Tomahawk

Tomahawk

The simulation Because of the limitations of contemporary computers (and the lack of experience among contemporary programmers) the weapons' and navigation systems bore only a superficial resemblance of those in the real helicopter. Nevertheless, they were quite complex and required a careful study of the manual in order to understand their intricacies. They included

- a "TV display" for visual identification and "lasing" of targets
- moving map display
- digital artificial horizon
- a horizontal situation/navigation display
- warning panel (for damage control)
- ordnance display
- flight instruments
- engine controls and so forth.

The weapons were a lot of fun back in 1986 and included 30 mm cannon, unguided FFAR missiles and of course, Hellfire laser-guided rockets. All systems and weapons could become damaged by enemy fire, up to and including the loss of engine power. With one engine gone the helicopter could limp Back to base, but after the loss of both the only action possible was crash landing on autorotation. Few Tomahawk pilots succeeded in that difficult maneuver.

The DI Apache flew and handled well, but it was unforgiving. It took a lot of time getting used to because scarcity of ground detail made it quite difficult to correctly judge the helicopter's attitude and velocity. In addition, the controls for collective, cyclic and engine RPM were separate, tricky to control with the keyboard, and the cryptic instrument readout required much attention, especially during landing.

The experience could be made more challenging by switching to night flying, increasing winds and turbulence or lowering the cloud layer. Of course, it was 1986 and one could see no clouds! After entering the cloud layer the pilot simply lost all visual contact with the outside world and had to either fly blind or descend to an appropriate height.

Night flying


A mountain range

A mountain range

The Flight Sim Museum thanks Mark Pajak.
Read more about the visuals

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