#fictional aviation

[typosandtea]

Vertibirds. 🚁⚙️🗡️🪽

So every wastelander and his dog know that the fallout 4 vertibirds crash more than settlements need help. But why is that? Here's my 2 caps on the matter. (Or: Bethesda doesn't understand aviation very well I think)

( So uh this is way longer than I expected, I was possessed🚁☢️:] )

TLDR: Horrific conditions for aviation, the difficulties of wasteland heavy maintenance, inexperienced pilots AND mechanics, and the WORST damn instrument layout I’ve ever seen

The Vertibird is designed as a fictional tilt rotor VTOL/STOL(Vertical/Short Take Off and Landing) aircraft which makes a ton of sense in the wasteland where suitable runways are rarer than hens teeth. One of Bethesda's primary visual design influences for the vertibird I suspect is the bell boeing v-22 Osprey.

This funky creature \/

This photo is from the Wikipedia page >Here< [ID: a photo of a v22 osprey aircraft in flight as seen from below and to the right, the aircraft is a medium tilt rotor aircraft with very large propellers, the aircraft is current in vertical take off or landing with the engines pointed straight up. The landing gear is extended, the aircraft is painted in air-force grey with the faint decal “marines” and the American army star on horizontal stripes and the squadron and registration barley visible on the empennage. The cargo and forward doors are open and a soldier is hanging out the front. End ID]

Now the Osprey has a bit of a reputation among people I’ve met who’ve flown in them, I've personally been told things like "if it's not leaking hydraulic fluid, that means you're out of fluid" and "its terrifying to fly in".

My screenshot. [ID: A screenshot of a fallout 4 vertibird, seen from front left in flight over bushland. the Player is manning the minigun and Paladin Danse is a Passenger. End ID]

Looking at the Vertibirds themselves we can make a few assumptions here.

The shape of the cowling and the noise they make indicates that the engines are some form of turboprop engine, likely requiring liquid fuel akin to Avtur(Aviation turbine fuel). Confirmed by the Instruments visible in the cockpit.

The most weight efficient way to move big parts is hydraulics so, they likely have complex hydraulic systems for wing positioning / AOA(Angle Of Attack) / engine angle. Likely also for landing gear since they have retractable gear in fallout 4.

That the BoS has modified them from the original design at least partially, allowing attachment to the Prydwen, likely other modifications too.

I strongly suspect that they have an APU(Auxiliary Power Unit) in the aft fuselage / empennage somewhere, since they have a massive air intake scoop on the top fuselage, they can self start their primary engines which either requires a ridiculous amount of electricity / amps or a source of bleed air. Bleed air is the most likely candidate for self start and is reasonably common on real turbine aircraft, APUs also allows for ground power without having primary engines running. Also confirmed by the instruments in the cockpit.

All of these points are well and good and common in aviation, even modifications (ie. STOL kits, survey aircraft, agricultural mods, skiis, ect). But modern aviation has some advantages that the BoS doesn't have: access to new off the shelf parts, proper verified documentation, proper test processes & facilities, and experienced personnel.

Don't get me wrong, I think Proctor Ingram is awesome, very knowledgeable and practically a miracle worker (especially with that one terminal entry about an engine failure field recovery she pulls off!!), but one chief engineer cannot maintain an entire fleet AND the Prydwen, she comments on how things are breaking often on the ship that she is very busy! Training of new engineers takes *years* to even get to basic level! Ingram can’t train anyone she is too busy keeping everyone in the air 24/7! So who is training all of these scribes? There must be a huge amount of time teaching and supervising even simple tasks! Even at their best the BoS wouldn’t be able to hope to be near the prewar standards of training! Even Ingram or other senior scribes would not be thaaaaat experienced, 10 years is not a long time to completely learn a new aircraft and implement systems & processes of maintenance. The point here is that there are inexperienced scribes maintaining these aircraft.

