This is a flight simulator where you learn and execute acrobatic maneuvers with the stunt plane Yak-55 to build up score points. Ketsujin studios, creators of Fighter Ace, were developing it in 1995. It's rare. Although it's a "preview edition", it's basically the whole game, and it wasn't developed any further than that (I checked with Vange).
***************************************************************************************


Acrobatic Flight Simulator Manual

Welcome to the Acrobatic Flight Simulator (AFS) preview edition. This special preview version of Gemsoft 
Corps Acrobatic Flight Simulator is an exciting bonus that comes with Air & Space Smithsonian Dreams of 
Flight.

The fully implemented version of AFS will be available in 1996 from Interactive Magic. The full version will 
include the same Gemsoft proprietary, fully rotational 3-D engine used in this preview, enhanced sound support, 
Formation Flying that allows up to 16 pilots to interact over a network, support for the Cybermax® virtual 
reality headset, and much more. For information on the full version of AFS, contact Gemsoft at (416) 368-1552.

AFS is a DOS game. To play the game you must exit Windows. To exit Windows choose "Exit Windows" from 
the file menu of Program Manager. At the DOS prompt, change to the directory you chose when installing AFS, 
then type AFSRUN. For example, if you chose the default installation type: CD\AFS, at the C:\AFS prompt, type 
AFSRUN.


Basics of Flight

Overview
An airplane moves through the air on three different axes. Those axes are roll, pitch and yaw. The roll axis runs 
through the center of the airplane from the tip of the nose through the center of the tail. The ailerons control 
movement of the plane along this axis. For example, the left aileron will roll the plane to the left and, conversely, 
the right aileron will roll the plane to the right. Rolling the plane to the left or right to establish an angle of bank 
is the first step in turning the airplane. The ailerons are controlled by the left and right arrow keys in the 
keyboard control mode or by the joystick when a joystick is in use.

The rudder controls the yaw axis of the airplane. The yaw axis runs through the roll axis in a line running 
through the airplane from top to bottom. Thus, left rudder will yaw the plane to the left and right rudder will yaw 
the plane to the right. (Liken this to the tiller on a boat.) Once the angle of the bank is established by the ailerons, 
the rudder is used to coordinate the turn. Thus, left aileron, immediately followed by an input of left rudder, will 
cause the airplane to turn in a coordinated fashion to the left (and vice versa, right aileron and right rudder will 
turn the plane to the right). Without the use of the rudder in conjunction with the ailerons, the tail of the airplane 
will skid or the airplane will roll without turning. The rudder is controlled by the ">" and "<" keys in the 
keyboard control mode or by the pedals when pedals are used.

The final axis of flight is the pitch axis, which is controlled by the elevators. The pitch axis runs in a horizontal 
line through the side of the airplane and the wings. Controlling the pitch axis, by moving the elevators up or 
down, raises or lowers the nose of the airplane. Pitch axis is controlled by the up and down arrows in the 
keyboard control mode or by the joystick when a joystick is in use. Moving the joystick straight forward (or 
depressing the up arrow) will pitch the nose down; moving the joystick straight back (or depressing the down 
arrow) will pitch the nose up.

Coordinating roll, pitch and yaw are essential to flying. Visualization of how the airplane will perform during 
certain maneuvers is a key step in learning to fly. Try viewing the plane using the external viewing keys as 
detailed in Keyboard Commands  The process takes some time to master, so don't become discouraged! Keep 
practicing, and soon you'll be barnstorming with the best!

Taking Off
Follow these steps to take off.

1. Press "Shift + 1" to turn on the battery.
2. Press "Shift + 2" to turn on the engine display.
3. Press "Shift + 3" to turn on the generator.
4. Press "Shift + 4" to engage the magneto and start the engine.
5. Press and hold "J" to increase throttle.
6. Press "B" on the keyboard to release the brakes.
7. Press the down arrow to bring the nose up and the plane off the ground. 
If you are using a joystick, just pull the stick back. (The joystick replaces the up/down/left/right arrow keys.)

Now that you're in the air, experiment with the plane at your own pace. Also, try out the different flight viewing 
options as detailed in the Keyboard Commands section.

