New FSXBA Hornet

[jimi08]

Shaking effects:
As I am using A2A accu feel, I disabled the stall shaker function in their program, because the largest value you can set here is 25 deg. AoA, which is far too early to for an FA-18.

Where are you getting your facts for this one? 
BLUF: Based on my research buffeting occurs around 25 deg AOA due to the vortices generated by the LEXs hitting the vertical stabs.  In terms of wing buffeting, you are correct, that does happen at a later AOA.  With flaps HALF or FULL, buffeting occurs much sooner

NATOPS:
11.1.2.1 Stalls in HALF or FULL Flaps. With flaps HALF one g stalls exhibit somewhat better lateral
directional flying qualities than with flaps FULL. Wing rock and sideslip excursions occur in the 20°
AOA region. Warning cues occur at 12° (increasing stick force gradient) and 15° (departure warning
tone). With flaps FULL, as AOA increases to 12°, buffet and the departure warning tone provide good
stall warning cues of impending high AOA. At 12° AOA, an increase in the stick force/AOA gradient
can also be felt. This provides additional stall warning. Onset of wing rock occurs in the 15° AOA
region. As AOA is further increased, aft stick requirements increase. Wing rock increases in amplitude
and is accompanied by sideslip oscillations as the aft stick stop is reached. For either flap setting,
maximum attainable AOA is about 25°. Large rates of descent may occur above the AOA limit in
HALF or FULL flaps. Immediate stall recovery is obtained by neutralizing longitudinal stick which
rapidly reduces AOA and allows the aircraft to attain the current trim value.

refs:
-Alleviation of Vertical Tail Buffeting of F/A-18 Aircraft http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/1.9327?journalCode=ja
-Hornet NATOPS

[jimi08]

Happy New Year Everyone,

Well, thanks to the efforts and many and in particular our very own ORION, we have made some great strides over the holiday season.  Please find below the download link for the 15.2 Fleet Version.

Download Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3So3WwTLPRZSzNWMUg3eGRZVDg/view?usp=sharing

Changes include:
-Updated Leading Edge and Trailing Edge Flap logic:  Big thanks to ORION on his incredible work and efforts with this gauge.  Both sets of flaps now operate linearly (i.e. degree by degree, instead of using only 1 of 10 flaps settings) and each set of flaps operate by their own logic as described in the NATOPS.  Also, HALF and FULL flaps also operate as advertised in NATOPS.  Half and Full flaps are now able to be selected with or without gear down and automatically transition to AUTO above 250 KIAS.  Also, the Pitch Auto Trim function is now tried to flaps being placed in AUTO.  As per NATOPS, HALF and FULL Trailing Edge Flaps also auto extend and retract as a function of airspeed when selected.  If HALF Flaps are selected, the TEF will reach their full extension of 30 deg. at approximately 180 KTAS and below.  With FULL selected, TEFs will reach their full extension of 45 deg at approx. 150 KTAS.

-Updated Throttle Control:  Always a work in progress.  Still making adjustments/corrections to Burners.

-Tweaks to Autorudder have also been made.

[hd764jvgd843]

Shaking effects:
As I am using A2A accu feel, I disabled the stall shaker function in their program, because the largest value you can set here is 25 deg. AoA, which is far too early to for an FA-18.

Where are you getting your facts for this one?  
BLUF: Based on my research buffeting occurs around 25 deg AOA due to the vortices generated by the LEXs hitting the vertical stabs.  In terms of wing buffeting, you are correct, that does happen at a later AOA.  With flaps HALF or FULL, buffeting occurs much sooner

refs:
-Alleviation of Vertical Tail Buffeting of F/A-18 Aircraft http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/1.9327?journalCode=ja
-Hornet NATOPS

As I understand A2A stall shaker induces wing buffeting indicating that you are approaching stall conditions. It works quite well for all other airplanes that cannot pull such high AoA as the Hornet does (I have tried to talk to them last year about the 25 deg AoA limit for the stall shaker but never got an answer).

The issue I noticed is that you get the shaking at say 25 deg AoA (A2A max setting, or any other lower one you may adjust it to) and when you pull more, e.g. you reach 40 deg AoA the shake seems to be gone and you stall and spin out of control. So the stall shaker effect does not seem to progress linear or in any other way I could notice. It seems to be limited around the adjusted value.