WOLRDS BEST CHEIF ENGINEER ❤️ \/

My Screenshot. [ID: A screenshot of proctor Ingram from fallout 4, she is standing in the Liberty prime control area. She is smiling. She is wearing her usual modified power armour frame. Preston is visible in the background with a clipboard and pen, he is wearing woody’s outfit from toy story. End ID]

Heavy maintenance in the wasteland, especially in an active combat zone would be an absolute nightmare, are the poor scribes doing overhauls on the flight deck?? Not really possible, so the BoS must have a ground facility at the airport somewhere. Also side note where is the rest of Boston airport? There is more to an airport than a terminal and 1 runway, where are all the hangars?? Likely underwater but still, no ruins??

Back to maintenance, aircraft need a huge amount of care, way way way more than cars do. light civilian aircraft IRL need a full inspection every 100 hours of flight time, which adds up incredibly quickly! For example if you have a one hour commute twice a day that’s MR(Maintenance Release) hours reached in 50 days! You legally cannot fly out of hours. And a service for small aircraft takes about 3 personnel / 2 days and that’s without any major repairs or ADs (Airworthiness Directives) to address! $$$$! Aircraft operating in adverse conditions also need additional maintenance, and coastal areas like Boston, are considered adverse conditions since the salt air corrodes aluminum and steel like nothing else! Corrosion untreated will damage your aircraft and if left too long can destroy the structural integrity of aluminum parts. The spars of aircraft are aluminum often!

My photo. [ID: The inside of a Cessna 172 wing trailing edge is shown looking inboard at the aft root rib, which is primer green, it is backlit by torchlight, the fuselage and a orange scat hose are visible behind it, it has 3 irregular shaped holes in it, 2 are by design but the third medium sized hole in the center of the image is eaten away by corrosion. End ID]

Vertibirds, between being shot at constantly and having a complex deign with a lot of precision moving parts will need a lot of repairs; moving parts means lots of upkeep, grease and inspections! The BoS by 2287 must have some sort of manufacturing back in capital, they cannot still be using old parts from the enclave after 10 years of maintenance, that’s a lot of grease, paint and hydraulic fluid!!!

The BoS must also have a refinery of some kind because Avtur is a refined fuel with some important additives like biocide. Manufacture and storage of fuel is very important since fuel contamination will bring down an aircraft! (and has multiple times IRL! :[ ). Water, microbes, and algae are real dangers to engines, with free water being the most common. Poorly sealed tanks or improper fuel storage combined with a incomplete or missed pre-flight inspection can lead to fuel starvation, since water is heavier than fuel and tank outlets are at the bottom of the tank. If you loose an engine on a twin, may God help you.

This image is from Concordia Bioscience >Here< [ID: A photo of a sample of pale yellow Jet fuel in a clear container, the sample is contaminated with water and microbes and has separated into layers with water at the bottom, then microorganisms, and then Fuel at the top, the image is labeled as such. End ID]

Getting to the most likely crash reasons now (finally), In my opinion that is inexperienced pilots and; a horrific instrument layout.

While there must be some lancers in the BoS that have been flying for the whole 10 years that they’ve had Vertibirds, I think that is likely the exception not the rule, even if they crashed a fraction of the time that do in game that’s still A LOT of downed aircraft!

Experience is only gained in practice, and unfortunately for the BoS they are (self-declared) at war so resources are thin and safe zones are thinner. I suspect that there are a lot of very inexperienced pilots without the time for the experienced pilots to really teach.

Linking to my final point, experience on an airframe itself is also important, you want to be familiar with your aircraft, even among a group of the same model aircraft they will each have quirks, like slightly different instrument layouts, slightly different handling/feel i.e. "this one flies heavier / slower" (at least that's my experience with smaller civilian aircraft) I imagine that the apocalypse did nothing for improving manufacturing tolerances!

