The g max Archives - Detailed Answers to Selected FAQs

In various forums around the net players have asked a number of questions about Ace Combat 5. This is a collection of the most commonly asked questions along with some fairly detailed (and often lengthy) answers.

If you are really in a hurry, try using your browser's search features; you may be able to locate questions and answers of interest more quickly. There are a lot of potential keywords here.

Note that answers apply to the US version of the game, although no really major differences have been found between the JP, US, and EU versions.

Should I get this game?
Will I like this game?
Is this game really worth $##?

Will the price of this game ever come down?
When will the price of this game come down?

What is there to do in this game?
How long is this game?

Is there anything in this game that my parents would object to?
Is this game ok for my kid(s)/child(ren)?

Does this game have a story?
How does the story in this game fit in with the others in the series?

Does this game have a multiplayer mode?
Can I play this game online?

I rented the game without a manual. What do the buttons do?

What are all of these YES NO questions about?
Can I turn off the YES NO questions?
Can I just ignore the YES NO questions?

How do I avoid taking too much damage?
How do I dodge or evade a missile?
What do the ECM weapons do? Do they work?

Where are the missiles coming from on 12A/Powder Keg?

How do you complete the first part of 12B/Four Horsemen?

Why am I getting a mission failure on Mission 15/White Noise?

Why am I getting a mission failure on Mission 18/Fortress?

How do I survive and complete Mission 18+/8492?

Why am I getting killed on Mission 20/Ancient Walls after the mission is over?

How am I supposed to take the picture(s) on Mission 21/Solitaire?

How do I survive and complete Mission 24/White Bird (Part II)?

Why am I getting a mission failure on Mission 25/Heart Break One?

Can you shoot down Hamilton on 27/Aces or not?
How do you get through the tunnels in 27/Aces?

What other games work with the flight stick?
How do I adjust the flight stick? What do the knobs do?
Can I use the flight stick on a pc?
Will other flight sticks work with this game?

How do I unlock the Music Player and the Scene Viewer?
Where are the Music Player and the Scene Viewer?
Are there any "eggs" in this game? Where are they?

My question is not listed. Where is the answer to my question?

Should I get this game?

Will I like this game?

Is this game really worth $##?

Absolutely!
Ok, so maybe that's not the thought-provoking answer you were looking for.
The basic idea of the game is that you are a fighter pilot. You spend a lot of time flying around and destroying various enemy targets.
When you play the game it is obvious that the designers have put a lot of effort into giving the combat environments a realistic appearance. It is also clear that they have carefully modeled the geometry of a number of real world aircraft. The game does include some elements that lean a little more toward fantasy - certain weapon technologies and enemy targets, mainly - but it does a reasonable job of integrating them into the mostly realistic-looking background.
The largest part of the game follows along a story line ("Campaign"), but there is also a set of faster run-and-gun missions ("Arcade"). Campaign game play is interspersed with video sequences that tell the story - most of these sequences are pre-rendered, but some parts are generated in real time.
This game is the fifth installment in the console series, and both the tradition and refinement show. The game has generally reviewed fairly well. If this is the kind of game that interests you, it is easy to recommend it.
If you are really unsure about purchasing the game, remember that there are other options: you could buy a used copy in good condition, you could rent the game, you could borrow the game from a friend, or you could just play the game at a friend's house. This should give you an excellent idea of what the game is like first hand.
This game is often compared to and contrasted with its predecessor, Ace Combat 04. There are many similarities and differences. If you are familiar with Ace Combat 04 and you liked the game, there is a good chance you will also like Ace Combat 5. Many players find that there are things they like better about Ace Combat 5, but there are other things they liked better about Ace Combat 04.
Because Ace Combat 04 is an older game, it is generally available for much less than Ace Combat 5. If you have not had a chance to play Ace Combat 04, it is strongly recommended. With the understanding that the games are at least somewhat similar, this can also help you make a decision about Ace Combat 5.
Finally, keep in mind that no one else can really answer these kinds of questions for you - in the end, it's going to be up to you to decide.

Will the price of this game ever come down?

When will the price of this game come down?

These questions are not asked as much as they used to be. Ace Combat 5 is now listed among the PS2 "Greatest Hits," so its price should have come down accordingly.
If you are certain you want the game, but you do not want to pay the full retail price, you might consider buying a used copy in good condition or exploring other sales and discounts. You might also consider other options like renting or borrowing the game in the mean time.

What is there to do in this game?

How long is this game?

There are 32 different "Campaign" missions that follow a story line and 16 different "Arcade" missions that are basically just run-and-gun.
Campaign missions can be played on six difficulty levels: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Ace. Difficulty level affects the amount of ammunition your aircraft can carry and the damage caused by enemy fire. To complete a mission on Ace difficulty you have to have a pretty clean run.
There are 53 flyable aircraft in the game; you start out with one and must unlock all of the others. Some aircraft are unlocked in the course of playing through a Campaign. Destroy enemy targets with these aircraft and other aircraft are unlocked in turn. Two special aircraft are unlocked by completing other specific objectives.
Every aircraft has three paint schemes. The first two are unlocked for all aircraft in the course of playing through a Campaign, but the third paint scheme must be unlocked for each aircraft.
There are 15 medals that are awarded for accumulating certain statistics or completing certain missions.
For a typical player completing a single Campaign requires about 5 or 6 hours of flight time. Combined with all of the menu navigation, mission briefings, debriefings, squadron setup, and so on this can easily run up to 8 or 10 hours of real time - it can make for a very long day, and that's if you skip all of the story line videos.
For a typical player completing a single level of Arcade requires about 30 minutes straight. The Arcade missions are split into 4 levels, so in theory Arcade can be completed in about 2 hours - but many players would probably find that quite draining.
From what I gather, most dedicated players complete the game to their satisfaction in four to six weeks, but this is highly dependent on the time they have to play the game. A lot of players complete the game, take a break from it for a while, and come back to it from time to time.

Is there anything in this game that my parents would object to?

Is this game ok for my kid(s)/child(ren)?

The game has an ESRB rating of T (Teen) for mild language and violence.
This game is not about blood and guts, per se. There is nothing in the game that strikes me personally as being gory at all. The violence is consistent with a fighter pilot carrying out military missions in a war: you find things, chase them down, fire missiles or other weapons at them, and they explode.
The language is mild, slightly gratuitous, and pretty infrequent, actually. There are references to a netherworld of everlasting punishment, a term of condemnation, and a somewhat disparaging term for an illegitimate child. I'm not big into relativism, but if a little perspective helps quantify the situation, the language on the average urban street, or even in the typical public high school hallway or locker room is probably much worse than what you would find in this game. Generally, the portrayal of violence and the use of language are a far cry from what you would find in real war - this game is not Saving Private Ryan by any stretch of the imagination.
I have played this game in mixed adult company and with adult friends; I don't think it made anyone present even slightly uncomfortable. I like to think that a concerned parent of a teen would consider taking turns playing the game with them, or at least spending time with them watching the game. I am pretty sure I would.

Does this game have a story?

How does the story in this game fit in with the others in the series?

Both the Campaign and Arcade parts of the game have a story line, but the Arcade story is short and pretty simple. The Campaign story is told through the missions and a number of videos between missions, so it takes a while to unfold. The story is set in a different part of the same world as Ace Combat 04, and later, in the year 2010.
Most of the flyable aircraft in the game are based on real-world designs. Although it is not a major story element, the two exceptions are aircraft that have appeared in other games in the Ace Combat series.

Does this game have a multiplayer mode?

Can I play this game online?

Unfortunately, no. Ace Combat 5 can not be played online, and it does not include a multiplayer mode. I am not aware of any comments from Namco specifically relating to these features, but I tend to suspect that there was only so much that they could pack into a PS2 game in the time they had allotted. The general impression is that a lot of the PS2 RAM is tied up with models and textures, and there may simply not be enough room left for any network software, but we just don't have all of the details on how this unfolded during development, so that is pure speculation.
There is no denying that there is considerable interest in playing multiplayer Ace Combat over the internet, but only time will tell if this is really technically feasible. There is speculation that the next generation Playstations will have the additional hardware resources to make this possible, but enthusiasts are cautioned to guard their expectations.

I rented the game without a manual. What do the buttons do?

The controls can be set for "normal" or "novice" mode - you will want to use "normal" mode even if you are a novice. Fortunately, this is the default.
This is a simple list of what the controls do during a mission with everything set to the default.

Left analog stick:

Up - Dive

Down - Climb

Left - Roll left

Right - Roll right

L1 - Increase speed

R1 - Decrease speed

L2 - Yaw left

R2 - Yaw right

Circle - Fire missile or special weapon (hold down to track a missile)

X - Fire machine guns.

Triangle - Change targets (hold down to look toward and zoom in on a target)

Square - Display the map (hold down to increase the scale of the map)

SELECT - Switches between standard missiles and special weapons

START - Pauses the game and brings up the pause menu

Right analog stick:

Up - Look up

Down - Look down

Left - Look left

Right - Look right

Push in - Change view

Directional buttons - these issue orders to your wingmen

Up - Attack: wingmen attack targets in front of you

Down - Cover: wingmen cover you

Left - Disperse: wingmen pursue any targets in the area

Right - Special Weapons: wingmen use/don't use special weapons

Note that the controller must go in port 1 and that the memory card must go in slot 1.
Note also that the controls do other things at other times, like when navigating menus, selecting aircraft and paint schemes for your squadron, etc.

What are all of these YES NO questions about?

Can I turn off the YES NO questions?

Can I just ignore the YES NO questions?

