The Cool Video Thread

[pyroperson87]

Sweet vids Spaz! Those VX guys sound like they get to have tons of fun screwing around in the name of "carrier suitability"    It's definitely a job I wouldn't mind having!

[SpazSinbad]

Magic Carpet for F/A-18EnF&G EMALS AAG X-47B Hook14

________________________

Carrier Suitability F-35C SR&R Hook14

[GOONIE]

Very cool Spaz! Keep 'em coming!

Now I want to test out the Magic Carpet ride HUD  


Spaz, what did you think of the comment at 3:38, "If you fly the Superhornet, and you tell me that you don't already deck spot with the velocity vector... your lying"

[SpazSinbad]

I think 'Sludge' via a serving Hornet pilot outlined that 'crotch' method of landing some years back now. I have no idea about it otherwise as I was strictly basic 'meatball, line up and AoA Optimum' with a mirror now a long time ago. So I do not use the HUD at all. But I have seen other comments by HUD pilots about it and how accurate modern HUDs are these days. Things change I guess. Deck spotting otherwise - in that real sense - is NEVER an option however.

The new tech including 'Magic Carpet' and later perhaps the 'Bedford Array' will allow different style carrier landings for sure. They will be more accurate most likely and also allow perhaps ops in more difficult conditions - especially the 'Bedford Array' AFAIK. It may be used concurrently with IFLOLS for those aircraft equipped to use potential 'Bedford Array' such as the Super Hornet and F-35C. This is where 'Magic Carpet' and 'Bedford Array' with the Super will be most useful (also the F-35C which will be using IDLC - their version of 'magic carpet' already under test).

I really appreciated the explanation about "Magic Carpet" because otherwise it was difficult to grasp how it worked but I think I could explain it to someone else now.

Also I have never flown an 'auto throttle' approach. Our A4Gs did not have that function (I think it was installed with A-4Es and above). So that is a bit of a mystery also. Anyway it just goes to show the tremendous innovation underway in Naval Aviation these days - not only with the F-35C but the Super Hornets.

The F-35B on CVFs will be using the 'Bedford Array' for their SRVL approaches along with the necessary SRVV Ship Referenced Velocity Vector (which will be in the Super Hornet and F-35Cs if required for Bedford Array use or otherwise). This will be like 'deck spotting' also however the pilot is legitimately putting the SRVV on the spot on the deck indicated otherwise and the aircraft will go there. The CVF may be rocking and rolling and heaving so that means the touchdown spot will move so that the SRVV has to be moved to it and that is not deck spotting. Deck spotting - just by eyeball alone - gets people killed.

[Mickey_Techy]

Very cool Spaz! Keep 'em coming!......................

Ditto......

Thanks Spaz..loved both the videos.

....................."If you fly the Superhornet, and you tell me that you don't already deck spot with the velocity vector... your lying"

..........and.....

..............Deck spotting - just by eyeball alone - gets people killed.

Damn. I should have been (virtually) dead a long time ago,

Had never thought about it, but in the groove I always had a four point check (instead of the 3 point check),

1.  Meatball,
2.  Lineup,
3.  AoA, and
4.  V/V (on Cat 2 and slide towards and ahead of Cat 3 as one comes closer).

The point 4 above, was not a conscious check point, but I just realized, I am always doing it (virtually speaking of course).

Love this hobby. Not a day, when one doesn't learn something new.

Thanks folks.

[SpazSinbad]

As I understand using the HUD on the 'crotch' the pilot will transition to the meatball by the half to one quarter mile so that last part of the approach is via the meatball/IFLOLS. So I guess it is like a daytime instrument approach. There is a classic story about a nugget using the 'needles' for the final part of his night approach which ends up in a rampstrike and he ejects to tell us about it thankfully. The needles are not a substitute for the meatball in close from one quarter mile.

[Mickey_Techy]

I think what you are implying are the "needles".

I understand that needles are inaccurate in close and that for all CV approaches,  we need to transition to flying the ball from three quarters of a  mile inbound.

in my earlier post, I was talking about the bad habit of deck spotting with the HUD velocity vector.

[GOONIE]

n my earlier post, I was talking about the bad habit of deck spotting with the HUD velocity vector.

That is also what the VX-23 pilot was referring to, using the VV to "deck spot" subconsciously during the final phase of trapping 

[Mickey_Techy]

Yeah, just what I was saying 

[SpazSinbad]

Well, if it helps I understand your respective points.

The SRVV is something different again because it is 'ship referenced' and thereby accurate. With the Bedford Array and SRVV technology the aircraft and ship are communicating also.

