Victory205

That said, keep up the amazing work! ;)

No, only PH/SP was a push in switch, but you had to push down to go from off to gun and gun to off as well. Not a good design. You can use the sidewinder tone to know where you are, until you’re out of winders. Map your controller as a up and down accordingly, and right for “in”.

Well said.

Guess you never heard about the experimental laser canon at VX4. Kept tripping the generators off, but when it worked...MAN!

Take it easy, they don’t weigh anything- they are made of pixels...

First Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox minus the velocity of an unladen swallow.

Brilliant! :thumbup:

:smilewink:You want a simulator for a simulator?

Squadrons were relatively free to write their own SOP’s dealing with certain procedures. I could be wrong, but I thought we waited to arm.

I would always shake hands with the Plane Captain who serviced the aircraft and help us strap in, thank him for his good work, and wait for him to button up the steps and get clear of the aircraft. I thought that we would lower the canopy, get an ICS check, then arm the seats together. You could always blow the canopy alone for a ground egress, and you wanted to ensure that both crew were strapped in safely before either armed up. Could be wrong, but I don’t recall arming the seats with the canopy up.

The VDI cover is a piece of flat, red plastic. He didn't have time to take it off and stow it properly. The HUD is integral and actuated by pulling the handle on the right side of the VDI panel.

The F14 isn't difficult to land safely, it is difficult to land precisely to make the LSO's happy. Easy to get Fair's and avoid No Grade's, tough to snarf OK's. I find the Hornet a PITA because of difficult in seeing power settings and the concept of numbers changing on the HUD without seat of the pants feedback. The F14 displays are fine for these purposes. I'll give you lots of gouge when the module comes out and I can work out the numbers. The F14B isn't spin prone if the pilot isn't a complete dolt. It is amazingly fun to fly and gives amazing feedback. You'll pick it up quickly. You fly the F14, you merely point the Hornet. Know how many AICS failures I had in eight years? That's right. ZERO... Jester is gonna take care of a lot of your worries. Cut him loose- go get 'em kid, I'll be right with you all the way. Jester takes care of a lot of the tedious work. You have an issue with "RAW Power"? Turn in your man card right now, go fly S-3's. ;) It is a fun, honest aircraft with a few idiosyncrasies. If you couldn't get the Inertial to begin alignment, a trick was to pull and reset the combined hydraulic pump control CB. What does hydraulics have to do with the INS? Well, the parking brake had to be set to begin a ground alignment. Sometimes the signal wouldn't be valid, and cycling the hydraulic system that the brakes were on would "wake it up". How fun is THAT! Glad to see someone reading NATOPS, but don't get too bogged down in it. The jet is a blast to fly. Right now. I'd be focusing on memorizing the Landing checklist, the spin recovery (you will likely need the first six or seven steps if any), and the limit speeds for flaps, gear, etc.

Two young, bulletproof aircrew, just graduated from the RAG, initial phase of TARPS training, long before GPS and RLG IRS. Low level recce hop, 480 knots, pulled down on the back side of a ridge line in the Shenandoah Mountains, glanced the strip chart over the top for next heading, turned out to be an uncharted double ridge line. I had pulled halfway down into the second one. RIO saved our asses. I learned to trust RIO’s for Nav Data. Still see him often, six kids and one grandchild between us, and as we look around at all of them we still exchange that look.

Agree. I am alive today because of a RIO. So is he. ;)

Supersonic paint.

Smart piece. Reads like it was written by the DCNO Air Warfare himself.

