neofightr
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Posts posted by neofightr
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Can the mods move this back to the main F-18 thread? This is more of a how-to instructive video, than a bug report I guess, by a real hornet pilot no less. Thanks!
Wags himself has made it clear that this video is a bug video.
After looking at the length and content of this video, let that soak in for a bit.
I am done with the ED forums.
See you on YT and other forums.
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Ok folks, here is a much longer video covering advanced topics regarding daytime approaches and landings at the ship.
I have a few rough approaches at first and I get to highlight all things you need to watch out for.
I talk about "spotting the deck" and proper intervals in the flight pattern and the "burble".
I provide constructive feedback on the flight model for the devs plus a ton of praise as well :smartass:
I will probably do a follow-up video on this topic to talk a little bit more about LSO grades, in depth understanding of the AOA's impact for landings and No-Hud approaches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiVdwkuCrwg
Enjoy! :book:
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The BB we have in the module is that same as the super hornets. Maybe the old BB was McDonnell Douglas's Betty and the new one we have now is Boeing's Betty. Just a thought.
Now this makes sense since Boeing would have moved staff around after consolidating MD's workforce.
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Here's another where she talks about the history of her doing different recordings for Boeing:
Can someone point to me the video where she talks about when she was recording the voice lines back in the late 70s and early 1980 for the F-18A when she was how old???
Got news for you folks there was a betty before her.
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It's awesome to see that some pilots don't know some mini-features of their birds, shows that you guys can overlook stuff just like normal guys like us :D.
BTW, is it normal to struggle with power with gears & flaps full, to the point of using Mil power almost through the whole approach? (with clean bird, no stores, less than 4k lb of fuel no less). Or maybe I've messed up my throttle axis or something.
It's not normal, the hornet's aerodynamics was more responsive that what is currently in the flight model. I have faith belsimtek will get this nailed in due time.
Although, I will say that I am noticing the throttle movement range is pretty damn good when on glideslope.
With the right turbulence in close to touchdown you would sometimes have to go to mil in real life.
Watch my next video to see more about this topic.
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This is what I found in the NATOPS manual
NATOPS FLIGHT MANUAL NAVY MODEL F/A-18A/B/C/D 161353 AND UP AIRCRAFT THIS PUBLICATION SUPERSEDES A1-F18AC-NFM-000 DATED 1 AUGUST 2006 CHANGED 15 JUNE 2007
[b]2.8.4.8.1 Speedbrake Switch. [/b] The speedbrake switch is on the right throttle grip and has three unmarked positions. [b]Aft detent[/b] Extends the speedbrake as long as the switch is held aft. Springloaded to center detent. [b]Forward detent[/b] Retracts the speedbrake or maintains the speedbrake retracted and prevents creep. [b]Center detent[/b] Stops the speedbrake in any position. The speedbrake may slowly creep open.
If I understood correctly when switched to AFT it opens automatically until you dont move the switch to CENTER.
As much I read here ED got it right... at least from the manual!
I will talk about this in my next video.
I stand corrected, all my time in the Hornet I assumed the SB would either fully extend or fully retract unless you intentionally went the other way with the SB switch to stop it.
I never ever mentally had to track where the speedbrake position was, in my mind it was either fully extended for fully retracted based on my switch inputs.
Good on ED for getting it right with the NATOPS.
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Here is a falling leaf video of the Hornet.
At the very end you hear Betty chime in with "altitude" and "flight controls".
This is the Betty I remembered from my flying days.
Boeing gave ED an updated version of Betty that probably came out of Rhino development.
I have no doubt that the C/Ds were updated with this voice but she was not my Betty ;)
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Did you make that video then? Or did someone else? Your video shows the exact opposite and you said the exact opposite of what you are saying in your post right now. It incrementally opens in the video, and you say it should not. Now you are saying that it opened all the way and it should not...when it didn’t do that at all in your video.
There’s reasons why I’m not buying into it, that’s just one. Again, I work with fighter guys every day of my life and have done so for the last 19 years...
Wow, just wow....
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Great video, only thing that I found incorrect was the statement about Betty not being the original one when in fact the sound files were taken directly from Boeing in the making of this module.
Well, 1200 hours in the Hornet and I don't remember Betty having a slight accent (drawl).
