About[]
OfficerFlake, AKA, and prefferably called, Flake, is a veteran member of the YSFlight Community, spanning almost 10 years. OfficerFlake specialising in extending YSFlight Functionality, through several projects such as the Orb project and the OpenYS project, aimed at revolutionising YSFlight Online play. OfficerFlake also enjoy Aerobatics and formation flying, and air combat. Flake's username is a combination of the idea of "Officer", being the commissioned officers of the Royal Australian Air Force, and a leading source of his aviation inspiration, and "Flake", being Dr Christian Lorenz, the Keyboardist from the industrial metal german band Rammstein, to which he has a physical resemblance (A nick name from high school). "OfficerFlake" is taken as for most other online services, "Flake" is already taken.
History[]
Origins (2006)[]
OfficerFlake, started his YSFlight Journey in June 2006. Having searched for a freeware flight simulator, YSFlight naturally came up as a result. Back then, Flake went by the name "Major" - not to be confused with the current member, YSMajor, who lives in China. Flake played offline YSF, mainly with the stock B737 and stock F-15's experimenting with aerobatics on his then very limited hardware (could only use CPU rendered YSF!). Eventually, Flake looked for YSF videos on Youtube and found LuckyBearGod's Blue Angels F/A-18's, and YSPilots. Flake then asked for the F/A-18's link and shortly there after this noob mistake, began a slow integration into the community.
First Era VFA-49 and YSTB (2007)[]
After getting aquainted with the community in 2006, Flake started to persue his interest in Aerial Combat and especially Aerobatics. Flake applied to the RPFW but quickly changed his mind before completing application after some research on the VFA-49 and RPFW conflict, despite having a gravitational attraction to the RPFW's aircraft. Flake "defected" from the RPFW to the VFA-49th where he joined with then Commander BuckNasty and other executive such as "Chansolo" (Now Vic Viper) and Cobra (inactive). Flake's activity with the squadron was limited, and involved a few short sorties learning the very basics of stock F-16 fighter combat, as was popular on the servers, especially Harm's (the same Harm from the LOMAC Virtual Blue Angles) "Phenomenon Server". Sadly, this engagement in early 2007 was very limited and didn't extend far.
Flake at the time also enjoyed, as previously mentioned, Aerobatics. Flake at this stage in his "YSFlight Career" started flying basic formations and joined the YSFlight Thunderbirds (First Iteration) as lead by "Joker" (now known as Camel), as the Slot Pilot. The team flew regular online sorties and performed at the St. Maarteen Airshow. Eventually, the team collapsed and Flake applied as Slot for the highly accalimed YSFlight Blue Angels, but was sadly not ready for the team, after being assessed by Talon and "AirshowFan2" (now Scarecrow) at their naval air facility El Centro.
Second Era VFA-49 (2008)[]
During this year, Flake enjoyed freelance aerobatics work, performing at the Malta Airshow in the Extra 300 among other small little practices. Flake also experimented with the concepts for a Major Airshow and an Su-27 Aerobatics team but these ideas were eventually scrapped.
Flake, after some inactivity in the VFA-49th leading to his declared dismissal, reapplied to the squadron due to increasing tensions (and thus excitement) between VFA-49 and CVW-171. Now under the leadership of Chansolo (no Vic Viper), Flake quickly met mission and trainning requirements and advanced ranks quickly to Commander. After some training from R Sanderson and Maverick (who was then Training Officer, now inactive CVW-171st), Flake climbed to the rank of Captain and eventually Rear Admiral Lower-Half.
VFA-49 Proficiency and Aerobatics Proficiency (2009)[]
In 2009, Flake perfected the arts of aerobatics to a degree that landed him a spot with the YSFlight Blue Angels as the Lead Solo but this infortunately didn't last as the premier aerobatics squadron was closed down a few short months later. Flake enjoyed more freelance work and perfected his aerobatics as a right wingman.
Flake's power in the VFA-49th grew, attaining the rank of Rear Admiral Higher, and eventually moving into the Training Officer Role when Maverick departed the role.
