This simulates the BD-5J AcroJet, a sports and stunt plane. You may choose from several
options of tricks to perform in many difficulty levels.
NTSC / PAL
Disk / Tape
1 to 4 Players not simultaneously
Joystick in Port 2 and Keyboard
Concept and Science by
Sid Meier and William F. Denman, Jr.
Coding by
William F. Denman, Jr. and Edward N. Hill, Jr.
Graphics by Michael O. Haire
Sound FX by Sid Meier
Includes an Editor to construct own Events
Imported to Europe on Tape and Disk
by U.S. Gold in 1985
Imported to Australia on Tape and Disk
by Ozi Soft in 1985
ACRO JET aerobatic flying is a pilot's ultimate challenge. in acrojet we're sharing with you some of the excitement, thrills and split-second action of real aerobatic flying. don't be dismayed if you crash your acrojet frequently. it's a highstrung and unforgiving aircraft. the key to successful aerobatics is to practice the maneuvers cautiously, safely, carefully and with plenty of altitude. only then can you attempt them at low altitude. aerobatic flying is a thrilling and dangerous sport that doesn't get the attention it deserves. we urge you to go watch a real event, see the planes overhead, and talk to the pilots and ground crew. you'll appreciate and enjoy acrojet that much more! this simulation is dedicated to sport, aerobatic and stunt pilots everywhere in the world. we want to bring you the excitement they feel every time they climb into the cockpit for a competition or just plain flying fun! although no real pentathlon or decathlon for sport aviation currently exists, continued promotion of sport aviation and aerobatics may produce such a competition in the future. in the meantime, although this simulation aims at realism, please don't attempt any of the maneuvers depicted herein a real aircraft. aerobatic pilots have years of training and experience. only the best would attempt in real life the maneuvers depicted in this product - low altitude aerobatics is extremely dangerous, with no leeway for human error or mechanical breakdown. most of all we want you to have fun. we've had fun making this product, and look forward to competing with you in the excitment of an acrojet competition. good loops to you. getting a quick start....you can get airborne in your acrojet simulator quickly by following the appropriate loading instructions, reviewing the cockpit layout found midway through the instructions and reading through the description on aircraft controls. instructions for basic takeoff and landing techniques can be found right after the controls section. be sure to unlock your planes controls when requested. the lock colors and appropriate lock codes are listed in alphabetical order throughout this manual. INTRODUCTION flying is a sport for hundreds of thousands of americans today. light planes are reasonably inexpensive when bought off the lot and down right cheap if you build them yourself from a kit. every weekend around the nation pilots converge on a small airfield to fly for pleasure, in informal competitions, to conventions, or at formal competitions sponsored by the eaa and iac. this program lets you enjoy a simulation of sport flying. you can experience all the thrills of flying, even perform your own aerobatics. better yet, your flying the bd-5j acrojet, one of the few sport jets in existence. this plane is fast, maneuverable, very small, and very tricky. to fly one in real life you'd need years of training and experience. you will enjoy the thrill of sport flying in truly "hot planes". the only answer was a computer simulation of the acrojet. sport flying has numerous competitions, formal and informal. in keeping with the spirit of the acrojet, we've presented 10 aerobatic events that would test the mettle of any pilot. fly any 5 for a pentathlon or all 10 for a grueling decathlon. also included is an unlimited event where you can decide what pilots will perform and judge them on it. this human judging of performance is the standard for international competition today. we enjoy the challenges and hair raising performance of the acrojet. we know you will too, as you fly it from you livingroom. loading....use port 2, no joystick in port 1 as it can scramble the controls. if you have a c-128 hold down the shift and commodore keys when you turn on the computer, this places it in the c-64 mode. load"*",8,1 press any key to begin after loading. STARTUP OPTIONS acrojet has a large variety of aerobatic events, options, and preflight checkout steps. however, in every case you can advance quickly to the next option by pressing the fire button the control stick. in additions, the following special controls are useful. runstop restore restart: if you hold down the run/stop key, & then press the restore key, the entire program restarts fresh from memory [ no disk loading ]. all entries are forgotten except new "hall of fame" records [ see wgsp hall of fame" for details on clearing that ]. TITLE AND CREDITS when acrojet begins loading, you will see a colorful title screen. press any key when loading is finished and this will advance you to the hall of fame. AUTOMATIC DEMONSTRATION if you do not press a key, the demo starts, pressing any key during the demo returns you to the title screen. WGSP - HALL OF FAME the "world's greatest sport pilot [wgsp] hall of fame posts scoring records for the top