Dangerman

That is correct.. we would use it as a rough estimate for you timing on a high level transit. Your actual planning and estimations would need a groundspeed ... and for that you need wind of course. But the .8 = 8 miles per minute is a close approximation to base your in flight calculations on. The secret is not to get bogged down in tiny microscopic detail on timings at the start of the trip because no plan ever survives contact with the enemy.... but if you have an accurate plan you can work around its framework to hit the target. only one waypoint and time actually matter.... the target..(actually the IP is most important place cos it all flows from there). you can be late/early at the waypoints and not even fly over the waypoints.... but be on time/speed where it matters. Hi level transit should always have some leeway afterwards ..... cater for worst case by having dog legs on the low level portion to adjust timings. being a fighter pilot is about quick thinking, keep it simple, use your judgement..... and prioritise

no idea how USAF and USN do this... but for RAF, Tactical Weapon training at TWU teaches these aspects to pilots. You wont get far in the real world of military aviation being a "kit baby". The Nav kit is a backup to map and stopwatch and a general situation awareness of your progress and the hack time for the mission. In addition you are taught techniques such as timing trombones, hack times, specific rule of thumb times from brakes off to cruise speed at low level etc etc. Couple that with having SOP speeds and you have a foundation to know what is going on. 420kts is 7 miles/min, 480 is 8 miles per minute etc etc... now its easier to mark your map with timing marks.. (you are a ground attack pilot so you ARE carrying a map, right?).... because sometimes you get so far off the plan its quicker to look at at and see the best shortcut rather than going heads in and cycling through waypoints..... and also the nav kit topples and you lose it....are you the guy that goes home just because the nav computer dumped all your waypoints??? Pilots are taught free nav using the TLAR method a gloved thumb on a 1:500000 low level chart is 7 miles= 1 minute ..... and i suspect all fast jet pilots know how to estimate heading on a map. Now you have that mastered using no kit but a map and stopwatch we will send you to a conversion unit for a jet with all the goodies so that you can consistently hit targets on time with the ASSISTANCE of the nav kit without being a slave to it. Top tips: 1. Fly at your planned speed of 420/480/540 kts and stay on it.... your wingman will thank you later... and so will your fuel flow. 2. Maintaining (mostly)a constant speed, adjust your track and thus distance to go to centre your timing mark or whatever widget you have. 3. adjust speed within small parameters for small changes, your wingman will know what you are doing cos he is as qualified as you are and is running it all in his head too rather than just following.. he sees you need another 10 kts on his kit too. 4. Have doglegs in your route for cut-short 5. Have a 90 in your route preferably before the pre-IP so you can turn on the waypoint time (either before or after the waypoint)whilst maintaining your constant speed and a relatively small change of track into the pre-ip. 6. on time is not just about getting to the waypoint on time...it is on time AND on speed 7....and then brief all of this because I wont be talking to you on the radio about it... bad guys are listening and looking for you. All this should only take you a couple of years to master and then we will send you to a Squadron so you can put it into practice and learn the squadron SoPs. Happy hunting

[memory on] Too true.. RCOVs on RAF batch 1-4 aircraft that had no indicator in the cockpit completely negating the benefit of having it because you didn’t know if it had operated..... so you always lost a gearbox with an engine failure despite the cross drive clutch operating. Problem fixed for us in batch 7 jets about the the same time we got head up AP control panel to replace the killer AP panel buried in the cockpit. However the RB199 meant you could accelerate like hot snot off a Teflon shovel at low level with its low bypass triple spool in combat power. Nozzles to control afterburner ignition caused a few scary moments when shifting one into burner whilst plugged into the tanker. Bit of a thrust PIO just when you didn’t need it whilst IMC on a goose trail [memory off] ..... back to my cider now (and wondering why very few apply themselves to mastery of basic flying disciplines such as visual circuits and other mundane stuff such as Fast jet SOPs or proper IFR approach......but get all esoteric on case 1 carrier stuff) #run before walk :)

[Fast jet QFI on]. Extended airbrake will move the form drag curve to the left for a given IAS, thus the total drag curve is shifted slightly left, thus you have more margin for IAS excursions as you remain in the speed-stable section of the curve before dropping to the back side of the curve .....where lift induced drag at inadvertently slow approach speeds will cause even further loss of IAS ... other reason....for older types with blown flaps such as the banana jet, higher RPM due airbrake gives more blow over control surfaces... all in addition to the the reasons given above. [Fast jet QFI off]

Most military airfield circuit patterns allow a low break and turn to downwind (speed and height limited by Flying Order Book) Height varies between 1000 and 1500 ft.. usually 1000ft in uk (again listed in FOB) Circuits are oval, no square patterns or the boys in the crew room will let you know you fly "bomber circuits" Touchdown aiming point is the numbers. e.g., the big 30 written on the threshold beyond the "Piano Keys"... ignore civvy touchdown makers...that is for big jets to have tail clearance over the fence. For a formation recovery, the aircraft break in sequence (timing between decided by type SOP) Leader calls "Tiger, 4 aircraft, Break, Land)..each aircraft makes their own final call After landing, the lead and subsequent aircraft move to the slow side of the runway, (usually briefed but also covered by SOPs)...so anyone with brakes/chute/thrust reverser failure can blow through without writing off jets

