Victory205

The interlocks are switch armed, weight on wheels and both throttles at idle. Pushing the power up will retract the spoilers.

Gimbal is correct. Leave gear and flaps down. Go to mil power, push forward on the stick and trim. Lead the power reduction by 2-300 feet before level off. Pull the power almost to idle, then go back to baseline of around 4800 pph fuel flow with SB in and DLC off. 5200 pph with everything extended for landing. It's done that way because Navy does so many practice landings due to carrier ops.

That's where the switch is set for takeoff on land in case of an abort. You want ANTISKID SP BRAKE. Additionally, the spoilers were armed just before takeoff to avoid the outboard spoiler module from overheating. Fun, eh?

Interesting. I assumed that everyone understood that aspect.

No, the E bracket didn't work worth a flip in the aircraft. It jumped around and jittered, and updated too slowly to be of use. Everyone I know turned the HUD off, or way down in brightness for a backup attitude only. Sometimes the VDI would overheat and go blank, just when you didn't need that to happen! I'd like Heatblur to make it behave worse, which will make all of you Hornet bubbas happy, right? ;)

The guide is up. Trim is explained there as is a detailed examination of the break maneuver. Have a look.

Use the AOA indexer, not the E bracket. The latter was useless and may behave too smoothly right now in the sim.

I was 28, and had just graduated from Topgun two weeks or so prior. The instructors warned us that it was not a documentary, and that Viper Pettigrew the main liaison used to quip that "at least they haven't turned it into a musical....yet". ;) Cruise was 23 when he made the flick. We all thought it was horrifying, other than the music and the jets. Stunned that it was so popular. Cruise still looks the same, and frankly, he makes good movies.

That technique isn't accurate enough to land consistently in the wires, with adequate hook to ramp clearance and at a velocity that won't over stress the arresting gear or aircraft. The rest is efficiency as others have said. The pattern in the old propellor days and early jets on straight deck carriers was flown much lower on downwind ~200-250 feet and almost a constant turn to touchdown so pilots could see over big, radial engines.

Don't know. It works if you negate the outside world, but isn't meant for flying anyway. We all turned it off for landing. Heatblur got it right, I posted an image I took of what it looked like on deck. I don't think the forum software will allow me to post it twice here. I would turn the HUD off for non combat ops for now, just to force yourself to use the VDI. It's like how so many high school kids currently do not understand how to read an analog clock. The answer is to quit fighting it, and learn to do it. The Blue Angels use an analog clock for timing maneuvers, as do we in timing approaches and push times. Once you do it, you'll understand the value of a sweep second hand.

Read the Handling Tips in the Sticky section. It is a masterpiece on curing ham handed pilots...

Click right in the middle of the VDI screen...

Sounds about right. ;) Are you gents using the E-Bracket? In real life, the update and behavior made it useless, and every one I knew in the A and B turned the HUD down or off for landing, especially at night. Do you find the E bracket usable in the sim? There is still tuning to be done on the landing configuration stability. It is quite complex and requires tedious trial and error. Some of the frustration is FBW pilots having to unlearn bad habits. FBW ruins pilots, it really does. Guide is ready, just waiting to make sure of where it needs to go...

I shot down an A7 and two KC135's in real life. Was on my way to being an ace when the tankers began running away when they heard me on the radio...

Can't go wrong in the sim with 3 degrees ANU. The entire stab moves, and without control pressures, it really doesn't matter on takeoff. After that, trim is your friend!

Hard to say without data, but it isn't difficult at all coming from natural stability aircraft. What I am reading from you and others is a lack of stick and rudder skills due to atrophy from flying either FBW or unsophisticated FM's. Make sure all three SAS are on. You can inadvertently disengage pitch and roll SAS if you have a pinky switch mapped. It is probably safe to say that we are still tuning the stability in the landing config, but it isn't due to dutch roll. Lots of trial an error required to get it right. And they will get it right. Are you wing rocking? If so you are likely slow. It won't wing rock if on speed or faster. It just takes time learning to wake up and calibrate your feet. Don't over do it. Pressure more than displacement depending upon how your controller is set up. You can also try leading with rudder to ensure that you are applying some. Read the Handling tips as well in the Sticky section if you haven't already.

The 5800 word landing guide (this should kill Millennials) is ready, just waiting to see where HB want to put it.

[quote=SonofEil;3838572} I’m pretty sure the sole purpose of the F-14 HUD is to try and kill you. I knew going in that the “horizon” is at +5 deg on the HUD, but I still don’t know why. WHY?? It just doesn’t make any logical sense! Turn off the HUD. It is meant for weapons delivery, not primary flight reference. Reference pitch attitude on the VDI and power setting (use fuel flow) for your particular phase of flight. Pitch plus power equals performance. Power is set using fuel flow. Trim to remove all control pressures and make small pitch and power corrections. Note the fuel flow for a particular KIAS in level flight, then any time you set that fuel flow and pitch, and guess what, you'll end up at that speed. You are flying a real aircraft now, it uses the same technique that you'd use to fly a Cessna on your first flying lesson. There is an "F14 Handling Tips" article in the Sticky section above that was written by an extremely handsome and debonair pilot that may help as well. It's just an airplane. Stay positive. Quite interesting to see the difficulty the FBW pilots are having with a natural stability platform.

Do what I do, if you can't get in the basket, shoot the tanker down...

You read it at the bottom of the VDI using the tic marks...

It’s almost a five thousand word dissertation at this point. Might be too much for some!

I should have a detailed guide up today or tomorrow. Just tweaking a few final tips. Trim is your friend.

You do know about the ACM modes, right? They work fine.

Read the handling tips stickied above.

It's hunger and spring loaded to fold against the side of the cockpit. That's why you can't see it at the moment. I just use the key command.