Turning
The Turn Coordinator, just above the flight clipboard, helps you coordinate your turns. Keeping the ball centered 
indicates coordinated flight, either straight and level, or in a turn. The bottom tube is used for level flight, the top 
tube for inverted flight. Note how coordinated use of the rudder and ailerons is necessary to keep the ball 
centered during turns.

Controlling Spins
If you put the plane in a spin, here are some tips for getting out of it. Increase the throttle to maximum. Push the 
nose of the plane foreward, but not so far foreward that you black out (when the screen fades to black or red). 
Give full rudder in the OPPOSITE direction of the spin. This should pull you out of the spin and leave you in 
level (though sometimes upside down) flight.

Landing
Landing the plane is quite a bit more challenging than taking off. Line up with the runway and reduce the throttle 
to lose altitude, keeping the nose slightly up. Avoid stalling until you're just above the ground. Pull the nose up 
just before you touch down, but avoid "flaring" the landing. When you are on the ground and rolling down the 
runway, throttle down to minimum, apply the brakes with the "B" command until you stop rolling. Kill the 
engine by pressing shift+ 4,3,2,1. Vewing the plane using the external viewing keys as detailed in the Keyboard 
Commands section makes landing much easier.



Acrobatics Tutorial

Learning Acrobatic Maneuvers
The Acrobatics Tutorial teaches you 13 different acrobatic maneuvers. From the Main Menu, click on 
"Acrobatics Tutorials. When the Acrobatics Tutorial appears, click on "Load." A list will appear in the lower 
right corner of the window. Click on the maneuver you want to learn. The plane will appear, along with detailed 
instructions, joystick and pedal positions, and a flight path. Click on the forward arrow icon in the lower left of 
the screen to advance the plane through the maneuver. Read the instructions, watch the plane, joystick and pedal 
positions, and check the specs as you advance through the maneuver. To advance to another maneuver, click on 
"Load" and choose a new maneuver from the list.

Scoring
Once you have learned a maneuver, exit the tutorial and return to the Single Flight mode to test your skills. From 
the cockpit, press the Tab key to toggle through the maneuvers on your flight clipboard (the white panel at the 
center of the cockpit instrument panel). Leave the maneuver you want to try listed on the card. Press the spacebar 
to begin scoring. The listed manuever will turn green. When you begin your maneuver, it will turn red. When 
you have completed the maneuver, wait a moment and the type will turn black. Your score for the chosen 
maneuver appears as the right number at the bottom of your flight clipboard; the left number is your total score 
for the flight. To adjust scoring difficulty, set the difficulty level in the Options control panel. AFS assigns a 
score based on correct completion of the maneuver. If you receive a zero score, try the maneuver again, making 
sure you are activating and deactivating scoring at the beginning and ending of the maneuver. Keep practicing. 
Soon, you will be receiving a score regularly.



Airplane Information

Airplane Information gives you a detailed look at the Yak-55 stunt plane. You can rotate the airplane in space 
with the arrow controls under the screen or by using the arrow buttons on the keyboard. The airplane's 
specifications and history are displayed in a text window to the left of the arrow controls.

Notice that the Maximum permissable flight altitude of the aircraft is 4,000 m. If you fly the plane above this 
altitude you will black out and loose control of the plane.



Flight Viewing

Flight viewing mode allows you to play back your flight, while watching from a variety of different camera 
positions. To record your flight, press the "R" key on the main keyboard. The word "Record" will be highlighted 
in red in the upper right corner of the screen while recording. To end recording, press the escape key to end your 
flight, or press "R" again to toggle recording off. At the end of your flight you will be prompted to save your 
recording. You can only save one recording per flight;  therefore, your last recording will be the one saved at the 
end of your flight.

To play back your recording, choose "Flight Viewing" from the main menu. Press the "Load Film" button and 
choose the Film you want to watch from the list. You will not be able to move your mouse outside of the 
highlighted box until you choose a film or press escape. Once you have chosen a film, you can navigate through 
the film using the VCR-style controls. To watch your film from other camera angles, press the Camera-shaped 
button in the lower right corner of the button grouping. This button enables the F1-F10 function keys, and the 1-
6 numeric keys, allowing you to choose your camera and viewing angle in Flight Viewing mode as specified in 
Keyboard Commands.

To delete a film, you must first load the film you want to delete. Once the film is loaded you can delete it by 
pressing the delete button.



