r4y30n

No, there aren’t computers babysitting you, but there is an eddy damper on the pitch axis of the stick that should prevent abrupt pulls as well as the bob weight that resists pull in proportion to G. Do they prevent you from bending the jet? No, but you really gotta want it.

Right, my point was that the switch is in an awkward spot compared to newer aircraft.

From what I remember in Gilchrist’s book, the F-14 ACM radar modes were developed during AIMVAL/ACEVAL. I’m guessing that’s why the target designate switch looks like an afterthought stuck on the side of the cockpit rather than being on the throttle where it would make the most sense. Does anyone know how Grumman intended the pilot to work the radar before then? Was it PLM only?

Personally I’d rather have PAL next to my other ACM radar modes than PSTT, it works out to 15 nm and covers most of the forward windscreen.

The double D pattern wasn’t historically accurate for SEAM on the F-14 and it was removed from the sim some time ago. SEAM still works and the seeker head will still cover the same area, you just won’t see it searching in the HUD.

I know it’s in the docs somewhere but can’t find it, the engines will not last long at 0g, it’s like a handful of seconds in full AB, much shorter than negative g.

Then I guess we can’t be arsed to help you, either. You haven’t read through any of the flight performance threads, have you? Some of those guys spent hours over multiple days running very specific tests to build data to support an argument, as opposed to, “I have a sneaky feeling based on one PvP encounter but I can’t be bothered to find any data to prove that point.”

Pressing forward or aft sweep will put it in manual mode. And even then, it’s not entirely manual. The wings are not strong enough to withstand high speed flight at minimum sweep so they will always sweep back as Mach increases, the difference in manual is that they will no longer come forward when Mach decreases. Put another way, you can only command more sweep than auto, never less.

The WCS knows the target is moving and tells the missile to pull appropriate lead for an intercept. The real problem when launching active off the rail (aside from the loss of range) is that it can’t account for target maneuvers after launch. The missile will eventually fall back to semi-active if it fails to find a target on its own but, of course, by then it may not be in a position to see the illumination, either.

Right, most USAF fighters have tail hooks, too. More important is that the Iranian F-14s have launch bars.

The F-14 can’t tune into land-based ILS systems.

And the simplest, least scientific method is the AoA tape: 5 units for climb, 8.5 units for cruise.

I hope they have such tools for their own use. If they do it would be a huge benefit to standardization across modules if they shared them, never mind the massive amount of time saved by third party testers.

Took a couple months to get mine but I hear they’re always trying to speed up orders. Not sure what it’s like right now. The grip itself is really well made but the weapon selector can be a little sticky if you’re thumb isn’t on it just right.

Getting that slow in the vertical is the only time I've stalled the TF30s in the A so far and splitting the throttles at the same time is likely to cause a flame out in one or both. The F110s in the B are less likely to fail, but you're still throwing the plane into a spin on purpose. Better to not get that slow in the first place.

Minimum RPM is governed by the Mach lever on the TF30s and it will increase both at high AoA and at high speed.

Probably. In landing config the entire wing, including flaps, is above the centerline of the engines as well as over half the speed brake.

sLYFa's response seems pretty clear. The AP steers the plane with the roll and pitch SAS servos so turning them off ensures that a faulty AP can no longer control the aircraft. Seems to be an issue with simple analog electronics since in DFCS planes the paddle switch only disables AP.

Well, no... It says it was designed to survive hitting 9 g once, not on a regular basis.

If I’m seeing that right, in your screen shot it’s correctly changing the reticle from gun sight to radar/missile symbology, yes? If so, that’s especially strange. All I can think of at this point is out of date mods but I don’t use them myself so I wouldn’t know where to look.

I have the same stick and have not had this issue. Are you sure each position of the selector is bound correctly? Has it ever worked properly?

It’s on the nose gear under the landing light and functions the same as the AoA indexer in the cockpit.

It's a gate, like the shift gate in a car. Not a detent but performs the same function.

Well, this part seems to be working, at least. Prior to the big update, the wings were always in auto at start. Since the update, every start in the A has had the wings back already.

Is the left engine always ahead of the right? I'd expect light off to be more random.