It's possible that Boeing updated Betty's voice post-2000 to update the voice lines for the super-hornet and upgraded the hornet but she does not sound like the girl I remember (slightly off both in accent and age).
Remember the Hornet was designed and produced in the early 80s so by 2000 if they were to do new voice lines the original voice actor would have been 20 years older or they got another voice actor to update the lines for the super hornet.
Minor quibble for me obviously.
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Pretty sure the speedbrake operation is spot on already...
Been around aircrew for almost 20 years now...the skeptic just became a lot more skepticle.
Bottom line: when I pressed back on the speedbrake switch on the throttle I DID NOT HAVE TO HOLD IT IN to get the speedbrake to fully extend. I simply toggled it back and the SB fully deployed.
When I flew the Hornet there was no indicator to show you at what interemediate position the speedbrake was at.
And if this is the case in real life then it was an update after the year 2000 timeframe when I stopped flying.
In any case if the devs are modeling a lot 20 post 2000 then there will be discrepancies between what I flew and what I am seeing in this sim.
I find it fascinating how easily you dismissed my background considering the detail I went into with my first video.
In any case, at this rate you will be calling me a fraud on my next video for sure.
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This is a relatively short video talking about my initial impressions of the module and more specifically some shortcomings I have noticed with the slow-flight flight model.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynUj60zicDw&t=148s
I make it very clear in my video that I know this is early access and I am not expecting a perfect module so this is why I am posting this video to provide feedback from another subject matter expert source to the devs.
I plan to post an advanced topic video on case 1 approaches and landings real soon.
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No, you are wrong. You are trying to install the Hornet in the previous version of the Open Beta. We are all awaiting the Open Beta update to install the Hornet.
Uh, I was wrong for loading up the client and following the instructions to include clicking on an ok box to install the hornet module from the module list?
Listen bud, I know full well the shortcomings ED's scripting routine. They should not allow the game client to mislead their user base by offering up an OK box that gives the impression that the hornet module is ready to install and is just a click away. This would be confusing to anyone that doesn't understand programming and scripting.
So no, I am not "Wrong" for highlighting their scripting errors.
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Lol this is a first for me, I have never seen such demand for an early access module for a flight sim.
It's just a friggin module for pete's sake!
This is so ironic for ED, on the one hand the demand is through the roof and maximum profits will be made but on the other, a ton of ticked off users screaming mad that they can't download it yet because the servers are getting slammed as we speak.
My copy of the game is taunting me with this error.
"00000.011 STATUS: Connecting to update servers...
00000.868 INFO : Got reply from http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com
00001.150 INFO : Got reply from srv9update.digitalcombatsimulator.com
00001.154 STATUS: Verifying cached version info...
00001.451 STATUS: Preparing to install FA-18C ...
00001.702 ERROR: Unknown module FA-18C
00003.878 === Log closed."
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Looking forward to it. What's your YT channel?
I will make sure to announce my video posting on these forums in which case you can subscribe but be warned I have no desire to be a streamer so what that means is I will be posting only a handful of videos in the future.
Some things to make clear I will never discuss: BVR tactics, radar performance, RWR topics or weapon engagement tactics. Those topics are personally too sensitive for me to discuss in public.
Instead I will focus on talking about take off/landings, mid-air refueling, formation flying and general performance characteristics and possibly classic gun's only techniques (that apply to any jet) in my future videos and that's about it.
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two questions:
1. will you let me shoot you down once so i can tell people that i won a dogfight against an IRL hornet pilot?
2. what lot# was your aircraft?
Heh, I would be an easy kill since I rarely do the combat side of sims, I prefer to just fly around enjoying the flight model and sight seeing.
I flew lot 10s through 20s so this module is based on the plane I flew.
And for those that are wondering, no based on my numbers, I did not have a full career as a Hornet pilot (medical issues) but I did have a full career as a naval officer.
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are you navy/pilot IRL?
Yes I was. I am retired now with over 1200 hrs in the Hornet with several hundred traps (day/night).
Over 2000 hrs in Navy aircraft.
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Will you cover them in your video or may you elaborate them here?
We are really lucky to have you here. I am looking forward to a good technique to brake the deck.
I will cover them in my video, they are very minor.
