ASAP

Simple answer is the x or y makes a difference. 6X only pairs with 69X not 69Y, 6Y only pairs with 69Y and not 69X. It’s easiest to think of them as completely different frequencies. Generally ground stations will be X and air to air tacans will be Y but I don’t think that’s a hard and fast rule

Real life there are air refueling rendezvous points, control points, set rendezvous times and talk ons both from radar controllers and tanker position callouts like you said. Probably easier for DCS to sprinkle some magic dust on the whole thing and just give us a tacan bearing. Doing it the right way requires a lot of mission planning, understanding of procedures,(and a smart tanker crew like you said). I can’t really fault DCS for taking the easier option here.

nope. All you get is range. DCS has it backwards.

From everything I’ve ever read/heard, IRL the tanker would have a tacan code (x or y doesn’t really matter whatever is assigned) and the receivers would set their tacan 63 out from that and matching the x or y (ie. if tanker has 6Y receivers have 69Y set). The tacan should be set to AA T/R and the fighters would get range only to the tanker, no bearing.

That’s not what the HUD was ever designed to do in the A-10. It’s not approved as a primary reference for instrument flight. The HUD is designed to make it easier to put bombs on target. Look outside at the runway or use your instruments. There’s a reason all Air Force pilots start in the T-6A that has no HUD.

I am not at my computer to test it but I thought if you go to the waypoint page and re enter the MGRS coordinates it forces the system to pull an elevation from its terrain database and overwrites any manually entered elevation.

Oh yeah. That was a mistype. Thanks!

My understanding is that the pitch ladders adjusting for winds is to make it easier for diving weapons deliveries. Which A-10 pilots care about a lot more than using their huds for instrument approaches. also. The HUD is not approved as a primary reference for instrument flight AFAIK. The pilot has to be looking at that ADI and HSI regardless while flying instrument approaches. If the pitch ladders are All the way off the side of the HUD on final though I’m thinking he might run into so,e crosswind limitations

Quick pile on to all that. Anytime you use any weapon in CCRP it’s going to go (or your weapon will at least try send it to) your SPI. So once you’ve found it in the TGP and made it SPI, that is now your target for JDAMS, LGBs, CCRP loft rockets, etc… The only big issue with TGP SPI (it’s really “TGP line of sight SPI”) is it’s not a coordinate that the jet has stored, it’s just where the TGP is looking right now. So if you find a target then slew the TGP crosshairs off your weapons intended impact point the weapon won’t go where you want. Because of this I usually find the target in the TGP then use TMS right short to make a mark point on what my TGP is looking at, then I use TMS right long to make the mark point my SPI now if I slew the TGP off target by accident I can slave all to spi and the TGP will snap right back. But no matter where the TGP is looking CCRP symbology will be for the mark point so I can still slave my maverick there or just drop a JDAM on the mark point. TMS right long will always make the last mark point you took SP so you don’t need to worry about switching around between mission and markpoint databases.

There are some real world limitations not included in the video game. There are a lot of variations in weapon fusing options and bomb body combos that cannot be programmed in DSMS. For instance the jet can’t tell the difference between certain versions of GBU-38s and will look the same in DSMS.

There is a logic too it. The reason the HUD shows you the station number you will be dropping from is to help you make sure you have the right bomb selected when you are selecting profiles from the rotary. Let’s say for example: you have two 38s loaded but they have different bomb body types and fuses. One is a penetrator the other is he standard frag bomb body. So you have the penetrator on station 4 and the regular fragmentation bomb body on station 8. Because you have different fuses the jet will only let you select one of those bombs at a time. When you cycle through the rotary to your 38 profile it will select the bomb on station 4, and when you cycle profiles one further it will select the weapon on station 8. That’s what the indication on the hud is showing you. It’s more important for the pilot to be able to determine in the HUD which weapon he has selected than the total number of that type of bomb. That way he can quickly cycle to the 38 profile and make sure station 4 is selected. Now he knows he’s got his penetrator ready and he can attack. The layout of the HUD is also so you can scan top to bottom in the block on the lower left: right profile, right station, bombs ready, right SPI. It’s important to do that while also looking outside and driving at the target The pilot should know how many of what type of weapon he has. He planned the sortie built the UPC load, preflighted the jet and remembers if he dropped one of his 2 38s already or not. If he needs a count of his rockets or something he can just go to DSMS and count. That’s not something you need to immediately assess while on final