The questions that prompt you for a YES or NO answer are generally just a part of the radio chatter that plays out during Campaign missions.
Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent the YES/NO prompts from appearing on the screen. However, with only a few exceptions, the answers given to the questions have no effect on the mission other than to select alternate sequences of radio chatter; choosing YES or NO will make little difference in most cases.
As a third option, it is also possible to simply ignore the questions. If no answer is entered in response to the YES/NO prompt it will eventually disappear, and the chatter that follows will often reflect the fact that you did not give an answer.
There are two questions Chopper asks you that relate to songs; these do have an effect and are discussed in the answers to the FAQs relating to the Campaign "A" and "B" branch missions and controlling the coin tosses. In Mission 18 the ground forces will ask you for permission to advance; eventually they will advance even if you do not give them permission, so this generally only affects the timing of their advance (which can be important, depending on what you are trying to do). At several points in Mission 25 Bartlett will ask you whether or not he should take a shortcut; this affects the targets that will spawn and the timing of progress through the mission (which can be important since there is a scripted time limit). There are also a few missions where your wingmen will ask you questions that can have an effect equivalent to issuing orders to them: should we concentrate our firepower, should we spread out, etc. Finally, there are a couple questions in the game that are somewhat mysterious, but they are generally assumed to have no effect.
It bears mentioning that Campaign missions in Ace Combat 5 are script-driven. Among many other things, this means that the radio chatter you hear and the questions you are presented with are generated according to a script. If you are trying to set a record for completing a mission quickly or for scoring a lot of points, the script will eventually factor into your strategy, and so will the way you respond to the questions. In general, if you want the script to progress quickly you will probably answer the questions quickly (and answer them a certain way), but in some cases it may not really work out this way, and it's almost never obvious without some careful experimentation. Similar potentially counterintuitive tactics may apply if you are trying to drag a mission out, to get more enemies to spawn, etc. In any case, just be aware that the questions are part of the script and while they are hanging up there on the screen the script has sort of come to a temporary stop.
Finally, you should be warned that there is a period of time surrounding these questions when you can not issue orders to your wingmen - answering the question YES or NO is done with the left or right directional buttons. These are the same buttons used to issue some orders to your wingmen. (See the previous FAQ.) When you are going to be asked a question the usual function of the directional buttons is temporarily disabled. Usually, this begins when the question starts in the radio chatter, but sometimes it starts a little earlier. This continues until shortly after the YES/NO prompt disappears, whenever (and however) that happens. There will probably be times when you decide to answer a question that you were going to ignore just so that you can get control back and issue orders to your wingmen.

What good are my wingmen?

Do wingmen ever follow the orders I give them?

Is there any way to make my wingmen better or more effective?

Do wingmen steal kills?

Do allied or friendly forces steal kills?

Can I run into my wingmen?

Can my wingmen run into me?

Is there any way I can just fly alone?

I don't think that there are many experienced players who would disagree with the assessment that your wingmen are primarily story-telling devices. It is true that they fly along with you on almost every mission and that they do in fact have weapons, but the bottom line always seems to be that your wingmen do a lot more talking than flying, and you can not really rely on them to get very much done.
One of the biggest problems is that your wingmen do not respond to your orders in the way you might expect. For example, if you select a target and order your wingmen to attack it, they will really take their time getting around to it - generally, it seems that they have to finish up whatever they were already doing before they will show up. Once they do show up, maybe two out of three of them will take a shot of some kind at the target. Usually they will all miss, but every once in a while one of them will manage to hit something. After all of the wingmen have taken their shots they will almost always forget about the target and start wandering off to something else - unless you then take a shot. If you take a shot then it is very likely that your wingmen will swing back around and actually land some hits. It seems that your wingmen prefer to work in tandem with you.
It would be nice if the moment you issued the attack order your wingmen would turn and burn to the target you have selected, lock on, fire and hit that target, and then repeat the process until the target is destroyed, but unfortunately that's not what happens.
Observations like this have led to several subjective characterizations of what the wingmen are actually doing and how the orders you issue them work. For example, it is thought that the orders you issue your wingmen may be effectively "expiring" unless there are additional events that "renew" or "re-issue" those orders. A single order to attack may be good for one pass, but after that something else has to happen to keep the wingmen active. Otherwise, they will just sort of fall back on their default behavior of flying in formation behind you (which is almost never helpful and occasionally detrimental). For the attack and disperse commands the events that are most likely to automatically re-issue the command are selected target destruction events. For the cover command the events that are most likely to automatically re-issue the command are you getting shot at events.
Generally, it is thought that if you are aggressive then your wingmen will also be aggressive. Mixing your weapon use may be a factor.
Wingmen always fire single missiles, so they rarely destroy a target in a single pass unless they are using a special weapon. As a result, they are not lethal if they strike first, but they do contribute damage.
Wingmen will use any special weapon except the Falken TLS. I have read discussions about specific wingmen being more effective with certain types of special weapons (for example, Edge with air-to-air or Archer with air-to-ground). I can not verify this from my own personal experience, but it might give you something else to think about.
There seem to be some targets that wingmen will almost never fire upon. A lot of named aces and mission critical targets fall into this category.
Wingmen will never use afterburners.
Wingmen are invincible, unless the script says they must go down, and then they always do.
If a wingman happens to destroy a target it will count toward your mission point score just as if you destroyed it, but credit for the kill will go to the wingman in the overall statistics. The kill rate contribution for that target will be credited to the type of aircraft that that particular wingman was flying; if you and all of your wingmen are in the same type of aircraft then all kill rate progress is applied to the same aircraft. Over all of the missions you are ever likely to play, your wingmen will probably account for between 10% and 20% of the total targets destroyed.
If a member of an allied force destroys a target they steal the kill in all senses: nothing will be added to your mission point score, no one will get credit for the kill in the overall statistics, and there will not be any kill rate contribution credited to any type of aircraft for that target. There are only a few missions where this is possible, and it doesn't happen a lot, but it can happen.
In most missions your wingmen will struggle to maintain their formation around you, and in so doing they may often fly through you. Fortunately, in these cases you can not run into your wingmen and they can not run into you. However, there are a few missions where it is possible to collide with other members of your squadron, so you will have to be careful. Generally, this will be when you are not leading the formation. In particular, watch out during the initial phases of missions 01, 02, and 17, and pretty much all of missions 19 and 23. You can not run into other small aircraft - like fighters and helicopters - whether allied or enemy. You can run into pretty much everything else that you can see.
Unfortunately, you are stuck with your wingmen; there is no way to complete a Campaign mission where you can destroy targets without your wingmen.

Where is the return line? How do I return to base (RTB)?

How do I repair damage to my aircraft in the middle of a mission?

How do I rearm to get more missiles, special weapons, or machine gun rounds?

How do I change special weapons on a particular aircraft?

These were all features of Ace Combat 04, but in Ace Combat 5 there is no way to return to base, repair damage, or rearm your weapons in the middle of a mission. This means you have to make it through an entire mission without taking too much damage or running out of ammunition; in some missions you will have to balance your weapon use, choose your targets carefully, and make your shots count.
For each type of aircraft in Ace Combat 5 there is only one type of special weapon. If you want a different kind of special weapon you will have to select one of the aircraft that are already equipped with it.

How do I avoid taking too much damage?

How do I dodge or evade a missile?

What do the ECM weapons do? Do they work?

On the lower difficulty levels taking a little damage is not such a big deal, but on the higher difficulty levels it is critically important to avoid as much damage as possible. On Ace difficulty getting hit by a single missile will usually end the mission in failure.
In general there are three kinds of weapons that can cause damage: guns, missiles, and various special weapons.
Machine gun rounds from enemy aircraft and AA fire do the least amount of damage per hit, but in some respects this is the hardest damage to avoid. Avoiding damage from these weapons is primarily dependent on awareness of these threats - where they are, and where their fire will be coming from. You do not receive any special warnings about these weapons, so know where they are. Avoid flying slowly or in straight lines while within range of these weapons. If you see bullets shooting past you, consider taking appropriate evasive action immediately - that is, get out of the apparent line of fire as quickly as possible. Be aware that enemy aircraft that get right behind you are likely to fire their machine guns at you - possibly before firing any missiles at you that you will notice.
Standard missiles do more damage than machine gun rounds. They are locking weapons and they can be fired effectively from a greater distance than machine gun rounds. They can also track you through slow or shallow turns. There are numerous audible alarms and visible indicators on the HUD when a missile is locking on to you, tracking you, and approaching you. In many cases you can also see the missiles on the radar. Generally, there should be ample warning of threats from standard missiles. Fortunately, avoiding standard missiles is fairly easy - just hit the throttle and turn hard. Standard missiles pose a greater threat to slower, less agile aircraft, so take special care when flying them. Getting hit by a standard missile in one of the faster, more agile aircraft should be a very rare event.
Enemy helicopters have been known to fire missiles that do slightly less damage than standard missiles but are otherwise very similar.
There are also a few different kinds of special missiles. Generally, these can be fired from a greater distance, and they do more damage. Fortunately, these missiles are also easy to avoid, and even better than that, enemies do not fire very many of them at you.
There is one exception - the missiles fired by the AA system on Mission 23/"Ghosts of Razgriz" are highly lethal. These missiles are much faster and much more maneuverable than any other missiles seen in the game. They are usually fired in groups of three, and once fired they almost always hit their target with dire results. The only way to avoid being hit by these missiles once they have been fired is to run them into the terrain - and this will require very quick thinking, considerable terrain-masking skill, and more than a little luck. The best plan is to just stay low so they are never fired at you.
The special weapons include the burst missiles fired by the Scinfaxi and Hrimfaxi and the lasers fired by the Arkbird. Avoiding damage from the burst missiles is just a matter of gaining sufficient altitude - anything over 5000 ft will do. Avoiding damage from the primary laser on the Arkbird is fairly easy - just don't fly underneath the Arkbird while the laser is firing. The secondary laser on the Arkbird is much harder to avoid - in this case, keep your distance, keep moving, and try to destroy it as quickly as you can, preferably with a weapon with a nice long range.
A few flyable aircraft in the game have an ECM pod as their special weapon. The ECM pod is a device on your aircraft that jams enemy radar so that they can not get a missile lock on you. There may also be claims that it can break missile locks of missiles already fired at you. In any case, the ECM pod will not deflect a missile - if a missile is tracking you and you continue to fly in a straight line, the missile will still hit you even if you activate the ECM pod. The ECM pod is a defensive weapon and can be used only a very limited number of times in a mission. This robs the aircraft of the chance to carry any offensive special weapons. The consensus seems to be that the trade off isn't worth it - ECM is not really all that necessary, and it just doesn't do nearly enough to justify forfeiting a more useful special weapon.

What is the difference between the difficulty levels in Campaign missions?

How does the difficulty level of a Campaign mission affect my aircraft?

What happens when you complete all Campaign missions on Ace difficulty with an S rank?

Is it possible to change the difficulty level of a Campaign?