FINAL AND MOST DAMNING POINT:

Experience can only help lancers so much when veritibirds have such a strange instrument panel layout:

My screenshot. [ID: a screenshot of a instrument panel from a Fallout 4 vertibird. it is slanted on a approximately 30 degree angle. End ID]

A bit weird looking yeah? For reference Pilot is left seat and copilot is always right seat, this applies globally even in right hand drive countries.

lets take a closer look:

My Screenshots. [IDs: Three screenshots of the same Instrument panel as above, but zoomed in using a sniper rifle scope to get a better look. The first screen shot is the pilots side, the second the center, and the third the copilots side. End ID]

All righty! So reading from top to bottom, then left to right we have:

On the pilots side: A Rotor%RPM gauge, a VOR(Very high frequency Omni-directional Range) indicator, a DG(Directional Gyro), a HSI(Horizontal Situation Indicator), and then a huge AI(Attitude Indicator),

In the center section we have: presumably light clusters (likely master warnings & cautions, gear indicators, and other status lights), a second VOR gauge, likely magnetic compass as they are usually top centre (though I can’t see it being at all accurate with all of the steel around!), the engine instruments cluster, and the APU status / control panel at the bottom. unsure of what the 3 clusters of horizontal buttons are suppose to be other than input of some kind?

In the Engine cluster: Torque%, XMSN(transmission) oil temp / pressure dual gauge, a gas producer % RPM gauge with small integrated single percent dial (like having a seconds dial on your watch for accuracy) meaning the engines have free turbines (compressor not attached to the power turbine), a dual load / fuel psi gauge, a dual engine oil pressure and temperature gauge, fuel quantity in pounds, a turbine output temperature gauge (the hottest part of your engine), and a clock.

On the copilots side: a second Rotor%RPM dual gauge, a third VOR indicator, Airspeed in Knots and MPH, a RMI(Radio Magnetic Indicator) which uses VOR and ADF(Automatic Direction Finder) on compass, a second DG, a second HSI, and a teeny tiny altimeter right in the outboard corner.

the 4 instruments on the lower copilots panel are completely unlabeled

some things of note that are from game limitations:

most of the engine instruments don't have needles at all

the DGs and the RMI use the same background asset, resulting in the DG wrongly having 'VOR' and 'ASI' on its face, DGs are self contained air driven instruments that work on gyroscopic precession, not any outside data input.

all of the instruments with a compass face all say north despite this vertibird not quite facing north.

the AI is showing wings level despite this vertibird being crashed and on a ~30 degree angle

there are not engine controls at all not even flat assets, only flight controls.

There are a lot of instruments here and most of them are reasonably OK read individually, BUT there at least 1 key instrument missing and the layout outs emphasis on completely the wrong things:

WHERE IS THE VERTICAL SPEED INDICATOR(VSI)????? That's a pretty important gauge in a VERTICAL take off / landing aircraft!!!!!!!!!! It's one of the basic six pack!!! how was it omitted??? Speaking of the six pack why is there only one ASI and Altimeter?? and why are they tiny and ON THE COPILOTS SIDE ONLY???? the altimeter is LITERALLY the furthest instrument from the pilot in a vertibird, it should be right in front of the pilot!!! the easy to miss altimeter would make IFR(Instrument Flight Rules) flying incredibly dangerous! Also why are there four VOR based navigational instruments? VOR IS GROUND BASED NAVIGATION!!! unless the BoS has rebooted the multiple ground beacons for them to navigate from that's THREE dead instruments taking up space on the panel! the RMI is slightly more useful as ADF can tune to commercial radio frequencies, though these would need to be strong!

These poor inexperienced lancers are having to look all over the whole unnecessarily crowded cockpit for basic information that should be right in front of them, causing reaction delays and possible confusion. That delay could be the difference between whether or not they are flying home today.

-> Bethesda doesn't understand what half the instruments do and while they did a good job with most of the assets, in their quest to make it retro-future / visibly different from actual aircraft, they have completely destroyed any use of logic in the layout.

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Thanks for reading! Here’s a video of me yeeting Danse with the ‘Get out of my face mod’ as compensation haha

My Video. [ID: a video capture from fallout 4 in first person. It is night and is at oberland station facing the water treatment plant. The player is wearing power armour and the HUD is visible. The player is very close to Paladin Danse, he turns away from them and they shove him with the voice line “stay out of my way”. Danse flys a long way away while rag-dolling. The Gamer’s laughter can be heard while Danse is flying. The player follows Danse’s fall with the crosshairs. The player then walks backwards. End ID]

[alexriesart]

One of my earlier explorations of birrin aviation. The large vertical radiator was inspired by the Short Type 184 seaplane, and the shape of the cockpit is tailored to the flexible field of view of birrin aviators.

