Quote:
Originally Posted by Azimech
Why not? If a pilot made a decision to bail while no crucial flight systems were damaged... for example instruments and oxygen, then correctly trimmed the aircraft would have no problems flying on until the fuel tanks were empty or another mechanical failure occured.
There's a fairly recent story of an aircraft that flew with their dead passengers and pilot due to hypoxia, for hundreds of miles before running out of fuel and crashing.
Maybe the moment of bail out should be considered a kill. or PK.
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Autopilot on or off?
Even if perfectly trimmed, I doubt there are many WWII aircraft that would remain that stable after the pilot had bailed - this will alter the balance. Unless someone can produce evidence for unmanned, non-autopilot WWII combat aircraft flying on for any length of time, I'll assume it is a bug. I certainly can't trim most aircraft to show the stability needed in IL-2, even without allowing for the destabilising factors a bailout would cause.
Another factor to consider is that the safest way to bail from most single-engined fighters was to roll inverted first. In any case, why the heck would anyone bail from an aircraft with only instrument or oxygen system damage? If the plane is sufficiently undamaged to remain flying unmanned, why not stick with it? (actually, the oxygen failure case is probably one where bailing would be a dubious decision - if you open the chute high you risk hypoxia, and if you don't you may pass out on the way down...)