DaveRindner

That describes airfield information. It does not tell you, which is the active runway for departure and arrival.

A $30 add-on module to DCS: F-5E would be reasonable. If it brought following capabilities of real world F-5E modernization program. Expanded countermeasures load at least 60 for flares and chaff bundles. Each. Centerline ECM pod or conformal ventral blister for ECM ALQ-131 or similar. Outer pylons plumbing for AIM-9 series missiles. Expanding total WVR IR missile capacity to 4. Improved radar capable of steering AIM-7F or similar missile. As in RW modernization programs. Inner wing pylon plumbed for radar guided AIM-7F or similar missile. CCIP/CCRP unguided AG munition delivery computer. PGU-28 series ammunition for 20mm cannon. GPU-2/A 20mm pod with 300 rds GPU-5/A 30mm pod with 353 rds Rafael Python 3 & 4 IR WVR AA missile Flight safety; Ventral radar altimeter and GCAS ILS NVG basic low light intensification. Navigation; GPS embedded inertial navigation with some kind of LCD map display. Engines; Increase engine power to F-5EM variant.

My hope is that, though I have latest NVIDIA 377.35 reference drivers, that Quadro K4000 GPU just doesn't have DX11 & 12 features used by DCS 2.5 and thus my scenes look different from others. I shun features that would cost FPS, regardless of GPU I would have in future. I don't use MSAA, no anisotropic filter, no Deffered Shade. Cockpit and aircraft textures on High, terrain textures on low. Visibility range is LOW. I find that longer visibility range don't add to the experience. Other features are also on low. But nighttime is hard not to notice. There is little challenge in flying at night in DCS 2.5. Everything is clearly visible. Like moonlight source is cranke up, alongside ambient illumination. But I am really disappointed with ED regarding their implementation of trees, grass, clutter. Talk about a performance hit. I prefer NOE approach to target, so low level tree shading performance is important. 1.5.8 had excellent Look VS Performance tradeoff on trees. NTTR 2.2 really did not have that much flora. NTTR FPS , did improve for me in 2.5. And lookwise , daytime, is definitely an improvement. But nighttime, ohvey! Looks terrible. Well hopefully it all gets resolved by beta process.

Western NATO aircraft use QNH. Russians use QFE. So I was told.

I dunno, I am just not digging 2.5 graphics. I did totally fresh re-install once 2.5 came out. I don't use Deffered Shade. It looks bad. Either the scene is too dark, where cockpit instruments are difficult to see at night, and during the day every shading burned out. There is no magic Gamma setting that works. It just looks bad. My graphics are nothing like what is posted on YT from ED. I use HDR and Flare+Dirt. At night NTTR terrain is way too bright. The sky is nicely black. But terrain is 5X brighter the sky, and it looks wrong. Clouds are self-luminant almost solid white. Like their moon illumination is on extra bright. The whole NTTR at night looks terrible. Has anybody experienced this, and fixed it. Right now I find visuals this unacceptably poor. Hopefully it is a Beta artifact. Tress: Trees looks bad, just bad, in both theatres , day or night. The textures are bright washed yellowish green-ish, and they are slow. The trees spawn, rising out of the ground close enough to see them grow out of ground. This happens regardless of visibility range and tree percentage. Worse still when they grow, the trees are not textured, the textures blends into tree based on distance. I like the trees in 1.5.8 a lot more. With dense forest areas, treetop flying is FPS killer. With 2.5 with my rig, Goergia is slow and ugly, and NTTR is smoother , then under 2.2, but is also ugly. My CPU is I7-3770K, my GPU is PNY Nvidia Quadro K4000 (3GB), driving a single panel 2560X1440 at native rez. flat panel, memory is 32GB ram.

ATC fails to specify, which Nellis runway is departure and which is arrival or recovery. 21R or 21L I am guessing that departure runway in Nellis, regardless of weather, is 21 L, Recovery is 21R due to landing threshold lights on 21R.

Would be neat and kewl if ED would add Thales Scorpion HMD. USAF has equipped active and reserve component A-10C squadrons with this device, which gives A-10C to carry AIM-9X BlockII. I am exactly certain if Block I is HMD compatible. http://www.gentexcorp.com/news-events/news/gentex-raytheon-awarded-hmit-program

I am curious if anyone has found a way to fool 2.5 into allowing placement of naval units into Lake Mead. It is water, yet DCS 2.5 does not recognize it as 'sea'. I suppose it needs open deep blue water for that. Anyhow armed speedboats make for juicy counter-terror training scenarios.

I live in LA. Somewhat close, but not too close to LAX. LAX is IMHO is 405 Rush hour of airports. Anyhow, the pattern for LAX is that departures go over the ocean, arrivals follow a flight path over land. The aircraft on final are so close together, it is mesmerizing to say the least. On a good night with little haze/smog you can see the dozens of airliners on final , like beads on a string. You can almost imagine and , in your mind's eye, draw the ILS beam that those aircraft are using. But sometimes , here in LA, we get really fierce low clouds and fog. Fog dense enough , to make driving hazardous. From cockpit, all you would see is grey, white, blush, vapor and with no visibility. No break in the clouds. Yet the LAX tower keeps em landing and departing. Southern Cali, IMHO is way to complicated of airspace to enjoy flight. Especcially along the coast between LA and San Diego. We got LAX, Burbank, Ontario, Anaheim, Santa Monica, Van Nyes, San Diego, Coronado NAS, Camp Pendelton, and Vandenburg AFB, China Lake, and Pt. Mugu. That is a lot of fields and air traffic crammed into one area. How all this works with in severe IMC without CFIT or inflight collisions, is beyond me.

