ASAP

You are correct but I would pile on and say that using uncoordinated flight to lose altitude faster or slow down is fine in a Cessna or other GA plane. It’s a bad idea in a fighter like this. 1) with asymmetric stores yaw can build up to a point that makes a side slip departure possible, 2) your speed brakes will do the job better anyway. Also you only CAN but SHOULD use the wing low method to land this airplane like you described. It is the procedurally correct way to do it from everything I’ve read/heard. Other jets like the F-16 or the T-38 land in a crab. The A-10 isn’t one of them though. That’s situation dependent. 160 is right around the aircrafts best climb speed. But it’s not very tactical because you dont have much energy to react if you need to defend yourself. On a departure when you’re trying to get to altitude fast it’s fine.

Just throwing out something I learned that I thought was cool. I like realism in sims. I know it’s a game. I just think it’s more fun to do things the right way. Something that has been bugging, and kills immersion for me when flying campaigns with lots of voice acting is the way radio frequency changes happen in the formation. Even in one mission the comm surrounding a frequency change is different every single time it’s done (cough iron flag cough*). Got me wondering if there is a correct formatted way that actual air force pilots do it. Did some looking around and the answer yes, there is a correct way to do it. There are 2 options: option 1: “(flight call sign) push (frequency)” this is apparently the most commonly used option. The flight lead instructs the flight to change a frequency on a specific radio (front, mid, or aft). The flight members don’t say anything. They just make the switch and stay quiet and wait for the flight lead to check them in on the new frequency. 1: “HAWG push 360.99 front” Everyone changes frequencies 1: “HAWG check front 2: “2” 1: “tower HAWG ready for takeoff” other option is GO comm. generally used when there is a lot going on and you need to be certain the wingman heard the radio change. same but the only difference is the wingmen acknowledges the the order before either aircraft switch radios. 1: “HAWG go channel 4 (or just 4) front 2: “2” both switch freqs 1: “HAWG check front “ 2: “2” 1: departure HAWG passing 3,500 for 7,500. Way easier and faster than what I normally hear which is some form of 2 switch to this freq, roger I’ll switch to this freq and then 2 comes up saying hey 1 one I’m up on this freq. it just clogs up radios and prevents actually important comm from happening. In general wingmen don’t say much on the radio for that reason. They are allowed to say 2, 2s IN, mayday, 1 you’re being shot at, in all other situations they should probably not be talking. Unless asked something directly or your just droning in cruise then you might get to talk on the inter flight freq. *i love iron flag, great campaign. Just saying…

Like everything, it depends. (but the A-10 still doesn't have or need a detent in the throttle). Sort of.. In a tactical formation there's no reason #1 can't go max power, but he does run the risk of getting #2 stripped (out of the commanded formation position and unable to fix it quickly with power). It's 2's job to stay in formation, if he can't keep up he should call "Stripped", at which point 1 should pull the throttles back to allow 2 to saddle up, once 2 calls saddled 1 can accelerate or set a speed. The problem isn't that the A-10 is slow--two A-10's with similar loadouts should be able to hold similar airspeeds--the problem is that it is slow to accelerate. If one throws the throttles into max without saying anything 2 will fall aft and even though he can match speed he wont be able to make up the ground he lost while 1 was accelerating away from him. Easy fix for that is a little bit of wingman consideration from the flight lead. Comm for that could be something like: "1's buster" indicating he's going max power and then delay actually putting the throttles in max. 2 should check throttles to max and start accelerating. After a delay of a couple of seconds 1 can set his throttles to max. The extra few seconds allows the wingman to accelerate and give him a power advantage so he doesn't get left in the dust If you have a specific check in time with a JTAC you would mission plan and make sure you takeoff on time to make that time without having to be in max the entire time. It is easier to slow down than speed up like you said, but if your plan involves being in max power the whole time to make it you have no wiggle room for contengencies. Like I said, 1 can be in max power. BUT if he doesn't suck at leading a flight he has to think about how 2, 3, and 4 can stay in the formation position he wants him in. He has to give them some kind of turn so 2 can pull lead and slide into position or hold the throttle back until 2 is saddled and ready, etc... Also when talking about tactical formations being 2 miles away can still be in a formation. Its actually easier to look through your flight lead into the target area and provide mutual support from further away in a lot of circumstances. I'd suggest you stop holding over AAA and SAMs lol. Find a safe hold where you can receive and think through a 9 line and plan out your attack. This is the part of the fight where you should have your throttles "stood up" and you should be saving gas. Being in max here is only decreasing the time you get to support the guys on the ground by burning more gas than necessary. Save max for ingressing and egressing the target. You hit the nail on the head. 2 should have an energy advantage so he can hold on. Most the time that means he needs some slop in the throttles so he can set a higher power setting, BUT sometimes this could also mean geometry. A smart wingman should also use altitude (i.e start diving to gain airspeed or climbing to trade excess airspeed for altitude) or use cut off and pull a ton of lead in turns to fix line and spacing. There's lots of ways to solve formation positions as long as 1 isn't just driving straight ahead at max power. This requires some kind of contract between the flight lead and the formation "I will set XXXX fuel flow in the hold", or "I will climb out at 700 ITT," "in the hold fly 220 kts", or even "on ingress I'll be max, 2 use geometry and smart wingmanship to stay in postion" This is why fighter pilots have lengthy briefings before every flight. (rant) since we are talking about formation flying and throttle settings..... In persian freedom mission 3 where flight lead tells you to get in (super non-tactical) fingertip formation and then flies cross country at 180 knots is the exact opposite problem which irritates me to no end. There's no reason to put yourself on the backside of the power curve like that especially in a combat zone, and it's more difficult to hold perfect formation at low airspeeds and low throttle settings like that anyway. You pretty much have to drop flaps mvr so you can keep your throttles mid range where you want them to be in fintertip formation. (end rant)