In order to experiment with settings in the .air file and get the correct feedback I decided to disable the A2A stall shake for now, because it felt unrealistic once you go beyond the 30 deg. AoA.

In general such a shaker feedback/function adds very much realism and feel to flying (like with the g load shaking), it would be nice if buffeting could be realized in any correct way, depending on AoA and current flaps positions, as you pointed out it might occur much earlier under some conditions.

P.S. Thanks for posting the new 15.2 bird, much appreciated! I will give it a try as soon as I get home.

Here is some quick feedback for the new version:
AutoFlaps seem to work well and as intended - really great work here! Two things I have noticed:
a) When you crash the new 15.2 plane and P3D resets the flight, the simulator crashes each time (may have something to do how the Autoflaps.dll is loaded/unloaded or reset). This does only happen with the new bird, all other aircraft seem unaffected.
b) When you take off (full flaps engaged) and retract the gear once you are in the air, flaps remain set at full and they do not transition to Auto as they did before. Intended?

I will have a detailed look at the changes in .cfg .air file later.

Best regards...

[Orion]

Peter, if you replace the existing DLL with this one, does it work without crashing?  Also, the flaps are independent of the gear, as described in NATOPS (see section 2.8.4.1 Flap Operation).

[pyroperson87]

Jimi/Orion...fantastic work on the improved jet! She flies exceptionally well and I haven't noted any issues at all so far.

[hd764jvgd843]

Peter, if you replace the existing DLL with this one, does it work without crashing?  Also, the flaps are independent of the gear, as described in NATOPS (see section 2.8.4.1 Flap Operation).

Hello Orion,

sorry for the delayed feedback, I just got home. The new dll you posted works without crashes during reset, now!
Thanks for the quick update - really great work, much appreciated!

Please apologize my lack of knowledge, as I must admit I have not completely read NATOPS, yet.
When you get accustomed to things that are wrong, you stumble over them when they get corrected! Thanks for pointing out the relevant section.

[Azframer]

J had Downloaded the 2012 FSX Blue Angel and absolutely loved it, I loved it so much I emailed maker and asked if I could add it to another forum and was granted permission. Shortly after posting some screen shots the snobs came out in a couple of the main posters over there and I just deleted my screenshots and never participated over there again.
I only say that to make this point, Jimi you are poring your heart and soul into this project and it shows 100%. I spent 2 days reading this thread from beginning to end before even joining the group, Ive read nothing else but this one thread. I wanted to make sure I had the latest version of both the sets.
The collaboration is what I wanted to be a part of in the last group, you have some great help here the guys working on paint are doing a great job. Between reading this thread and flying the planes, as little as I been able to fly them I have not yet been able to try to correct the blue in the D model cockpit that was mentioned earlier in the thread to see if it works for me yet.
New people have been more than welcomed into the group and have provided great input Keep up the great work Jimi. My only complaint would be I will have to invest in a better computer to get much flying time with this, I start off with 15 fps and it quickly takes me down. I am on a laptop.
Now off to find the post on the blue D model cockpit cure and will quote it to bring it back into light again, I did not see much in response to it. And not quite sure I understood it correctly.

Rick   

[Victory103]

jimi, BZ job and moving in the right direction for sure. Thought I had a small +/- 3* excursion in yaw at 250kts, but it might of been the real Wx I was running, never noticed it again during the test flight. Any reported issues with AoA differences between the "E" bracket and the indexer? I'll dig back in the NATOPS as I've been busy trying to master a certain "Cat" lately around the boat.

I guess I missed it years ago, but was there ever a fix for the TCN bug?

Repaints are awesome, love the VFA-204 CoNA one, need to see if the repainter wants to do an adversary scheme they typically carry!

[Orion]

Good to hear pyroperson87 and Peter.  Also, Peter, I've always been curious: is there a story behind your username?

[jimi08]

Gents,

Pyro:  Thanks for the feedback and compliments.

Orion:  Thanks for jumping in and fixing the issue.  I will download and check it out as well once I get home from work.

Rick:  Welcome and THANK YOU very much for the good words!  Since you have read this thread in full, you know that a lot of people have contributed to this project.  I will be sure to pass your compliments along.  Now to answer some of your questions.  As stated before, the Delta (Two-Seater) has kinda been put on the back-burner for a while for a number of reasons.  However, we have been tinkering with it lately.  It still has a ways to go, but I'll see what I can do in regards to releasing something updated.  No promises though.  In regards to the model being computer intensive, can you provide more detail please?  My initial hunch would lie in the extensive use of XML gauges in this aircraft, vs. the 2012 version that I created in the past.   Either way, I'll do some digging.

