Conquering SL Skies

The 2008 Grumman F-14 Tomcat

The long wait is over after so much anticipation for the release of the latest F-14 Tomcat at Wilder West. It was rumoured to really blow your mind away, but you wont really know how kick~ass this bird of steel is until you see it for yourself. There was good reason for its slight delay which coincided with the expansion of Wilder West to include other sims in its fly zone. Flying the Tomcat in the expanded area would definitely give you superb airborne experience. The new F-14 is a magnificent collaboration between Niki Wilder and MeganAnn Mills, head honchos of Wilder Mills Aviation, Inc. which develops, conceptualise, design and manufacture jet fighters, utility aircraft and show planes in Second Life.

Flying over Miramare-Barcola skies en route to Bay City, the F-14 is one of the best two-seater fighter jets available in SL today! A supreme eye-catcher!

Comparing it from the first version (which was my second jet fighter procurement after chancing upon the F/A-18 Hornet a couple of months ago), much of it has changed thus it being more of a new plane than an update. Just at first glance you will see and feel that it has been a labour of love, and know the reason why it took longer be to released than earlier anticipated.

New amazing features were even added:

A tail hook which is standard in RL aircraft carrier jets was added; cockpit opens and closes upon command both on-board and outside the plane; machine guns as well as adding the new Aim-9 Sidewinder missile and the Aim-54 Phoenix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Iqr3mvV01c) in its artillery; beacon lights at the cockpit and dual-tail fin; realistic sounds for its afterburner, artillery and engine; stable handling especially during landing on the carrier deck; gear and wing commands and the usual dynamic camera which is standard and only available from most aircraft manufactured at Wilder~Mills Aviation, Inc.

Badass artillery! Both missiles can be activated by typing F1 or F2 in local chat. It's such an amazing sight to see**.

The new Tomcat is probably one of the best planes by WMA Inc. since the F8F Bearcat release in May 2008, and adding a bit of visual artillery adds more to its charm.

The Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche

The Army's answer to the stealth fighter jets being used by today's modern-day military, the Comanche is quite a formidable force to reckon with. Fitted with both air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and the standard 200mm Gatling gun, it is the best reconnaissance and attack helicopter to date.

Attack from the shores: The Comanche when fully loaded** is an intimidating piece of machinery!

A re-modified version is available at Wilder Mills Aviation, Inc with an easy to use command system all controllable within mouselook mode. It features a built-in Heads-Up Display (HUD) and is manoeuvred using both the arrow keys and mouse for direction while PGUP/PGDN keys controls the altitude. The chopper can be started by typing START, and stopped by typing STOP in local chat as well as deploying bombs by typing ON and stop the bombardment by typing OFF. Guns are fired using the left mouse. It is by far the easiest attack chopper to fly with realistic sound and visual effects during take-off and landing.

Like the Tomcat, the Comanche is a two-seater aircraft and can reach heights as far as the SL stratosphere. Speed can be commanded by typing 1 to 9 (20% to 90% velocity) or ZERO (for 100% full thrust). It can be flown to and from any skybox or platform above 512 metres.

There are more interesting planes being offered at Wilder Mills. Go visit USS Wilderwest and see all of them for yourself.

** featured missiles are not included in the purchase. They were custom made by N71 Aeon and were taken from another source. They are not attached to the aircraft but worn as an attachment.

Aim High... Fly Niki Wilder's Skies!

(Revised April 2009)
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The year 1986...

It was secondary school, a time when teenage pheromones and hormones flew wildly in the air... A time when the movie Top Gun also came flying through the silver screens. Overnight, Tom Cruise became a Hollywood sensation... the heartthrob of every girl... the bloke-next-door whom young men wished they could be like! (ahem and I was one of them buggers hahaha)

I remember that the most awesome part of the movie were the dogfights F-14 Tomcat rookies had to survive during practice. Living to their reputation as the crème de la crème of pilots who vie their way to be the top ace of their class. When I was young, I always had that ambition of wanting to be a pilot myself. As kids we all were full of dreams, and that includes a date with that hottie Kelly McGillis as well (now that's definitely a blond ambition hahaha).

The Wilder Surprise!

Second Life is indeed full of surprises, and who would have thought that in one fine morning on sim Oak Grove I would end up being a "virtual" pilot.

Having chanced upon a showroom of various vehicles and crafts on sale at sim Balance (both the crappy and superb types), this marvelous detailed scaled-down model of an F/A-18 Hornet caught the corner of my eye. I am not into impulse buying but that fighter jet really had me going.

It wasn't easy flying the plane at first since it was my first time to ever try one. On top of that, I am not the type who is keen on reading manuals carefully, properly and patiently (with the belief that men don't have the need for such things hahahaha, reminds us of our dads doesn't it?).

Going for a test flight started as a bit unpleasant when a group of griefers got the better of me. Getting orbited several times was not funny at all. I barely had the chance to fly and enjoy the plane for over a minute, then boom... I end up being ejected off the sim again... and again... and... again. bluddy buggers

Angels In The Skies.

I just needed the right place to try my new plane, and an instant message to Niki Wilder (the jet's builder) for tech-support helped solved that. An invitation to Wilder Skies was just the moment I have been waiting for. It is massive place to try and fly planes, as well as being the right venue to acquaint with fellow aircraft enthusiasts.

Niki was particularly helpful in showing me around this huge aircraft carrier, call it the USS Wilderwest if you wish. It occupies most of the simulator and creates the perfect free-flying haven (Class-A sim devoid of lag). Other magnificent birds of steel are on display, showcasing the awesome collection and talent of the people behind Wilder Skies Aviation.