Like Yurgon said there is no reason to put a detent in a warthog throttle since there is no afterburner. The warthog routinely uses the full throttle range and there is no big penalty to being in max. You can park it there for the whole flight and the jet will be just fine. It burns more fuel but it’s not exponentially more like an afterburner would. About those fuel flow override switches. First, they don’t seem to be modeled. second, they are NOT used for times when you feel the need for speed. They shut off the system that is metering fuel flow to the engines in order to keep them within operating limits. Turning them off MIGHT give you a few percent more thrust, (might not based on atmospheric conditions) and WILL over temp the engines if you’re in max power. It’s for emergency use only like if you lose an engine on takeoff when you’re low slow and even after jettisoning your stores you still can’t climb away from the ground and you are willing to overtemp an engine to save the airplane.

I don’t think it should matter but when are you starting it up? Should be one of the last things. Also when you go to the stat page and look at HMCS does it say anything? It could be the brightness is cranked all the way down

I would think Warthogs prefer to stay high as much as they can for a lot of reasons, one of them being threat avoidance. Unless there’s a bigger threat that they can’t overfly, it’s probably a lot safer than trying to run in low and avoid it. Plus it is easier to find targets and communicate.

As I understand it, its true in most if not all cases the laser will at least be artificially masked before the camera is. The system is designed to be a little conservative with the mask zone so it isn’t blasting high power energy off of your jet and reflecting harmful laser energy back into the optics or the at the pilot. if DCS wanted to fix it they’d either need to give us a more realistic dynamically updated LMZ or give us a visual indication of the LMZ in the TGP like the real thing or better yet, both of those features combined.

My understanding is it’s a shortcut to only need to do one button push to fence in for mavericks vs the multiple button pushes of finding the profile then separately calling up the maverick video and then making it SOI. It also prevents the possibility of calling up the maverick as a sensor and not actually having the weapon selected. Employment wise messing with the TDC is a waist of HOTAS effort (but it would work I guess). If you can see the target I’m the HUD then just move the maverick wagon wheel onto the target either by flying it onto the target or space stabilize and slew it onto the target. From there look inside at your screens, get a good lock and send it.

Agreed about the generals. I’ve only met one but he was awesome. I just thought the analogy was amusing so I thought I’d share.

Heard this from directly A-10 pilots. It’s a single seat fighter so people can do what they want but the general vibe I’ve heard is that they avoid HUD SOI. One pilots justification (slightly paraphrased to be more PC: “HUD SOI is like talking to a woke General officer. Every second your a part of that conversation is another chance to say something that will get you in trouble. Say what you need to say and end the conversation ASAP”. They don’t want to be HUD SOI because it’s way too easy to try to zoom in your TGP or manipulate the TAD and change your steerpoint or switch off of the correct weapons profile without realizing it. Then you roll in and you don’t have the right weapon called up or your bomb goes to the wrong steerpoint. It’s just as easy and harder to screw up to if you reach up with your left hand and change steerpoint/profiles with the UFCP. HUD SOI isn’t wrong. It’s just considered best practice to use the UFCP. And keep TAD SOI unless you need it to be something else because that’s the SOI where you’ll do the least damage if with HOTAS errors. obviously in DCS I’m going to guess nearly everyone is HUD SOI all the time because we don’t have a UFCP and the TAD is almost worthless compared to the real jet, and HOTAS errors aren’t going to get you killed or put bombs on friendlies. For what it’s worth after talking to that guy I mapped the steer and select rockers to the arrow keys on my keyboard. Works like a charm

“HUD SOI to employ” is the mantra for AIM-9s. I think it’s generally the only time A-10 guys fly around HUD SOI from what I’ve heard. Otherwise you can’t uncage recharge the aim-9 seeker. The gun funnel should show up as long as you master/ gun arm. from everything I’ve read the TGP isn’t used much for air to air because unlike other platforms you can’t use a radar to slew it to the aircraft. They rely on visually acquiring the bandit. If you get a hostile track over the data link you could slew it that way I assume. For a helo I would just spot it visually and shoot an Aim-9 at it.