There are six difficulty levels for Campaign missions: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Ace. A completely new game can only be started on Hard difficulty or lower. To gain access to Expert and Ace you must first complete a Campaign on Normal or Hard. This will unlock Special New Game and Free Mission and the ability to play a complete Campaign or individual missions, respectively, on any difficulty level.
The difficulty level affects the number of machine gun rounds and the number of standard missiles that you start the missions with. It also affects the amount of damage caused by enemy fire, and how quickly you can make progress in filling up the various aircraft kill rate quotas.
For example, on Easy difficulty the F-5E starts out with 76 standard missiles and unlimited machine gun rounds. On normal difficulty and above the F-5E starts out with 52 standard missiles.
On Very Easy difficulty all aircraft start out with 99 missiles. On Easy difficulty aircraft start out with somewhat fewer standard missiles; the exact number varies by aircraft. On Normal difficulty the initial number of standard missiles is even lower, and the exact number still varies by aircraft. On Hard, Expert, and Ace difficulty aircraft start out with the same number of standard missiles as they do on Normal.
Machine gun rounds are unlimited on Very Easy, Easy, and Normal. On Hard, Expert, and Ace all aircraft start out with 800 rounds of machine gun ammunition.
The number of special weapon units for a given aircraft is the same on all difficulty levels.
The amount of damage caused by enemy fire increases with difficulty level. For example, an F-5E that gets hit by a SAM on Very Easy may receive 22% damage. On Normal, the same hit causes 44% damage, and on Hard it causes 88% damage. Different types of enemy fire can do different amounts of damage; machine gun rounds and AA fire generally do less damage than missile hits. Note also that different aircraft take different amounts of damage from the same fire. For example, an A-10A getting hit by the same SAM on Hard will receive 60% damage.
Except for its susceptibility to damage, the difficulty level does not appear to affect the performance of an aircraft in any other way. As far as anyone knows, the speed and maneuverability of an aircraft are unaffected by difficulty level.
Progress on filling kill rate quotas is faster on higher difficulty levels. For a fixed set of targets, destroying them on Hard will add 25% more to your kill rate than destroying them on Normal. Destroying them on Expert will add 20% more than Hard, and destroying them on Ace will add a whopping 40% more than Expert. This is why you should use Ace difficulty to fill up your kill rate quotas as much as you can.
Named aces only spawn on missions played on Normal difficulty or above, and only after completing at least one Campaign (on any difficulty). Similarly, third paint schemes (YK, BL, or SP) can only be acquired in missions completed on Normal difficulty or above, and only after completing at least one Campaign (on any difficulty).
Most medals can be earned on any difficulty, but the Bronze Wing, Silver Wing, and Gold Wing require completing all missions with S ranks on Normal, Hard, and Expert difficulties, respectively.
Completing all missions with S ranks on Ace difficulty does not earn you a medal, but it does change the saved game file icon so that it has a black Razgriz-like paint scheme, and you are shown this special message at the end of your debriefing:
Many pilots have been hailed as aces;
only a few have truly earned the title.
� 1st Lt. Franklin Baelz �
This message is only shown once, so don't miss it! Although all missions started from Free Mission have a debriefing, some missions played during a Campaign do not. Make sure you get your last Ace difficulty S rank on a mission that has a debriefing, and when you do let the debriefing play out by itself. (Don't hit any buttons.) When it gets to the end, carefully hit the X button just once, and you should see your message. If you would just like to see what this message looks like, take a look at this image.
It is possible to change the difficulty level of a Campaign that is in progress at any point where the option exists to navigate to the title screen. From there it is possible to reach the Campaign menu options that allow you to change the difficulty level. Continuing the Campaign afterward will use the selected difficulty level.
To unlock the X-02 SP paint scheme you have to buy an X-02 and complete all missions on Hard difficulty. Any rank is sufficient. If you are curious about what the X-02 SP paint scheme looks like you can take a look at this image.
To unlock the Falken SP paint scheme you have to buy a Falken and complete all missions on Expert difficulty. Any rank is sufficient. If you are curious about what the Falken SP paint scheme looks like you can take a look at this image.
Finally, there seem to be some indications that the difficulty level affects the behavior of the enemy and/or wingmen AI - but only slightly. Although this is probably the effect players would expect the most, the actual extent of the effect is probably much less than would be anticipated.

Why do some mission numbers have an "A" or "B" on them? (11A, 12A, 11B, 12B, 16A, 16B)

How do I control the coin toss after Mission 10 or 15?

Is there any way to change aircraft before Mission 18+? (Also 06, 11A, 27+)

Why am I stuck using only certain aircraft on Mission 20? (Also 01-04, 11B, 19, 26)

When can I buy or sell aircraft in a Campaign?

When can I save my progress during a Campaign?

Why won't the game let me quit after finishing Mission 18? (Also 18+, 27)

A Campaign consists of a sequence of 29 missions. After Mission 10 there is a fork in the sequence, and the next two missions will either be 11A and 12A, or 11B and 12B. After Mission 15 there is another fork in the sequence, and the next mission will either be 16A or 16B. At both of these forks there is a video that shows a coin being tossed; if the coin comes up heads you take the "A" branch of the fork, and if it comes up tails you take the "B" branch of the fork.
It turns out that you control the outcome of the coin toss - and thus which branches you take through the mission sequence - by how you answer two questions. Near the beginning of Mission 10 and near the end of Mission 15 Chopper will ask you a question about a song. If you answer "YES" you will wind up taking the subsequent "A" branch, and if you answer "NO" you will wind up taking the subsequent "B" branch.
In most missions during a Campaign you can configure your squadron to fly any of the aircraft you have in your inventory at the time. There are a few missions, however, where there are constraints; you may have to use the same aircraft you used in the previous mission, or you may be limited to certain sets of aircraft. Here are the constraints you run into during a Campaign:

Mission Campaign Constraints on Aircraft

01 3 × F-5E, F-4G

02 3 × F-5E, F-4G

03 3 × F-5E

04 3 × F-5E

06 same as Mission 05

11A same as Mission 10

11B 4 × MIR-2000D

18+ same as Mission 18

19 4 × Hawk

20 4 × carrier-based

26 4 × carrier-based

27+ same as Mission 27

For Ace Combat 5 carrier-based means:

A-6E EA-6B

F/A-18C F/A-18E EA-18G

F-14A F-14B F-14D

Rafale M

F-35C

You can buy and sell aircraft before all missions during a Campaign except the following: 01, 02, 03, 04, 06, 11A, 11B, 18+, 19, and 27+.
When you begin your very first Campaign you are given 4 F-5E aircraft for free. You can keep them or sell them later to raise funds, but if you sell them and then complete the Campaign and start another using SP New Game the F-5E aircraft used in missions 01 through 04 will only be loaned to you - you only get the free aircraft once. A similar thing happens in your first Campaign after Mission 19 - in this case you are given enough F-14A aircraft so that the total in your inventory is brought up to 4. The F-14A is unlocked after Mission 09, so it is possible you will have bought some of them before Mission 19. It is a good idea to raise extra funds in your first Campaign to sell off all of your inventory of F-14A aircraft before Mission 18. Note that in subsequent SP New Game Campaigns that you will be expected to come up with your own carrier-based aircraft - there are no free aircraft, and no loaners. The MIR-2000D aircraft you fly on Mission 11B and the Hawk aircraft you fly on Mission 19 are strictly loaned to you; they are not given to you and they are independent of your inventory.
You can save your progress after all missions during a Campaign except the following: 18, 18+, and 27. When starting missions using Free Mission you should avoid saving your progress from the Start Mission menu; doing so can potentially change the difficulty of the mission to the difficulty of the Campaign that is in progress, and this will happen without any notice. Instead, save your progress from the same menu that lists Free Mission.
You can quit from any mission during a Campaign except the following: 18+, 19, and 27+. What this means is that during a Campaign you have to complete missions 18, 18+, and 19 in a row (successfully). The same is true of missions 27 and 27+. If you really get stuck or just can't finish for some other reason you will have to either reset the PS2 or turn it off. You can always quit from any mission started using Free Mission.

Is there any way to play missions without having to play through a Campaign?

Is there any way I can just fly around missions without any enemies?

Which aircraft can I use in Free Mission?

How do I unlock Free Mission and Free Flight?

Can I unlock aircraft, paint schemes, and so on using Free Mission?

Can I buy or sell aircraft using Free Mission?

Free Mission allows you to play any single Campaign mission without having to play through all of the missions of a Campaign in sequence. As in a Campaign, most missions started from Free Mission allow you to configure your squadron to fly any of the aircraft you have in your inventory at the time. However, just as in Campaign, there are a few missions that still have some constraints. Here are the constraints that apply to missions started from Free Mission:

Mission Free Mission Constraints on Aircraft

01 anything for yourself, rest of squadron 2 × F-5E, F-4G

02 anything for yourself, rest of squadron 2 × F-5E, F-4G

11B 4 × MIR-2000D

19 4 × Hawk

Note that if you want to earn the bonus points for completing a carrier landing on Mission 20 or 26 you will still have to configure your squadron to use carrier-based aircraft. Otherwise, you will only be given the minimum bonus, just as though you skipped the landing.
Free Flight allows you to explore the environment of any mission without having to worry about enemies, wingmen, or mission objectives - you can just fly around and look at things.
Free Mission and Free Flight are unlocked by completing at least one Campaign.
Using Free Mission you can do just about anything you can do during a regular Campaign: satisfy kill rate quotas, unlock aircraft, acquire paint schemes, earn medals, earn credits, etc. The significant exception is that you can not buy or sell aircraft. You can only buy and sell aircraft at certain points during a regular Campaign. Starting from a new Campaign, the first opportunity to buy and sell aircraft is after Mission 04. It is worth noting that it is possible to navigate through the game menus to alternate between playing missions from Free Mission and buying and selling aircraft from a Campaign that is "in progress."
Free Flight often makes minor adjustments to the mission environments. The main difference is that the boundary is often larger, so you can reach locations that you can not reach during a regular mission.

Where are the missiles coming from on 12A/Powder Keg?