The Great Rage-Quitting and YSRAAF (2010)[]
In 2010, YSPilots underwent major structural and procedural failures which lead to the collapse of complete control of the site. Flake, being a then bleeding heart, would defend new members from the personal attacks from other more established members in the community and this lead to his own personal life being targetted and ostricised. After heated arguments and lack of action from YSP admins, Flake took a brief break of 3 months from the game ("ragequitted", as some members would have you believe). After deciding on priorities, Flake decided to create new aircraft and addons, and established his own small squadron, the YSRAAF. The squadron at it's peak held 10 members and a partnership with VFA-49 in training operations. Sadly, due to other commitments, YSRAAF did not last and the squadron was disbanded one year later. In 2010, Flake has a quiet year with the VFA-49th.
YSTB 2, AAFC Demo Hornet, YSGolden Saints (2011)[]
A few small projects saw Flake create the F-35C demo team, the Golden Saints and the team was a virtual team where Flake was the only member - a side "replay" project where flake really nailed the intricities of aerobatics flight, performing never seen before maneuvers such as line abreast loops and rolls. The AAFC Demo Hornet frequently featured at many YSFlight Airshows. The second iteration of the YSFlight Thunderbirds, lead by Basco, was formed and Flake secured Lead Solo with Sticks as Opposing Solo. The team was disbanded after 3 months due to major personality conflicts with the squadrons commander.
The Dark Year and Orb (Python) (2012)[]
In 2012, Flake had moved out of his parents house (being 19) and started his own life with his partner. The new house had no internet facilities and YSF participation dropped off almost completely, except for a few small hops. Flake however did one important thing in 2012, and that was start the Python Orb project - the first true mapping of the YSFlight Network Protocal and this paved the way for future developments.
The Revival and Orb# (2013)[]
In 2013, Flake moved to a new house with an actual internet connection. However Flake again, spent little time on YSFlight and his skills in Aerobatics and Combat rusted over considerably. At the end of this year, Flake changed house one more time and made a revival into YSFlight, with the creation of his own signature aerobatics team, the YSFlight Black Dragons, flying 2 classic hornets, with Flake as leader and GIZMOs as opposing solo. The team performed over 120 training flights, and gained a healthy reputation in the YSFlight Community.
One of the biggest accomplishments of 2013 was the Orb# server project, where a fully functional interim proxy was made that could rival YSPS. Advanced functions like smoke color changing and advanced environment effects turned YSFlight on it's head.
The BIG Year (2014)[]
This was the BIG year for OfficerFlake in regards to YSFlight activity - Flake was aerobatics pilot for the HAVA demo team, flew many "one off" aerobatics demos in high powered aerobat aircraft like the Extra 300S and the S-2C, to great public reception and acclaim. The YSFlight Black dragons saw a temporary change in opposing solo to perform at the VNAF Airfest for the first time as a two ship display. For a brief time, the YSFlight Black Dragons was a 6 ship display team with a C-17 Globemaster before Flake opted on another break and disbanded the team entirely.
The Orb# YSFlight Network Protocal project was completely scrapped and a new project, OpenYS, was created - OpenYS, founded in late 2014, was it's own stand alone, open source, ysflight server - the first of it's kind and to date, the only one of it's kind. The project at the end of 2014 was in its infancy, and was BARELY functional as a server.
As an aside, Flake got married this year. And there was much rejoicing.
VFA-49 Return and OpenYS (2015)[]
Flake now works on OpenYS project, extending in further then ever before - the first Aerial Refuelling works in game on servers, with proper admin and server management commands. OpenYS supports an extended protocal framework to hopefully eliminate distance lag for formation flyers, and proves successful. OpenYS's latest feature, at the time of writing, involved racing with automatically timed checkpoint.
As a side project, Flake has experimented with the SRF file protocal and Direct3D to try to render these models himself to hopefully start his own game project, but the project has at this stage been frustrated by the complexity of polygon triangulation.
Flake has made a return to the VFA-49th under request of VNAF ONE and Vic Viper and has been re-instated as Training Officer. The squadron to date proves to be quite powerful and a force to be reckoned with.
The Future?[]
Flake intends to extend the OpenYS protocal to support a lot more functionality - score tracking and linking with the forums, authenticions and stability and speed increases. OpenYS will eventually replace (to some extend) the stock YSF console, and then, Flake will start his own game project.
Personally, Flake now attends university (collage) and aims to be an accountant, and at this stage, boasts strong results. Flake also works part time at a motel and lives in a house with potato internet again. (Shame).