Someone who is intent on killing thrmselves probably wouldn't be too concerned about these things.

I'm thinking he was probably just nuts, didn't give too much thought to what would happen at the end of his joyride, and tried another stunt and got too close to the ground.

Apparently he stalled that thing and somehow recovered right before hitting ground a couple of times.
Click to expand...

Or he was high...we may never know depending on how much of his body survived the crash...

the901 said:
The crazy guy was talking to a pilot via the radio and had mentioned he was at flight idle. The pilot told him to increase power to 50% at that point. I'm not surprised he stalled..
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Common misconception. Stalls occur because of the angle of attack not the power setting. Doesn't even matter what airspeed you are going, its all about angle of attack.

EODetroit said:
Flight simmer who never touched a plane before, taking off and landing:

Can certainly be done. Don't forget the kid that stole multiple aircraft to fly to the Bahamas, too: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/the-airplane-thief-244878 He taught himself by watching videos, studying manuals, and playing flight sims.
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Sure and people up in Alaska teach themselves how to fly all the time (illegally I might add). Its incredibly dangerous and the vast majority of these nascent pilots will simply kill themselves or bend a whole lot of metal before learning the right way to fly a plane.

Aviation, much like the ocean, is a harsh and unforgiving mistress.

_l_ said:
except for how you will react when you don't give enough opposite rudder while banking and you wind up pulling negative G's and the instrument panel suddenly disappears due to blurred vision.



and to think, all the gamers who love playing COD ;)
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Setting aside that rudder just corrects for adverse yaw in a bank...

Just how many degrees are you banking there? Most untrained people wont experience effects until 4-6Gs. A 60 degree bank turn will give you 2G. Commercial maneuvers are perform at 55 degrees of bank...
 
kju1 said:
Common misconception. Stalls occur because of the angle of attack not the power setting. Doesn't even matter what airspeed you are going, its all about angle of attack.
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That makes sense. You can be idle but nose down and be fine. I was figuring it had to do with a combination of airspeed and angle of attack.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I don't think so. He didn't sound suicidal on the radio. He was instructed to land at an airbase and didn't want to because he was worries about how he would be treated.

He also seemed very worried about how quickly he was going through his fuel.

Someone who is intent on killing thrmselves probably wouldn't be too concerned about these things.

I'm thinking he was probably just nuts, didn't give too much thought to what would happen at the end of his joyride, and tried another stunt and got too close to the ground.

Apparently he stalled that thing and somehow recovered right before hitting ground a couple of times.
Click to expand...

He was though. Listen towards the end of that second video in the OP. Right after the Loop, he said, I dunno, I was kinda hoping that would be it...
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
lol maybe he should of played less HAWX and more flight sim X.. he might of actually figured out how to land it. sucks for all the people this guy's retarded stunt effected but glad my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him sitting in jail cell for the next 25 years.
Click to expand...


Your tax dollars are being spent on the investigation and now the cleanup of the wreckage
 
the901 said:
That makes sense. You can be idle but nose down and be fine. I was figuring it had to do with a combination of airspeed and angle of attack.
Click to expand...

Most pilots assume that as well. You wouldn't believe how many BFRs I have given where the pilot was shocked when the stall warning horn goes off at 80kts during a turn from base to final...

A stall can occur at any airspeed. I think even Flight Sim Pro could show this. It can even occur in nose low situations. There is an angle of attack called the critical angle of attack at which smooth airflow over the wing ceases (which decreases lift causing the stall). Stall characteristics vary based upon wing design.

Here is a good way to demonstrate a stall at higher airspeeds than normal (we CFI's call this an accelerated stall). CAVEAT: I am providing a generalized procedure for use in a simulator ONLY.

  1. Slow the simulated aircraft to its cruise speed.
  2. Ensure flaps are retracted.
  3. Roll into a 50 degree bank.
  4. Reduce power to idle.
  5. Continually add back pressure to the yoke (pull nose up in non pilot speak) until the aircraft stalls.
  6. Note airspeed at which aircraft stalls. it will be higher than if you did a power off stall. Or a power on one even.
  7. Recover.


Here is a good video showing the stall progression from the inside of the wing to out. Most small aircraft are designed to stall wing root out for increased control effectiveness and recovery during stalls.



Notice how the stall starts at the wing root and progresses outward. Also notice how rapid the onset of the full stall is and how lift immediately decreases and how gravity brings that nose down because nothing is holding it up anymore.

Sorry...CFI...cant resit a teaching moment.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I don't think so. He didn't sound suicidal on the radio. He was instructed to land at an airbase and didn't want to because he was worries about how he would be treated.

He also seemed very worried about how quickly he was going through his fuel.

Someone who is intent on killing thrmselves probably wouldn't be too concerned about these things.

I'm thinking he was probably just nuts, didn't give too much thought to what would happen at the end of his joyride, and tried another stunt and got too close to the ground.

Apparently he stalled that thing and somehow recovered right before hitting ground a couple of times.
Click to expand...
He most definitely was suicidal.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...le-to-intercept-possibly-stolen-q400-airliner

"Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose I guess. Never really knew it, until now."

His last words were "I think I am going to try out a barrel roll, and if that goes good I'm going to nose down and call it a night."
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
He most definitely was suicidal.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...le-to-intercept-possibly-stolen-q400-airliner

"Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose I guess. Never really knew it, until now."

His last words were "I think I am going to try out a barrel roll, and if that goes good I'm going to nose down and call it a night."
Click to expand...

You know, it sucks for the airline and everything, but I'll take one of these types of suicides over the active shooter / suicide by cop. At least he didn't take anyone else with him. I feel like the guy would have lived to be a legend, you know, had he lived.
 
Flogger23m said:
No, my understanding is Steve Ballmer was looking to cut all recreational software for Windows and focus an entire gaming shift on Xbox. Flight Simulator fell under that umbrella, and he only realized the error after it was too late. At the time of closure they had many professional contracts still coming in.

Lockheed owns it now.
Click to expand...

Lockheed bought the IP for the commercial-use version (Microsoft ESP). Dovetail Games was granted the rights by Microsoft to develop a non-commercial use (ie: game) version.
 
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