Based on the chatter during the mission, the low-lying areas in this mission are apparently jungles. There are soldiers hidden in the jungle who will fire shoulder-launched SAMs at you if you get within range.
There are 11 of these soldiers in fixed positions on the map and 3 who always manage to position themselves right beside the last undestroyed tunnel.
There are no indications of these positions on your HUD or radar, but you can destroy them with machine gun fire and earn a few extra points. The missiles will show up on your radar, but the best way to hunt the launchers down is to look at the exhaust trail behind the missile and visually estimate the point of origin. Then line up on that location, dodge the missile, and fire machine guns. When you hit it you'll see an explosion and an indication on your HUD that something has been destroyed. It takes some time and a bit of practice to perfect the maneuver, but it isn't actually that difficult once you get the hang of it.

How do you complete the first part of 12B/Four Horsemen?

The basic idea here is that you and your wingmen will be taking out four successive layers of a radar system, where each layer has four separate sites that must be destroyed simultaneously.
Nagase will give you a count down over the radio. This is supposed to help you figure out exactly when to destroy the site you are targeting.
There is actually a fairly wide tolerance in the timing; you can't be very late but you can be a little early. As a result there are many tactics that can be effective, but here's a pretty easy one: try to make sure that you are approaching the target and about 10000 feet from it when Nagase says there are 10 seconds remaining. You should just come in to missile range when she starts counting down from 5 seconds. When she gets to 3, fire a standard missile. You might be going pretty slow at that point. Make sure that you don't cross the perimeter of the targets you are trying to destroy until you hear confirmation that the attack has been successful.
At some point in this process one of your wingmen may have a problem and request a delay and a restart of the current approach. This seems to happen randomly, but it happens at most once in the mission. When this happens, just circle back a little bit and get resynchronized.

Why am I getting a mission failure on Mission 15/White Noise?

The short answer is that the rescue helicopter was probably attacked and took too much damage. You have to protect it by destroying the forces in its path.
If you find and destroy the jammer aircraft and you manage to get close enough to Nagase's position, you will hear Nagase say "Blaze!" and there will be a mission update and a bunch of new targets will spawn along a line to the southeast. In addition, two large blue boxes will appear on your HUD; one of them (labeled "Frnd" and "Edge") represents Nagase's position and the other (labeled "Frnd", "CH-47", and "Sea Goblin") is centered on the rescue helicopter. Don't confuse them. Immediately after the mission update you will be close to Nagase and the rescue helicopter will be to the southeast. What you want to do is work your way to the southeast.
The primary targets you must destroy are the two AH-64 helicopters and the six moving ground targets along the path the rescue helicopter will fly. You will have to avoid taking too much damage yourself from the other fighters, but they are secondary targets and can eventually be lead away from the rescue operation.

Why am I getting a mission failure on Mission 18/Fortress?

If you fail this mission unexpectedly, it is probably because your allied ground forces have taken too much damage. You have to protect them and help them move through the mission by taking out pill boxes, bunkers, control towers, and tanks.
Generally, SAMs, AAs, and enemy aircraft do not shoot at your ground forces, but pretty much everything else does.

How do I survive and complete Mission 18+/8492?

The simple strategy is to dodge the missile volleys and work your way to the east.
The timing can vary, but usually there is a mission update a little more than a minute into the mission. With this update the mission boundary is extended. All you have to do to complete the mission is reach the eastern edge of this boundary. This can be difficult if you are in a slower aircraft. In this case you may actually have to fly close to the terrain and use it to block some of the missiles fired at you.
It is also possible to complete this mission by destroying the enemy aircraft, and there are a number of tactics and strategies that have been used successfully. That is a much larger topic, however, and at least for now will not be treated here. If individual mission walk-throughs are ever added to this archive, refer to them for more information.

Why am I getting killed on Mission 20/Ancient Walls after the mission is over?

Up to 3 pair of YF-23A aircraft will spawn in the last phase of this mission. If you do not destroy them all, they will continue to shoot at you after the mission objectives have been achieved. Continue evasive maneuvers after the mission accomplished notice has been given; holding a tight turn should be sufficient.
In many missions it is not necessary to destroy all hostile targets in order to achieve the mission objectives. Unfortunately, when the mission objectives have been achieved your radar and HUD targeting features are deactivated even though there may still be hostile targets in the area. If this happens, the enemy targets may continue shooting at you. If they do enough damage you can be destroyed, and the mission will switch to having ended in failure rather than having been accomplished.

How am I supposed to take the picture(s) on Mission 21/Solitaire?

First of all, remember to switch to your special "weapon". Once the camera is enabled use the Circle button to take a picture.
The first picture has to include both transport planes and the mine entrance in the frame, and has to be taken from within a certain distance of them. One way to line up this picture is to put the mine entrance on the left edge of the frame and the eastern-most transport plane on the right edge of the frame. This works, but it seems to be right on the edge of what the game considers acceptable. A slightly more time consuming way to compose this picture is to fly further to the east, then put the mine entrance in the center, between the transport planes. This allows you to get very close and seems to give you much more leeway. Note that after you emerge from the radar network and Pops starts talking to you that you can actually fly anywhere you want; the radar doesn't matter anymore.
The second picture has to include the two fighters (an SU-35 and an F-15S/MTD) that are initially parked between the transports. After taking the first picture turn to the east, head out briefly, then turn around and face west, lining up on where the fighters are between the transports. Head toward this point but don't get too close. After the chatter, the cut scene and the mission update, hit the throttle and head toward the two fighters. Note that there are now several active SAMs in the area. When you get pretty close to the fighters take a picture, pull up, and head west. If the picture is good there will be another mission update and you can just keep heading west to the exit boundary.

How do I survive and complete Mission 24/White Bird (Part II)?

Prior to owning a Falken, the keys to this mission are to know the enemy weapons you are up against and to continually engage in evasive maneuvers. For many of the less powerful aircraft this can be a very challenging mission. Given a choice, use an aircraft that is fast, maneuverable, and heavily armed with long range locking AA weapons. Having your wingmen in similar aircraft might actually be helpful also.
As the mission begins the Arkbird launches up to 6 UAVs. They will attack you aggressively by launching missiles from directly behind you, but just evade them (quickly) when you get the missile warnings. You will need to stay within range of the Arkbird for most of the mission, so do not try to chase the UAVs down; they are too fast and will deliberately lead you away.
Shortly after launching the UAVs the Arkbird will activate a sustained beam laser that fires periodically. This laser is located on the under side of the Arkbird, so to avoid it you must stay generally above and behind the Arkbird. You can fly below the Arkbird while the laser is not firing to take pot shots at the laser and/or the UAV launchers, but if you are still down there when the laser fires it will immediately aim directly at you and very quickly do lethal damage, so be careful.
The engines are the required TGT targets, and to destroy them you have to land several missiles apiece. You will have to continue evading attacks while your missiles reload. You can also tell your wingmen to attack with special weapons if you want - it can help a little.
Later on some AA missile launchers will spawn on the top of the Arkbird, and later still there will also be a laser on the top of the Arkbird that periodically fires bursts of laser pulses. These are hard to avoid, but you will have to try as you destroy the second set of engines. Eventually you should be able to take out the laser and other targets on the top of the Arkbird, and then it will just be a matter of destroying the last engine and avoiding any remaining UAVs.
Of all of the missions in the game, this is probably the one that is most changed by having a Falken. Once you have a Falken you can simply outgun the Arkbird, and it becomes a pretty simple mission.

Why am I getting a mission failure on Mission 25/Heart Break One?

The problem is most likely that you didn't keep the ground forces moving fast enough, and they missed their window of opportunity to escape.
Unfortunately the mission clock on your HUD does not really tell you how much time you have left, and the comments in the chatter are also somewhat misleading. Don't try to take the long way every time; take one or more shortcuts, and don't take too long to destroy the checkpoint targets once they spawn.

Can you shoot down Hamilton on 27/Aces or not?

How do you get through the tunnels in 27/Aces?

Using ordinary weapons it is possible to score points for "destroying" Hamilton's MIG-1.44, but his aircraft continues flying, generally off to the north, and all possible weapon selections result in a green X on the HUD. In some cases additional hits will give the "Hold Fire" message. With the Falken TLS it is possible to score twice as many points and Hamilton's aircraft actually explodes. However, no matter what you do Hamilton will magically appear at the tunnel entrance behind you after you reach a certain point in the tunnel. Subsequent acrobatics in the tunnels will still not allow you to destroy him. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, but that's how it is.
If you are having trouble getting through the tunnels, make sure your video setup is as well-adjusted as possible, and try to play when you are rested. It may also help to know that there are obstacles in the tunnels that may be difficult to see - arms extending from cranes, for example. Learning where these are and recognizing the cues (like the larger bottom parts of the cranes) should help you avoid them. Try not to maneuver too much, use your yaw controls to make slight adjustments, and remember that you don't really have to go full speed through the tunnels; Hamilton is only a mild threat, and you don't actually have to do much of anything to avoid Bartlett. Avoid using a 3rd person view.

How do I unlock aircraft?

What do the kill rate progress bars mean?

What is the best way to fill up the kill rate progress bars quickly?

The kill rate progress bar is full, but the next aircraft has not been unlocked. Why?

Do targets destroyed in arcade missions help fill the kill rate progress bars?

How do I unlock the F/A-22A using Arcade?

How do I unlock the X-02?

How do I unlock the Falken?

Where are the Falken hangars?

What is the best mission to earn credits (money)?

Aircraft are unlocked in one of three ways. 24 aircraft are unlocked simply by completing Campaign missions for the first time. This can happen in the regular course of playing through your first Campaign or by completing previously unplayed branch missions started from Free Mission. 27 aircraft are unlocked by destroying a sufficient number of targets with other aircraft. Unlocking the X-02 and the Falken are special cases, and the F/A-22A can be unlocked by completing Mission 17 or any level of Arcade. The following tables give the details.

To unlock... complete...

F-5E n/a (initially unlocked)

MIG-21BIS Mission 03

F-4E Mission 03

A-6E Mission 04

F-16C Mission 06

F/A-18C Mission 06

MIR-2000 Mission 07

MIG-29A Mission 07

A-10A Mission 07

F-14A Mission 09

TND-GR.1 Mission 09

MIG-31 Mission 09

F-15C Mission 12A

SU-27 Mission 12B

F-117A Mission 15

JAS-39C Mission 15

Typhoon Mission 16A

Rafale M Mission 16B

F-35C Mission 16A

YF-23A Mission 16B

F/A-22A Mission 17 or any level of Arcade

SU-47 Mission 17

MIG-1.44 Mission 25

Hawk Mission 19

X-02 having one of every other aircraft except the Falken in inventory, then complete one more mission

Falken destruction of all 5 Falken hangars

To unlock... fill the kill rate quota(s) of...

