Aircraft, like all combat units, are susceptible to surprise attacks. A well-executed surprise attack on an aircraft can quickly destroy it, or damage it to such a degree that it cannot defend itself. Before a pilot can plan such an attack on his adversaries, he must first understand how to defend against it and to avoid becoming a target altogether. There are two primary skills that a combat pilot must employ to ensure his survival in a hostile environment.

1: Maintaining Situation Awareness
“A speck of dirt on your windscreen could turn into an enemy fighter in the time it took to look round and back again. A little smear on your goggles might hide the plane that was coming in to kill you.” - Derek Robinson, ‘Piece of Cake’

Situational awareness (SA) is a measure of a pilot’s knowledge regarding the combat factors surrounding his aircraft. A pilot with thorough situational awareness knows the approximate speed, altitude, and position of all aircraft in his area. He also knows the identifications of these aircraft, as well as the threats posed by any ground units below him or on his immediate course. This seemingly simple activity in fact makes up a very large part of the combat pilot’s workload.

The importance of maintaining a strong situational awareness cannot be overstated. By understanding the threats that surround him, a combat pilot can make more-educated decisions that reduce his exposures to combat risks. It is especially important for a pilot to not lose situational awareness by becoming fixated on a single element in a combat environment. This tendency is known as “target fixation”, and is often used by a pilot’s adversaries to bait him into a trap.

2: Sustaining High Flight Energy
“I’ve heard that Speed and Getting High helps alot, but isn’t that for Rock Stars?” – Rustywinger, IL2 Pilot

In an air combat engagement, the relative advantage that one pilot has over another is generally defined by his energy advantage. Energy, as defined by the Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, is “internal or inherent power; the capacity of acting, operating, or producing an effect.” When considered in an air combat context, energy is essentially a measure of a pilot’s options. A pilot with low energy has relatively few options, and is therefore a predictable and easy target, while a pilot that maintains high energy has the ability to control the engagement.

Scientifically speaking, energy can be manifested in three forms: Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, and Stored Energy. The latter of these three forms generally refers to phenomena such as thermal storage, material stresses, or electromagnetic energy storage, and is largely irrelevant to the subject at hand. The combat pilot must understand the relationship between Kinetic Energy (the energy of an object in motion) and Potential Energy (the energy of a stationary object subject to gravity).

An aircraft at a hypothetical cruising velocity and altitude carries a mixture of both Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy. This energy is stored within the aircraft’s mass; analogous to the way an electrical charge can be stored in a battery. Consider the substantial amount of power that was required from the engine to bring the aircraft from a standstill to a flight velocity, and then to lift its weight far above the ground. The higher the aircraft climbs the more potential energy it gains. The faster it goes the greater its kinetic energy becomes.

Naturally, as an aircraft slopes downwards it also accelerates. This is how an aircraft converts its potential energy to kinetic energy. Similarly, an aircraft can use a large amount of speed to accomplish a rapid climb, thereby trading kinetic energy for potential energy. Ideally, an air combat pilot should maintain both a higher kinetic energy and a higher potential energy than his adversaries (by remaining faster and higher). With a higher flight energy he can choose when and how to attack and he maintains the option to disengage from the fight (usually even if he flies the slower of the two aircraft).

The art of maintaining the energy advantage while acquiring a killing shot is the essence of Air Combat Maneuvers (ACM). This topic occupies the following section.

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