pentathlon and decathlon flyers, as well as best scores in single events. press any key [except "ctrl c"] to leave this screen and continue. "ctrl c" keys held down will clear all names and scores from the hall of fame. PILOT REGISTRATION here you register for an event by selecting either the decathlon [all ten events], the pentathlon [any five events], a single event or an unlimited event [a single event where you control the activity, time limit, & judging]. control stick up/down: moves the highlight cursor up and down the screen. the competition currently selected [decathlon, pentathlon, single event, or unlimited] is indicated by a "*". control stick left/right: changes the highlighted selection type to enter your name: when you're finished press "return" once. each name is limited to 8 characters, including blank spaces. control stick fire button: exits the screen. don't press it until your done making selections! UNLIMITED EVENT SELECTION this screen only appears if you have selected an "unlimited" event. control stick up/down: moves the highlight cursor up and down the screen control stick left/right: changes/erases the highlighted selection. event name: you can type up to 20 characters, including blank spaces. when your finished press return once. adjust difficulty factor: you can adjust the difficulty rating for the event with the control stick, or by typing a new value. difficulty factors range from 1.0 [for the easiest event] to 3.0 [for the hardest]. type the appropiate digits in the highlighted space. timed vs untimed: if you select a timed event, the time it takes to complete the event becomes an important part of the score. if you select an untimed event, the judge's opinion is a large part of the score. course layout: you can select any course by number. course 1-2...4 pylons (ne, se, nw, sw) course 3-4...two ribbon gates side by side sw of the airfield course 5.....two ribbon gates east and west of the airfield. course 6.....three ribbon gates ne, se & w of the airfield. course 7.....one ribbon gate west of the airfield. course 8.....landing field only. course 9.....two ribbon gates east and west of the airfield. control stick fire button: exits the screen. don't press it until your done making selections!! EVENT SELECTION here you can review or select the events in the competion. if your flying the pentathlon, select any 5 events. if your flying the decathlon, you must fly all ten. if you select fewer, other events will be selected for you. the arrows on the sides indicate events selected, the highlight cursor control stick up/down: to select/deselect different events. control stick left/right: selects or removes an event. you can also select an event by typing its number [type 0 for event 10, + for item 11-the normal defaults]. ACROJET CONTROLS: control stick forward [dive]: this lowers the elevators, which pushes the tail of your plane upward. in normal flight this results in a dive. control stick back[climb]: this raises the elevators, which pushes the tail of your plane downward. in normal flight this results in a climb. control stick left/right [bank]: this deflects the ailerons, causing your plane to bank and turn in the appropiate direction. control stick button [slip]: pressing the control stick button while you push the stick left or right banks the plane with "opposite rudder". the result can be a faster descent while you continue flying forward, or straight nose tracking during an aileron roll. viewing: the w,a,s, & z keys change your viewing direction. "w" shows the normal forward view, "a" shows the view to the left of the plane, "s" the view to the right and "z" the view to the rear. 0-9 [throttle]: press "0" to completely close your throttle, which turns off the engine. press 1 through 9 to set your throttle from the lowest power [1] to the highest [9]. higher power causes your plane to fly faster but be careful your engine doesn't overheat [exceed an egt reading of 700 degrees c]. [f] flaps: press "f" to change your flap settings. flaps can be either up [zero degrees], partly lowered [20 degrees] or completely lowered [40 degrees]. in general, flaps add lift and permit slower landing speeds. [l] landing gear: press "l" to raise and lower your landing gear. landing gear must be lowered to a safe landing, and raised for safe flying. [b] landing gear brakes: press "b" to brake your landing brake wheels. this slows you on the runway. this is especially valuable if you land too fast, or too far down the runway. [space bar] speed brakes: press the space bar to extend and retract your speed brakes. when speed brakes are extended your airspeed shows significantly. [f1] engine/weather crt: press "f1" to switch the left crt between engine readout and weather information. SOFTWARE CONTROLS: ctrl r: hold down ctrl and press "r" to end the competition. ctrl v: volume control - hold down ctrl and press "v" to turn the sound on and off. run/stop restore: hold down run/stop and press "restore" to reset the entire program to the start again [all records blanked]. ACROJET KEYBOARD CONTROLS: throttle controls: numbers 1 thru 9 throttle off: number zero [0] engine weather crt change: f1 view: w=forward a=left s=right z=rear ctrl r: restart f: flaps b: landing gear brakes l: landing gear p: pause game space bar: speed brakes ctrl v: volume on/off