Typically drag is encountered due to the stores carried on the aircraft or things such as flaps, air brakes being deployed, as aircraft designers make their aircraft as aerodynamic (almost no drag) as possible.

Drag The amount of drag is how much air resistance an aircraft encounters (similar to sticking your hand outside the window of a moving car). This is because you are often trading in velocity for altitude and vice versa. Altitude Altitude can be easily overlooked as a given thing, but it is in actuality one of the factors you will largely be manipulating (subconsciously) during aerial combat. Be wary that drag and weight are detrimental to speed, as they severely restrict your ability to obtain or maintain speed. Speed / velocity Perhaps the most basic of all energy factors, the amount of speed (velocity) an aircraft has is manipulated by the amount of thrust put out, or the amount of altitude traded in. However, energy is also influenced by the state of many smaller factors:ġ. Primarily the amount of energy or energy state is dependent on how you chose to fly your aircraft: if you make a hard 9G turn you will bleed a lot of energy, versus a 3G turn that keeps you in a pure pursuit that will only lose you a small amount of energy. Perhaps the most important factor in every aspect of fighting against other aircraft (and even against ground based threats) is the notion of energy (fighting): the state of energy of a given aircraft can often make or break an engagement.Įnergy is the sum total amount of power you can express at a given time (and you ideally want as much as possible at any time).

Air combat maneuver