The APU should get the core RPM above 24%, the reason you motor the engine though isn’t about getting the core RPM up it’s about getting the ITT down below 150 so you don’t get a hot start. The automatic start should take over from there

The A-10 can use a ground cart in real life. BUT If the A-10 needs a ground cart to start, it is not air worthy. In order to fly it’s required to have a fully operational APU that can provide power and air to start the engines

About the only thing the pilot could do would be to turn the TGP power off and turn it back on 10 seconds later and hope it works. Otherwise you’ll have to get someone else to lase your bombs

I agree in a straight away, and in general, the flight lead needs to not suck at being a flight lead and lead his formation appropriately to not make it impossible for the wingman to get in position. (Reference stripped/saddled comm from one of my earlier posts). Flight lead doesn’t always need to be in max, but a smart wingman and a good flight lead can make it work when necessary. It’s the wingman’s job to stay in formation and tell flight lead when he is unable to do so The brevity term is stripped not sucked ( in the USAF at least You’re obviously not going to gain an energy advantage. You’re going to fix the line in your formation which takes priority over the stack in tactical formations. There are obviously limits to how much you can catch up. But If your at 1.8 nm in wedge behind flight lead and he starts climbing you can delay your climb and preserve airspeed to close the gap to get back closer to 1-1.5nm pretty easy. It works and I do it all the time. You just have to be smart about how and when to swap airspeed for altitude. You will be lower than your flight lead, but tactical formations allow for the wingmen to have a stack. If FL continues to hold max power once he levels off then you will probably get stripped. Again, Flight leads should know better than to do that.

Absolutely. The use of lead lag and pure pursuit are all ways to adjust formation position. The wingman should aggressively use geometry to fix position. Flight lead will have throttles parked in max during ingress and egressing target area it’s 2s job to use geometry. Once 1 is back in a safe hold he’ll pull the throttles back and the wingman can refine his position still primarily relying on geometry. Wedge formation gives wingmen a lot maneuvering room to do that. Granted in a real flying squadron there are standards for what airspeeds are being used in the hold, and flight leads brief their wingmen before the flight on tactics they use. This would include things like attack formation position on ingress/egress and how they plan on transitioning too and from the hold for an attack. the wingman knows what 1 will do and can plan accordingly Climb less steeply. A flight lead who’s climbing 10 degrees nose high will have a slower GS than 2 who’s climbing at 3 degrees. That will let 2 move forward on the line once 2 has fixed the line or gotten in front of the line he can match leads climb or even climb steeper to move back on the line and slide up into position. Once lead levels off he should pull the throttles so he doesn’t leave 2 in the dust. using the vertical also can be used when lead is flying level. You can descend and gain airspeed to slide back forward on the line. This is all very basic tactical formation stuff that USAF pilots learn flying he T-38 at UPT, so it’s expected they will be good at it. If a pilot can’t maintain formation with power or geometry they owe FL a stripped call and then it’s the flight leads job to fix the formation, could be a power modulation or a check turn/shackle that’s up to the FL all of this is assuming a tactical formation. If you are in close or route outside of a landing pattern 1) you have questionable tactics 2) you shouldn’t be in max because 2 can’t maintain formation.

Sorry I misunderstood. looked like it was just an incorrect list. The AOA indexer isn’t controlled by that rheostat. Just the AOA gauge at the bottom left. When the rheostat is off the lights are off when it’s out of the off position it controls the brightness of the lights just like a dimmer switch in your house. The clock is normally not lit up and a backlight comes on when you turn the rheostat up. The rheostat is just controlling a bezel light that is pointed at the gauges and they all turn up and down uniformly. The signal light should (but doesn’t) make all the warning and caution lights dimmer to include the gun ready NWS lights. The AOA indexer and the refueling status lights are controlled by a separate rheostat on the left console. Pretty sure that also doesn’t work right now.

