General Category > Unofficial F/A-18 Acceleration Pack board
Real F/A-18C Simulator
SpazSinbad:
An old saying is that one needs to 'work like a one armed (wall)paper hanger' especially when FLCPing or Deck Landing. Attached is an inside view ('FCLPhornetInsideHQ.wmv' video zipped) of a Hornet pilot moving stick and throttle during an FCLP approach. Notice at start of straightaway there is a 'trim button'? movement also. Hornet STICK diagram from F/A-18A-D NATOPS.
Sludge:
Mike...
Thats too funny, he's with the squadron (Death Rattlers) that I picked for my main Sludge Hornet that I fly. Ray did the LINE paint and JJ did the CAG paint.
VERY USEFUL... especially that it seemed the flight dynamics were close, as best you could tell. Thats what we are shooting for here, to up the realism of the default Hornet.
Thanks
Sludge
MikeB54:
A couple of corrections and additions to my original post.
I stated that the time in groove target is 12 - 18 seconds. The correct target is 15 - 18 seconds.
Angle of bank for the break is usually MORE than 60 degrees. It depends on your speed entering the break. The faster you are going the steeper the turn necessary to hit the 1.3 - 1.4 distance abeam on the downwind. Also, the hook is normally down before the break is initiated.
In a Case 1 approach I said your altitude targets were 450 at the 90 and 380 joinng the final. You actually want the 380 with 45 degrees of turn left. As Sludge mentioned, FSX uses a 4 degree glide slope where 3.5 is normally used at the carrier. As soon as I can I will be doing the math to calculate the proper altitudes for a 4 degree GS.
On the night pattern (the correct term is bolter/wave off pattern), I mentioned there were three options for the inbound turn, 4, 6 and 8 miles. If you start the turn at 4 miles, gear and flaps go down at the start of the turn. At 6 miles, halfway through the turn. At 8 miles, at the completion of the turn.
I also was wrong about the trim settings varying by lot number. That may be a Superbug issue. My son tells me that all legacy Hornets use 12 for land takeoffs and 16 for cat shots.
@Sludge, he also tells me that the W will go to 10 degrees nose up on a cat shot, not 15. The position of the velocity vector will depend on the speed off the cat. The elevator up method you are using seems correct to me since the Hornet doesn't have trim tabs. It is just an offset to what the FBW system considers neutral.
Mike
Sludge:
Mike...
--- Quote ---In a Case 1 approach I said your altitude targets were 450 at the 90 and 380 joinng the final. You actually want the 380 with 45 degrees of turn left. As Sludge mentioned, FSX uses a 4 degree glide slope where 3.5 is normally used at the carrier. As soon as I can I will be doing the math to calculate the proper altitudes for a 4 degree GS.
--- End quote ---
Actually, I think you are correct in your first post. NATOPS says 450 and then I've seen Y/T videos of Hornets landing... look at the video, he's at 470 RALT (a little high) and the TACAN needle is a bit past the 90. Then around 0.8-0.7 TCN (Ball Call), he is about 300 RALT. If you notice, he's even a bit high (cresting) AR and coming down into the wires.
I think you may be getting messed up in computing BASIC Angle ONLY and not factoring in EFFECTIVE Angle? Whereas the Basic Angle is set at 4 or 3.5 and because the ship moves forward, the Effective Angle is now 3.2 and 2.8 respectively. You can get that from LSO NATOPS Manual, Page 4-7 or PDF page 45. If you compute for 3.2 outward, you should get the correct numbers we can use in FSX with a 4.0 basic angle set from the carrier.
Later
Sludge
Sludge:
Mike..
Just did some "laps" around the boat and sure enough, your technique (using the v/vector top and wings) is great for getting on the proper rate of descent, even for FSX. Plus, at the 90s, you can either have the ICLS UP and see if that keeps you on glide, or use close-enough numbers (520 at the 90 w/1.4-1.3 TCN, etc) and then go from there.
Thanks again... as now I'm putting the info to use in my patterns.
Later
Sludge
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