Keyboard Commands

Left, Up, Right, Down Arrows = Plane Orientation (Roll and Pitch)
< > = Rudder Left and Rudder Right* (Yaw).
/ = Center Rudder

Shift + 1 = Turn on/off "Battery" (1,2,3,4- main keyboard)
Shift + 2 = Turn on/off "Engine display
Shift + 3 = Turn on/off "Generator"
Shift + 4 = Turn on/off  "Magneto" + start engine
Shift + 0 = Start "Flight Time"
Shift + 9 = Start "Timer"

B = Releases and applies the brakes

- (main keyboard) or N = Decrease Throttle
+ (main keyboard) or J = Increase Throttle
] = Increase Turbocharge (also called Supercharge) by one step
[ = Decrease Turbocharge by  one step
K = Increase Control Boost - Increases the effectiveness/responsiveness of the keys (shown as a number in the 
upper left of the screen)
L = Decrease Control Boost - Decreases the effectiveness/responsiveness of the keys

R = Starts new recording of flight / stops recording

H = Shows keyboard commands while in flying mode
\ = Toggle engine sounds\music on\off durring flight.

Function Keys
F1 = Forward View from Virtual Cockpit
F2 = Backward View from Virtual Cockpit
F3 = Left View from Virtual Cockpit
F4 = Right View from Virtual Cockpit
Shift + F1  F4 = Same Virtual Cockpit views with full-screen landscape
Mouse = Rotates the view in Virtual Cockpits
F5 = 2-D Cockpit (Initial mode when you enter Single Flight)

F6 = External Camera View - Relative to orientation of airplane
F7 = External Camera View - Relative to orientation of ground
F8 = Free Moving Camera - Adjust camera position with 1 6 keys
F9 = External Static View
F10 = Chase Plane View

Numeric Keys
1, 2 = Rotates camera left and right in the F1-F10 camera viewing modes
3, 4 = Moves camera closer in and farther out in the F1-F10 camera viewing modes
5, 6 = Moves camera up and down in the F1-F10 camera viewing modes

Ctrl + - (on numeric keypad only!) = Decrease Window Size
Ctrl + + (on numeric keypad only!) = Increase Window Size
Ctrl + * (on numeric keypad only!) = Restore Maximum Window Size

Special Keys
Tab = Load next aerobatic maneuver to the Flight Clipboard
Shift + Tab = Select previous tested aerobatics maneuver
Space = If an aerobatics maneuver is selected, then start scoring. 
The name of the maneuver will be highlighted in green. When you start to do the
maneuver, its name will be highlighted in red. When you finish the maneuver, 
the name will be highlighted in black.
Esc = Returns to Main Menu



Instrumentation

The Tachometer (indicating engine RPM in hundreds) and Throttle Indicator (ranging from 0% to 100%) are 
located to the right of the flight clipboard. Note how full throttle (depressing "+" key all the way) will advance 
the engine RPM to a maximum of 1500 and that the throttle indicator will show 100%. Conversely, depressing 
the "-" key will cause a corresponding decrease in engine RPM and throttle percentage.

The Altimeter, located to the left of the flight clipboard and directly below the airspeed indicator, shows altitude 
of the plane. The small hand indicates meters in thousands. The large hand indicates meters in hundreds. Thus, if 
the small hand is on the "1" and the large hand is on the "5", you are 1500 meters above the ground.

The Airspeed Indicator, located above the altimeter, shows speed in kilometers per hour (x10). Hence, "25" on 
the indicator equals 250 kilometers per hour.

The Turn Coordinator, just above the flight clipboard, helps you coordinate your turns. Keeping the ball centered 
indicates coordinated flight, either straight and level, or in a turn. The bottom tube is used for level flight, the top 
tube for inverted flight. Note how coordinated use of the rudder and ailerons is necessary to keep the ball 
centered during turns.

The Magnetic Compass, located above the turn coordinator, tells you what direction you are facing. It is in 
degrees x10. Thus, an indication of "9" equals a 90° heading (or due east), "18" equals a 180° heading (or due 
south), "27" equals a 270° heading (or due west), and "0" equals due north. Note that on the runway at takeoff, 
you are facing due west (with the compass showing 270°).

Note: Since the Yak-55 is a Russian made plane, for the sake of authenticity we have left the instrumentation 
labels in the original Cyrillic on all but the key instruments above. All measurements are in metric.