Airmen uniforms both vintage and modern also can be found here. MeganAnn Mills, also a plane builder at Wilder Skies is fantastic in giving out basic instructions on how to fly the planes.

Listening to tips and instructions from Niki and Meg at USS Wilderwest before take off. I just wish I could remember what they have said, hahaha. Fancy my pilot uniform?

The Basics: Flying Wilder Skies 101.

Type in the main chat window:

combat on/ off to activate or deactivate the plane in combat mode;

start to start the plane;
stop to put the plane to a halt, both on ground or in the air.. and even underwater hehehe;
page-up to increase velocity for flight;
page down to decrease velocity, especially when landing;
left-mouse-click to fire your guns;
C view in dynamic camera mode and
G for gears up or gears down aka the wheels...
and of course ARROW KEYS for controls.

Intercepting a "bogey"... well make that a "friendly" on a test flight trying out the F/A-18 and the F-14 Tomcat.

Please do take note that with some other plane models, commands may be different: pressing C may actually open or close the cockpit window, replacing the dynamic camera command to CAM



Some Action At Wilder Skies.

There are tournaments being held weekly at Wilder West from dogfighting (yep shooting each others planes down... survival of the fittest and of the skillful) to airplane racing (like those RedBull sponsored tournaments you see on telly). As of this date, I still have to shoot down a plane despite having been downed at least 8 times already... quite embarrassing I know (but don't tell dad that all who had shot me down were women).

I do like to try racing these planes someday. The F-18 Hornet, F-14 Tomcat and the vintage BearCat F8F may be ideal as fighter planes, but their bulky size may not really be recommended for racing. I guess that that would mean getting a smaller but quicker plane, if I were to join a tournament.

Try The Landing Challenge.

It isn't as easy as it looks, and the challenge of doing a perfect landing can be as fulfilling as having to shoot down an opponent's plane. It was beginners luck as Niki Wilder (whom I didn't notice was at the carrier's bridge at that time) witnessed a good landing the first time I attempted it on the Tomcat. Like I've said, it was "beginners luck" as I haven't been able to do a repeat until now. hahaha

The F/A-18 is by far the easiest plane to land, a far cry from the skills and the timing needed to land the F-14 Tomcat. The F8F Bearcat is fairly easy to land as well.

The F/A-18 Hornet (Niki Wilder)

A supersonic jet using its speed as an advantage in the event of a dogfight, its agility and handling ability is superb and straightforward. This one-seater baby is quite easy to land on the carrier. It has functional gears and an amazing afterburner effect.

The F-14 Tomcat (Niki Wilder)

A very challenging jet with flying rockets as part of its on-board arsenal. The package contains three jets, with each variant having auto, manual or fixed winged functions. Apart from having fully functional gears and afterburners as standard, the jet's capability to take one more passenger as a co-pilot adds up to its appeal.

Just like the real McCoy, you can now relive those Top Gun memoires again! loud laughter

Fancy those cheesy tag lines from the movie? (yep that's Tom Cruise shitting on Val Kilmer's head hahaha)
Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazanski: "You can be my wing man any time."
Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell: "Bullsh**. You can be mine."

Taking my Liz for a test flight... With terrible landing skills on the Tomcat, I almost drowned my babes when I crashed underwater... sorry my bad!

The Grumman F8F Bearcat (MeganAnn Mills)

The newest kid on the block. A post WWII navy plane dubbed as the successor to the F6F Hellcat (which saw all the action during WWII). It is the first to be built by Wilder Skies to have realistic responses to controls. More amazing features were included: cockpit window opens and closes (C); gears can go up or down during flight (G); actual machine gun sounds that guarantees an adrenaline-fused dogfight experience (left mouse click); acrobatic manoeuvrability; and of course that cinematic crash sequence as you get shot down. It is the first plane built to actually blow up on impact!

If these babies don't tickle your fancies, I wouldn't know what else would! OR perhaps go see you local GP just in case. hehehehe

New planes and much more!

Planes offered at Wilder Skies have now adapted to Linden Lab's Havok 4 platform change (much like the Windows XP migration to Vista) which means pilots won't experience any problems when Second Life rolls out the new servers.

A new vintage Russian MiG plane is already in its RC (Release Candidate) stage from just being beta a couple of days ago. Proof that the builders at Wilder are working round the clock to release it ahead of time. With that in mind, I can't help but have a picture in my head of a teams composed of Bearcat pilots going againts MiGs. Now that is one spectacular scene I would definitely want to be in!

The USS Wilderwest showcases a variety of planes of different generations. From the first true aeroplane: the Kittyhawk Wright Flyer; World War I and II vintage fighter planes; to famous modern day fighter jets as well as a roster of magnificent racing planes. Combat Helicopters can also be found at the east wing of the vessel.

The planes featured are just a few of the actual lot being offered at Wilder Skies. Come see the carrier and I guarantee you that one of the planes would definitely choose you as its new pilot!

Flying can indeed be addictive (well just about anything else in Second Life) and nothing can be compared to flying unrestricted in the SL skies. More of the feeling of freedom in the air than there is on land I may say.

The race track can be accessible through a teleport hub at the carrier. Races are held weekly with cash prices up for grabs. Smaller planes are highly recommended.

Are you up for a new Second Life experience?
Try Wilder West and get yourself a great flying machine.

So where the bluddy 'ell are you? Come visit Australia ehrmm... I mean Wilder West NOW and add a bit of spice to your Second Life...

"Fly wilders skies anytime baby!"


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