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Interview with the New Flight Combat School Director,
@Aerostotle@FAIP
By
Rapier
, Fighter Ace
Content Manager
The Fighter Ace
Flight Combat School is being massively restructured to be more responsive to our players. It's rolling out a whole new set of training programs December 17th, 1998. For additional information and the training schedule, check out the Fighter Ace
Combat Flight School.
The man who is key to the entire process, the new director,
@Aerostotle@FAIP
, took a few moments out of his incredibly busy schedule to talk to me. It became apparent within a few moments that this man is very dedicated, with a hard-headed realism that gets things done. Additionally, he's a pilot, talking with his hands, illustrating maneuvers with an infectious enthusiasm. I asked him what caused him to be interested in training in the first place.
He thought a moment and replied, "Fighter Ace
is NOT an easy game to learn. I did not down ONE plane in the first 24 hours that I flew." He quickly grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "I was on vacation and sick and had nothing better to do so I stuck with it. If it wasn't for my mentor,
Phobgood
, I would never have gotten the hang of a few simple things and would not be where I am today. The fact that he took the time out really helped and made a HUGE impression on me." So help from an experienced player really made a difference? He nodded in agreement and went on with enthusiasm: "Then it dawned on me. I'll go into boot [camp] and teach and prepare the new guys to fly against the higher numbers. One day,
++Moira
came and asked how long I'd been doing that and if I would like to do it 'officially.'" (Again, that infectious grin and the shrug of the shoulders.) "I agreed and was actually one of the first Fighter Ace
Instructor Pilots recruited."
I said, "That must have been tough at first, with no official backing and entirely on your own. What kept you going?"
He laughed and said, "I LOVE helping the underdogs out and training them to overcome insurmountable odds. The best place and way to do this is in the FA
IP program."
"Heheh, so now you've hit the big time."
He grins again.
"What's your goal, where do you want to go with the FA
IP program?"
He thinks a long moment and it's clear that speeches don't come easily to this man. But then this is a subject for which he feels a passion. He looks me in the eye and states, "I have one goal, and that's to build a long-lasting and enjoyable community within Fighter Ace
. Pilots will always come and go. Sometimes that's good and sometimes it's sad. I would like to help people get and stay interested in the game so it stays enjoyable for all of us. Without fresh recruits, and good ones, mind you, the people who develop this game can't improve it fast enough to maintain our interest. It's a simple fact of human attention span. So we need to keep the numbers up, varied, and of good quality to keep this one of the best online games out there."
"That's a noble ambition, but how does it work in real life? Can FA
IP help a dweeb like me?"
He grins and assures me that I'm no dweeb, but then I maintain I am.
He laughs, and says, "I can't make anyone the best pilot out there. No one really can. Instead, I give them the base that many of them lack and [tell them that] with real time application they can work hard and then let their developed and honed skills and coordination take them to the top. There are a lot of good pilots out there and they simply don't know it.
"A great example would be our first student to become a Fighter Ace
Instructor Pilot,
Bogie
. Here is a guy that I had seen for a while stay between Sergeant and Major for a LONG time. He signed up for one of our courses and, lucky for him, only a few others did. This enabled us to work with him in almost a one-on-one situation. I believe he only took two courses total. Within 10 days, he made General and this made a lasting impression on his fellow pilots. He adapts his knowledge very well to the different planes. After watching him for another month or so, I asked him to come aboard as an instructor."
I remind him that there are a lot of new pilots out there who will read this. What advice would he give to them?
"I could spend days -- the government, years -- teaching these pilots all there is to know about dogfighting. However, if there is one thing I impress over and over and over again on all our students, it is that you MUST have patience to go anyplace in this game.
"The reasoning is actually simple. Most people who come to us are from other shoot-'em-up type games. The 10,000 first-person shooter games are simple in nature. Get as many kills as possible before anyone else. This is not the case in Fighter Ace
. Unfortunately, too many people think it is. They take off and literally race to get into the furball of fury, and if they are lucky, get one kill before dying themselves. This will almost never get you anywhere. With LOTS of time, I have seen several people get to General doing this. But if I can teach them to just wait two, maybe three, extra minutes at the most to get some altitude and actually 'think' before entering the fight, they will do more and get farther faster than they could ever imagine."
"What about your team? The FA
IPs who do the teaching?"
He has a huge grin now. Obviously there is a lot of camaraderie among the instructors. He says, "Thankfully for me all of my guys are great and we would be missing a lot if any of them left. To give you a couple of examples, I think that the largest catalysts for these instructors have been
SirG
and
Sundog
. Since I can remember, SirG has put as much time and effort as anyone else into making sure we are a success. When anything needs to get done, he is usually the first to have something to you and it is ALWAYS the best-quality work, and I spend most of my time changing everything else to meet his caliber of work. In the second generation of FA
IPs, Sundog has been great. He has spent not only a lot of time catching up in learning how we run but also spending his own time (and a lot of it, I might add) in the rookie rooms helping out, while waiting for me to get my act together." He grins again.
"Wow, this sounds like a great group! What if there are folks out there that would be interested in becoming FA
IPs? What kinds of things do you look for?"
Aerostotle thinks a moment and says, "I think that dedication, patience, and integrity are the only three qualities an FA
IP MUST ABSOLUTELY HAVE! Most people would think to look for talent first, but I look for someone that will teach the student whenever they may ask for help or have that ability to notice that someone needs it. That is where the dedication comes in. All too often, the best pilots are mostly concerned with trying to get their scores up or feeding their own egos. I'm not saying that is bad; it's just reality. I'm more interested in the people who pay attention to those in need. And above all, we need integrity. We are literally building a community here. I need top-notch role models for everyone else to look up to. This goes both while in uniform and off-duty, so to speak. You will almost NEVER see an FA
IP trading words or epithets and/or holding a grudge against any pilot. I think this goes a long way both for the community and for the program itself and I am VERY proud to have all of them involved."
"So in the end, Aerostotle, what lasting impressions would you like to leave on the Fighter Ace
community?"
He thinks seriously for a moment and says, "I'd like to think that I'm leaving my lasting impressions on the good pilots that come through our classrooms. These people enhance and vitalize our community. Once this happens, they tend to take care of the community as a whole. And it's always amazing watching someone you trained take you out of the sky. The student becomes the teacher. It makes me feel good because I know I did that and that someone was actually listening to me back then." Again, that infectious grin.
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