BlueRidgeDx

1) The APU uses a dedicated DC Start Pump to supply fuel pressure for starting, since AC power isn't available to power the Boost Pumps. The DC pump is located in the left side of the fuel system, which supplies the APU and left engine. If the Fuel Crossfeed valve is open, then it can supply fuel pressure to the right engine as well. The DC pump starts automatically when either the APU switch is moved to START, or when starting an engine, provided low fuel pressure is sensed in the left fuel manifold system (indicating an inoperative AC pump). 2) The laser code display and associated WCN's changed in later software suites, so the answer is: "it depends" on which suite you're talking about. DCS makes a few exceptions and uses a few of the "nice to have" features of the latest suites.

The autopilot's only roll authority comes from the rudders. The LAAP uses the SAS system to position the flight controls. Notice that the SAS has only Pitch and Yaw channels... It's possible, but inelegant to MAINTAIN a heading using the yaw/roll authority of the rudders, but it's not possible to turn the airplane in response to heading bug movement.

Technically, the LAAP does have a heading mode...you just can't modify the heading once it's engaged. The reason is because the autopilot has no control of the ailerons. It uses only the rudders to maintain heading. Maintaining present heading with rudders is not an elegant solution; asking that system to respond appropriately to the pilot spinning the heading bug 90 degrees is...well, not possible. In order to have a true heading mode, the SAS and flight control system would require a redesign.

I'm not familiar with all the variants of approach lights that might be found in eastern Europe or Russia, but at least several runways at airports modeled in DCS have HIALS in real life (google should turn up some info on HIALS). I've not seen a properly modeled HIALS in-game. As most of the approach lights appear to be a form of generic ODALS. That could be accurate...would need to check the available sources to verify. From the sound of your description, you're expecting to see an ALSF-2 (US) or a CALVERT-2 (Europe) system. Each of these have the red "side row" lights you describe and each are used, in part, to allow for lower minimums (down to CATIII, even though it's name implies CATII). Nellis AFB uses the ALSF-1, which is nearly identical to the ALSF-2, but without the side row lights.

Puff, puff, pass. Don't mess up the rotation. Don't feel bad, peeps have been imagining changes to the flight model with each new patch. You won't be the last... :)

The only thing PAC does (when not shooting the gun) is provide a 2 degree change in pitch trim. And it only does that in order to provide the appropriate amount of SAS actuator authority in anticipation of firing the gun. In order for PAC to actually affect flight path, you have to be squeezing the trigger (first or second stage). During normal flight, it's the SAS that is providing turn coordination, yaw damping, pitch rate damping, and automatic pitch trim during speedbrake extension.

In the US, everyone uses QNH; we just don't call it that. We simply say "altimeter". As in, "Altimeter Three Zero One Eight". There's no reason to say the words "QNH", because there's no alternative standard in use; no one uses QFE.

Aerial demonstrations are a special case and the exception that proves the rule. They're worried about not hitting the ground within the airport boundary fence, so QFE is appropriate in that case. In IMC, I'd be a bit more worried about running into high terrain or a vertical obstruction. In which case, those things are charted in MSL...not with reference to field elevation.

QFE is not used by the military; at least not in the US.

The A-10 Dash-1 has the following to say: "The speed brakes fully open or close in approximately 3 seconds. On the ground, opening time is slightly less and closing time is slightly more."

When selecting an LGB profile, the only weapon stations that should be selected are the ones with matching laser codes set in the Inventory. I'm a bit too busy to fire up the sim to check out the attached track, but if you're seeing different behavior, then this deserves a second look.

True on all accounts, EtherealN. I'm just pointing out that there's no reason to set the barometric altimeter to field elevation when you have a radar altimeter that does that for you automatically. Neither one will save your bacon in mountainous terrain. In the classroom, I use several CFIT accidents similar to the one you mentioned in order to highlight SA and CRM concepts. Interesting about the civilian/military controllers in Georgia. I wasn't aware of that. @Slacker, I made the point about the QNH standard many moons ago (before I was invited onboard as a tester), and I think I linked to (or at least referenced) the Georgia AIP back then. It turned into a flame war, so I let the issue go. It does deserve attention, though.

If the US were fighting a war in Georgia, it's a safe bet that USAF Combat Controllers would be zipping around on the airfields on ATV's, giving US standard phraseology; or there would be no ATC at all. I doubt seriously that civilian Georgian controllers would be handling ATC. You don't need QFE when you have a radar altimeter to tell you how far off the ground you are. Further, charted features such as MSA's, obstructions like cell phone towers and such, as well as mountainous terrain are all depicted in MSL. So if you set your altimeter to QNH, you have an immediate reference for comparing your altitude to these values. Not so much with QFE... The adoption of Soviet/Russian/Georgian practice is a concession of reality. Not really a big deal in Eastern Europe, but it hopefully will not exist in CONUS.

That, and it's simply not possible to select EGI until the system is initialized and aligned to a certain minimum level of accuracy. So upon powerup, it MUST default to something else until the EGI is available.

Yes, you can turn on the CDU and EGI while on APU power. I've seen several versions of personalized startup procedures floating around. Most of them are incorrect either due to user error, or because they accommodated some electrical system related bugs in the previous versions. Those problems have largely been fixed, however. EDITED to add: The CICU should be turned on after engine start. The CICU is not required for EGI alignment.

REL, Yes, with the flaps fully down, airloads are generally only sufficient to retract the flaps to about to a little less than 15 degrees. With maneuver flaps, they can usually be fully retracted.

