Fjordmonkey

Well, we really didn't have much issues with the 220's of the older OCU-jets (pre-MLU), but one of the other crews had a 220 (not the 220E which the MLU's had) compressor-stalled immediately after starting it, probably during either SEC or BUC-checks. We were in a shelter a few hundred meters away, and the boom that came out of the other shelter was hilariously loud even for us. The aircraft had belched out a very nice fireball out of the intake as well, and if I remember correctly the issue was due to a faulty fuel-controller. Apart from that, we didn't have much engine-issues. I think the worst issues we had during my year in was that they found oil in the EPU-system, which effectively grounded the entire F-16 fleet in Norway for the better parts of two weeks. Other issues were minor. Fuel-leaks (I'm looking at you, 658!!!), ECS-problems on 279 while on deployment to Banak AFB, and we had one jet returning to base not soon after takeoff due to a broken shaft in one of the hydraulic pumps on board. That last one was "fun" to receive, as the hyd-oil reservoir emptied itself inside the aircraft. REALLY fun to clean that one... Was a bit more fun happening at Banak, like a shredded ventral fin and shrapnel in the left stab, plus a palm-size piece of shrapnel missing the Flare-magazine by about an inch after the jet had done a bombing-run. Sitting on RS15 the night the Russian submarine Kursk sank, however, was intense...

On US aircraft they've done away with having to use external sources of either air or power in order to start the aircraft, since it's just another thing that can and usually will break when you absolutely do NOT need it to. It introduces complexity into the mix that you don't need to have. Also, I don't know of any modern-day, main-line aircraft in western europe that needs external power or inputs in order to start. Sure, you might have some of the smaller trainers and such that might need it, but aircraft like the F16, SAAB Gripen, Tornado or Typhoons doesn't require it. Also don't think that the Rafale or the Mirage 2000 needs it. During my year working on the Vipers in RNorAF, we NEVER used any external hookups on startup unless it was when we had to hook the jet up to a testrig in order to do some testing on the ECS. External ground-power was used during the morning electrical checks, and there are provisions for using a Huffer in order to do testing on the ground as well as hydraulic hookups for testing purposes, but they're not used to start or launch the aircraft with. This holds especially true on ground-air, because the receptacle is VERY close to the intake on the Viper, which is not a place you want to be in when the engine is started.

It's about as old, repeated, unoriginal and not funny anymore as the million requests for a releasedate, and about as stupid as the screaming that ensues when a release-date is given/not given/pushed back/pulled forward ;)

We'll get it in..... *drumroll* #TwoWeeks :D (Sorry, couldn't help myself! I really would love some more info on this :D )

I laughed myself silly when I saw that yesterday. I'd modify it, however. Swap out the powder with three Co2-ampules that blow through vats of toner-powder from a color laserprinter, and would look into getting hold of some thiols instead of the fart-spray. Toner-powder is nigh-on IMPOSSIBLE to properly clean up, and if you add water to it...well, you'll never get THAT out. Thiols are....well...hideous. Skunks use two different ones and are well-known for being some of the smelliest creatures out there, and it takes a lot of time and effort to remove. Would really like to swap out the fart-spray with a few drops of thioacetone instead, but the risks of mishandling it would be a tad too big :P

Only thing I can say is.... SINNSYKT JÆVLA BRA!!!! To say that I'm looking forward to this is a gross understatement. I've been waiting for about 24 years for a proper Tomcat-sim, and this looks to be it. Hmm...that reminds me that I need to travel to Helsingborg, get Cobra hilariously drunk and get him to promise that the next module out will be the Viper :D

Hm! Interesting :D I completely forgot about the monster J58's. They're a rather special breed in general.

I know that some rocket-engines circulate cryogenic fuel through cooling-channels on/in the nozzle, but was unaware that any jet-engines used fuel to control the nozzle. This is also why I like the F100PW220E's, where the Nozzle is driven by the CENC, using compressed bleed-air. It's also one of the simplest ways to tell a GE-bird from a PW-bird, as the PW's tweet when the throttle-position is changed.

An oil-fuelled fire in a confined space with limited airflow, since the engine-bay airflow was disrupted through the shifted casing. Yeah, not really a situation I'd want to be in :P

Ouch! This could have ended VERY badly. Skimming through the accident-report tells me a few things: - Someone mistook the maint' shop for the church (Someone BELIEVED when they should have KNOWN. You believe in church, you know in the maint' shop) - Someone thought instead of making sure. - Someone hasn't kept up to speed on the obsoletion of parts and TCTO's. That this wasn't a complete write-off of the aircraft is down to pilot skill and blind luck, pretty much. Wouldn't be surprised if a few heads rolled in the 35MX over this.

Or failed starts during RS15-scrambles :D Since we ALWAYS used Start 2, a mis-start would mean near-empty JFS-bottles and the WORST stint of pushups you'd EVER experience due to having to manually pump up the pressure again with the T-handle. Wouldn't call it fun, but it was at least somewhat doable when we had new people with us in the shelter. 4 people taking turns pumping are FAR better than just two. It's a loooooong way from 150-200PSI and up to the needed 3000...

While I haven't done that in 120-degree weather, I HAVE helped remove the ventral fin and bathtub outside, at -15c and stiff winds off the sea. I still have scars from having to jam my entire arm up through one of the fire-hatches in order to remove the tiny little bolt. Absolutely hated doing it, since you were mostly working on feel alone. Good times :D

Goddamnit, mvsgas! Every time I come back to this thread, I miss working on the Vipers :D

Yep, seen that happen, too :P It's why I liked the older leather-covers more. They just smoked and smelled horrific, but didn't melt and ruin the probes. No such luck with the Crewchief-divider, though...

That right there is a very brave man, especially if Pitot-heat is on. I've made the mistake of touching the pitot-tube while running an elec-check on the aircraft, and that mofo is HOT!

I've done some testing after yesterdays update to 2.5, and I can get the server to run comfortably on ESXi 6.5 on a single-6-core CPU HPe Proliant DL360p WITHOUT having a GPU in it. Not too sure why I can't connect to it yet, but that's probably because of firewall-muppetry. Testing continues.

Dude, if ED came out with a full-feature DCS-level F16, I'd be on that train faster than the ass of a fly goes through its head when it collided with an X15. Then again, after working on the blasted thing for a year, I'm very much in love with the Viper.

Excellent, then I know what to do with some hardware I have flopping about :D

Please let me know how it goes, Teej :) I might be coming into a dual-node Dell VRTX-server in january/february, and I plan on using that for a DCS-server.

True, but I've got access to quite a bit of hardware and handle both VMWare and HyperV virtualization-systems pretty much every day through my job, I was wondering which of the two technologies was used. I haven't tested it out on VMWare due to the issues with not having a proper graphicscard forwarded from the host to the virtual machine (VMWare are notoriously picky about which cards they allow to be forwarded, and I personally don't want to mess with that if I can help it), but if I can get it to work on VMWare's drivers through some LUA-muppeting, I'll want to give it a shot.

Sorry for digging up this, but are you running HyperV or VMWare on this?

Better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.

I'm also looking to build a new box, but I'm waiting for AMD to launch the new Zen-architecture. It's said that this happens in October, so it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the i7's both in terms of performance but also its pricepoint.

If those are the criteria, then the AH64 is probably the best :P But there's a lot of ways to define the best, which is what my point was :)

Define your criteria of what accounts for being the best, and THEN we can talk about it. Without specifying that, there is no "best". Or worst, for that matter.