Stearmandriver

Yup, JHMCS won't show terrain, and our radar is still crippled with no terrain avoidance mode, so for night low-level, NVGs are basically mandatory. Really looking forward to Heatblur's Intruder module for this!

I did the same... the point is that the Supercarrier comms menu doesn't recognize a difference between Case II and Case III. In your example, the comms will be labeled "Case II / Case III", and you will not be able to make a "see you at 10" call. You can enter your own pattern and break, but will then not get a trap grade due to incomplete comms. And more importantly, any AI aircraft behind you are gonna come straight in on a Case III, so if you fly the break pattern you'll conflict with all proceeding traffic.

What an odd argument... and what an odd claim, that a cruise autothrottle mode that holds speed and not AoA is unusual. Basically, every aircraft that has an autothrottle system works to hold cruise airspeed. This includes all airliners and most corporate jets, as well as military aircraft. The approach mode that holds angle of attack is what's unusual. Other naval aircraft have this system too, but it is FAR less common than a speed hold mode. And yes, AoA and speed are two entirely different things. They're related to some extent but very fluidly... there are ways to change each that doesn't affect the other, or that causes them to diverge in opposite directions than you'd expect. The term "on-speed AoA" is used often here and I think gives some folks a misunderstanding that a given airspeed will always correspond to a given AoA. That's only true for a given weight and most importantly, under a 1g condition. As soon as you change loading on the wing, speed and AoA diverge.

^^^ Well said. I personally would not use it either as I'm weird and actually enjoy refueling, but I'm also not a fan of someone who wants to limit someone else's enjoyment of a game just because it offends *their* notion of what is and isn't realistic. Anyone who's flown for real knows how unrealistic any desktop "sim" must by necessity be. That's not criticism, obviously I'm here because I have a ball with this software... but you gotta understand: it's software. It's NOT an airplane. So if someone wants to have fun with it in a different way than you do... why would you possibly care? You do you. If an easy mode makes the game more accessible and entertaining to more people, that's a win for EVERYONE.

I have wondered about these too. They're definitely low altitude / surface contacts, and slow-movers or stationary. Interesting question, why they're there.

No need to "load up" the datalink pod... the datalink we're talking about here isn't a store, it's built into the jet. Just turn it on with the DL pushbutton on the UFC. Select DL, then push ON, just like turning on the tacan or ICLS receiver. It defaults to channel 127 and that's always correct, so no channel change... just turn it on. The datalink pod that I suspect you're thinking of, the store you can load... that's for use with specific "in the loop" air to ground weapons; it provides the ability to steer the weapon from the cockpit after launch. It's cool, but not what we're after here.

For longer range engagements where you're still firmly in the BVR realm and, say, using TWS to track bandits for some early AIM-120 shots, try using the AZ / EL radar page too. My normal cockpit setup for a BVR intercept is SA page on the AMPCD (the lower screen, and of course ensure DL on), "normal" radar in TWS mode on right DDI, and AZ / EL page on left DDI. The two radar screens give you a top-down, and a straight ahead view of your radar, and you supplement this with the datalink info on the SA page. This config provides about the best SA you're gonna get in any aircraft in DCS. Once in visual range, then yes it's all about maintaining eyes outside and getting comfortable with all the ACM radar modes. Long range boresight is great but there's more modes that all shine in different situations. Get comfy with the vertical acquisition ACM mode too; that can save your ass if you lose sight but know he's somewhere roughly in front of you.

There is no Case II in DCS right now. You'll notice that when it's below Case 1 mins, the comms menu is labeled "Case II / Case III". The only options right now are Case I, or that.

I don't think case II exists right now.

I use CCIP drops with laser guided bombs pretty frequently. If you can't or aren't lasing for yourself, and you have the general target area in sight, it's the easiest way to make the drop. As far as I know, LGBs can't be dropped with no code entered, as a failsafe against both wasting your bomb, and having it guide on the wrong laser. EDIT: actually I'm pretty sure you can - or at least, could - drop them without a code entered; dunno what I was thinking. I guess I meant not without the CODE message flashing in the HUD. I know I've wasted bombs because I didn't set a code and didn't notice the CODE message haha. If they've made a change that the bomb won't come off the rack without a code, I welcome that. Pilot-proofing is my friend.