F-20A F-5E

X-29A F-20A, F-5E

MIG-21-93 MIG-21BIS

F-4G F-4E

F-4X F-4G, F-4E

EA-6B A-6E

F-16C B60 F-16C

F-16XL F-16C

F-2A F-16C

F/A-18E F/A-18C

EA-18G F/A-18E, F/A-18C

MIR-2000D MIR-2000

YA-10B A-10A

F-14B F-14A

F-14D F-14B, F-14A

TND-GR.4 TND-GR.1

TND-F3 TND-GR.1

TND-ECR TND-GR.1

MIG-31M MIG-31

F-15E F-15C

F-15S/MTD F-15C

SU-32 SU-27

SU-35 SU-27

SU-37 SU-35, SU-27

Rafale B Rafale M

FB-22 F/A-22A

S-32 SU-47

There are 21 aircraft that have kill rate quotas. An aircraft that has a kill rate quota has to be used to destroy a sufficient number of targets in order to unlock other aircraft in its series. For the destroyed targets to count you have to successfully complete the mission.
For example, the F-5E has a kill rate quota. After destroying a sufficient number of targets with the F-5E, the F-20A is unlocked. The F-20A, in turn, also has a kill rate quota. After destroying a sufficient number of targets with the F-20A, the X-29A is unlocked. The X-29A is the last aircraft in its series, so it does not have a kill rate quota. Note that some series branch out a little more than the F-5E series, but all series consist of three levels or less.
Kill rate quotas vary among the aircraft that have them; some aircraft have very low quotas and others have fairly high quotas.
Progress toward filling kill rate quotas is represented by the kill rate progress bars, often referred to simply as the "kill bars". The kill rate progress bars appear below the names of the aircraft on the right side of the debriefing screens and on the aircraft selection, buying, selling, and flight data screens. If no progress has been made the bar will be completely hollow; if the quota has been met the bar will be filled in solid.
The kill rate value of a target is not related to its point value; although this is a widespread misconception, the two values are entirely independent. Furthermore, the kill rate value of a given target increases with difficulty level. Unfortunately, the kill rate value of a target is never presented numerically. However, relative aggregate kill rate values can be inferred from changes in kill rate progress bars.
Some missions have a very predictable, constant number of targets. These missions can be used as relative kill rate yardsticks. For example, when played under the same conditions, Mission 26 always has the same number of targets. When played on Ace difficulty with a squadron of F-20A aircraft, destroying all targets on Mission 26 will add approximately 94% to the kill rate progress of the F-20A. Comparatively, doing the same thing with four MIG-21BIS aircraft will add about 65% to their kill rate progress. The following table illustrates several of these kill rate changes when all targets are destroyed in the missions indicated. Some of these values have actually been measured, but most have been extrapolated. All of these values should be regarded as approximate, and values over 100% are of course purely theoretical.

Mission 05
Expert Mission 11A
Expert Mission 12B
Expert Mission 14
Expert Mission 26
Ace

F-5E 82% 108% 134% 60% 340%

F-20A 23% 30% 37% 17% 94%

MIG-21BIS 15% 20% 25% 11% 65%

F-4E 111% 146% 181% 93% 461%

F-4G 31% 40% 50% 22% 127%

A-6E 32% 42% 52% 23% 132%

F-16C 21% 28% 35% 16% 89%

F/A-18C 28% 37% 45% 21% 116%

F/A-18E 14% 19% 23% 10% 60%

MIR-2000 41% 54% 67% 30% 170%

A-10A 17% 22% 27% 12% 70%

F-14A 31% 40% 50% 23% 127%

F-14B 26% 33% 41% 19% 106%

TND-GR.1 24% 31% 38% 17% 109%

MIG-31 21% 28% 34% 15% 88%

F-15C 14% 19% 23% 10% 60%

SU-27 12% 15% 19% 9% 50%

SU-35 11% 14% 17% 8% 45%

Rafale M 32% 42% 52% 23% 132%

F/A-22A 11% 14% 19% 8% 46%

SU-47 10% 13% 16% 7% 43%

The best way to fill up the kill rate progress bars quickly is to play missions whose targets have a high total kill rate value, and to play them on Ace difficulty. Experience and numerous experiments have shown that Mission 26 has the highest predictable total kill rate value in the game, so play Mission 26 on Ace difficulty. Only missions 16A and 17 have demonstrated higher kill rate value potentials, but these are typically longer missions and their kill rate values are not predictable. It is possible (although not always easy) to complete Mission 26 on Ace difficulty with any aircraft in the game, so Mission 26 is very useful for filling up kill rates in general.
Sometimes a kill rate progress bar will be shown as being full but the next aircraft in the series will not be unlocked. This is due to rounding in the logic for drawing the progress bars. Think of it this way: the kill rate is 99.5% full so it is shown as being filled in, but the kill rate has to actually be 100% before the next aircraft in the series will be unlocked. (Note that the actual threshold is almost certainly not 99.5%.) A lot of players see this at least once in the game. The solution is to destroy a few more targets with the aircraft in question; everything will work out.
It turns out that you can unlock the ability to use any of your Campaign aircraft in Arcade. However, targets destroyed in Arcade do not contribute to kill rate quota progress.
As mentioned the F/A-22A can be unlocked either by completing Mission 17 or any one of the four levels of Arcade. Some care is required in navigating the game menus; you must not reset the PS2 or load a saved game at any point in the process. The following procedure will reliably unlock the F/A-22A as early as possible:

Starting from a completely new game, begin a Campaign and complete missions 01 through 04

Navigate to the title screen (by selecting Options, Title, Yes)

Press the start button at the title screen, then select Arcade

Play all the way through any level of Arcade (Level 01 is recommended)

Once you have returned to the Arcade screen, press the triangle button, then select Campaign

Select Continue, then Buy

Playing through a level of Arcade will take most players about 30 minutes straight. After purchasing an F/A-22A it should be safe to save the game and continue normally.
The X-02 is unlocked by having one or more of every other aircraft except the Falken in your inventory at the same time, and then playing one more mission after that. Note that this implies that you have to unlock all other aircraft first. The extra mission is apparently required because things are only unlocked in debriefings.
The Falken is unlocked by destroying the Falken hangars in missions 12A, 12B, 16A, 16B, and 27, and then successfully completing those missions. This can be done on any difficulty level and using any combination of Campaign and Free Mission. You have to get close to most of the Falken hangars before they will show up on your radar, but this is typically only an issue on Mission 12A. The Falken hangars are labeled "Hangar" on the HUD and have a reddish-orange band on their outer walls. Shortly after they are destroyed there will be some radio chatter about "mechanical parts", and if it is the first time a particular hangar has been destroyed there will be an additional message in the debriefing that looks like this:
Acquired part of enemy prototype aircraft.
If you get the chatter in the mission but do not get the message in the debriefing it just means that you have destroyed that hangar before. Unfortunately, there is no way to know which hangars you have already destroyed or even how many of them you have destroyed, so it is generally a good idea to destroy them every time you see them until you have the Falken unlocked.
On Mission 12A the Falken hangar is well to the east of the main group of targets. Follow the river that extends to the east. The hangar will eventually show up on radar along with an enemy aircraft. Note that there is also a hidden SAM next to it.
On Mission 12B you have to clear the radar network before you can reach the munitions factory. The Falken hangar is at the northeast corner of the munitions factory area, but it does not show up on radar with the first group of targets. You have to destroy several other TGT targets before the hangar shows up on your radar or HUD, but it turns out that you can also just destroy the Falken hangar immediately. In this case you will probably have to use machine gun fire or special weapons, but it will still work. Note that after the mission script detects that the transport planes have been destroyed SAMs and AA guns will be activated and show up on your radar. One of the activated SAMs is next to the Falken hangar.
On Mission 16A the Falken hangar is northeast of the enemy airfield and will show up on radar as soon as you get close enough to it.
On Mission 16B the Falken hangar is north-northwest of the enemy oil field and will show up on radar as soon as you get close enough to it.
On Mission 27 the Falken hangar is among all of the other initial ground targets, toward the eastern side of the group. Finding and destroying this hangar should not be difficult, but be wary of enemy fire in the area.
When the conditions for unlocking an aircraft have been met there will be an additional message at the end of the next Campaign mission debriefing that looks like this:
New aircraft is available for purchase.
The new aircraft should appear from then on in subsequent buying, selling, and statistics screens.
Eventually you will probably wonder how to go about earning enough credits to buy four of everything. Generally, you should work on just about everything else in the game first because you will also earns credits at the same time. Unlock all the aircraft, buy only one or two of each, then unlock all the paint schemes, then all the medals, earn all of your S ranks, and then finally max out your inventory last.
Prior to owning a Falken, the fastest way to earn credits in terms of credits per minute is to play Mission 21 with a fairly fast and maneuverable aircraft. Skip the landing for the highest possible credit per minute ratio. After you own a Falken it will depend on your skill, but you might be able to earn more credits per minute on Mission 26. By limiting your inventory to just one of every aircraft you should be able to afford your first Falken fairly early. Remember also that you can sell aircraft for exactly what you pay for them. Just hang on to one of each initially.
A few times people have asked how many credits you have to earn to buy four of every aircraft. This is tricky because everyone will enter this phase of completing the game at different starting points. However, the total inventory value of four of every aircraft is 7,002,000 credits. By themselves, four Falkens are 3,304,000 credits. In discussions on this topic it is also frequently pointed out that your wingmen will never use the Falken TLS special weapon, so buying four of them may be optional depending on your personal goals with the game.

How do I unlock paint schemes?

In which mission does this aircraft appear?

How do I unlock the F/A-22A paint scheme?

How do I unlock the X-02 SP paint scheme?

How do I unlock the Falken SP paint scheme?

How do I select paint schemes?

Why can't I unlock the X-02 SP paint scheme?

