User Guide

G FORCE
A “G” is a measurement of pull, or force, equal to the force exerted by the Earth’s gravity on a
stationary object at sea level. If the pull on your body suddenly became twice as strong, you would
be experiencing two Gs. Fighter pilots routinely take five Gs or more in a dogfight.
G forces can be divided into two types: positive and negative. Positive Gs pull you relatively
downward, and negative Gs pull you relatively upward. When you are upside down, your relative up
is pointed toward the ground, and the Earth’s gravity is pulling you with 1 negative G.
When you experience positive Gs, you feel like you are getting heavier. This effect is caused by
banking or climbing sharply or by ejecting from the plane. At several positive Gs, the force pulls
blood away from your brain and optic nerves, causing loss of color vision (grayout) and eventually
blackout. In Strike Commander, too many positive Gs turns the screen monochrome, and then black
if you continue to add Gs.
Negative Gs have the opposite effect, making you feel lighter, and forcing blood into your head and
the capillaries of the retina in the eye. The elevated blood pressure causes your capillaries to swell
and/or burst. This results in a reddening of the vision called “redout” by pilots. In Strike
Commander, too many negative Gs turns the screen red.
An adult human can take 8 to 9 positive or 2 to 3 negative Gs for a few seconds with no permanent
damage. Five positive Gs is bearable for a couple of minutes. The ejection seat of the F-16 generates
around 30 Gs, but only for a fraction of a second. Because of the difference in tolerance between
positive and negative Gs, most pilots prefer maneuvers that induce positive Gs, like climbs and
inverted dives.
PRE-FLIGHT CHECKLIST
Get in the habit of always performing a pre-flight check. The more choices you make now, the fewer
you will have to deal with when the bandits are swarming.
• Verify your weapons loadout.
• Choose a weapon targeting mode on your HUD (W).
• Choose and activate your camera views.
• Flaps on. Brakes off.
• Set your air or ground radar to an appropriate range scale.
• Check your Nav Map (N). Find the target area and figure which heading will take you there.
Locate any mountain ranges you could use to screen your approach to the target. Use the
arrow keys to switch the destination of the autopilot. The current destination will appear in
white text on the map, while the other areas will be in green.
• Compute fuel for return trip. The best way to compute the amount of fuel available for a
mission is to subtract 10% from your beginning fuel load and divide the remainder by two. For
example, if you have 1000 kg of fuel at the start of a mission, subtract 100 kg (10%) and divide
the remainder (900 kg) by two, yielding 450 kg. Fix that number in your mind. Check your fuel
level periodically during the mission and turn for home when you reach the “bingo” point. The
10% emergency reserve will become critical if you miss the landing approach, or if you have to
hit the afterburner one last time to disengage from combat.
• Set up option screens (see Option Screens, pp. 22-24).
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