bluepilot76

Thanks for your help Grimes! I tried the morning one, I loved the atmosphere of the lighting and weather. Unfortunately some punk hit me with a SAM as I closed in on the first target. False sense of security from flying around enjoying the peaceful morning! Looking fwd to having another bash at it, seems very real.

lol should be a message in your user control panel from whoever gave you it!

OK just to be clear...so you can go into the mission planner and look at a mission that might have 10 waypoints in it, but you can also create extra points say 11 - 15 that are not part of the flight plan, but distinct off-route points. Then when you load the data into the CDU you will have all those extra none flightplan waypoints available? Cool if you can, I didnt know that. (Just to be clear Im not talking about simply displaying FPL or other Waypoints on the TAD through the AAP rotary, which I don't think MT is asking about either)

I find if the profile is set to CCIP, but in the heat of the moment I want to use CCRP, or vice versa, setting the alternate method with the master mode button seems to work fine. Obviously some more technical things do need to be set in the profiles page though.

I think the problem is that the MadTommy wants to get extra mission way points out of the mission editor into the TAD but without having used them in a flight plan. The method you describe assumes they are already loaded in the CDU database, ( or have been created in the cockpit...)

Holy mackeral now I am cunfusled! maybe I am misunderstanding the topic as it relates to using the CDU to drop bombs as Im not that level of CDU user, however in relation to aviation weather forecasts I think I should say.... I am sure that a wind arrow should point in the direction the wind is blowing TOWARD. What can confuse people though is the aviation weather man, when providing the wind as text will specify where the wind is blowing FROM. so, he/she says (writes) wind 270/20. Thats 20 knots from the west However if he/she was to draw that on a chart it would show an arrow pointing to the right (east) with tail feathers to notify the strength of the wind. I have attached a couple of images. Unfortunately I never use a aviation weather map with arrows on so i have attached a sample off the UK Met office aviation section. The other chart shows the wind as text blocks, this is the chart all UK PPLs use in flight planning and most certainly refers to the direction the wind is blowing FROM. Unfortunately today of all days the normal prevailing wind over the UK from the southwest is largely absent. Normally all those blocks would have things like 235/35 in them so it would be fairly obvious.. Maybe I am just confused by the issue in relation to the bombs and CDU and will step away from the topic for now. I think I am going to avoid those parachute bomblets on anything moving from now on. Far too likely to go wrong. Too much estimation involved!

I have not tried to do it, but why not do what Cichlid said and create them as IPs? as in not mission flight plan IPs but the other IPs that exist independtly of the flight plan, the ones the JTAC refers to for example.

If using the normal radio method, take a note off the briefing screen what freqs for AWACS and JTAC.However 90% of the time it seems to be.. AWACS 124.000 (is VHF AM) Flight 251.000 (is UHF) JTAC 30.000 (is VHF FM) You dont need to write down the ATC freqs because you can get these at any time for any airfield off the CDU DIVERT page.

Just use the normal radio its easy... AM; Front box; ATC/ AWACS/Tanker/ basically other aircraft in the air that are not part of your flight, a general airborne radio UHF; Middle box; Your flight. (always 251?) FM; Back box; JTAC, (usually 30 or 40?) So usually you dont need to touch the UHF or FM boxes through the flight. You might need to change the FM if there is more than one JTAC. You need to put in the frequency for who you want to talk to (ATC/AWACS/Tanker) in the front box and use the "AM" menu. So put in the freq for your ATC before you try and contact him. If you want to speak to AWACS then put in that freq. You dont need to use the preset channels, just dial in the freq you want to speak on. But check the selector is not on the most clockwise setting otherwise the radio will use the channels reagardless of what you have in the dials. You generally want the setting that is one back from fully clockwise. Sorry not to hand so cant remember what it is called.

+1 What Frostiken said + fix airborne AI

Jesus, why make the most complex flight simulator of all time and then change basic aviation conventions to make it intuitive to "most people"? hmmm, the wind arrows in the ME are right though aren't they?

Yes I did do that! Great I will do what you said tonight, It looks great! Thanks!

Hi Grimes, I wanted to try this "SP" last night, but once loaded I just had a peaceful view of a town at night. I tried clicking on a couple of units in the ME to see if I could change them to "player" but it all seemed greyed out. I gave up pretty quick because I though it must only work online. Are the playable aircraft the ones up at Tbisili or those at Batumi? Sorry for being a bit thick!

Doesnt sound like those CBU97s are a very good tool for the job if your target is moving. I had trouble hitting a fast convoy with them, although didnt realise quite how long it took for them to fall.

What are you going to use for rudder pedals? I bought some saitek ones once but they kept locking up and I gave up fixing them after the 5th time. Very plastic.