Nope. The Flight instrument dial lights the following: ADI HSI airspeed indicator vvi aoa guage clock nmsp panel altimeter the rheostat being in the off positions just turns all the lights all the way off. They are analog gauges that require no lighting at all. During the day you could crank them up and probably wouldn’t even notice the light effect in full daylight. The behavior your talking about is in other planes where they have digital displays and it’s controlling screen brightness not bezzel lights. the clock and repeater screens are like an old school game boy screen or a watch face they aren’t back lit at all until you turn the light on. they are pretty easy to see during the day. the signal light dims everything but there are things that will automatically turn them back to bright light when you’re messing with the lights. Recommend that switch be set to dim after you adjust your other lights so you don’t accidentally turn them back to bright

The only voice warnings are pull up and altitude. To the best of my knowledge you cannot turn them down. They are supposed to get your attention because your life depends on it.

I talked to an A-10 guy I know to figure it out. He said if you need to stop quickly it’s faster to get all your weight on the wheels and apply max braking. You’ll be cycling the anti skid but it will stop the aircraft in like 1500 feet if you land on speed with normal recovery fuel. The a-10 demo team does it and the airplane stops really fast. Aero braking is used for airplanes with swept wings that have to land faster and have to bleed off speed before they can start wheel braking or they risk blowing tires. The a-10 apparently doesnt suffer from those same limitations. Also the a-10 apparently tail strikes easy.

Nah. Your good. Your original post didn’t say anything about speeds. Just wanted to make sure you weren’t engaging NWS at 90 knots and being surprised it’s over sensitive. Just eliminating variables. For a min run landing it’s recommended you let the nose wheel drop and get the boards out faster so you can get on the brakes and use the anti skid. At any rate the A-10 doesn’t normally aero brake by holding the nose off the ground. The nose wheel comes down pretty quick and they use the speed brake to do all the work stopping the airplane. But it doesn’t sound like that was your problem. So continue to do whatever you want

Just curious what you are calling a reasonable speed on the runway to start using NWS? It shouldn’t be used above 50 knots (60-70 if there’s a really strong crosswind) because it’s too sensitive. Rudders should be effective above 50. Are normal rudders too sensitive in flight as well? You might just be turning it on too early. Also… A-10s don’t aero brake. Let your nose touch down and open the speed brakes 100%. It’s more effective and puts all your weight on the gear faster making the brakes more effective. Might help you get to the end of the runway at a slower speed so you don’t have to turn off too fast.

True at high speeds the inertia of the aircraft moving forward will force the wheel to straighten out. But you shouldn’t use wheel brakes to steer the aircraft at anything higher than a slow taxi speed, and he didn’t say how fast he was going so I assumed he was creeping along slowly which is when I’d expect that behavior. In a real aircraft using differential braking on a takeoff and landing roll will put a lot of stress on the brakes and shouldn’t be done or necessary under any normal conditions. the only wheel brakes the A-10 has are the toe brakes. The control binding for wheel brakes is just both toe brakes being applied equally. If you have foot petals with toe brakes I wouldn’t even bind the wheel brakes. Just bind the individual toe brakes. And hold both down at the same time

On landing roll the rudders should be efective until about 50 knots at which point you should turn on the NWS to keep runway center line. But really if you can’t maintain runway centerline with just rudder on landing roll, engage NWS. That is usually around 50 knots, but with a heavy crosswind could be closer to 60-70 knots, The behavior you described makes sense and is the way I’d expect an aircraft to handle. With NWS off using the toe brake isn’t moving the nose wheel directly. It’s slowing one of the main wheels more than the other which causes the aircraft to turn. The nose wheel is pretty much acting like a castor wheel and turning because that’s what the aircrafts motion is forcing it to do. NWS off doesn’t lock the nose wheel in place it actually allows it to rotate freely. Taking your feet off the brakes doesn’t force the aircraft to automatically recenter itself so it’s going to stay cocked to the side until you apply brakes on the opposite side.

Oh I see what you're saying. It would certainly get you down. There's a couple of other reasons you'd generally want to avoid it in jets. Disrupting airflow into your intake by high side slip angles can compressor stall the engines for instance. To be fair though the Gimli Glider didn't have to worry a whole lot about killing the engines after they ran out of gas . So there is the approach phase when you can do whatever you want really, probably crabbing is the easiest. Everything I found says on final approach the manual recommends a combination of wing low and crab, at the same time. It specifically says before entering the flare though you should use the rudders to align the aircraft fuselage with the runway center line and land using the wing low method. I normally fly the last half mile like that so I'm not transitioning low to the ground. In any rate you shouldn't land with an aggressive crab like an F-16 would.