Every flyable aircraft in the game has three different paint schemes: OS, RZ, and one of either YK, BL, or SP.
The standard Osea (OS) paint scheme becomes available when the aircraft itself becomes available. In your first Campaign, the OS paint scheme is used on all of your aircraft in all missions through Mission 19 (except for Mission 11B, which enigmatically uses the SP paint scheme).
The Razgriz (RZ) paint scheme is introduced in Mission 20 of your first Campaign, and is used on all of your aircraft in all of the remaining missions of your first Campaign.
After completing your first Campaign (on any difficulty) you can switch between the OS and RZ paint scheme for any aircraft that you get to choose for a mission. You can also start unlocking additional paint schemes. To unlock the third paint scheme for most aircraft you must have one or more of the aircraft in question in your inventory, and then you must play a mission (on Normal difficulty or above) where that aircraft appears as an enemy target. You must then destroy that enemy aircraft and successfully complete the mission. Some enemy aircraft are unique and can only be found in a particular mission; these are the named aces. Finally, unlocking the third paint schemes of the F/A-22A, the X-02, and the Falken are special cases. The third paint schemes of the named aces and the F/A-22A, the X-02, and the Falken are all considered special (SP). The third paint schemes of all other aircraft are from either Yuktobania (YK) or Belka (BL). For each of the flyable aircraft in the game the following table lists the missions where they can be destroyed to unlock their third paint schemes.

Mission(s) or Conditions Ace Name in HUD

F-5E YK 03

F-20A YK 06

X-29A SP 15 DAREDEVIL

MIG-21BIS YK 01 02

MIG-21-93 SP 23 SWORDKILL

F-4E YK 03 04

F-4G SP 04 MINDRIPPER

F-4X YK 09

A-6E YK 03

EA-6B SP 10 DUNE

F-16C YK 04 06 08

F-16C B60 YK 12B 14 16A

F-16XL YK 16A

F-2A SP 18 CYPHER

F/A-18C YK 07

F/A-18E YK 11A 15

EA-18G SP 16B ABELCAIN

MIR-2000 YK 03

MIR-2000D SP 06 ZAHRADA

MIG-29A YK 02 04 12A

A-10A YK 09 11A 16B

YA-10B SP 25 DISTANTTHUNDER

F-14A YK 08 10

F-14B YK 11A 12B

F-14D SP 03 ZIPANG

TND-GR.1 YK 04 06 09 11A

TND-GR.4 YK 16B

TND-F3 YK 14 16A

TND-ECR SP 18+ TWICEDEAD

MIG-31 YK 08 11A 15 17

MIG-31M SP 16A COSM

F-15C YK 10 12A

F-15E YK 16A 16B

F-15S/MTD BL 25

SU-27 YK 12B 14 17 18 26 27

SU-32 YK 25 26

SU-35 BL 23

SU-37 SP 27 YELLOW

F-117A YK 17

JAS-39C YK 18

Typhoon YK 17 23 26 27

Rafale M YK 16A

Rafale B SP 26 DECODER

F-35C YK 05 07 26

YF-23A BL 18+ 20 22

F/A-22A SP complete any level of Arcade

FB-22 SP 17 PROTEUS

SU-47 BL 18+ 20 22 27

S-32 BL 27+

MIG-1.44 SP 27+ REPLICATOR

Hawk SP 01 GIGANTOR

X-02 SP complete all Campaign missions on Hard difficulty

Falken SP complete all Campaign missions on Expert difficulty

Most of the 16 named aces are fairly easy to find, but here is a list that adds a little more detail about the named ace locations.

X-29A SP 15 DAREDEVIL The ace spawns directly ahead of you at the moment that the E-767 jammer is destroyed.

MIG-21-93 SP 23 SWORDKILL The ace spawns above the canyon that extends to the east after 20 of the helicopter and gun boat targets have been destroyed.

F-4G SP 04 MINDRIPPER Destroy the first two F-4E aircraft and just one B-1B bomber and the ace will spawn at your six o'clock.

EA-6B SP 10 DUNE Going after the ace can make this mission difficult to complete. Focus first on destroying all four of the E-767 jammers and then the four northern C-5 and C-130 transports. Try to leave only one or two transports intact - preferably the ones that are the most southeast in the group, which are usually the first ones you see in the mission. Assuming that the four jammers and at least two transports have been destroyed the ace will show up near the southeast corner of the map. (Typically, the ace shows up on the eastern edge of the map, a little north of the south east corner.) The ace shows up at just about the time Chopper asks his question that gets broken up by the jamming. You can anticipate this and head to this area as soon as you have destroyed the four jammers and enough of the transports. As soon as the ace shows up on the radar hurry to destroy the ace, and then hurry back to destroy the remaining transports. You will probably have to fend off a few of the enemy fighters, but try not to get too distracted by them.

F-2A SP 18 CYPHER The ace spawns north-northwest of the fortress at the same time as the fifth and last JAS-39C that spawns on the fortress runway; every other enemy aircraft in this mission must be destroyed to reach this point. To complete the mission you will also have to keep your allied ground forces alive. One approach to doing all of this is to divide the mission up. As quickly as possible, destroy all of the pill boxes and bunkers leading up to the southern fortress entrance and the control towers at the southern entrance. There are six enemy ground units just inside the southern entrance that are not targetable until after the allied forces enter the fortress, but these enemy ground units can be destroyed before that by machine gun fire or careful use of special weapons. The four units closest to the entrance are tanks and the other two units are AA vehicles; destroy the four tanks, but leave the AA vehicles intact. Once you reach this state your allied forces will be safe while you destroy all of the enemy aircraft, including the ace. Once the ace has been destroyed, destroy the AA vehicles holding up your allied forces, and complete the mission as usual.

EA-18G SP 16B ABELCAIN The ace spawns in the last phase of the mission after the A-10A and TND-GR.4 have been destroyed. Once these two enemy aircraft have been destroyed the ace spawns very near the western mission boundary, between the two branches of the river.

MIR-2000D SP 06 ZAHRADA Destroy the two F-16C aircraft near the east end of the launch facility at the beginning of the mission. Then destroy the two F-20A aircraft that spawn immediately afterward. The ace will then spawn directly ahead of you.

YA-10B SP 25 DISTANTTHUNDER The ace spawns just slightly north of the very center of the map at the beginning of the last phase of the mission where you are supposed to destroy the Belkans. Just destroy the ace before the Belkans.

F-14D SP 03 ZIPANG The ace spawns in the last phase of the mission after any one of several combinations of targets have been destroyed. The most well known combination is probably the MIR-2000, the 2 F-4E that follow, and the 2 F-4E that follow after that. Another combination that might be a little easier is to destroy all 3 Nimrods and the two missile boats that follow. You can also just destroy the 4 ships present initially, but since this also completes the construct it might not give you enough time to destroy the ace. In all cases, the ace spawns at your six o'clock at the moment that you complete any of these combinations.

TND-ECR SP 18+ TWICEDEAD In order to get this ace to spawn you will have to destroy all but the last two enemy fighter aircraft. This takes some doing, and it usually takes some pretty good aircraft for your whole squadron. The first two waves of fighters are accompanied by E-767 jammers that should be destroyed quickly to help keep things clear. In the last wave there will be three false targets that do not go away. When you have whittled the enemy fighters down to the last two, the ace will spawn near the southeast corner of the mission boundary and start heading for your position. Note that it will take more than two standard missiles to destroy the ace.

MIG-31M SP 16A COSM The ace spawns in the last phase of the mission after you pass close enough to the area where the E-767 and KC-10 TGT targets are. If you simply fly toward this area at top speed the ace will spawn behind you (and generally somewhat in pursuit of you) just as you pass through the middle of the group. Remember to save enough ammunition to destroy the ace and the TGTs. The ace will require somewhat more than two standard missiles.

SU-37 SP 27 YELLOW The ace spawns as part of the last group of enemy targets in the tunnel. Make sure to use an aircraft that can destroy several enemy aircraft quickly in this setting, and make sure to save the ammunition to do so.

Rafale B SP 26 DECODER If you destroy all of the ships first the ace will spawn directly ahead of you at the moment that the last ship is destroyed. If you initially destroy only enemy aircraft, the sequence will be two SU-27 aircraft, then two SU-32 aircraft, then two Typhoons, and then the ace will spawn directly ahead of you. Other sequences may also be possible.

FB-22 SP 17 PROTEUS The ace spawns in the last phase of the mission south of your initial position; look for a lone aircraft on radar.

MIG-1.44 SP 27+ REPLICATOR The ace will spawn on the middle of the eastern mission boundary after you have destroyed all of the Belkans, provided that there is 1:00 or more left on the SOLG reentry countdown clock. The ace will move very quickly toward your position, so be ready.

Hawk SP 01 GIGANTOR Destroy the first two waves of MIG-21BIS enemy aircraft quickly and there will be a third wave. The ace will spawn with the third wave.

The third paint scheme of the F/A-22A becomes available after completing any level of Arcade. Note that this is exactly the same condition required to unlock the F/A-22A early. The mechanics are the same. It is thought that both things can be accomplished by a single trip through Arcade, but this may not work consistently, and the availability of the F/A-22A paint scheme will not be apparent until the first Campaign is completed. In any case, if you have completed a Campaign and have one or more F/A-22A aircraft in your inventory but you still do not have the SP paint scheme, you should be able to unlock it by completing any level of Arcade. Just make sure to navigate through the menus, avoid resetting the PS2, and avoid reloading a saved Campaign. Once the SP paint scheme shows up in Campaign it should be safe to save.
The third paint scheme of the X-02 becomes available after purchasing at least one X-02 and subsequently completing all Campaign missions on Hard difficulty (with any rank). Strictly speaking, it is not actually necessary to purchase an X-02 before completing all Campaign missions on Hard difficulty, but it is strongly recommended. Many players have encountered problems unlocking this paint scheme; see the discussion below.
The third paint scheme of the Falken becomes available after purchasing at least one Falken and subsequently completing all Campaign missions on Expert difficulty (with any rank). Again, it is not actually necessary to purchase a Falken before completing all Campaign missions on Expert difficulty, but it is strongly recommended. Problems unlocking this paint scheme are not nearly as common as problems unlocking the third paint scheme of the X-02.
When the conditions for unlocking a third paint scheme have been met there will be an additional message at the end of the next Campaign mission debriefing that looks like this:
Acquired special colored aircraft.
Press SELECT button to change aircraft colors.
The new paint scheme should be available from then on. Assuming that you have a Dual Shock II controller and that you have completed a Campaign, pressing the SELECT button at the screens where you choose aircraft for missions will allow you to use any of the paint schemes you have unlocked. This is also how you check to see that a paint scheme has been unlocked. You can select the paint scheme for any of the aircraft that you can choose in a mission, so that usually includes the aircraft assigned to your wingmen.
If you have an X-02 in your inventory and you have completed all Campaign missions on Hard difficulty but the X-02 SP paint scheme is not available, your game state may be afflicted by the X-02 glitch. To double check, make sure all of the following are simultaneously true:

At least one Campaign has been completed and the "Clear!" label appears on the saved game

All aircraft have been unlocked (including the X-02, but not necessarily the Falken)

One or more of every aircraft has been purchased and is currently in the inventory (including the X-02, but not necessarily the Falken)

All campaign missions have been successfully completed on the Hard difficulty level and have been saved

One or more additional missions have been played after all of the above conditions were initially true

The X-02 SP paint scheme is not available

If your saved game is indeed suffering from the X-02 glitch you can either start completely over on a new saved game, or you can just decide that you can live without the X-02 SP. That will be up to you, but if you decide to start over this guide should help.

