The Scissors
What is the Scissors?
The Scissors is a series of turns designed to force an attacker on your six to give up his angle advantage.
See the animation below.
This is a very aggressive move. If you try to use it, it's important that you think aggressively. I've seen people
perform the Scissors on me, and gain advantage back to a neutral fight. Then they stupidly reverse a turn,
and turn away from me - giving me back the advantage.
Once he starts this, finish him off. The desired result is to force an eventual overshoot, and a total reversal,
putting you in the driver's seat on his six.
How do you do the Scissors?
The steps to execute the Scissors are fairly simple, and with practice it's an extremely reliable move. In
explaining this maneuver, we'll assume that you are defensive with a bogie on your six at D6 to D7. If he is
farther out, use short turns to get him close, but don't let him get a good tracking shot at you. Once he is in
the proper position, execute the following steps.
1. Begin with a fairly hard turn, held long enough that you force him to roll and turn to keep you in his sights. I
usually start by going left to let the engine torque assist me.
2. Once he enters the turn, he will usually lose sight of you either to the left of his view or in his cockpit frame
work. Now roll your aircraft in the opposite (right) direction, and execute a hard turn to the right, slightly nose
low to conserve E.
3. It's important to fly this fight entirely in the rear view. I switch from rear to top/rear always keeping the
bogie in sight so I can react quickly. When you see his wings start to roll right to answer your turn, quickly roll
back in the opposite direction (left), and turn back to the left again, nose low.
4. He'll see you and react by trying to follow, and again when you see his wings roll, you reverse and go into
him... etc.
5. Usually two to three turns and he'll have lost his angle advantage, and he'll be starting to wonder what
happened. This is the critical point of the fight.
6. At one point you will see he has lost his angle, (he'll be more in the top view than in the rear view) and
you'll have the chance to go after him. Be aggressive and do it. By the time he starts to say, "Oh Oh!", you'll
be going to guns on his six.
More on the Scissors...
"You have got to be aggressive in this move, and be FAST on the reversals. He has to react to your
actions so he'll be slower, and you'll gain well each time. Once you reach that neutral point, keep the
momentum going against him, and take the fight to him. Usually he's blown his E trying to pull lead the
whole time, and you will be able to quickly put him on the defensive."
"To practice this, go to the arena and let a guy get on your six and shake him, then do it again and again.
Soon you'll have a mental image of where he should be when you reverse. You'll find the "right" moment
to make the turns for each of the planes you fly."
"Final points - the first left or right break is held longer than the rest - that's the one that gets him to bite
into the cookie. Once he does that all the rest are short and fast - dictated by how long it takes him to react
and try to reverse."
"Try to keep your nose neutral to slightly nose low, or you'll drop too much E, but slowing is not totally
bad. It helps force the overshoot, so just maintain enough E to maneuver, and you'll get him."
"Some more advanced pilots will eventually catch on that they are losing their angle and try to go vertical
before they totally lose their advantage. You have to be patient and judge your energy state versus his.
You might be able to get in a quick snap shot, but more likely he'll drop back on you for a repeat attempt.
Don't panic. Take the time to level and trim out, then maybe a shallow dive to get speed up. He's at an
even lower energy advantage now, and if you are patient and try to maintain your speed while he zooms,
you can do this move over and over until he bleeds his E, and you'll get him."
What is the Scissors?
The Scissors is a series of turns designed to force an attacker on your six to give up his angle advantage.
See the animation below.
This is a very aggressive move. If you try to use it, it's important that you think aggressively. I've seen people
perform the Scissors on me, and gain advantage back to a neutral fight. Then they stupidly reverse a turn,
and turn away from me - giving me back the advantage.
Once he starts this, finish him off. The desired result is to force an eventual overshoot, and a total reversal,
putting you in the driver's seat on his six.
How do you do the Scissors?
The steps to execute the Scissors are fairly simple, and with practice it's an extremely reliable move. In
explaining this maneuver, we'll assume that you are defensive with a bogie on your six at D6 to D7. If he is
farther out, use short turns to get him close, but don't let him get a good tracking shot at you. Once he is in
the proper position, execute the following steps.
1. Begin with a fairly hard turn, held long enough that you force him to roll and turn to keep you in his sights. I
usually start by going left to let the engine torque assist me.
2. Once he enters the turn, he will usually lose sight of you either to the left of his view or in his cockpit frame
work. Now roll your aircraft in the opposite (right) direction, and execute a hard turn to the right, slightly nose
low to conserve E.
3. It's important to fly this fight entirely in the rear view. I switch from rear to top/rear always keeping the
bogie in sight so I can react quickly. When you see his wings start to roll right to answer your turn, quickly roll
back in the opposite direction (left), and turn back to the left again, nose low.
4. He'll see you and react by trying to follow, and again when you see his wings roll, you reverse and go into
him... etc.
5. Usually two to three turns and he'll have lost his angle advantage, and he'll be starting to wonder what
happened. This is the critical point of the fight.
6. At one point you will see he has lost his angle, (he'll be more in the top view than in the rear view) and
you'll have the chance to go after him. Be aggressive and do it. By the time he starts to say, "Oh Oh!", you'll
be going to guns on his six.
More on the Scissors...
"You have got to be aggressive in this move, and be FAST on the reversals. He has to react to your
actions so he'll be slower, and you'll gain well each time. Once you reach that neutral point, keep the
momentum going against him, and take the fight to him. Usually he's blown his E trying to pull lead the
whole time, and you will be able to quickly put him on the defensive."
"To practice this, go to the arena and let a guy get on your six and shake him, then do it again and again.
Soon you'll have a mental image of where he should be when you reverse. You'll find the "right" moment
to make the turns for each of the planes you fly."
"Final points - the first left or right break is held longer than the rest - that's the one that gets him to bite
into the cookie. Once he does that all the rest are short and fast - dictated by how long it takes him to react
and try to reverse."
"Try to keep your nose neutral to slightly nose low, or you'll drop too much E, but slowing is not totally
bad. It helps force the overshoot, so just maintain enough E to maneuver, and you'll get him."
"Some more advanced pilots will eventually catch on that they are losing their angle and try to go vertical
before they totally lose their advantage. You have to be patient and judge your energy state versus his.
You might be able to get in a quick snap shot, but more likely he'll drop back on you for a repeat attempt.
Don't panic. Take the time to level and trim out, then maybe a shallow dive to get speed up. He's at an
even lower energy advantage now, and if you are patient and try to maintain your speed while he zooms,
you can do this move over and over until he bleeds his E, and you'll get him."