It's related to cold starts, if that's helpful. If the slot is set to warm start, you'll still spawn on the cat but will not be chocked.

There are plenty of bugs in the radar yet. I was watching a video of a previous twitch stream the other night, and observed the TD box appearing as I designated my lead for a rejoin, and then detaching and drifting off of him to create one of those phantom contacts. Check this out! (Time stamp 52:40 if the link doesn't do it. ) That said, I agree most of the time it works well, and many of the issues (mine included) are related to mismanaging PRF, elev, or aging settings. Of course it doesn't help that there are bugs changing these settings when they shouldn't be changed (like PRF) so you aren't expecting it lol.

@BIGNEWY this problem is 100% repeatable, there's no need for a user track. Fly a stable pass, and literally take your hand off the throttle IC. You'll still get the EGIW grade, even though you obviously didn't reduce power at the ramp. Every single time.

Santi's explanation is exactly what I see as well, and it's definitely magnified with retarded bombs.

Yup refueling at night is much easier without the goggles.

I think you're confusing Cat III with Case III. They aren't the same. In the first place, airliners do not need to have triple INS or IRS systems for Cat III. I fairly routinely do them in 737s with only 2 IRSs. On an autoland monitored by HUD, we're good down to 30ft / 400RVR. Case III to the Navy just means a non-visual approach pattern; a long straight-in approach to the boat using the ICLS / ACLS. Autoland with ACLS may or may not be used - my understanding is that it's usually not - but that's a moot point as we don't have it modeled in DCS. And there are approach mins:

HIGHLY recommend that Bankler's Case 1 Recovery Trainer mission posted above. I added some of Redkite's static deck objects templates to it, changed the time to late afternoon, and it's my go-to for carrier qual fun. Works great both to teach you the pattern, and then you can turn off the teaching and just use it for a detailed grader after each pass.

Best LSO grade I ever heard of was mentioned in the Korean-era biography "Devotion". It referenced a guy almost wrecking a Corsair during CQ: "DNKUA", for "damn near killed us all". I haven't gotten that one yet, at least.

In every aircraft I've ever flown, if you engage altitude hold and then change the altimeter setting, the plane will climb or descend to recapture the altitude, as the OP suggests. No idea if an F-18 does that, but it's a reasonable question because if it does not, it's the exception rather than the norm.

Yup. One major problem is erroneous EGIW and 3pt critiques, both of which can ding your grade down a level. The only way to avoid them is to start a power addition a second or two before touchdown, so if you're spooled and on the ball at that point, you can choose between a nice 3 wire trap that's graded poorly, or adding power and riding it into a 4 wire or bolter in an effort to avoid the EGIW critique. Choose wisely.

Pretty sure I read this somewhere. It's not in the LSO NATOPS, so maybe it was in the Supercarrier manual, but I remember needing to look it up, then correllating it with the "power power power" call. I think maybe P is for the first Power call, _P_ is for the second, stern call, and PPP is for Power Power Power. If I'm remembering right.

That view doesn't exist yet.

Yeah, it's "power power power".

There is an IADS script that has been incorporated into DCS Liberation that will use inputs from separate early warning radar sites to suddenly make a SAM site go active right below you, if you aren't paying attention. The SAMS will hold their fire until you're within lethal range, and surprise you ;). You can mitigate this somewhat by destroying the EWR sites. I agree that defeating some SAMS in DCS is not as simple as notching. That works down low or at the edge of the range (when you're using slant angle to your advantage, as mentioned). But fly to within 15nm of an SA-10 site at 20,000ft and see if notching alone saves you.

Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about radar designed to track aircraft, other than that I can stop making position reports when they can see me ;). But regarding ground clutter from a stationary radar, I do have some familiarity with this as it applies to weather radar. Basically, since a stationary radar site is seeing the same ground clutter targets at the same azimuths and ranges with every sweep of a given elevation, they are just memorized by the computer and then filtered off the display. Mount Baker is always in the same place, for instance, so the Seattle NWS radar just doesn't display it. I would think a stationary air traffic radar would / could do the same thing, but this could mean that a low target would be caught in the filtering algorithm and not displayed, so... dunno what tactics would be used. But it seems likely that some form of ground return filtering could be applied that relies on memory of some low-elevation calibration sweeps, vs just doppler filtering. Maybe operator-selectable filtering algorithms/techniques?