I would like one of those, but my house isnt big enough. Maybe time to buy a new house?

In the UK (although not a full time pilot..) I have never heard that transition level call, it has just been.. "Descend Flight Level 45" (or whatever), you keep your Altimeter on 1013. Then at some point... "Descend Altitude 2700, QNH 999mb" So it is the instruction to descend (or climb) to either a FL or to an Altitude that is your que to change your altimeter setting. The transition level itself varies by airspace classification and country, For example I seem to remember Bristol is 6000feet whilst outside controlled airspace it is 3000feet.

That makes sense; thanks guys!

On the missions I have been flying, the position of the IP that is on the flight plan and the position of the IP that the JTAC refers to is not the same. The JTAC IP will be available in your navigation database if you do a search so it is a valid IP point etc, I just wondering why the flight plan doesnt use the same IP?

ID ing targets. You should have an idea where your forward line of troops are from your pre mission briefing and also because they tend to have a little green cross on them. If you are looking through the TGP at a nice juicy tank and it has a green cross on it, then DO NOT fire- he is friendly. JTAC should give you coordinates to the target. Learn how to make a waypoint at those coordinates. When you lock the TGP onto the target go to the JTAC comms menu and find "contact" he will tell you if your on the right target or not. When you hear someone call "SAM launch" then LOOK. if you are quick enough you will see the white trail coming from a point on the ground. either remember that point or quickly point the plane at it, make HUD SOI and put a marker on the target then turn away and investigate from afar with the TGP. Another good way of finding the bad guys is to send your wingy out, he has amazing eyesight. Another way, not necessarily reccomended is to fly at low level (like a mad bat out of hell) across the battlefield. When the specs on the ground start firing at you, you know your on the wrong side of the border. Drop a mark point and haul arse out of there. Investigate mark point from afar using TGP.

I pretty much gave up on IL2 when the spaceships started appearing around the servers. I can see why so many people are concerned about the P51 making its debut in DCS. Its going to be a bit rubbish if you are up to your neck in SOIs and CDUs in your A10 and some punk pulls up in a P51 and starts riddling you full of holes. I think we just have to trust the mission designers to keep things sane? Other than that, the argument about it holding up the next big thing is just silly. It s like being 5 again and wishing santa claus would hurry up. So the next big thing comes out then what? Happy?- or start wishing for the next big thing. What if its not your favorite Jet? Just be glad of what weve got and hope that it keeps getting better.

I was attracted to the DCS series because of Wags video in the Blackshark that showed the most realistic looking clickable cockpit I had ever seen. Even the fact it was a wierd helicopter was not able to stop me getting it. I am looking forward to being able to sit in a similarily realistic P51 cockpit and go into massive death match furball on the free for all server. Or pylon racing, or spot landing competition, or aerobatic displays, or formation flying or hopefully (one day) shooting down some FW190s over Berlin.. I didnt like LOMAC much after a little while of flying around because it was a bit too arcade-y.

True enough, apparently more were killed trying to land 109s than actually shot down. I think. I am looking forward to the challenge. Anyway people, who says prop aircraft have no place in a modern conflict. In another 50 years when it all goes Mad Max we'll probably be fighting it out in hot air balloons.

hmmm another DCS product that promises to be so hard that only the true hard core simmer should ever contemplate trying to take off. I have heard that before. P51 is not the space shuttle nor is it even a A10C. It is a simple airframe with rather a large engine on the front. If DCS make it "that" hard I suspect they are getting it wrong. Young men of 18 were flying these in combat after a few hours training. They were not all shot down on there first mission either. Most reports I have read of this type of aircraft will state it has beautiful flying characteristics and that the pilot needs to be aware of what to do with his feet. So anyone with bit of experience in RoF or RL prop flying and has heard of a constant speed propeller should be able to toy around in it after a couple of hours. Thats my prediction. Looking forward to it!

Hello Wathog Gurus, The flight plan provided in a mission will include an IP. When I contact a JTAC he typically gives an offset to a target from a different (named) IP, I think the one I flew the other day was called "IP Towel", and he might give a instruction to turn back to IP Towel after the attack. Its a little bit strange because IP Towel does not coincide with IP on my flight plan. Why is that? I set up a nice orbit around IP "Towel" whilst we agree on the target and weapon etc then prosecute the attack from there as instructed. I know how to view the IP that the JTAC provides, and have been changing the Anchor point from the bullseye to the IP so that it is easy to go from the target to the IP and back to the IP. Alternatively I was thinking about making a new flight plan with "IP Towel" as the starting point and the target as the first waypoint etc, but that seems like a bit too much unnecesary hastle. Maybe worthwhile if told an attack heading that is not on the direct course though? So I was wondering if there is a reason for the use of the different IP, and what other people did in these situations?