Even 25 years ago when I flew the Tornado, the TACAN was rarely used as a navigation aid due to the nav kit on the aircraft making the job of navigation a lot easier. When I was instructing on the hawk T1a however, it was used for navigation at High level since the only nav kit was the pilot's brain coupled with map and stopwatch. TACAN generally remains on military aircraft as a backup airfield approach aid in the event that ILS/PAR/SRA approach is not available... or as described here to get an idea of the tanker's range thus knowing where to start looking for it on air to air mode on the radar. I never used it to find wingman distance as you were always "visual" in tactical formation. If you ended up "blind" we just asked for a reference to bullseye or a common waypoint in our plan. If I recall correctly, the tacan frequency change dials were a pain to get to in the cockpit when bundled up in immersion suit and flying kit after eating too many pies....and therefore not so easy to fiddle with without crashing into the ground whilst busy in the cockpit ..a jet with UFC would find it a lot easier to add 63 to your present channel. Quick and easy was : Cobra 1: "where are you... you muppet?" Cobra 2: "over the N in newcastle"..says wingman looking at his moving map display!

For real, air to air tacan is only a distance, NEVER a radial. don't know how the sim performs though as never tried it. A to A tacan only ever backed up the radar info anyway....or confirmed the point to the turnabout for the GCI controlled 180 join.

Don't Normally do this... but here is a pic from the day job... note the engine gauges "][/url]

Normal for a real aircraft as each engine is tuned individually and has its own inefficiencies due to damahge/wear and tear/age If it simulated then it's extra eye candy

some more info here for you https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=199100 Height sensor if some sort BARO/ INS /Radalt (flat terrain).AGR or laser ranging(best of all!)is essential to have the pipper indicate something that equates to bomb parameters for your stage of flight. A target of opportunity or true CCIP attack doesn't need target height entered...the system uses local parameters as described above. the target mark where th nav computer thinks it is needs a waypoint height to show you a ground stabilised marker. A CCRP attack or a waypoint/target mark in HUD will use the target height set against the waypoint to ensure the diamond/TD box etc is shown ground stabilised at the correct point (with good integrity integrity of nav kit ) even slewing the mark will need an accurate height sensor if it is using the waypoint height against the waypoint since calculations are derived from this until an update to target relative height...... forward firing height sensor is the best .... its trigonometry done by a weapon computer.

Retarded bombs such as snakeye (USA) or HEMC with 117 tail (UK) are designed to be dropped in shallow dive or layout attack in high threat environment. Shallow dive is for acquisition after a shallow pop up to acquire after ingress at extremely low level. This was the staple delivery technique during my serve in RAF in 80's-90's when the big bad Warsaw Pact would shoot you down over the German battlefield if you were above 100ft. You definitely want to be less than 10 deg dive (for UK 1000lb bomb..not sure about snakeye) ....and use the "pass height" bombing technique. anything over that dive angle, use slick tails and dive-toss., high angle dive or Loft...which is difficult if you have a high threat environment or don't have air superiority, A true test of situation awareness is leading a 6 ship armed with 4 x 1000lb retarded bombs for a hard TOT in high threat environment when you don't have air superiority. Target study and effective IP to Target planning is the key for late and limited target exposure. Further to that...CCRP (named as phase1 bombing on a Tornado) needs target acquisition and moving the mark at a busy time with v v v short target exposure time. CCIP needs target acquisition and simple manoevre of the jet and the Bomb fall line through target. "phase2/phase3" bombing on the Tornado was a half and half solution that put the mark on the target for an accurate height sensor to look at the range whilst you commit the attack in the style of CCRP

That will be it as it is designed for damping and departure prevention. ......although I would venture it is extremely unusual to have the system actually move the pedals... these things normally happen in the background with the PFCUs commanded to move but no rudder pedal movement as is the case on previous types I have flown I suppose maybe the harrier is just different Thanks for the info.--- case closed

Probably a silly question and might be a simple answer concerning DCS AV8B flight controls. when moving the stick laterally, I get small amounts of rudder movement. (the stick is mapped ONLY to X&Y axis so no rudder input coming from it) I haven't flown the Harrier so can't definitively say it shouldn't happen, but I get rudder input when the stick is moved laterally. This is extremely unusual for a fast jet to have a rudder/aileron cross-tie at all speeds. (or any speed TBH).... Ive never flown a FJ with this feature and if there ever was a need for any yaw damping, this was done in the background by FBW or equivalent system. (The heavy metal I fly now has rudder aileron cross tie at slow speeds that is taken care of in the background by the FBW= no pedal movement. Pre FBW types had yaw damping in the background with no pedal movement. On a FJ, rudder pedals are footrests unless you need to cover the extremely slight asymmetric in case of Eng Fail case, ....or use NWS, .....or slice the nose down to retain visual in arrow formation at low level.. or get a degree or 2 extra turn rate in combat, or eliminate roll reversal at max AoA due downgoing aileron exceeding stall AoA. (obviously not a problem if you don't have ailerons and use spoilers and diff tailplane for roll) And rudder isn't used in jets to "balance" turns So why is the rudder moving on their own? Is it a setting I am missing.. but haven't found? Is it what the harrier does? Help....tell me its a setting that I have missed.......it's really bugging me now!