Deck Spotting in the olde worlde was possible and some pilots did it on big USN carriers to some extent (I have read) with LSOs chiding them, or eventually getting rid of them; OR they got rid of themselves etc.

My sea story is that a very senior A4G pilot ex-Sea Venom pilot (used to operate without an LSO onboard HMAS Melbourne) one day parked his A4G via an approach with the mirror still covered (in error). I am guessing the LSO did not look back to check and neither did the MCO (Mirror Control Officer) so I'm not certain of all details, however the story is told by the MCO of that time and I believe him. The A4G pilot called the ball and did a reasonable approach, then it was discovered - no mirror/meatball. The LSO went ballistic! :-)

[SpazSinbad]

Here is another HOOK 2014 explanation from the OPNAV N-98 video. This is for the Super Hornet only and there are differences (TWO) with the CARPET for how things are done. I'll guess when testing is finished there will be good explanations about it all.

Magic Carpet DLC Super Hornet Explanation Hook 14

[SpazSinbad]

Just a bit of a recent blurb about SRVL and the SRVV etc.

Stepping-Stones Tony Osborne AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY / SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

"...Test pilots have completed much of the trials work required for the shipboard rolling vertical landing (SRVL), a technique developed for the U.K. to allow the F-35 to land on the ship without having to offload fuel or expensive ordnance beforehand, particularly in warmer regions of the world such as the Middle East.

Trials of creeping vertical landings onto runways at speeds of 10-150 kt. have proven the viability of the SRVL technique, according to BAE Systems test pilot Pete "Wizzer" Wilson. However, the technique now needs to be put to the test on the ship, which is likely to occur on the U.S. East Coast at the end of 2018.

Approach speeds to the ship will probably be 50-60 kt., taking into account the ship's speed and aircraft overtake velocity.

After touchdown, the pilot simply applies the brakes [likely stops within 200 feet according to video below]. Once stopped, the fighter can be maneuvered to its parking position, allowing aircraft behind to land in quick succession.

According to Wilson, the U.S. Marine Corps has expressed interest in the SRVL capability, which would enable operation of F-35Bs from a U.S. Navy carrier without an arrestor hook. "One of the reasons Harriers have never been on board is because of that need to do a vertical landing, which slows the pace of carrier operations," says Wilson. "SRVL could be one way of cross-decking with the F-35B."

The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force expect to do a 50:50 mix of SRVL and standard vertical landings, but managers close to the program anticipate an increased number of SRVLs because they help to reduce the load on engines and thereby increase engine service life.

Deck landings can be performed at up to sea state 6—with waves 4-6 meters (13-20 ft.) in height with assistance from the Bedford Array developed by U.K.'s Qinetiq. The system uses a series of flashing lights located on the centerline of the ship at the landing point. The pilot's helmet-mounted display has a ship-reference velocity vector; by maneuvering the aircraft with vector lined up on the Bedford Array lights, the pilot can make a 6-deg. glideslope approach and landing [starting from 200 feet - approaching that descent point level, slowing down, if need be]...."

AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY / SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

SRVL F-35B Demo CVF Sim + extras

[GOONIE]

When MAGIC CARPET comes online, what is the pilot going to call at 3/4 of a mile? 

Pilot:"110, Rhino MAGIC, 6.8"
LSO:"Roger MAGIC!"

that is sad 

[GOONIE]

Spaz,
Not sure how to edit/clip the tail hook videos, but for those of you interested, here is the PLAT cam footage of the F/A-18E crash behind the boat as part of the safety center brief.

http://new.livestream.com/wab/tailhook/videos/61339809

starts at 29:39, scary stuff 

[SpazSinbad]

I use a screen capture program. I was not sure what was happening in that PLAT/ILARTS clip. Does the aircraft impact the water not far from the ramp? Do you know when that happened?

BTW JPALS will make precise auto landings possible after it is installed and incrementally upgraded. This technology (ship relative GPS) enabled the X-47B to so accurately deck land each and every time. Otherwise the pilot with Magic Carpet still has to move the stick backwards and forwards and side to side as required.

This is how cool it will be when all the bits of the puzzle are in place in a few years:

X-47B Program Update Published on Aug 6, 2013

"The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) program demonstrated an acute level of precision and repeatability during at-sea trials this spring/summer. On May 21 2013, the nose gear of the X-47B landed on the same relative spot on the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush seven times consecutively. The success of this at-sea trial, and the proceeding shore-based arrestments were key milestones that led to the X-47B UCAS first-ever carrier arrestment on 10 July."