Ha! Fair enough

Alternatively, if max alt is 18K just fly over it and drop a bomb on it.

Real world, they wouldn’t. real world they start the egi and cdu right after the APU. By the time they get both engines started, check flaps, speed brakes, flight controls, SAS, trim, wheel brakes, pitot heat, chop check, get ATIS, and set up their radios the alignment is complete only THEN do they turn on the cicu, iffcc, displays, etc. that’s the way the TO is written and doing other stuff just invites a ton of issues. if the jet was on alert it would be cocked and ready to go. When they got the scramble order the crew chief would start the APU and the alignment would be done by the time the pilot was done strapping in. The pilot could start taxiing before the alignment was complete, but the jet would still stop in arming long enough for the alignment to finish up while they are getting armed. It just doesn’t make sense to deliberately do something that will degrade your GPS like skipping the alignment or not letting it finish. In flight alignment is more of an emergency procedure and a fast alignment is a maintenance function They do train for GPS degraded ops, but that’s so they can be ready for when <profanity> breaks or gets jammed. It’s not something they do to save an extra 30 seconds of ground ops.

on your CDU hit SYS and then the LSK for GPS and then send a picture of that

Hopefully not insulting your intelligence, but are you getting a good EGI alignment on the ground before you takeoff? Are you waiting for the flashing INS NAV RDY after a 4 minute alignment before hitting NAV on the CDU? You should have a FOM of D5/B1 on takeoff.

My guess would be you are getting all of them, but not realizing it. If you are flying straight and level you will only see the two static ones because the CCIP gun reticle and cross will be below the bottom of the HUD field of view. You can't move the reticles around the HUD, doing so would invalidate the information they are providing you as a gun reticle. You can change the mil depression of the HARS pipper or standby pipper, but that's different. The CCIP gun cross and reticle will move around in your HUD based on the triginometry the IFFCC is doing to calculate an impact point.

Good point, you are correct, I got turned around with the CAT 1 vs 3. They are only capable of doing the basic ILS which is what I meant to say. I only brought up CAT D because of the minimum weather requirements, not the equipment. I could have written that clearer.

Not sure what any of that is based on... "Blind landings" to the best of my knowledge isn't a thing, and no US fighter does them. If you mean they can't do instrument approaches down to ILS CAT I mins, you're correct no US fighter can. The A-10 specifically flies approaches to category D minimums. A landing without NAVAIDS in an A-10 is either a PAR/ASR or a VFR landing. VFR is the way all fighters land unless weather or training requirements dictate otherwise. Bomb on coordinate CAS is a thing... There are tactics techniques and procedures for CAS with crap weather. A-10s are probably going to want to fly low altitude under the weather. It is not necessary to be visual friendlies in every single circumstance, they have to have high SA on friendly postions which doesn't necessarily require seeing them. Here's a story that shows how the hawg can do CAS better than any other fighter in absolutly horrible weather. https://taskandpurpose.com/community/unsung-heroes-10-pilots-intentionally-drew-enemy-fire-protect-trapped-marines/

Unless you are doing delayed lasing just LSS on their spot and drop CCRP with TGP LOS SPI.

Agreed! This is a game, do what you want and push it up. I was just throwing out real world data for those who prefer to try and fly as realistically as possible. Some people don't care about realism and want to just have fun. There's no wrong way to play DCS.

There are definitely training rules that fly straight out the window. And all flying regs say that pilots can deviate if necessary for safety of flight. This isn't that though. Building your own approach like this would get guys killed, and the jet is not authorized to do this because the jet isn't capable of doing it safely in real life. It works more or less in the game I guess, but the jet can't provide the required level of accuracy and precision. Talking to the A-10 guys I know they say that have never the 3d nav in this way. Also to do this you'd have to have all of your systems working perfectly, in which case there's no reason not to fly the published approaches. Also it would require the pilots to have practiced doing it. They don't practice it, because its not allowed. Military planning accounts for things like weather diverts and where you're going if the jet has issues or navaids go down. They do all their extraordinary planning on the ground so they don't have to rely on extraordinary piloting abilities to get home.

You're not wrong. But that's purely a Gameism. The A-10 is not authorized to do that in real life.

pretty sure the main reason for the refueling lights is so the tanker can see the receiving aircraft better. In the A-10 at least you are authorized to be on NVGs through the entirety of the refueling process.

You can't. I mean, technically you could pick coordinate somewhere out in front and drop on that, but good luck being accurate. If you have to use CBU on a mover, you'd likely have better success doing a CCIP delivery and leading the target with your pipper. You'd have to do some math to figure out TOF of the weapon and figure out how many seconds to lead the target by. The lead required will be much less in CCIP than CCRP, you'll have to guestimate where the target will be in 3-4 seconds vs 20-30 seconds for a medium alt CCRP delivery. Its CBU so you have some slop due to the dispersion of the bomblets, but you want to try and be accurate with where you are dropping it. Its a point weapon with area effects, or in other words: aim small, miss small.