Starting Altitudes

Unless it is stated as part of play, check to see the altitude of the opposing aircraft at the beginning of combat. Roll a 1d10:

1 = Nap of the Earth

2 = Very Low

3-4 = Low Altitude

5-7 = Medium Altitude

8-0 = High Altitude

11+ = suborbital

Starting Altitude Modifiers:

·        Open-cabin jetcopter: -3, result never less than 1

·        Glijet/Flitboard: -4, never higher than medium altitude;

·        Cloud flyer: +2

·        Shuttle, space fighter, SST: +4

More info needed...

Weather Factors…

Wind is usually not an important factor in aerial combat, but it can sometimes influence takeoffs, landings, and hovering maneuvers when close to the ground.

For such circumstances, roll two dice to determine the direction from which the wind is blowing.

At the end of a turn, all aircraft are moved one square downwind for every 15 mph of wind speed at the end of each turn.

Moderate Turbulence: -5 percent modifier to all aircraft-related maneuver skill rolls and to-hit.

Severe Turbulence/Wind Sheer: -10 percent modifier to all air-related maneuver skill rolls and to-hit. If the aircraft is performing a landing or takeoff, the pilot needs to make a skill roll to succeed or the aircraft crashes.

Clouds

Before the battle starts , one die is rolled to determine the number of cloud banks in the area. Another die is rolled for each bank to determine its thickness.

The altitude of each cloud bank is found using a similar method to determine the starting altitude of aircraft.

Pilots can duck into a cloud bank at any time. If combatants are only relying on visual attacks, they will lose sight of each other. This may allow an aircraft to flee the area.

Of course, if aircraft have radar, IR sensors, etc., ducking into a cloud would only provide the target soft cover.

Overdive

A pilot can choose to dive his aircraft more than its normal limit at the risk of it breaking apart. The chance of this occurring depends upon the extent of the overdive.

Overdives may happen involuntarily during out-of-control movement. The maximum voluntary overdive that a character can try is 300 meters in one turn. Stress from overdiving does not accumulate from one turn to the next.

Out-of-Control Movement

Aircraft falling out of control always move first, followed by gliding aircraft.

Any pilot intending to tail a craft which is out of control is free from that obligation and determines his place in the order of movement by the normal initiative roll. Aircraft can fallout of control for a number of reasons including:

1.     The pilot is unconscious or dead

2.     There has been severe or critical damage taken

3.     Loss of forward speed

4.     The aircraft’s electronics have succumbed to an electro-magnetic discharge attack.

If a pilot becomes unconscious – and there is no automatic or robotic pilot backup – an aircraft will fall out of control for the entire turn. If the pilot wakes up, he can regain control of his aircraft unless it ended the turn in a spin.

Severe damage also can cause an aircraft to fall out of control. ... critical hits can also cause the same thing....

For fixed wing aircraft, the minimum speed needed to maintain controlled powered flight is 50-60 miles per hour (need to convert to kilometers). If the plane’s speed is reduced below this by critical hits, it will fall out of control.

A pilot who is in danger might also put his aircraft out of control in order to fool an enemy into thinking he was shot down. The pilot can control the distance the plane dives, but may have difficulty recovering if he ends his turn in a spin.

An out-of-control aircraft’s movement is determined by dice rolls. The first roll determines how far it will fall. The second roll is a random direction that it will face per square moved.

The maximum dive is the aircraft’s original maximum dive rate. Even if the aircraft’s dive rate was reduced by a critical hit, while falling out of control, it will still dive  its original maximum dive rate.

... the aircraft’s current speed ,taking into account any reductions caused by critical hits, is added to the distance it falls...

A spinning aircraft expends movement by dropping several hundred meters. The distance the aircraft spins is determined by rolling 1 die and multiplying the result by 50. The resulting fall will be from 50 to 500 meters,

If the aircraft is still in a spin when it reaches the end of its movement, it will continue to fall out of control the following turn

Figure 14 Sideward Hovering Flight. Jetcopters, aircars, air transports, flitboards and other VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) craft are capable of conducting sideward movement. This is done to enter a specific area where conditions make it impossible for forward flight. Normally during this maneuver, a constant groundspeed, altitude and heading is maintained. The speed is normally no faster than that of a brisk walk, or in the case of the aerial map, 1 square of movement (50 meters) per turn.

The diagram shows Aircar A facing northward as it either moves one square northwest or one square to the east. If this maneuver is performed in this manner, provided no obstructions are around, no skill check is required.

However, when a pilot is performing this maneuver during combat, with obstructions about, or at a speed greater than 50 meters per turn, the pilot must successful perform a skil lcheck. There is a -5 percent skill penalty per 1 square (50 meters) of sideward movement. The referee can determine what additional modifiers might be needed. For example, if there are overhead powerlines, the pilot may have an additional -10 percent penalty.

Low Level Flying

When aircraft are flying nap ofthe earth, where altitude is measured in hundreds of meters rather than thousands, pilots need to worry about what is on the ground. Aircraft flying in an urban area with tall skyscrapers, radio towers, etc., or mountainous terrain, will also need to need to keep an eye out for these obstructions as well.

At very low levels, the referee and players could resort to using some of the Star Frontiers exterior maps where the measurements are 5 meters per square. So, one aerial square equals five ground level squares. At such a level, measure aircraft altitudes in 10 meter increments. Generally, 10 meters is the lowest level for most flight with someof the exceptions being taking off, landing and hovering flight by helicopter sand aircars. Flitboard can fly lower, but then they are acting more like hovercraft than aircraft.

Pilots flying at low level must watch out for ground obstacles that could interfere with flight including trees, buildings, hills, overhead wires, bridges, etc. Each obstacle could fill one or more squares.

An obstacle is a hazard to flying craft up to its height. A 50-meter-tall tree, for example, is an obstacle to flight at 150 meters and below. Many other obstacles are only hazards at 50 meters or less.

Hills and rising land contours are not only obstacles at their height, but also raise other structures and trees on them proportionately higher. For example, a 50-meter-tall hill has a building that rising an additional 125 meters. This building would be a hazard to low-level flying aircraft up to 200 meters – round 175 meters up!

If an aircraft starts its movement at the same altitude as an obstacle, it can pass over that hazard only by climbing so that it finishes its turn at an altitude that is greater than the obstacle.

Non-VTOL aircraft starting at alower altitude than an obstacle cannot climb over it unless there is at least one clear square between the aircraft and the obstacle! VTOL aircraft wouldneed to be able slow to a hovering speed and then climb vertically. If the aircraft does not have a high enough climb rate or room to climb over an obstacle – or stop in the case of jetcopters, aircars, etc. – the pilot must take evasive action such as a loop or Immelmann turn or crash.

Even if one of these evasive maneuvers is successfully attempted, there is a 15 percent chance of a crash. Pilots with a skill level of 3 or more reduce this chance to 10 percent while a pilot with a skill level of 5 or more trims the crash possibility to 5 percent.

Descending over an obstacle requires that the aircraft start its turn at an altitude that is higher than the obstacle and that there is one clear square between it and the obstacle at the end of the turn – an exception to the one clear square rule are hovering VTOLs.

Aircraft can pass around ground obstacles in adjacent squares, but only along a square side, not diagonally. Provide example of an Immelmann turn and a banking turn….

An aircraft that hits a ground obstacle crashes. The pilot and passengers take damage…