Yes, in USA+Canada transition altitude , is 18K feet.The purpose of transition altitude is so regional ATC can stack aircraft so there is at least 1,000 feet vertical separation , and everybody setting standard day 29.92 settings insures that every crew has precise calibrated altitude above MSL. Still, if F-5E with instruments from DCS: F-5E finds itself in inclement weather on approach with low , less then 5 nm visibility, how are they supposed to land. Does the ATC guided them to starting point for final, and rest is up to the crew , working with Outer and Inner marker, but no ILS? See I am hazy on IMC navigation in F-5E. Without using theater map view, and without cheating marker position on kneepad, and with overcast low visibility, exactly how does the pilot know where he is. As F-5E has no inertial, no moving map, no GPS. Would he use TACAN to align with runway? Why do I bring this up. Two words John Kennedy Jr. and his foolish attempt to fly in IMC, when he was not yet qualified for instrument flight. He got lost, lost his SA, and spatial orientation. He would have eventually run out of fuel.

French C-2A trapping on Charles DeGaulle. AKA French Navy's absurdly tiny small aircraft carrier. However it shows a sight picture to practice with SU-33. C-2 does US Navy's (and French) standard 3/4 mile from ramp approach. What are those painted trapezoids with segments. It appears to look like a traditional runway when viewed from distance. However I don't true purpose.

I am curious. In real world of 1970 and 1980's when F-5E was in service with Brazilian, Thailand Taiwan, Swiss, S.Korean and other US allied air forces. How did the pilots handle IMC approach and landing, without radar altimeter , inertial navigation,and ILS. Air patrolling is a 365 24.7 operation, in all sorts of weather. I imagine those air forces ordered their F-5Es with all weather operation capability. DCS: F-5E, as flight instruments go, it is no more complex then Cessna Skymaster. Basic 6-Pack. Airspeed, Art.Horizon, altimeter(barometric), turn and slip indicator, horizontal situation , and air speed. Rest is engine, fuel, and stores management.

tom_19d Thank you. So, OK lets work this. I am flying into moderately high elevation field, with elevation of 1840'. My origin was, for sake of argument, 1000 miles away with different weather and visibility. I take off and climb. I enter initial transition altitude of 18,000 feet above MSL. At this point of mission, I set my altimeter to standard pressure 29.92. Then I climb to 30,000 feet and continue on to destination. At 50nm out I notify ATC as inbound. ATC gives me QFE of 28.50. As part of my prelanding checklist I calculate proper Altimeter setting. With destination field elevation of 1,840 feet above MSL. I calculate as following. (Field Elevation in feet / 1000)+QFE = Altimeter setting for destination field (aka QNH) ((1840) / 1000) + 28.50 = 30.34 I descend to 15,000 feet and set my altimeter setting to 30.34 When I land the altimeter height should read about 1840 feet. So is this correct?

Ok so once again what does the following mean. "QFE is given X'' Hg then X+55 hPa is X+0.162''Hg. (1 hectopascal = 0.029529... inch of mercury)." What is .162" what is it? What do I with this. I think at this, I am not getting an acceptable explanation. 58 HPa * .029529 = 1.71

"QNH is QFE plus field elevation. The field elevation becomes your new zero when QNH is set." OMG! OK I starting to beleive that, in fact, I am an idiot. But the above make no sense to me. Pmiceli QFE is Quiery Field Elevation. Field elevevation is in feet or meters. QFE , as given by ATC is a pressure deviation. Lets say QFE, from ATC , as 25.53. Field Elevation is 1000'. So per your formula its 25.53 + 1000 = 1025.23 which makes no damned sense whatsoever. That is my stumbling block, as reading on this on net and here, is that apple units of measurement + orange units of measurement = sour grapes. I am looking for a simple straightforward formula, to properly set Altimeter, and no explanations I have gotten so far makes any frigging sense to me. Prior to the posting of Tbilisi approach chart, I understood procedure for setting Altimeter, prior to landing as; ((Elevation of field in feet) / 1000 ) + QFE as given from ATC. So for field at elevation of 1000' above MSL with QFE from tower as 25.23. (1000/1000) + 25.23 = 26.23. Then I find F-5E altimeter cannot go below 2810. So as I see it my understanding is deeply flawed. Now back to the chart. Tbilisi airport is at elevation of 58 hPa. As soon I saw that , I had a WTF!! moment. Everything I thought I got, I did not. Becouse does it mean for elevation to in pressure units , hPa is heptapascals. What do I with number where does it go, what is it converted into. As per your explanation of QNH as QFE + field elevation . So for QFE of 25.25 + 58 = 93.25. An impossible setting. So what do you mean when QNH=QFE + Field Elevation? This is a basic question and I am getting nowhere. Explanations and definitions do not make any sense to me. " The field elevation becomes your new zero when QNH is set." As described it is incomprehensible. What new zero, what was old zero. Zero AGL? Please take a look at this conversion table. https://www.sensorsone.com/inhg-to-mmhg-barometer-conversion-table/ I don't see anything usefull as it relates to setting altimeter. Then there is this. https://www.pprune.org/tech-log/244661-qfe-qnh-conversion.html Likewise, the explanation yields impossible to set numbers. (Field elevation in feet /30) + QFE = QNH altimeter setting. Does not work, or I am misunderstanding something basic.