I already did. Doesn't seem to matter. Comic books carry more weight with some of you. :smilewink:

Sorry mate, but he's a well-read enthusiast, nothing more. Quoting guys I've known for decades, just like the rest, as if that makes a difference. I've known Music for four decades now, served with him twice during our Navy careers for seven years. He was a B777 Captain, and retired from the airlines on May 28th last year, divorced four times. He, and Munster, and the rest, are just guys that happened to get lucky. It's funny to see the attitudes here, because trust me, you wouldn't let your daughters or wives anywhere around some of these gents. :) I understand that almost none of you has the background to understand the true situation- what is important, what isn't. You can't "know what you don't know", because you simply don't have access. So like Pierre Sprey, who only knows what Boyd dropped in the trashcan, guys worship things (your world, not mine) that were ancillary and tangential. EM diagrams for example. Those aren't the Holy Grail, they are a general overview of an aircraft's capabilities, which may give you a general idea of how to initially engage. It's all you have, so it gets magnified beyond it's normal importance. You don't win or survive by holding up a piece of paper with some scribbles on it like it is a cross in front of a vampire. You know who has perhaps the broadest, most accurate knowledge of all here? Blacklion 213. He knows things about different models and systems that I didn't know, because I left before many of the modifications hit the fleet, or my squadrons didn't get the upgrades. The guy knows his stuff, and handles it extremely well. Here's the coolest part- Before you know it, the Heatblur module will hit the streets, and you are going to forget about all of the bickering and pee pee measuring because you will get to experience the hands down best representation of the F14 that there has ever been. It won't be perfect in some of the deep weapons systems and missile capabilities, simply because much of the capabilities will never be available to the public. It will still immerse you in the feel of the aircraft, and you will find it far better than you thought, and far, far, far more fun to fly than anything you've experienced to date. Everyone here should be excited about that.

F18 is a versatile, reliable little fighter that owns the upper left quadrant of the envelope. It isn't unbeatable. Besides, it would be out of gas before it made it over the top of its loop. :megalol: The toughest fight was a Topgun flown F16N. They were supposed to be emulating whatever Soviet fighter for whatever scenario we were running. The instructors did this faithfully, until you got behind them. Then they mysteriously turned back into an F16N. ;) In the real world, at the tip of the spear where the fighting takes place, all of these nifty jets are loaded with external tanks (especially tough on the F18 and particularly E/F) and ordnance. In that configuration, the F14B isn't impacted as much as some of the others. Things like burner time available, tankers, mission focus and proficiency (F16/18 spent a lot of time doing AG work while F15/14 did Air to Air - which changed for the F14 because the AA threat essentially vanished) all of which end up dominating performance. So much of this is merely academic bluster at the bar talk. The BS stops at "fights on". If I was going to an Air to Air war in the morning, I'd want to be in an F22 or F35.

Hate to break it to you, but in a frumpy old clean F14A, I've beaten F18's from a neutral start, I've also ended some fights neutral. You won't be able to though. :)

It takes a lifetime of commitment to the craft to learn that. ;) For everyone, if you are really interested in the basics, and willing to put in the time, then pick up a copy of Bob Shaw's "Fighter Combat, Tactics and Maneuvering". We thought it should have been classified when it came out. One little tidbit that may put some of the bluster here into perspective- The F14A could do a loop from a 220-230 KIAS entry depending upon altitude, and the F14B could do it from a 180 knot entry speed. That's all you needed to get your nose on an opponent that tried to exploit all of that horrible energy bleed that the F14 was supposed to have by going vertical. 180 knot loop. That's close to a Pitts Special number. ;)

95% of that thread referencing F14 performance is hearsay, speculation or made up from snippets heard from some random guy looking for attention in a bar or on a blog. The variables are immense in the real world and go far beyond the academic discussions that are often based on a few words from a sentence that gets blow far out of proportion and context.

Doesn't ring a bell. I met a US aerobatic pilot named Chip Beck, can't be the same guy.

Don't know. Pretty sure that his father proceeded him in the RAF though, and was fairly senior. Stuie is still active flying gliders in the UK, at the Borders Gliding Club I think. Photo of two of my favorite Tomcat guys, both had amazing, positive attitudes - Splash and Schwartz.

I’ll probably publish a Case I recovery guide after the EA releases. It won’t be a useless video, it will be a detailed exposition on the nuances of getting aboard safely that you can reference anytime you want.