Yeah, the autostart system removes the need to motor the engine. Like you said, it's only really needed after a hot or hung start, or after a quickturn when ITT is still above 150deg prior to engine start. Still, choosing to perform a manual start is perfectly valid, and getting the engine up to max motoring speed prior to introducing fuel does reduce the risk of start abnormalities. I think Paul mentioned that some (many?) guys at his unit do in fact motor the engine before start.

Gear Monkey, Yep, the switches are very similar in function to the Engine Speed Mode switches in the CRJ-200. Slightly different methods are used between the two, but in both cases the end result is an engine operating in a "coarse" fuel control mode based only on PLA. Unlike the CRJ though, the A-10 doesn't have any N1 breakpoint where the N2 control mode automatically takes over (what was it, below 68% N1 or something like that?). In the -700 and later we had the Engine High Power Schedule button, but that was more of a FADEC thing. We weren't allowed to use it...then again, we weren't allowed to use Flaps 1 (slats only) either.

Some more investigation into how DCS actually handles the switch is necessary, but here's how it's supposed to work... The ENG FUEL FLOW switches, when placed to OVRD, will bypass the ITT amplifiers in the event of an ITT amplifier failure. Under normal circumstances, the ITT amplifiers will cause fuel flow to be "trimmed" in order to limit RPM, and thus keep ITT within limits regardless of throttle position. In OVRD, the ITT amplifiers no longer provide this signal, and RPM is directly controlled by throttle position. This allows the engine to be operated without regard to temperature limits. The OVRD function is also useful in a single-engine scenerio where climb performance is critical. It will allow the operating engine to produce additional thrust until safe conditions can be attained.

Don't feel bad, Fish, until you've seen it first hand, it's a difficult concept to grasp. Once you see it moving and reacting as it does on an approach, that's when the light bulb usually comes on - "Oh, I get it!" As presently modeled, the yellow steering bars on the ADI are a simple repeater of the localizer and glideslope deviation pointers. They are not behaving as a flight director. This is a known issue. I assume you know how the localizer and glideslope pointers work, right? They simply tell you how far you've deviated from the desired course and glidepath. There is no steering involved, it shows only the magnitude of deviation. A flight director, on the other hand, provides actual pitch and bank commands in order to return to (or maintain) the desired course and glidepath. How the computer determines where to position the command bars is pretty involved. It uses present pitch and bank as supplied by the EGI, the current localizer and glideslope deviation, as well as range-to-station as supplied by the ARN-108. It calculates the rate of deviation change, and then determines the pitch and bank angles required to null the deviation. Those required values are then displayed on the ADI by the command steeering bars. Take the following example: Flight Condition: Aircraft centered on the localizer, but 1 dot below the glideslope as seen on the localizer and glideslope deviation pointers. Flight Director reaction: The roll command bar will remain centered, and the pitch command bar will be above the waterline symbol. As you increase pitch toward the command bar, it will descend toward the waterline symbol. At this point, the glideslope deviation pointer is still 1 dot above center, but the pitch command bar is centered. As the increased pitch attitude gradually corrects the "below glideslope" condition, the command bar will begin to move downward away from the waterline symbol. If you decrease pitch to keep it centered, you will smoothly capture the glideslope. The same thing happens with the bank steering bar when you deviate from the localizer. It's a relatively simple matter to pitch and roll as necessary to keep the steering bars centered, which in turn will correct any deviations.

Haha...Ok, I'll go back and edit my post to read: MRFCS has nothing to do with the slats...except that when you transition to MRFCS, the slats extend.

Right, and my point was to answer his question about how to do it properly.

It's also done when guys first get in the jet, as part of the contact phase of their training. This is when you learn how the aircraft flies...you perform maneuvers that expose you to the entire flight envelope from traffic pattern stalls, to single-engine airwork, to maneuvering without SAS and in MRFCS. To get into MRFCS, you should establish level flight above 10,000ft, and between 180-210kt with the aircraft trimmed for level flight. Move the mode switch to MANUAL REVERSION and note that the left and right hydraulic gauges are less than 250psi. At that point, the L and R HYD PRESS caution lights, and the L and R AIL TAB caution lights should be illuminated with a flashing Master Caution. The ailerons will float up, the slats will extend, and the airplane will be in manual reversion. Stick forces can be very high, and improper use of power, trim, and or airspeed can cause stick forces that cannot be overcome. To return to normal control, perform the same procedure in reverse.

Ok, I see what you're saying. The Flight Director Computer used in the A-10 (and other fighters/trainers) actually does generate it's own intercept heading. The selected angle depends on the amount of course deviation, but nominally it's set at 45 degrees. Depending on range-to-station and deviation rate, you might never achieve the nominal cut-off angle before the FD starts the lead-turn onto the localizer or TACAN course. But initially, that's where it's trying to point you.

Frostiken is correct, but not because of the fact that it's an AN/ARN-108. That's just the ILS receiver set, which is actually composed of the C-9445 Cockpit Control Panel, and the R-1871 Radio Receiver. The ARN-108 simply supplies input to the CPU-132/A Flight Director Computer, which is responsible for actually driving the steering bars. In order to satisfy the requirements to display glideslope command steering, the following conditions must be met: 1) valid localizer signal 2) valid glideslope signal 3) the aircraft must be within 2 dots of the localizer 4) the aircraft must be within .5 dots of the glideslope At that point, pitch steering will be displayed until/unless excessive glideslope deviation occurs. There's more to it than that, but that's the basics.