Dialing in the eye

[Rebel]

Hey guys- flew for a bit tonight, and I think Helen Keller would have been more effective than I was. Ha!

Any tips or drills/exercises for developing the ol' Mk.1 Eyeball for quickly locating/identifying aircraft?

[Incog]

Hey guys- flew for a bit tonight, and I think Helen Keller would have been more effective than I was. Ha!

Any tips or drills/exercises for developing the ol' Mk.1 Eyeball for quickly locating/identifying aircraft?

Zooming in on aircraft to identify them is what I find most effective. I don't have trackIR, I use the mouse to center the screen on a contact, then I hit the zoom in button until I hit max zoom. This allows me to get a tally fairly early on what the aircraft is, normally I can identify it while at least a minute away (so I can disengage easily if it's friendly).

As for locating aircraft or spotting contacts, I've actually come to a realization not earlier than yesterday. I often record my sorties in case anything interesting happens. Yesterday I was being chased by a few Hurricanes in a 109 and ended up out-running them. Checking my 6 multiple times, they seemed to be gone. So I chopped the throttle and prepared to land. It ended up that they were .... still there. Had I kept going fast and low, I would have doubtlessly outrun them in the end.

Upon watching the video recording, I came to realize that during my flight I didn't see the Hurricanes but they stuck out bright as day when watching the recording. This meant that the way I was spotting contacts was way off. It's easier to spot contacts from a distance, imo, if you aren't concentrating too much on a single area. You gotta practice, I think, looking at the computer screen as a computer screen and picking up those little dots which clearly indicate aircraft. I believe that peripheral vision picks up movement quite well, so if you're not focusing on an area but rather focusing on looking at the entire screen, you'll spot the little moving dots faster.

[92 Sqn. Philstyle (QJ-P)]

Upon watching the video recording, I came to realize that during my flight I didn't see the Hurricanes but they stuck out bright as day when watching the recording. This meant that the way I was spotting contacts was way off. I.

I highly advise that people use a screen capture for this very reason. Far too many times I've looked back at the video and seen contacts that I did not spot at the time. Sometimes even whilst over TS I've been saying that the sky is clear. The screen capture only records what's on screen, so it's not picking up any extra information. Just goes to show how useless our brains become when task focused or overloaded.

[ATAG_Lewis]

Use the 'Field of Views' option in Controls 'Camera'.....There is an option for 'Field Of View + '...and 'Field of View - '...This will allow you to zoom in and out as far as the game will let you and so maximise your zoom..

[Rebel]

Yup, Lewis, I have that set up. I guess it will just gonna come down to stick time. I will start recording my flights and reviewing them.

Thanks for the tips re: scanning on area mode, rather than looking *for* the dots. I think that's what got me tied up. I was on TS, listening to reports of contacts, and looking specifically for them.

[ATAG_Colander]

Be advised that the far contacts are hard to spot. Even when you finally spot one, all it takes is to look away for a second to make you spend 30 trying to reacquire :D

Human eye is designed to spot motion. With that in mind, try to find as level as possible so the background moves the least possible and scan for that one pixel that moves differently than the background.

[jmack]

Visual acuity is important here. A person with 20/20 vision doesn't necessarily see as well as others who have 20/20 vision. Many factors are in play...do you have cateracs (?) that your optometrist can see with his optical equipment that won't
be a real problem for you until years from now? Do you have an astigmatism? There is a part of our eyes that will crack like a muddy spot on the ground after it has been dried by sunshine. How quickly can your eyes change focus? Do you sometimes see little 'squiglys' or dark spots?

I can see contacts at a good distance but I mostly can't determine what the contact is until I have already lost any advantage. I use the 'zoom' feature, it makes the contact larger, but greys it out and doesn't really help with definition. My first
kill was a 'friendly' which I only saw from it's 6 o'clock, I decided it was an enemy aircraft since it was strafing what I thought was a friendly airfield (Dunkerque area), don't want to do that again!

You may want to visit your optometrist to see if he or she can help.

[Rebel]

Visual acuity is important here. A person with 20/20 vision doesn't necessarily see as well as others who have 20/20 vision. Many factors are in play...do you have cateracs (?) that your optometrist can see with his optical equipment that won't
be a real problem for you until years from now? Do you have an astigmatism? There is a part of our eyes that will crack like a muddy spot on the ground after it has been dried by sunshine. How quickly can your eyes change focus? Do you sometimes see little 'squiglys' or dark spots?

I can see contacts at a good distance but I mostly can't determine what the contact is until I have already lost any advantage. I use the 'zoom' feature, it makes the contact larger, but greys it out and doesn't really help with definition. My first
kill was a 'friendly' which I only saw from it's 6 o'clock, I decided it was an enemy aircraft since it was strafing what I thought was a friendly airfield (Dunkerque area), don't want to do that again!

You may want to visit your optometrist to see if he or she can help.

You wouldn't happen to be Jomac from Warbirds, would you? (worth a shot)

My eyes are fine- the only thing I require these days is low-power cheaters. The eye-doc said all the years on computer screens have worn 'em out, much like a Baseball pitcher's arm, or a Quarterback's knees. Occupational hazard. It sure makes reading easier, though.

[jmack]

Rebel...no, Clod is my only online flying. Yes, it seems that regular use of computer monitors is hard on our eyes. I have an old eyeglass frame from what used to be called 'aviators' sunshades. It has large lense (lenses?) holders and is fitted with
prescription lenses that focus best at 24 to 30 inches.

My baseball pitching arm is finished also, have to be careful even when tossing tennis balls for my dog to chase after!