Noob needs help getting learned.

I got DCS about 5 months ago, and have about half the planes (F/A-18, AV-8B, A10C, Viggen, P51D, Hawk,the MiG-21(?), and the Huey), all the terrains, and all of the missions associated with the planes. I also have the TM Warthog throttle, a homemade TrackIR, and will hopefully be able to find a really good stick and rudder pedals as well as the MDF pair (maybe even with little TVs) soon.

I'm still at the very beginning of the learning process; I can get the planes in the air, and land most of them if I don't leave the area of the airfield (so I can find it again). I've even managed to get the Harrier on the ground, intact, a few times! Still, I really want to be able to navigate, practice proper landings, fight, learn to operate all avionics and weapons systems, do carrier ops etc.

My problem is that there are countless ways to approach this, and I want to have a solid, step-wise plan for learning all the fundamentals, especially navigation. With so many planes, training scenarios, tutorials, videos, missions, etc to choose from, I'm pretty much bouncing all over the place, spinning my wheels.

I need a plan that makes the best use of my very limited time. I'm a medical student with a family, and my time is very limited, so I really need to streamline the process as much as possible. Thank you for your help!

Its my belief that when you are learning, its best to stick to a single aircraft ... you dont want your limited flight hours be diluted amongst several planes.

Of those planes that you do have, I suggest starting with the A-10C ... the F-18 is easier to fly, but its currently still being developed and periodic changes are the last thing that you need when learning.

On the A-10C, ignore at first the weapons and sensors ... concentrate on learning to fly well and after that learn navigation, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube to help along, here is a playlist that I use on an iPad, so I can pause DCS and then take a look at a video on the tablet and then unpause and practice it on DCS:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFtNdz4UYM-q3npmxBXgQW7yJECgvFBWO

Best regards

As long as the abundance of extra systems isn't disruptive there's no reason not to use the end of the line platforms. The A-10 being by far the most complete is the best as well as being suitably slow and stable so the jet isn't going faster than you're thinking. One of the biggest challenges of faster airplanes is simply the less time available to figure things out.

Deliberately flying with systems deactivated (HUD, MFD, RWR, counter measures, etc.) can replicate well the experience of less equipped airplanes and promote focus on primary flying skills.

How about coming in on the ground floor as far as navigation? What's the best approach to learning that from the beginning? I'd love to find a PDF that assumes I know absolutely nothing about navigation and guides me through it, one step at a time. I know VOR a little, but that's about it.I think that being able to find my way from one runway to another would be a big step towards making this a lot more fun. As of now, pretty much all i can do is get up in the air, fly around, and shoot at things with the GAU-8 by pointing the nose at them.

Well, IMO the dead reckoning would be the ground floor of navigating but i dont think you would enjoy that one at the beginning.

Like other fellas said above, sticking to a single airframe is a good idea and a10c would be the right choice there IMO.

You pretty much got 4 different methods for navigating with a10, dead reckoning, vor/tacan, TAD and EGI. All of these methods except dead reckoning has corresponding chapters in the flight manual of the a10. You can learn more about the dead reckoning method through google.

Although, before trying to learn these methods, getting familiar with the instruments of the a10 has priority. Im not talking about every system there is but like HSI, ADI, HUD etc. The fundamental ones are needed for whatever you want to do in that aircraft.

When i started learning the hog, i started with the EGI for the navigation. Upside of starting with that is you get to learn at least a couple of things about the CDU as well, but at the same time, it could start to get a bit boring since ,at the beginning, you gonna spend most of your time reading through the flight manual. That being said i still think its the best place to start.

So go ahead and start learning more about the instruments, choose a method for navigating, start reading about that and try it yourself. If you come across something you dont understand or fail to do, just visit the a10c thread of the forum and ask away. There are lots of people here more than happy to help as long as they can see you are trying to learn.

Thank you very much! I'll do exactly that (start with learning the instruments via the manual, and EGI navigation. Fortunately for me, I can enjoy tech manuals, so that shouldn't be a hardship.

By the way, are you originally from Turkey? I ask because your command of the English language is impeccable. Reading your reply, I'd never suspect that English was a second language for you.

Yeah, ive born and raised in turkey. Thanks man, i appreciate getting a compliment like that from a native speaker but i still think i have lots of areas to improve upon.

Good posting guys. I'm at the same stage as well. Though I didn't get the A-10C yet. So, I'm using the F-15. I've made a post in the guides section looking for help as well.

Im pretty much at the same stage and just fly way point mission I plan in the mission editor. the majority of the time its on my own but a few times i add another flight group and try to fly in formation. The AV8B is a pretty good airframe ( easy to start and get up and down )

My next task is carrier based case 1 landings - wish me luck :)

If you're willing to deal with a few backwards things, I found the Viggen to be very user friendly - while most would argue it lacks the refinement of say the A10 with the bells and whistles; the Viggen was built around being user friendly and ease of use. Where others argue the HUD is too simplified - the HUD doesn't flood you with information you don't understand. It has a very advanced avionics suite once you learn how to enter data and read data and features guided weapons that are easy to use. Best for learning pilots perhaps is the fact you have auto-pilot functions that you'll use the entire flight (in some cases) to stabilize the aircraft and even assist with landing - leaving you to figure out other flight basics like navigation.

I learned on the Su27T then moved to the Viggen myself. I like the direct input and no MFDs to try and remember how to get to things. There are drawbacks of course - like no MFDs! It is also EA so there are bugs to work around (nothing major at this point). You also get accustomed to strange flight characteristics some times - I decided maybe to work on aerobatic maneuver practice (because in a Viggen you will eventually want strong skills in that area to fly fast, low and in tight spots) and took the Albatross out only to find it struggled through maneuvers I do with ease in the Viggen.

Just my 2 cents, especially because you already own it. I started from having zero flight experience (was a ground pounder) and thanks to awesome sales have a good stable of aircraft to learn to fly - but decided to zero in on the Viggen to learn and then migrate.

GLHF (that's the most important part)