Another system you could use is TLAR (That Looks About Right).. very similar to Kentucky Windage I believe.

From my experience as a RAF ground attack pilot (not gr7/9) the CCIP would normally be artificially placed at the centre of the weapons footprint. So dropping 3 bombs has the CCIP at the calculated impact point of the 2nd bomb. Dropping a stick of 4 has it between the 2nd and 3rd. etc etc. I don’t know which height sensor the GR7/9 or AV8B uses, but incorrect height from the height sensor is the normal reason that a real CCIP doesn’t indicate correctly and you miss the DMPI despite a good pickle as the CCIP passes the target. The Height sensor is needed to complete the triangle of calculations for range to target for the depiction of CCIP. if the target is at a different height to the aircraft at point of release and system is using Radalt, the CCIP picture is bollox and the weapons will miss. Other height sensors are available. In my time it was radalt (as discussed above), BARO/IN, (INS height filtered with barometric to give a best system guess using a passive method), AGR (air to ground ranging on radar. Where radar looked a split second ahead of CCIP to get a direct range solution) or laser (best of all but regulations limited its use in peacetime if not dropping on a laser LOA at a weapons range due not being eyesafe). Forward firing sensors are always the best as you get a more accurate calculation since the range is based on the hypotenuse and doesn’t care what height AGL you are, just the height above the target plane is important. In relation to DCS, I don’t know if the sim is complex enough to look at height sensors in the targeting solution. Don’t know which height sensor is active for any given drop and Also don’t know what error is causing a misplaced CCIP... but there is a bit of background for you as to the causes in a real ground attack aircraft. NB. Accurate height reference is essential for ALL unguided munition delivery to have accurate sighting calculations or accurate CCRP calculations

Fellow pilots After spending 10 years as a fast jet pilot with the RAF and the last 20 flying heavy metal for the airlines, my memory might be hazy but not completely gone. I'm enjoying occasionally messing about with DCS and oculus and have some fun on the aerobatics online 1.5 server...... but see many keen and well meaning pilots who have no reference as to how to fly or lead a formation. I can see there are some that really are trying to do it correctly and safely. ........(we can all ignore the 12 year olds who just roar around and crash into people) ...... so i have attached some notes I have put together on how we used to teach and apply formation ops back in the day in the RAF in case anyone is interested. I don't have the training manuals (only tech manuals for the types i flew).....so unfortunately so it is from memory ...things may have changed from when i did this for a living (1986-1998 ) I stress this was the way it was done back in the day in the RAF* and may now differ. *please note...other air forces are available have fun if it is any use to you Formation notes. .pdf

CCIP is a low level delivery method for laydown or shallow dive in conjunction with retarded bombs to avoid self damage from your own weapons...... A CCIP release will always be at a low altitude because of the computed impact point for a retarded bomb Try setting up CCIP with retarded bombs and flying at low level delivery heights around 150ft AGL. CCIP pipper is always visible. The tutorials for m2000 CCIP on you tube mostly show weapon delivery at excessive height above the target. go see this one and you will get the idea...

Point to point navigation using tacan as taught to students on Hawk T1 back in the day. Essentially what has been said above already but using a different method to establish your new heading. 1. Look at tacan needle radial and your distance on HSI 2. Imagine the HSI is a top down view of your piece of the world. 3. You are the end of the needle, (your radial)...on heading indicated by HSI.. at distance indicated by DME. Essentially the end of needle is where you are and the needle gives the scale.... so it is for example 20 miles long if you are at 20 DME 4. Plot (imagine) on your HSI which radial and range you want to get to. Imagine where the needle would be for that radial and dme. E.g. If it is xxx radial at 10 miles, you know your needle is 20 miles long cos you are at 20dme...so the 10 mile point is half way in to the centre....use the hdg scale to visualise where the needle will be at the new radial... but remember your imaginary needle for the new point is now shorter cos you want to get to 10 miles on a radial compared to the 20 you are at. 5. Once you have visualised where you want to get to, turn towards it until your imagined point is directly above your actual point indicated by radial and range ( tail of the needle). 6. You are now pointing at the new point defined by the same tacan. Consider this extremely simple example Hdg 360 Tacan/ DME indicates 180 radial at 20 miles New waypoint is 180 radial at 10 miles New point visualised and placed "above" actual point (tail of needle) gives hdg as described above. ...... hdg 360 degrees New heading? Now try it with different radials/DME to get to No maths, no trigonometry I would draw a picture but too tricky on an iPad Good luck....