How do I unlock medals?

Which missions have a landing or a refueling maneuver?

What makes a landing or a refueling maneuver "perfect"?

How do I get an S rank on this mission?

Why didn't I get an S rank when I scored more points than necessary?

There are 15 medals that can be awarded in the game. Medals are awarded for completing various objectives in one or more Campaign missions. Most of the medals are awarded somewhat incidentally in the course of the first Campaign or two, but it is not unusual to be looking to fill in a few later on. Medals are awarded only once in any given saved game. When the conditions for unlocking a medal have been met there will usually be an additional message at the end of the next Campaign mission debriefing that looks like this:
A medal has been awarded for this mission.
Congratulations.
The new medal should appear in the gallery from then on.
The following table lists all of the medals and the objectives that have to be completed for them to be awarded. (The medals are listed in the same order that they are displayed in the medals gallery: starting in the upper left, going left to right, top to bottom.)

Gold Anchor Complete Mission 03 on any difficulty, with any score and rank.

Lightning Hammer Complete Mission 09 on any difficulty, with any rank, but make sure to minimize casualties to your ground forces. In Mission 09 the AH-64 helicopters, the A-10A aircraft, and later on the TND-GR.1 aircraft all attack your ground forces when they get within range, so destroy them before they cause too much harm.

Bronze Shooter Destroy 5 enemy aircraft using only your machine guns in any number of Campaign missions on any difficulty. The count is cumulative across all Campaign missions, regardless of whether the missions are part of a Campaign or started from Free Mission. For the kill to count, the enemy aircraft must not be damaged by anything other than your machine gun fire; enemy aircraft damaged by your wingmen or other friendly forces will not count. In addition to enemy fighters, it seems that at least some of the larger enemy aircraft (for example, the jammers and transports in Mission 10) can count toward this medal, but it appears that enemy helicopters do not. If you are missing this medal or the Silver or Gold versions, the A-6E enemy aircraft in Mission 03 should help you solve the problem. Remember that you have unlimited machine gun rounds on Normal difficulty and below.

Silver Shooter Destroy 15 enemy aircraft using only your machine guns. (This includes the 5 for which the Bronze Shooter was awarded, so the Silver Shooter is awarded after 10 more enemy aircraft are destroyed using only your machine guns. This can happen pretty early in your very first Campaign.) Similar to the Bronze Shooter.

Gold Shooter Destroy 50 enemy aircraft using only your machine guns. Similar to the Silver Shooter and the Bronze Shooter.

Desert Eagle Complete Mission 16A on any difficulty with a final HUD score of 20000 or more, or complete Mission 16B on any difficulty with a final HUD score of 22000 or more. (There have been reports that on 16A casualties to your allied forces must be kept to 3 or fewer units, but it seems to be exceedingly rare that casualties would ever exceed 3 units no matter how much you neglect them, so this requirement has not been verified.)

Grand Falcon Destroy each of the 16 named aces. The named aces can be found in the locations described about midway through this discussion. Named aces only spawn in missions played on Normal difficulty or above, and only after completing a Campaign (on any difficulty). It is not necessary to have the named ace aircraft in your inventory or even have them unlocked to earn this medal, but if you work on unlocking paint schemes first you will automatically earn this medal when you get the last named ace paint scheme.

Bronze Ace Destroy 200 enemy targets in any number of Campaign missions on any difficulty. The count is cumulative across all Campaign missions, regardless of whether the missions are part of a Campaign or started from Free Mission. The count includes air targets, ground targets, and targets destroyed by your wingmen. You can check your destroyed target count on the Squadron Data screen. You will usually earn this medal incidentally some time in your first Campaign.

Silver Ace Destroy 500 enemy targets. (This includes the 200 for which the Bronze Ace was awarded, so it is not uncommon to earn this medal in your first Campaign.) There are a couple other things to know about this medal: it will often appear in your medals gallery before you actually cross the 500 target threshold (according to the Squadron Data screen), and when this happens you may not see a debriefing message indicating that it has been awarded.

Gold Ace Destroy 1000 enemy targets. Similar to the Silver Ace and the Bronze Ace. Like the Silver Ace, the Gold Ace will sometimes appear prematurely in your medals gallery and there may never be a debriefing message indicating that it has been awarded.

Guardian The game says that this medal is awarded for destroying 10 enemy aircraft that had a lock on one of your wingmen at the time. It is fortunate that the number of kills required is so low because there is no way to know for certain that an enemy aircraft has a lock on one of your wingmen. You will usually earn this medal incidentally some time in your first Campaign.

Needle's Eye Complete a "perfect" landing at the end of missions 04, 20, 21, 26, and one of either 16A or 16B, and complete a "perfect" refueling maneuver at the beginning of missions 13 and 18. This can be done on any difficulty, but note that refueling maneuvers are started in easier positions on lower difficulties. The criteria for rating landings and refueling maneuvers is how quickly they are completed. A landing is "perfect" if it is completed in 40 seconds or less, and a refueling maneuver is "perfect" if it is completed in 20 seconds or less. (A landing is completed when you come to a full stop.) You will know you have succeeded when the controller says "perfect Blaze!" It will also be reflected in the debriefing: a perfect landing or refueling maneuver will earn you a 1000 point bonus; a smaller bonus is given otherwise. Note that the landings in missions 20 and 26 are carrier landings; if started from Free Mission you and all of your wingmen must be in carrier-based aircraft or the game will not let you attempt the carrier landing. You will know you have your squadron properly equipped if you are allowed to do the carrier launch at the beginning of the mission. You can find the list of carrier-based aircraft in this discussion.

Bronze Wing Complete all Campaign missions on Normal difficulty with an S rank. Missions can be played as part of a Campaign or started from Free Mission. The ranking criteria for most missions is the score on your HUD at the end of the mission (before any bonuses are applied), but there are several missions that are ranked based on completion time. If scoring a lot of points does not seem to be working, try completing the mission more quickly. Note also that for missions ranked by score that you can not simply look at the scores recorded in the Free Mission menus; these scores are totals that include bonuses. The same is true of the total scores shown in debriefing screens. If you want to know the score that was used to determine the rank and you are looking at the debriefing screen, subtract the bonuses from the total. For the sake of completeness, the following table lists the precise S rank criteria for each Campaign mission.

Mission Ranking Criteria S Rank Threshold

01 Final HUD Score 1760 +

02 Total Completion Time 6:00 -

03 Final HUD Score 9400 +

04 Final HUD Score 10000 +

05 Total Completion Time 9:30 -

06 Final HUD Score 10000 +

07 Final HUD Score 17000 +

08 Final HUD Score 3600 +

09 Final HUD Score 8000 +

10 Final HUD Score 13000 +

11A Total Completion Time 8:00 -

11B Total Completion Time 10:00 -

12A Final HUD Score 10000 +

12B Final HUD Score 15000 +

13 Final HUD Score 6700 +

14 Total Completion Time 11:00 -

15 Final HUD Score 8000 +

16A Final HUD Score 21500 +

16B Final HUD Score 24000 +

17 Final HUD Score 23000 +

18 Final HUD Score 11000 +

18+ Final HUD Score 11800 +

19 Mission Completion Mission Completion

20 Final HUD Score 14000 +

21 Total Completion Time 6:00 -

22 Final HUD Score 17700 +

23 Total Completion Time 15:00 -

24 Total Completion Time 7:00 -

25 Total Completion Time 15:00 -

26 Total Completion Time 9:00 -

27 Final HUD Score 15000 +

27+ Final HUD Score 24160 +

Silver Wing Complete all Campaign missions on Hard difficulty with an S rank. Similar to the Bronze Wing.

Gold Wing Complete all Campaign missions on Expert difficulty with an S rank. Similar to the Silver Wing and the Bronze Wing. The Bronze Wing, the Silver Wing, and the Gold Wing are often the last medals to be unlocked, and curiously enough they are the only lasting things you get for S ranks. (Completing all Campaign missions on Ace difficulty with an S rank only gets you an additional message in a debriefing. You can find this message toward the end of this discussion.)

What other games work with the flight stick?

How do I adjust the flight stick? What do the knobs do?

Can I use the flight stick on a pc?

Will other flight sticks work with this game?

All of the following comments are based on second hand information; they are thought to be accurate, but you might want to take them with a grain of salt.
The Namco flight stick is reported to work with Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, and Aero Elite: Combat Academy.
Friction controls can be adjusted to feel. Apparently the rotary control knobs do not do anything in Ace Combat 5.
From all accounts attempts to use the Namco flight stick on a pc have not met with much success. A virtually identical product, the Saitek X36, is often cited as an alternative.
The Logitech WingMan Force 3D flight stick might also work with Ace Combat 5.

How do I unlock the Music Player and the Scene Viewer?

Where are the Music Player and the Scene Viewer?

Are there any "eggs" in this game? Where are they?