[kxmpfflieger]

Martyrs of the Sky — Chapter 2 Finale

[driveintheaterofthemind]

5 Random Pulps

[tristandelarkadien]

[pedroam-bang]

Mad Max (2015)

[smute]

i was so excited (well kind of excited) for the hijack series but oh my god it's bad. and i havent even gotten to the good part yet! the first ep alone has so many plot holes (spoiler warning) from the behavior of the crew to the pilot opening the cockpit door just because they're pointing a gun at his fuckbuddy to the fact that he is able to CHANGE HIS MIND about the emergency on board talking to atc like "yeah never mind it's all good now" LIKE YOU HAVE TO LAUGH

[kafkasapartment]

Alpha Saturni, 2020, Halileo -w/Multiport Subduc 7 Superthruster, 2018, Valenci Four, 2015, Oracle Silltriller, 2020, Phytophantopo H, 2017, Congnautus B-9, 2020 - top to bottom, left to right. Rik Allen, b. 1967. Glass, silver, and steel base.

[sarahshoots1st]

I need more of lesbians who are actually just. Like. So cringe.

Like, they have their thing, and they think it makes them hot shit. And it IS cool - but like, in the way that shonen anime is cool. Completely over the top and nonsensical, peak "cool girls don't look at explosions type energy".

They're so dumb, and earnest, and we love them for it.

[disastrouscanasta]

I wouldn’t usually do this but I want to put it somewhere

[wandering-wolf23]

A soaring steampunk sci-fi adventure with a slow burn gay love story? A seemingly cursed object that might be the key to winning a war?

Lucky Garrison has a problem. That problem involves a hyper advanced jet, the so-called demon core, and a ragtag crew he picks up all over the world. He’s not even getting into the people who want to kill him or the frustrating problem of choosing exactly who is going to be his lover.

It’s one clusterfuck of a mission. Lucky just hopes it won’t get worse...

Read me here!

[tauman942]

Best of the Best an Aeronautica Imperialis series

Summary The stories of the Best of the Best series are set during the air campaign of the Second Battle of Agrellan, and centre on the exploits of the 918th Thunderbolt Squadron. Each succeeding story will cover a different character or characters within the squadron.

Excerpt ‘Those were our halcyon days. Our golden days of glory and grandeur, when we swept the skies clean of the enemy, far above the hive cities of Agrellan. When we’d cut great swaths out of their aero squadrons, hammering and decimating them, leaving them forlorn and desolate. Days when it seemed that the Emperor of Mankind himself, lifted our wings, granting us victory after victory over the perfidious and treacherous T’au Empire. The memory of those days will forever remain in my heart. But I also remember when it all changed, when the sunset of those golden days finally arrived.’ – Commander Rafail T. Xerxes, AD24 Pegasus Wing Commander

Artwork: 1 - Thunderbolt, Aeronautica Imperialis, Games Workshop 2 - Pilot Portrait by Frida E. Arnsten

[alexriesart]

One of my earliest artworks depicting birrin aircraft.

I borrowed the tall upright radiator from Short Type 184 seaplanes.

[kxmpfflieger]

Martyrs of the Sky — Jasta 11 line-up

new and improved 2023 designs for the webcomic :]

L - R; Schäfer, Allmenröder, Festner, Wolff, von Hafke (that one's mine if you're new here), MvR, LvR, Voss.

Would love to make a needlessly long post explaining my design process for all of them, lmk if thats something that would interest you!