Victory:  Thanks for the input and remarks.  I too noticed an issue with "residual rudder trim" in certain situations, but thought that I fixed it.  I will check to see if I included the updated gauge in the latest release when I get home.  Can you please refresh my memory IRT the TACAN bug?

Pete:  Orion is correct.  Due to my lack of ability (the kind that ORION possesses...), I had to set the autoflap functionality to the gear instead of switch position to make it work.  Thanks to ORION, we were able to correct a great deal of things IRT the flaps.

[Azframer]

Repaints are awesome, love the VFA-204 CoNA one, need to see if the repainter wants to do an adversary scheme they typically carry!

Like this one?
It would be great to have that addition.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b170/jason_schmus/1921475.jpg

[hd764jvgd843]

Good to hear pyroperson87 and Peter.  Also, Peter, I've always been curious: is there a story behind your username?

Sorry to disappoint, but no - just the first one that randomly came to mind and wasn't taken yet.

[pyroperson87]

Random as in....you banged on the keyboard and had a username that wasn't already taken? 

[hd764jvgd843]

Hello Jimi,

I had some time to take a closer look at the 15.2 version .air file and I like to submit the following changes for future releases:

- Entry no. 401: I have added a general function for CL_alpha due to mach, which was empty (linear) before. This one was taken from an F-16, and to my knowledge such a general function should be quite similar amongst all jet fighter airplanes. So as a starting point for further changes and to add more realism, I like to suggest it being incorporated, or some kind of modification of it.

- Entry no. 473: I have modified Cm_alpha vs AoA, because with the default function you could push large negative AoA's resulting in quite unrealistic g loads of up to -8g. G-Limiter seemd to work only for positive (pulled) g loads. As statet in NATOPS section 4.1.6.1 the AoA seems to be limited to something around -6 deg. for everything but a 'clean' loadout, as I understand. Please have a look, because I am not really sure in which cases it seems to be 'unlimited'. So as a starting point for further changes and to add more realism, I like to suggest it being incorporated, or some kind of modifiction of it.

- Entry no. 1535: The Clda (aileron effectiveness) function I have NOT changed as is seemd to be identical with what I found for an FA-18E.
- Entry no. 1536: I have modified skalar Cn dr (rudder effectiveness) due to AoA. The function is from an FA-18E, as a starting point for further modifications. In my opinion it should be closer to reality than what we had before.
- Entry no. 1537: I have modified Cn (yaw) induced by AoA. The function is from an FA-18E, as a starting point for further modifications. In my opinion it should be closer to reality than what we had before.
- Entry no. 1538: I have modified Cl (roll) induced by AoA. The function is from an FA-18E, as a starting point for further modifications. In my opinion it should be closer to reality than what we had before.

Please discuss these with your testing crew and let me know what you think.

For quick testing I have included a modified FA-18_15.2.air file which contain the above mentioned changes.

Best regards... Peter

P.S. To make modifictions to .air files I used AirEd and Aircraft Airfile Manager

[PhantomTweak]

Greetings to all! I am brand-spankin' new on this forum, and I greet all. I fell madly in love with 2012 version of this bird the day I DL'd it. it's amazing! Then, of all things, I find out there's an update! You can improve perfection??? WOW!
Ok, ok, all superlatives aside, I DL'd the 15.2 update. NOW I'm confused. It's not a full aircraft, ok, np there, but would it be possible to throw a "Readme" in with it, maybe? do I replace all the models? The Textures? Add them all in, make a whole new airplane, combining this with what I already have? etc etc.
What's the purpose behind the folder "Update"? The air file is 14.1...to me that's a step back, but do we have to install all that good stuff before the 15.2 goodies? If so, how? Or just ignore it? Or...
I know how to install files/folders, make changes to all the various files, including the .air, panel.cfg etc, I just need to know what to do with which.
I also got ahold of Peter's updated updated .air file. That I know what to do and not do with, at least. Is there an change to the aircraft.cfg associated with it, or is it standalone?
I really don't want to mess with what I have till I know, so I don't screw it all up.
I do love this airplane, and would love to make it even better, but...
Thank you in advance to any help you all can give, I really do appreciate it!
Pat☺