The Music Player and the Scene Viewer are unlocked by completing a Campaign on any difficulty. Once unlocked, the Music Player is under the main Options menu, and the Scene Viewer is under the Campaign Gallery menu.
There are several known "eggs" in Ace Combat 5. Here is a quick overview.
The closest "50 Anniversary" field to your starting position can be found as follows: from Free Flight, start Mission 01 with a Falken. Do not touch any of the controls - just watch the clock. At 1:50 use your right analog stick to look directly north, at a downward angle of approximately 30°. The field will be pretty close to you. The "50 Anniversary" graphic refers to Namco's 50th anniversary. Apparently they started out making motorized wooden rocking horses - which is what the little creature in the graphic represents. Check out this page for more perspective.
Several characters from Pac-Man make an appearance in the fields of Mission 16A. One group of them can be found as follows: from Free Flight, start Mission 16A with a Falken. Hold down the throttle and right rudder buttons before the mission starts, and release the right rudder button when your heading is 330°. Proceed at full afterburner until the clock reaches about 1:24, then look straight down. There is also a character out on its own that can be found using a similar procedure, but with a heading of 309° until the clock reaches 0:50. Pac-Man, of course, also figures prominently in the history of Namco.
There are several interesting signs on the buildings in missions 17 and 27. In Mission 17 these include additional references to Namco's 50th anniversary, Namco's Nours magazine, a play on a famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, and so on. These appear on various buildings surrounding the stadium. In Mission 27 there are a number of Gr�nder signs and a sign that says "Namco Hometek Inc" (which is the US consumer division of Namco Limited).
At the beginning of Mission 27+ you take off from a stretch of highway that has been blocked off at both ends. There is a red sports car at each end, just beyond the other vehicles, that is taken from Ridge Racer.
In Free Flight there are a number of missions that contain "selectable objects" - places or things that can be selected in your HUD and then examined with the zoom function. You may notice the target range indicator moving on your HUD while in a Free Flight mission. This is an indication that you have latched on to one of these objects. These objects also appear during the regular Campaign missions, but generally they are not enemy targets and do not figure prominently in the missions.
While not exactly a classic "egg," there are holes in the terrain of several missions that you can actually fly through. You can then fly around under the mission terrain. These are only reachable in Free Flight, but they are somewhat amusing. Among other locations, they can be found near the southeast corner of the boundaries on missions 05, 16A, 16B, 17, 18, 21, 22, and 27. Go to the southeast corner of the boundary and position your aircraft directly over it, facing north, directly along the eastern boundary. Look down a few degrees (depending on your altitude). The terrain holes stand out pretty well, so they should not be hard to see. Point your aircraft directly at it, then take it nice and slow. The flatter you can come in the better. Once you get through just turn left, and have fun wandering around.
This probably is not an "egg" either, but in the screens where you choose the aircraft for your squadron prior to starting a mission there is an alternate menu that you can toggle on and off using the L1 or R1 buttons. This is the "Quick Select" menu. After finishing the game and unlocking all known aircraft, you will find that there is a slot in the middle of the quick select menu that is unused - it has a diagonal line through it like the slots at the end of the list. Was this something the developers removed from the game? Was it the rumored Adler? Was it just a mistake? Or was this simply the result of not wanting to split an aircraft family across columns in the Quick Select menu? There has been no known official comment on this.
An interview with Namco developers also mentions a pair of polar bears (a mother and a cub, perhaps), and although many players have looked for them, no one has found anything very convincing. Apparently they are either extremely well hidden or just extremely difficult to find. It is not entirely clear that anyone simply playing the game on a stock PS2 will be able to find them, but still many have searched for them.
Promotional images for Ridge Racer 6 have shown decals on the cars and other signage referring to "arkbird" and "Erusia".

Are there bugs in this game?

Do other aircraft fly underground or underwater?

Why can't I unlock this aircraft (or paint scheme, medal, etc.)?

Why can't I buy an aircraft I have unlocked?

Why is the game always giving me a mission failure on this one particular mission?

I am stuck on Mission 14 (or 11B, 23, etc.) - things just stop happening. What's wrong?

There are a number of things in the game that are a little annoying, but most of them are not serious. For example, while not technically a bug, the AI for enemy aircraft cheats by allowing them to move instantaneously from one place to another, or to move at extremely high speed. Usually, this only happens well outside of visual range, but it is often evident on radar.
Your wingmen and enemy aircraft will occasionally fly underground or underwater. This can be very annoying if you happen to be following an enemy aircraft closely at the time.
Some aircraft in the game follow flight paths that are modeled differently than other aircraft movements in the game. Examples include your wingmen in the first phase of Mission 17, and the Ofnir in the last phase of Mission 23. The flight paths are apparently a series of some kind of parametric splines. When one segment of the flight path ends, there is a discontinuity before the next one begins. This is why locking missiles spontaneously stop tracking the Ofnir so often in Mission 23. Watching a replay of the first phase of Mission 17 can also be amusing. During debriefings there is a marked slow down while the aircraft are following these preset flight paths.
It is possible to confound the AA system in Mission 23 by hitting the altitude limit at high speed. Reaching this altitude without getting hit first requires a fast aircraft or some ECM. Once this has been done the AA system will stop firing additional missiles. This may have been intentional, but it seems like it's probably a bug.
Saving from the Start Mission menu of a mission started using Free Mission has the unexpected side effect of changing the difficulty of the mission to be the difficulty of the Campaign that is currently in progress. Avoid saving from the Start Mission menu; instead, save from the same menu that lists Free Mission.
If you accumulate more than 60 hours of flight time, the hours counter will wrap around back to 0 just like the minutes and seconds.
There are also a few more serious problems in the game, and these manifest in a number of ways, but generally they all fall under the category of a corrupted game state. When the game state is corrupted the game does not work the way it is supposed to. A corrupted game state could result from a hardware or software error, but when playing a console game there is usually no way to know what has caused it. What is worse, there may also be no immediate indications of the problem, which could lead to a valid saved game being overwritten by a corrupted one.
If a corrupted game state is discovered before it is saved to the memory card, simply power cycling the PS2 could correct the problem, and the first time you see the game do something really out of character this is a good idea. However, once the saved game is corrupted there is really nothing that can be done except to delete the saved game file and start over completely, so this is pretty serious. Do not jump to conclusions too quickly though - if something in the game does not seem to be working the way it should, check into it very carefully, and make sure you have an absolutely clear understanding of how it is supposed to be working before taking the extreme measure of starting over completely.
Keeping in mind that these reports are actually fairly rare compared to the number of people who have played through the game without major problems, here are some examples of corrupted game state symptoms:

Something in the game will not unlock after the conditions that should unlock it have been satisfied. The most common example is the X-02 SP paint scheme, but there are also others: medals that will not unlock, and "regular" aircraft that will not unlock after filling the kill rate quota of earlier aircraft in their family. Double check the conditions for unlocking these things before concluding that you actually have this problem.

Aircraft that are unlocked can not be purchased, even though there are fewer than 4 in the inventory and there are adequate credits on hand. It is worth double checking this to make sure your eyes are not deceiving you, but this is a pretty clear indication of a corrupted game state. Fortunately this is rare. Power cycle the PS2 immediately to see if it helps.

Missions that are impossible to complete successfully, where the mission failure is either completely unexplainable or seems to result from an unachievable standard far beyond the intended difficulty of the game. This has been reported on Mission 12B, for example. Again, double check. Some missions have time limits that are part of the script but are not shown on the HUD, and in others you must protect allied forces but the exact condition of your allied forces is not shown. Mission failure can occur unexpectedly in these cases, but it is not necessarily the result of a corrupted game state.

The game stops progressing in the middle of a mission. There is no further radio chatter. There are no additional targets that spawn. The mission time simply runs out. Apparently this can result from a corrupted game state, but it could also indicate a hardware problem. Try power cycling the PS2 to see if it is persistent.

Recently the mission restart feature has come under suspicion as the possible culprit behind a number of common corrupted game state scenarios, including the X-02 glitch that makes it impossible to unlock the X-02 SP paint scheme. The theory is that the restart feature does not properly reset the game state. The retry feature in the pause menu is also suspect because it is essentially the same thing. This is something of a shame since the restart and retry features are very convenient otherwise. However, if a broad class of corrupted game state problems can be averted simply by avoiding the restart and retry features then this apparent convenience is very misleading. Currently, the standing recommendation is to avoid the restart and retry features completely; always use the quit option instead. Note that during a Campaign the quit option is disabled for missions 18, 19, and 27+, so it is necessary to reset the PS2.
There are any number of hardware problems that can result in very similar symptoms. There is probably some overlap, since hardware problems can also cause a corrupted game state. If deleting a saved game file and starting completely over quickly leads back to any of these symptoms - and particularly if it leads back to exactly the same symptoms - a hardware problem could be to blame. A bad memory card, a defective or damaged game disk, or a marginal or failing DVD drive in the PS2 could all lead to problems.
In trying to diagnose any of these problems the first thing to try is always resetting the PS2, and then power cycling the PS2. If that does not help and you are not very far into the game, you can consider deleting your saved game file and starting over, or starting a new game on another memory card. If the problem persists with the same or very similar symptoms, it is time to look at the hardware. Try swapping everything you can: try the memory card and game disk in another PS2, try another game disk (if available) in your PS2, etc. You may have to get creative and draw on the resources you have in your friends and retailers to resolve the problem, but at least you have some idea of how to proceed.

Is the X-02 a real aircraft?

Could the X-02 actually fly?

Is the Falken a real aircraft?

Could the Falken actually fly?

Is the covered aircraft in Scene 16 an X-02?

Where else have the X-02 and the Falken appeared?

Are models of the X-02 or the Falken available?

Neither the X-02 nor the Falken are accurate representations of real-world aircraft, and many pilots and armchair aero engineers have expressed considerable doubt about the potential real-world viability of their designs. Big problems seem to include the way some of the moving parts work - the folding wings on the X-02 and the TLS bay on the Falken, for example.
The consensus is that the covered aircraft in Scene 16 is indeed an X-02.
The X-02 also appears in Ace Combat 04, and by all accounts the Falken seems to be very similar to the ADF-01 that appears in Ace Combat 2.
At some point models of the X-02 were sold retail (probably outside the US), but apparently they are not presently available in the US. Namco has advertised models of the Falken to be sold in March of 2006 in Japan, but it is unclear if they will also be sold in the US.

My question is not listed. Where is the answer to my question?

It is possible that your question has not really come up all that often, or I may have never heard it before. It is also possible that it is not really within the scope of topics I hoped to cover - questions relating to the characters and story line fall into this category.