Using Your Views
by Hammer

A common saying is "Lose sight, lose the fight" and truer words have never been spoken! Losing sight of your enemy for even a second means that he (or she) can change direction and you won't know about it. This translates into an advantage because he is gaining angles on you. If, on the other hand, you can keep your enemy in sight, you have a pretty good chance of knowing what he is doing and being able to adjust your tactics and maneuvers accordingly. They key to this is being familiar and comfortable with the controls used to point your view where you want it to be and to recognize which view to switch to when a bogie moves out of your current view.

Using the Views

The most basic way to control your views is with the keypad on your keyboard. You can change the direction you are looking by pressing the key which corresponds to the direction you want to look. The default view (no input given) is directly forward, which would equate to 8 on your keypad. The other views are left/front = 7, right/front = 9, left = 4, right = 6, left/back = 1, right/back = 3, back = 2, up = 5, and down = 0.
_______
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 0   |

These keys can be combined to give you combinations. Pressing the 5 and 2 key simultaneously would give you an up/back view. If this is the method you are using, you must be in the habit of having a hand on the keypad nearly all the time.

Most people out there have a joystick with a "hat" on it. This hat gives you 4 views (forward or forward/up, left, right, and back) or 8 views (forward or forward/up, forward/right, right, back/right, back, back/left, left, and forward.left). Make sure the "up" or "forward" on your hat gives you the forward/up view. This view is the second most common view that you will use (after the straight forward, which requires no input). For a while as you are learning, it may seem that the back or back/up view is your most common (and there will be an enemy shooting at you in it!), but that will eventually change!

The next most important thing for you to have is your up view modifier key. For many, this is simply the 5 key on your keypad. Your up view key can be used alone or in conjunction with your hat switch to give you forward/up (if not on the hat already), left/up, right/up, and back/up. With the constant maneuvering, you are going to have to be able to track the enemy through all of the views. If you have one of the fancy sticks with a button under several different fingers, make one of them your up view modifier. If not, you might want to consider mapping your trigger into your up view and one of the other buttons on your joystick into your fire button. Here is what I mean: When you are using your hat to track a bogie, it means the plane you are tracking is not in your forward view so you can't shoot and you are using your thumb on your hat. By pulling your trigger, you can easily add the up modifier to any view without having to look at the keyboard to make sure your finger is on the right key. Once you have your target lined up in your front view and are ready to fire, you no longer need your hat and your thumb is free to push whichever button is your fire button. Otherwise, get in the habit of ALWAYS having a finger on your up view on your keyboard, joystick, or throttle.

Once you have your view keys set up in a way which is comfortable for you, their use must become second nature to you. It must be an unthinking part of your fight to follow an enemy plane as it moves from one view to the next. This will come with practice. To help get you on your way, I have attached some drills and several films for you to practice with. You can also use your own films or any other films. The advantage to using a film to practice using your views is you can concentrate on only using your views. You don't have to worry about flying the plane or anything else.

Practice Drill

Take-off and climb to 8’000 feet (8K), over the field you took off from, get your speed at least 200knots. Now….start doing loops, wing-overs, Immelmans, Split-S’s, and all maneuvers that you can think of…WHILE AT ALL TIMES keeping the circling planes, hangars or fuel tanks in your views, this will teach you how to use the hat switch on your joystick to your best advantage. It will enable you to learn how to fly your plane without looking where you are going, because if you loose sight of your enemy (NME) you will probably die very quickly. When you get to 1K, climb back up and do it again.