General Category > Unofficial F/A-18 Acceleration Pack board
Released: Multiplayer Carrier Ops - Nimitz
Sludge:
1 of 2 posts for Orion.
First is how my Hornet looks with the dark engine smoke I have, pulling G's with the HiGWingVapor effect. I realized that after watching some of this past weekend's videos that you dont see this, you only see a thick "contrail-looking" smoke trail. Nor do you see my WingVapor. Dont worry, Ill disable the smoke before I get online this weekend, so we can do a takeoff without my contrail smoke blocking any good screenies.
Enjoy
Sludge
Sludge:
2 of 2 post for Orion.
Posting several pics, detailing the carrier pattern and how I setup to hit all the points of a carrier pattern. First pic is my initial setup, the last pic is a default overland practice carrier pattern guide. Starting w/1st pic, Im hooked up, Full flaps, HUD control is HUD Cage = On, Altimeter=Radar, Steer=Nav1. As you can see in the 2nd pic my cockpit setup, I have the Left MFD for HSI for overall S/A (situational awareness). The Right MFD is on the CHK page so I can see my trim settings. The center MFD has the Basic (not FPAS) Fuel page, so when I get to .9 the last thing I look at is my fuel state, make the ball call at 3/4 mile and switch to Full Screen HUD for landing. Keep in mind, from starting on the cat and hooking up, to flying the full pattern to the 3/4 mile call, I fly in VC at .6 zoom. Once at ball call, I switch to Full Screen, so I can see the meatball (the vc physical HUD brackets/Indexer partially obstruct the meatball close in), my indexer, and the HUD without obstruction. I know its not as realistic, but you can only be soo realistic with a computer monitor's field of view, even if it is setup as viewwideaspect=true setting. I took the screenies mostly using Fullscreen so you could read the HUD data better.
As you can see, all of the pics are named with certain guidelines that I use (ie, 7degclimb_Point9TCN, or at180_30AoBTurn) to hit required points in the carrier pattern. If you use these, practice these points, you will be killing carrier patterns by Saturday. I put this out there for you cause its easier to do it this way and you visually get what Im talking about... since I remember you had questions like this from the night carrier ops we did. Plus, on your video, I remember your approach speed was 200+ KIAS. Even 160+ KIAS is super high. Granted its fun to land like a wild man, but you seem like you really wanted to nail this the right way, so Im just offering this as a guideline.
And you never know, some newbies might come along and find this very useful? As always, feel free to ask me questions here or PM me.
Later
Sludge
neutrino:
Holy smoke, Sludge - your high-G effect looks really awesome :) I hope the FSX Blue Angels have it as well - they have quite a lot high-G maneuvers.
You points on the carrier pattern are very helpful. I would add that when you are at abeam, you need to wait a couple of seconds before you start your downwind turn to final. This helps to get on the glideslope at 0.8 to 1.0 nm. Turning too soon, you will end up too close (0.5 nm is already too close) and may be too high to the carrier, and if you wait too long you are going to be too long in the groove which real LSOs don't like 8)
Also the most important thing to remember in the groove is that if you are on-speed (velocity vector centered in the AOA-bracket or about 130-140 kts depending on weight) - you always have to add power when you want to climb, and reduce power when you want to increase your descent rate. If you don't do that, as soon as you pull back on the stick to climb - your angle of attack will increase (the velocity vector will move down on the HUD) and as a result your speed will drop and you will lose altitude and speed. Of course if you are both low and fast, you don't need to add power when you pull back on the stick to climb - in this case you do need to lose some speed.
The steering arrow shows the direction of the carrier relative to your present course. So if you are flying on a course parallel to the ship's course - the arrow will point straight up, and if you are flying on the reciprocal course (as in the abeam position) - it will point straight down. When the arrow crosses your velocity vector - this means that you are crossing the ship's wake (that is if you are behind the carrier).
sonofabeech:
from abeam position at the 180 I usually count about 5 seconds dirtied up before making the turn..puts me just before the ball call with a little bit of time to correct from the turn if necessary without being too long in the groove.....3 seconds with two big pulls to the left usually leads to the LSO leaping into the safety nets screaming wave off WAVE OFF!!!... ;D
Sludge:
Neutrino...
Thanks. Ive had it for a while, since early Fall 09. I think it is the same effect they use, but mine is with different settings that let it activate more. Additionally, I really like the darker jet exhaust at N2>88%, as even the "smokeless" tactical jets still do this. LSOs use this to visually confirm positive power changes they call out to landing pilots. When they call "power", and a Hornet is in the backend of the "power bucket" curve, N2 will usually be around 85-89 percent, so they see the power add as a quick spurt of darker exhaust. Just sucks you guys dont see it on the Multi. You just see a white contrail when I get above 88 percent on N2. Bummer.
And, sonofabeech/neutrino...
In my pics, youll see that I have the pic named, "at the 180, wait 4 secs". That puts me at 0.9/1.0 TCN on final rollout, with time to correct glideslope and course. Of course, my scenario is the first carrier practice mission, w/a WindOverDeck at 017 deg at 17 kts. So along with the carrier's speed, I have a total WindOverDeck of 34 kts. Thats why 4 secs works for ME. I think for others that want to find the best delay, start with 8 secs after the 180, make a continuous 30 AoB, and see where that leaves you. 1.6 TCN is too far, so do another approach and try 6 secs, til you get to about 1.0 TCN on rollout. I think you get the point?! Also, my practice scenario is saved with me just behind Cat2, so I can get my cockpit/HUD setup, do a quick wipeout, hook up and Im off to practice touch and go's. Also, one thing Ive found out, that you may or may not know, is to wipe out (run each control surface to its corners/stops, including the rudder and throttle) when you first start FSX, in mission. This will ensure that you get the full and correct response from every control input you are giving. If you dont, you can get overpowered situation when only in half throttle cause FSX doesnt know where the afterburner stop is and the full idle stop is. And, it adds to the "realism" factor, since real jets do this on startup to ensure "free and clear" flight controls during engine startup/pre-taxi.
Thanks for the input fellers
Later
Sludge
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