"Enter the merge point with your lift vector pointed toward your next turn-""merge point being the key phrase. If you think about it, most pilots lose visual on each other just before the merge point. This can be due to position or G effects. What this means is that there is assumed to be a brief moment while passing through the merge point where your opponent can't see you. This gives you the opportunity to approach the merge with your lift vector pointed one way, and than adjust it to your initial turn while crossing the merge point out of sight of the opponent." "While this is good in terms of thinking in advance, setting up to win, etc. Its also a danger, in that a good opponant will take the clue and set you up. As such you need to be aware of exactly when you start that move. And the dangers of 'telegraphing' a move, same as a fighter telegraphing a punch by dropping his shoulder. As a matter of fact I'll often go into a merge with wings banked left 'faking' a left oblique immelman, when I'm actually planning something quite different. As he loses sight I'll snap into where I'm really headed. If you time this right this can actually work in your favor, as he's looking over there (10:00 high) while I'm over here (2:00 high). At the very least I am not where he THOUGHT I was going to be. Think slippery, plan in advance, but give nothing away that you don't have to. Be prepared to scrap everything at a moments notice if the last plan didn't work." |