AHH... Thank you. But I do not understand what you are describing. I get a QFE of say 25.53. 58 + 25.53 = 93.53 which already sounds wrong. "QFE is given X'' Hg then X+55 hPa is X+0.162''Hg. (1 hectopascal = 0.029529... inch of mercury)." ????? What does this mean? 58 * 0.029529 = 1.712682 So bligh me! I am not understanding what in the bloody heck you are describing. Where is .162 coming from? I am just amazed that this is that complicated.

PMCELI OK, I am lost again. "Tbilisi reports pressure in Hectopascals (hPa) and the runway elevation is 58 hPa above QFE pressure (or you can set 58 hPa below QNH to get QFE) Of course you need an hPa to Inches of Mercury (Hg) to Millimeters of Hg chart handy for all this unless your altimeter has a hPa/MMhg window" What , what, and the what?? Now, I beg you, explain in plain English what one has to do to set the Altimeter correctly in DCS: F-5E. While airborne and some distance, say 50 nm, from Tbilisi airport in DCS. Convert hPa 58 into what number and add to what number? The QFE from ATC? I do not , at all, understand, how runway elevation is given in hPa. hPa is air pressure. Runway elevation , above MSL, is a constant. Air pressure is variable depending on time of day, and weather. None of this makes any sense to me. If I was sitting in a classroom at Emery Riddle Aeronautical university, I have this chart with Runway elevation of 58 hPa, and I receive some QFE number . Is there a math formula I have to do. Or a look up table Here is conversion, but it makes ZERO sence to me , as what I have to do to get correct Altimeter setting. https://www.sensorsone.com/inhg-to-mmhg-barometer-conversion-table/

OK, but when I log time on Prepare3D sims I get similar ATC traffic.

Reptor9. I am trying not to overthink it. I am trying to think it correctly. I have no problem with concept of adjusting altimeter at departure field, prior to departure. That makes perfect sense. It on the arrival end, on a different field that I was/perhaps still had issue understanding. Fly 150 miles, about 30 nm away from destination, call Inbound and receive active runway and QFE . I was , only slightly ever confused as to what I was supposed to do with , and how an arbitrary QFE from ATC (25.53 for exp.) translated into setting QNH Altimeter setting, as I am flying at 15500 ft. (calibrated) but calibrated to altimeter settings of my departure field 150 nm away. I am still confused, as to how it is suppoused to save me from CFIT- ing in front of my non-existent friends.

In Options/Gameplay/Units set to - METRIC. If you set it to Imperial it gives numbers in feet but unit measure in meters. Confusing. So it would display elevation at 561 meters (1860 feet) as 1860 meters. Which when interpreted with zero visibility, equals crash and in RW would be a primary cause of mishap. So I leave it at Metric. Then on Map I get field elevations in meters which I convert to feet. That number would be divided by 1000 and to that would be added ATC QFE to get the correct QNH Altimeter setting for that airfield at time of arrival. This bit took me way to many few frustrating hours to untangle. JHC!

I cant tell. Everybody is throwing numbers without units, and its killing me. Aviation training must be chaotic. I am prior service U.S. Army. All of out units, including working with JTAC, were metric. 1000 meant meters.

OK, but once again. Are we in meter or feet? 4446 that is feet or meters? Elevations on map in DCS are in meters. So we have to first convert field elevation to feet. Then divide by 1000 . Then add that to QFE. That is has been most hair ripping frustration on this site, and others . They are thowing numbers without units then jumble QFE and QNH into ununderstandable jiberish.

In meters or feet? Where is this actually written? I have seen no accurate description of this process.

Ahh!!!! I am in the air thousands of feet above the field, going 500 knots, with low visibility. I am given QFE by ATC of 25.23 for recovery(landing) Now WHAT DO I SET MY ALTIMETER SETTING TO?????

OK look on standard day where QNH is 760/29.92 20 deg. C = 68 F , QFE is 28.18 29.92 / 28.18 =1.0617 Now lets go my situation, I am on an approach and I am given , by ATC, QFE of 25.23. If I multiply QFE 25.23 * 1.0617 = 26.76. Minumum QNH? altmeter setting on DCS:F-5E is 2810. So WhatDuhhFFF!!!WTF! That means I am missing something, or there is something effed in the sim or in the module. I am clueless, and frustrated.