WarthogOsl

It's a known issue. AFAIK, it only occurs with the canopy open. Thought this was going to be addressed a while ago, but here we are still.

Adding a bit more here, this from "F-14 Tomcat in Action."

An AIM-54A hit a BQM-34 drone flying only 50 feet off the water in early testing, so there's that.

Keep in mind that the throttle animation isn't exactly accurate, anyway. In real life, the throttles have to be moved outboard to get into AB.

Apparently in real life, above a certain speed, around 300kts, the hook will blow back and not extend fully. Also, the hook transit light will remain lit in that case. I don't think it does any damage, though. There are videos showing Tomcats flying with the hook not full dropped.

It's because it also takes fuel from the wing tanks while the drop tanks are attached, for whatever reason.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the R27 and R77 have home on jam capability. For fighting planes with R27, I usually turn the jammer off when I am within around 20 miles of them. Older missiles carried by the MiG-23 and MiG-25 do not have HOJ, I think. Also, if you are fighting F-4's, Sparrows have HOJ as well.

FWIW, transonic is considered to be up to around Mach 1.2, regardless of the airspeed gauge. That's because even at somewhat above Mach 1, some of the local airflow can still be subsonic.

Well, you're just going to have to trust me then, aren't you.

IronMike said on Discord that it's in today's patch.

So BTW, I noticed that the F-15C also has AB at 90% rather than 80% like the F-14. So what I did was use another detent config in the VKB software where I set the CRV of the AB detent to 90% instead of 80%...but I'm still using the same detent frame as with the F-14. So that way, I just need to change the setting on the knob of the STECS when I switch plane, but I don't need to change the frame.

I have no insight into how it works currently, but it seems like the F-4 Jester menu is more context sensitive, so hopefully we will get that in the F-14 in the future.

You can use them as a button, but you need to tap it quickly, not hold it. It's not ideal, but it can be made to work.

You can, though I'm not sure if there is some server side restriction that can be applied optionally, or it was just an old limitation in the past that doesn't exist any more. Anyway, on the PvE servers I frequent, there's nothing to stop you from switching seats.

Hah, glad I could help!

That's weird then. Have you checked what's going on with the controls indicator inside DCS?

I just got a STECS as well, but my AB setting is at 80% (I actually have the detent physically back around 70%, but CRV set to 80% in the VKB software, so 80% is what's reported to the game at that position). No in-game curves, and no gate binding. The only issue I've noticed is that just a past the detent, the AB turns on, but goes straight into zone 3 (on the A-model) rather than zone 1. But pushing a tiny bit past that point and it goes into zone 1, and proceeds normally from there. And just in case, I gotta ask...are you using the VKB software to set up the detents?

Note there is also a button find for both ground and aircraft stabilize, and he will stay in whatever mode you chose until you switch to the other. I use this all the time, along with the separate TID range binds.

Make sure you don't have the autopilot accidentally engaged before launch. I've done that accidentally a few times and it results in a huge pitch up.

Yeah, noticed that too.

Are you sure that would be wrong? Once you overcome static friction and get moving, there's probably plenty of residual thrust at idle to keep you rolling.

I noticed this problem in the F-14 Instant Action Carrier Qual mission. You get handed off to the catapult officer, who then directs you to turn right and move forward until you scrape a parked Hornet to your right. Realistically, I think there should be one more director, as the guy on the catapult doesn't have the proper line of sight to direct you safely at that point anyway.

It's possible we will get them as a cosmetic feature (no aerodynamic simulation) in the early A. In that case, they may extend automatically via the CADC, or be manually extended with the DLC wheel when the wing is swept back beyond a certain amount.

I think the retract once you move the throttle beyond idle, no?

My Pk against single AI bandits in TWS remains around 50%. However, if you have two bandits flying fairly close together, the second shot is pretty much wasted. TWS track is almost always lost against the trailing bandit mid shot. My typical pattern these days is firing a TWS shot at the leader bandit and crank, then when the first shot goes pit bull, turn back in and fire an PD-STT Phoenix shot at his wingman.