Buuut the gist of it is;

Struggled to find good sources for the uniforms, mostly went off of photographs, struggled still cause they were monochrome. creative liberties were taken in the end. esp w/ flight uniforms

[vees-strangeworld-omniverse]

ARGONUS INFO: the common size classification system (for planes)

(NOTE: description copy-pasted from DA where i normally post my works. any context that is missing here on tumblr can be found on my DA [linked here and on pinned post] )

because one day i decided to make this because worldbuilding. also, kinda wanna have this be a little short.

so, yes, in a world where the main inhabitants come in such a wide array of sizes, there needs to be some kind of system to differences between size classes.

now, contrary to what many would believe (and the discrimination people would pull off), the Common Size Classification system (CSC) is used to give the proper size-appropriate accommodations, such as housing, clothing, food, facilities, etc.. basically making it so that things aren't too small/big to the individuals. 

the elkinets use the same exact measuring systems/units as we do, ie feet/meters. however, they have an extra unit of measurement, known as "hectors" (imperial) and "poles" (Metric). every 10ft is considered a Hector (Hecs), while 4 meters is considered a Pole (Pol). this is something that makes is easier and more convenient to measure an elkinet.

now, when it comes to the size of argonian aircraft, the primary factor is height, however things like length, weight, wingspan and whether the individual is a pygmy/dwarf, are also taken into consideration as well. even though they're listed by letter, they are also commonly listed by color for many of the non-English-speaking countries that don't use the English alphabet.

so, here are all size forms of size classes and some example so the aircraft that fit there. (also take note that this drawing isn't meant to be 100% accurate, this is just to get a general gist of things)

LARGE AIRCRAFT

A-class / red class (Giant) 190ft or more (58m+)     the absolute largest size group. commonly called "giants", not many aircraft exist in this size group, however it is still a considerable large number. the most well-known of giants are the an-225 mriyas, c-5 galaxies, a380 and 747, however other aircraft of similar size are places here as well (h-4 hercules/spruce goose, an-124, stratolaunch, ect).

B-class / orange class (lesser giants) 120-170 ft (37-52m)     just below A-class is B-class, where aircraft are definitely giant, but not quite as big as the former. while larger airlines are the type species for this group (777, a340, dc-10, ect), there are many other aircraft that comfterbly fit here. such aircraft would include many general cargo/transport aircraft (an-22, c-17 globemaster, ect) and some of the largest bomber species (B-52 stratofortress, xb-70 Valkyrie, b-36 peacemaker). 

MEDIUM AIRCRAFT

C-class / yellow class (halfways) 80-110ft (24-34m)     C-class as well as the next one down are considered "Mid-sized" aircraft, with C-class being considered "true middle". again, many aircraft fit into this category, with one of most notable aircraft of C-class are the c-130s. other aircraft, like the 707s, some mid-sized bombers, ect., are included here as well.

D-class / green class (greater commoner) 40-70ft (12-21m)     the lower end of mid-sized aircraft. D-class aircraft contain larger business jets, larger fighter jets, and small bombers, but other aircraft fit here as well. interestingly enough, the U-2 dragonlady, despite having a mass more closer to that of a standard fighter jet, are usually placed on the mid-upper levels of D-class due to their lengthy legs giving them extra height.

SMALL AIRCRAFT

E-class / blue class (commoner) 20-30ft (6-9m)     E-class aircraft are what non-argonian residents call the "Human-sized" of the planet, which checks out considering that the aircraft that are used as a human analog fit directly in this size class; most fighter jets, most small civilian aircraft, ect. 

F-class / purple class (smainxian) 10ft or less (3m / less)     the last and smallest end of the system, f-class citizens contain all of the smallest citizens on argonus. prior to the arrival of humans and other smaller sophonts, only the smainxian aircraft (smallest manned aircraft) and many drone species existed in this category, alongside some outliers as well. however, F-class nowadays is perhaps one of the most diverse size class, if one where to include the many other sophonts that live on modern argonus.

now some extra notes:

-pygmy elkinets are often put in the next lowest size class.

-mix-sizeclass housing (no surprise) does exist for multi-species families/groups/couples. these are just modifies homes, and sometimes kelxverns and other shifters will choose these instead of actual shifter-friendly homes because they're often cheaper to rent/buy.

-while on the topic of shifters, it's a bit of a mess when it comes to exactly what size class they're put in. most of the time they're considered a "multiclass" citizen, which means that all of their different forms/sizes are taken into consideration.

man, i'm smelling the G/t side of me coming out.

[tristandelarkadien]

The Dicta Boelcke was a guide for aviation combat written around 1915, by German air ace Oswald Boelcke. Source (Somewhat re-written by me)