Fishbreath

The BK90 has an internal radar altimeter. It'll affect dumb munitions, but not the smart ones.

Believe me, I understand—on my first three or four TILS approaches, I had the exact same problem. "This can't possibly be what it wants me to do!" etc. :P

So I ran a quick test mission (sorry about my cough). Flip-flop works as expected after all; either I wasn't paying attention to the CI when I switched before, or I was doing something wrong. The video also includes a rather poor approach and landing, since I've never flown a short approach or a clean approach before, which shows the how the TILS will first swing you past the threshold toward the offset approach, then bring you back to the three-degree line.

I haven't tried since the most recent patch. I'm going to shoot an approach in a bit. bart, TILS is definitely working. It may be that you're trying to line up too directly, and the system is directing you quickly back to the oddball TILS off-angle approach. Three degrees doesn't sound like a lot, but it looks like a ton.

Let me set up a test mission to verify. (Note the manual seems to say the flip-flop selects LF, which is evidently misleading.)

I believe so—the commanded descent is based on barometric altitude, so presumably the Swedes didn't want to let you mistakenly watch the wrong altitude. As for drift error, that may have been it—if you're at the edge of the TILS signal, where it only tells you what side of the runway you're on, and additionally, if the nav system thinks you're on the other side of the runway, the commanded flight path is 45 degrees off the centerline toward the center of the TILS signal, to ensure that you get to correct guidance quickly.

I've had no trouble. The TILS glideslope is 3 degrees right of the runway. If you're to the left of the TILS slope (lined up on the runway centerline, for instance, if you follow the LB circle all the way around), the aircraft will generate steering commands to take you to the glideslope. The HUD symbology will therefore be to the right of the runway, and your flight path will be to the right of the extended centerline on the central indicator. Follow the HUD symbology, and eventually, it'll steer you back toward the runway centerline. The descent point is fairly close to the runway, only about 12km out, too. You can see that process in my video here, at about 44:31. If you're following the same procedure, then I'm not sure what's going on for you. I haven't had any TILS issues at Senaki, Kobuleti, or Sochi—maybe try one of those to be sure?

Do you have a source for this?

I believe it's on the stick, directly beneath/behind the safety bracket. It's the same button you use to set a new reference altitude in flight.

That's correct. As far as I know, the license-built Swedish Sidewinders are pretty much identical to the American originals.

From the Sanders Smoke Technologies website, on the Smokewinder: So not only are no special avionics required, any aircraft which can fire a Sidewinder can easily be equipped to run air show smoke.

I expect it's one of two things: either the simulated CK37 needs some sort of reprogramming it doesn't get in the regular rearm cycle (so the issue is a simulated version of a real-world issue, and the rearming cycle needs to include some ground crew programming), or there's a bug in the actual module code. I suspect we'll be able to tell the difference based on TAKT OUT. When you land after firing weapons and switch to a non-working configuration, does TAKT OUT show that the hardpoints are loaded?

Right, but up is up on the radar scope and up is down on the Maverick sight. If I invert it so that the Maverick sight is correct, the radar scope is wrong.

I don't know if this is my setup, or the way the plane works, but I'm running into an interesting issue. I've mapped the radar stick to the ministick on my CH throttle, and that works as expected on the radar: up slews up/increasing range, down slews down/decreasing range. When I'm using the Maverick sight, though, up slews down and down slews up. Is it supposed to work that way?

The manual says that a short approach can be selected by 'flip-flop': going from LANDN NAV to LANDN P/O and back before LB is selected as a destination. Whenever I have an airfield waypoint selected, though, switching to LANDN NAV automatically selects LB, and the flip-flop keeps LB selected. Am I missing a step? Do I have to switch to another waypoint, then do the flip-flop, then switch back to the airfield?

Further, in LANDNING P/O, SLAV SI locks the landing descent angle reference to the center of the HUD.

The manual is in error. Set mode ANF and the sighting unit should turn on.

Mode selector->ANF or NAV Data panel selector->AKT POS OUT Select BX8 by BX button on the waypoint panel, then 8 on the CK37 keypad, then make your fix. The destination indicator will display Bx<#> for markpoints.

It depends on contrast, probably. The seeker is 1970s technology, so it isn't going to work as well as later versions. Once you've locked the Maverick, I believe the only way to unlock it is to return to boresight with T0. Good question. Probably just eyeball it. As far as I know, no.

There are also some outstanding RB-15 bugs. Namely: 1. Launching in quick mode, the missile must travel some distance before the seeker activates. Launching them from inside 20km doesn't work. 2. If you set the weapon selector to ATTACK before you set the mode to ANF, the missile launches in quick release mode.

Great news. Glad I could help.

Nope. You'll have to guesstimate for manually-entered things. I've seen a bug where cycling the kneeboard backward yields a transparent texture and doesn't go any further, but haven't seen the kneeboard straight-up stuck.

I spent last night running through the first few tutorials to get my startup and general handling checklists down, then ran through all the weapons procedures except the RB-15 to get them onto my reference sheets. I don't know the aircraft well enough to use them in combat yet, but I did at least get good launches/drops on everything. (Except maybe toss—I have a hard time holding 4G exactly, so the release usually comes in the middle of a control input, which sprays the bombs everywhere.) Took a few extra passes with low-drag bombs; haven't been able to get low-drag PLAN mode to keep the symbology on the HUD yet, but dive bombing is lots of fun, and so is CCIP with high-drag. Also, I didn't realize how long-ranged the long-range rockets mode is until I tried it. Had a hard time getting the BK90's release envelope right the first few times, but set on the method eventually. Haven't done any serious navigation, time-on-target work, or focused training on the radar. Shot a few landings. The 15.5-degree autothrottle can't keep up with my wild inputs, but the standard autothrottle is very nice for landing. The one successful 15.5-degree landing I made, with the thrust reverser, ended with a 650-meter run from threshold to stopping point. (I could have done it in even less, but I was so surprised the aircraft survived the impact that I wasn't very quick on the throttle.) Tried the RBS-15 this morning, but ran into a bug or two, and couldn't get it to track regardless. Good progress so far. I have a passing familiarity with almost everything. Now it just takes practice to turn it into combat readiness.

Aha, that's one of my issues. Good to know I'm not entirely nuts. :P I haven't been able to get it to lock onto anything in quick mode, though—I'm using one of the Russian cargo ship types as a target, with four of them in a box formation. My RB-15s will happily fly right through the formation, or 100m outside of it, when launched toward it from 20km, so I think I'm still missing something.

I can't get it to guide in any mode, or follow my waypoints in ANF/VALB. Starting in the air in a quickie training mission. Here's my procedure: 1. Weapon selector to ATTACK, SERIE/IMPULSE to either one 2. VALB/STD to VALB (or STD, doesn't seem to make a difference) 3. Set QFE 4. Set Bx8 to target position with radar fix 5. Fix inconsistencies in the missile flight plan with radar fixes until the altitude warning light turns off (set self-destruct point behind the targets, set turning point between me and the targets) 6. Mode ANF 7. UNSAFE when TD line is inside the markers, shoot The missile never locks a target, and doesn't follow the turning point, either; it just launches straight ahead and ignores all the ships in front of it. I've also tried the quick launch: 1. Weapon selector to ATTACK, SERIE/IMPULSE as desired 2. VALB/STD either one 3. Set QFE 4. Mode NAV 5. Unsafe within 20km of target 6. Launch The missile launches and runs straight, but never locks a target. What am I doing wrong?