Bad Idea Hat

Not bragging, it's not an easy jet to get OK 4s in.

Wait, not all aircraft were TARPS capable either. Oh boy, you folks have a bunch of cockpit equipment combinations, eh? Also;

Fair 3s all day.

I would love to help.

I mean, not to trivialize what you're saying, but I think everyone who is excited for this module both got really happy and shit their pants at the same time when they saw the new feature.

"We're having some fun now, aren't we, Morg?"

Does this only work on the boat, or can it be configured to work on land bases as well?

I've tried my hand at dogfighting in the Su-25T. Offline. With low fuel and just A2A, I wouldn't want to go up against it. If other human players are relying on me to do my job, I'm not taking an Su-25T up for CAP. I mostly play MP nowadays. I guess I need to explain in my posts that most of my ideas are geared at MP use.

I like this. Ban everyone who plays DCS except for myself. Let's see if we can make that happen. Seriously though, my rants are about people who carry a crappy mixed loadout, and then get angry when they can't really do either A2A or A2G usefully. Even if you can, you're best just concentrating on the mission and letting friendlies help out. Last night on Georgia at War, we had an F-15 and F/A-18 escorting an A-10, which worked great until the two CAP pilots flew into Sukhumi's SAM coverage trying to knock down a fighter scramble (one of those CAP pilots may have been yours truly). Teamwork is key, which is why I highly recommend sticking to one mission at a time.

YES! This is exactly one of the reasons. However, it's also why I rarely carry any A2A on my Harrier anymore; I'm better off just leaving the area if I have no escort, and enemy fighters pop up. I'm either going to drop my ordinance and fight (and 50% chance of dying in the process), or I'm going to try to fight while fully loaded, and definitely die. If I drop ords with no A2A weapons, I live to fight another day. If I don't get jumped, I've got a massive amount of A2G weaponry to ruin everyone's day in a particular grid square. The same-ish applies to Hornets, except they have better options for self-defense. Beyond that, though, they're only concentrating 50% of their possible payload on a specific mission if they're splitting their loadout. Go 100% in on the mission, and you'll be more efficient (and have better survivability).

I consider those part of the default load, solely for self defense. I've seen many pilots online split their wing pylons for A2A and A2G, and then go hunting for enemy aircraft with a couple bombs on one of their pylons. It makes sense to go hunting, but you want to maximize your capacity for the primary mission, so it gets carried out with absolute certainty. Then, once you've used your weapons (and hopefully used the extra A2G you've carried on secondary missions), then go hunting with what was your self-defense A2A weapons.

Should be concentrating on a specific mission, and not trying to do everything at once. Let the Hornets loaded out for CAP/Escort/Sweep do the A2A, the Hornets with HARMs and CBUs do SEAD, and the bomb-carrying Hornets do the strike. Splitting the loadout shorts the specific mission. Multirole means you can do whatever role that's needed, but not all at once.

Just because it can, doesn't mean it should. (Seriously, one mission at a time. I have a bone to pick with Hornet pilots who can't stick to one mission and carry a mixed loadout of a couple pylons of AMRAAMS and a couple pylons of bombs. If they can't do it, Tomcat pilots shouldn't be doing it either.)

Yeah, going to wait until HB says a date. No offense to Wags.

Now I want to see what behavior the HB Tomcat has when I try to blow the canopy with it up. I'm starting to compile a list for my little own "Project Breakstuff"

This is a plane for crazy people.

I suspect it has more to do with being able to removing steps in case of emergency egress. If the canopy is open, you can still probably unharness and get out quickly (and probably in a more safe manner). However, once you've closed the canopy, there's a number of things that might make it faster for you to eject than to open the canopy, unharness, and get out. edit - All of my internal checklists for other aircraft involve me arming the seat either when I start the engines (engine fires suck), or when I close the canopy, specifically because I mentally prepare for what could happen in the immediate term.

Ahh, the point where I put my finger on my nose and call "not the RIO!"

My experience in the Aerosoft Tomcat is right, then. I can get three wire fairs all day long, but the OK pass is rare enough that I just pull off into the six pack, shut down, and appreciate the moment.

"Why is the MiG-21 is a ground crew favorite?"

here you go again, discriminating against Byzantime time adopters. A Byzantine lot is a minimum of two weeks, by the way. edit - That's also the maximum.

I read that accident report, if it's the one on the carrier. I'm guessing that became required reading after it happened?

Doesn't that make it Navy SOP at that point?

Another side effect of this missile/airframe combination is that the F-14 is going to become exactly what the Iranians used it for, an airborne weapon of terror for opposing pilots. Anyone who watches the signal strength from the Tomcat get higher is going to immediately begin at least defensive posturing, which is going to give any other aircraft working with the Tomcat the chance to take their own shots.

We get snow into April here in Ohio, so winter is over whenever Ohio says it's over.