Chronicles of The Virtual Weapons Academy

Having recently picked DCS back up and finding myself in the Virtual Weapons Academy (VWA), I quickly developed an interest in hearing the various stories that have been told and created throughout the various classes and sorties members of the server have taken part of. These stories are occasionally retold over SRS in flight, voice channels on the discord server or else over text in the text channels (General being especially fertile ground for this). But due to the specific mission statement of VWA, that being training and learning, the culture is uniquely suited for preservation of these stories. It is also due to this culture that I feel it important to make an effort to let everyone, regardless of module, cycle and class, have at least some level of access to the internal goings-on of their peers in other classes.

To this end I sat down with the current instructor for the AJS-37 Viggen Class, Jacob “Reaper” to discuss his time as instructor, what challenges there have been, why he teaches Viggen and particularly memorable experiences he has had.

When I asked him why Viggen, as in why fly it and why teach it, he answered with a laugh and jokingly stated that the CO of VWA, Mark, had “forced me to do this”. In reality, Jacob had started his journey with VWA as a F/A-18 student and been inspired by instructors (Callsigns “Magpie” and “WiFi”) and how they were so effectively able to lead and control a class of more than ten people. Sometime after graduation, Mark had approached Jacob and asked if he wanted to be an instructor for the AJS-37.

Jacob went on to discuss the nature of operating the Viggen, stating, “It’s fast, it hits hard, and it is a very hands-on experience to fly”. It is in his mind the fact that it is so unrestricted in what it lets a pilot do that makes it so great. The fact you do this at “mach near treetop levels” is a bonus to him.

I then went on to ask about his experience as an instructor, and specifically the most fun and challenging aspects within that. With a typical positivity, a smile audible in his voice, Jacob said that the most fun aspect was in meeting so many people who are all interested in, and I quote: “Planes, and blowing shit up” a sentiment I must, grinningly, admit to sharing. Jacob went on to elaborate that it’s the meeting of different people from different countries with varying degrees of understanding of the airframe that has been so rewarding. He mentions, though without providing a name, having met someone in a previous cycle as instructor that probably had more technical knowledge than himself in regards to the Viggen.

This, he goes on, is also part of the most challenging aspect of his role as instructor. People will, simply, have varying degrees of experience. Some will come in without the first clue about anything to do with planes, some will come in with multiple years of sorties under them and looking for a new experience. Jacob explains he has to balance the lessons around this occasional discrepancy in knowledge and experience so that it stays fun and engaging for all those participating. He adds that it also becomes extra challenging when something goes wrong for someone, as he then has to make sure he can assist them while still leading the rest of the class. It is telling of Jacob, his character and the general culture of VWA that he considers the most boring outcome to be when someone for any reason cannot finish the cycle. It speaks to the overall culture of teaching, learning and experimentation that is favored within VWA that this is what one of the instructors considers to be the most boring.

I mentioned in the brief intro that I also sought to hear the various stories that have occurred within VWA, and thus I also decided to ask Jacob about if he had any particularly memorable moments from his time as a F/A-18 student or his time as the AJS-37 instructor. In answering this, Jacob focused extensively on the times as a student, and he specifically pointed out that the class size was what stuck to him on those first classes. There was a total of over ten people, and a lot of them were completely new to DCS with no prior experience. Once again he pointed out the incredible ability of the instructors, “WiFi” and “Magpie” to handle the quantity of people in a professional manner, and he stresses his respect for them and their ability to lead effectively while also teaching and assisting those that have questions. “[...] We were told during lesson one to “not crash into someone” and “especially do not crash into me”. It was a very cool experience to see that many people fly all at once, and I still remember it vividly.”

Evidently, instructors within VWA are not without a certain sense of humor, and it is not hard to see why. In an environment where there are many moving parts, many people and many inexperienced people, it is key to put them to ease. This is something I find VWA has succeeded in at numerous occasions, and staff has always been approachable, friendly and professional in any subject brought before them.

“You take all of this chaos and energy, and then you take it all out over sea and try to have people land on a carrier while flying in tighter formation.” So Jacob explains his first experience with trying a carrier landing in the F/A-18, having previously explained that formation flying is what prompted the quote about not crashing into each other and especially not the instructors. However, not only was it a first time carrier landing, but, “Just leaving the land, and following the instructor as best you can.” It was that you were fully in the hands of the instructors. It should be said, however, that Jacob does not frame this negatively, and instead brings it up as one of the more positive and memorable experiences of the cycle.

It was, I felt, fun to ask how the frst landing went. Jacob laughed, and said, “Oh God, let’s see…” before going on to explain that the landing went quite well, actually. But that another, later landing, did not come quite as easy to him. With so many planes airborne, he explains, fuel was running low. This prompts him to make a rushed landing, in which the hook misses the wire, and forces him to go full after burner to take back off and circle around for another attempt. With a tone of mildly amused embarrassment, Jacob admits that when he was just 1 kilometer out from the carrier on his second attempt he lost all systems: his fuel was out. He did attempt a glide, but fell short at the last hundred meters he went into the drink with the entire class watching. He does state his amazement at not earning a callsign due to this particularly amusing mishap.

I lastly, for my own reasons, wanted to inquire about his callsign “Reaper”. According to Jacob, he was nervous before the callsign was assigned to him. He thought back to his failures, his struggle to formations, his hardware limitations, and was amazed to earn Reaper as a callsign. It came from the dogfight tournament held within the F/A-18 class, in which Jacob scored the most kills overall, but lost his finals match against Ryles “Pit Viper” after losing track of him, and “Pit Viper” exploiting that momentary loss of contact to knock Jacob out.

-Rina