How to Fly the Raptor Jet
The F-22 Raptor has been regarded as the best fighter plane ever built. It is invisible to radar and to infrared waves, and the jet uses a radar system that is undetectable but gives the pilot a 360-degree view of the battle space. It cruises at 40,000 feet at over 1,300 mph. It can flip over backward in a circle with radius less than twice the length of the aircraft. The control system makes it almost impossible to crash even if the pilot is trying to, and it carries enough high-technology armament to take out dozens of surface targets and other fighters.
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Instructions
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Get into the special flight suit before getting into the airplane. The suit is temperature controlled, regulates oxygen and automatically inflates and deflates to counteract high G forces. The helmet has automatic noise suppression, radio and night vision visor.
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Wedge yourself into the canopy. The F-22 is a one-man ship with a cockpit that is 10 feet long, four feet across and two feet deep. You are wedged into an ejection seat and can barely move when in position. Your seated position is somewhat like that of a recumbent bike.
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Fly by using “sidesticks” that come out of the canopy wall next to your hand. The sidesticks are force activated and barely move at all. The aircraft is “departure resistant,” which means it features a monitoring system that allows you to do acrobatics, but nothing that would crash the airplane.
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Use one of the four customizable panels near your face to see the other planes in the airspace and the topography below you. The standard representation – which you can change – is to represent enemy aircraft as yellow triangles, other mission aircraft as blue circles and all other aircraft as green boxes. If you have missile lock on an aircraft, the shape goes from outline to solid. You can lock in and fire by touching the screen.
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Turn the aircraft through all three axes – roll, pitch and yaw – with the sidesticks. Landing and takeoff are computer controlled, you just initiate the processes. From a standing start to airborne takes about 30 seconds.
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Tips & Warnings
The F-22 Raptor costs over $300 million as of 2011.
The superiority of the F-22 may be short lived. The F-35 is a new fighter under development, as of 2011, and it might turn out to be cheaper and more versatile than the F-22. Congress has cut off funding for future F-22s. Unless the funding is restarted, the total number of F22 will be stopped at 187.
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