The Extended Trail Exercise | From Formation To BFM | Extended Trail Exercise | DCS

Before real life pilots jump into Basic Fighter Maneuver (BFM) training they need to know some fundamental skills. This series on the Extended Trail exercise covers some of those vital skills.
In this video we'll go over the first part of that exercise with the Perch Setup. This setup is used in real world training. So when you hear fighter pilots talking about the Perch Setup you'll know exactly what they mean after watching this video.
Intro 00:00
Reposition Phase 00:42
Maneuver Phase 02:33
Lag Reposition 03:58
Lead Reposition 05:35
Examples 06:21
Outro 10:04
Radio Comms 101: • The Basics: Radio Comm...
Formation Flying Part 1: • Flying Formation The U...
The Perch Setup: • The Perch Setup | From...
Obligatory disclaimers:
The presence of DOD Visual Information in this video does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or any of its departments. Any views expressed by the presenter are those of the presenter and do not represent the views of the DOD or any of its components.

[@ebubekircagrsen7824]

The most hard part is the "find a friend" part. Lots of people hates this kind of "boring training". But you cannot know how greateful I am for this amazing video.

[@yappydawg8985]

Nice. I will have to experiment with the mission editor and see if I can get the AI to replicate this training behavior in a productive manner. Just curious, are you filming this with AI or with another player?

[@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom]

For this one I ended up going with another player (mostly because this player happened to have done this exact exercise IRL). Though it might be possible to use AI if you give it a long series of acrobatic commands. The only issue I see there is that the AI will be operating under a different set of the laws of physics. So it might be hard to keep up.

[@Stefan.von.Bischhoffshausen]

​@@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom Thanks for these videos, they go a long way easing up the learning curve in DCS. Have you considered making training missions to complement them?

[@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom]

@@Stefan.von.Bischhoffshausen For this particular exercise the AI isn't very helpful so its best done with a human friend, and that can be done on any map. But there are some exercises where a premade mission would be helpful (like the BSA series I made earlier in the year) and those will have a mission linked in the description. For the upcoming ACM, Interceptions, and SEAD videos in the pipeline I already have missions worked out. I just need to produce the videos for them.

[@Stefan.von.Bischhoffshausen]

@@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom That sounds great! Looking forward to those upcoming videos.

[@moldy_]

Great video! I'm curious how essential it is that the same type of plane be used by both offender and defender. If a friend and I play different modules, would this sort of exercise still work? Not sure if it would be best for both of us to fly in something like the TF-51D, despite the performance being so different from the planes we'd actually use the rest of the time.

[@TheOpsCenterByMikeSolyom]

They really should be the same aircraft. Otherwise you run the risk of either A) not being able to keep up without messing with the throttle. Or B) closing too quickly. Also, this exercise was made with the T-38 in mind (F-5s are really close in performance). With lower powered aircraft you might not be able to pull off all the maneuvers (like the loops).
But you know what? The TF-51 is free in DCS, so it won't cost you anything to try. 😁

[@sebywest3736]

👍👌🤗

[@SDsc0rch]

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