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One thing I would emphasize is by the time the first syllable of "POWER" was screamed from the LSO, I guarantee you the pilot was at full power already and going into afterburner but to no avail. The strong winds and the disturbed air around the carrier was pushing the plane down big time.
I had a close call like this at night and if I hadn't gone to afterburner when I did I would have caught the one wire (or worse) instead of the 4 wire.
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Here is a video I just stumbled upon.
The action doesn't start until the 3 minute mark, Ball call sent chills down my spine when the LSO rogered up with 37 kt port winds. Thankfully the pilot survived this.
This should be a reminder as to how precise landing on the carrier is and how bonkers stressful nighttime landings are.
Notice how he had a good start, deck pitch and super strong winds were his undoing.
So all those simmers landing with red balls on the OLS, this is what could happen in real life.
Take note.
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Finally a daytime carrier landing video I can endorse!
Well my plan was to post a video of daytime carrier landings covering the basics based on my 1200 hours/hundreds of traps in the Hornet but someone beat me to it.
I only saw two minor discrepancies with the video everything else was spot on.
I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn how to simulate real-life carrier landings start with this video. Notice in his landing approach how the ball does not deviate from the datums all the way down and how he keeps his eyes on the ball all the way down to touchdown, that's how it's done in real life! :book:
I plan to post a video to compliment this one, covering more advanced topics shortly after module release later next week.
Some of the topics I will cover in my video:
visualizing the burble, establishing proper interval between a/c in the pattern (multiplayer), a breakdown on how the LSO grades your pass, "spotting the deck", real world landing experiences, Difference when landing at a Navy airfield.
I might post follow-on videos to address mid-air refueling once ED updates their basket physics (I am hearing rumors about this). Night-time landings and why they are more stressful. :cry:
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I don't think it does... I base this on the fighter pilot podcast where Jello had a "cut pass" because he got it into his head that he was going into afterburner on landing instead of full mil, that makes me think that it doesn't have a detent.
It does have a detent but it's mild so it's easy to go into afterburner but the detent does keep you from accidentally going into burner if you don't want to.
There is a finger lift stop to prevent going to engines off from idle.
I went to burner once just prior to landing on a very windy turbulent night. Had I not gone into burner I would have caught a no-grade 1 wire instead I got a fair pass/2 wire. Ironically enough it was on the same cruise with Jello.
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That's great colour. Thank you.
Out of interest, did the military grade simulators you trained on replicated this turbulence?
Back in my day (late 90s), the software talent and cpu power wasn't up to speed to even try so practicing carrier landings was very basic and there was no air refueling feature.
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neofightr - Just out of curiosity, after reading your comments above about the aircraft constantly moving relative to the air mass and each other - have you ever tried cranking the turbulence setting in the ME as high as it will go & taking fuel with that on ?
I'm not sure what happens with the turbulence at altitude, but I've tried it with landing on the carriers, and it makes that a more demanding experience...
Does it seem more, or less realistic to you ?
You are reading my mind. I haven't bothered doing the refueling setup yet because I want to save my DCS first impression for the f18 module.
My plan is to do refueling with default values then crank turbulence up to see if the AI planes are affected. My gut feeling is that they won't be. I will be posting my first impressions of the module on the forums once I get a couple of hours in.
One thing I did notice on some of the f18 streamer videos is that the devs do add a little extra turbulence as you near touchdown on the carrier. It doesn't look like much but it's better than nothing.
I plan to save my experience at the carrier with the f18 module as well.
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FWIW, I know that "Jello" (retired Legacy Hornet USN pilot who runs The Fighter Pilot Podcast) said that he always had a personal preference to refuel with full flaps. IIRC he said it was split between guys he flew with; some preferred Auto, some preferred Full. Full would obviously help a bit with the slow speed stability as well, although it doesn't sound like it is needed :thumbup:
Interesting, I flew with jello back in the day when we were JOs. I hate facebook but I did glance at the content he is offering. This should be a goto reference site for anyone wanting to learn the finer details of flying the hornet in the navy. From what I remember he wasn't a gamer and probably still isn't so I doubt he has checked out DCS (I could be wrong).
Regarding refueling, one of the things that I have yet to see any sim get right is the dynamics between the aircraft along with the massive physics involved with airflow.
Not only do you have to deal with a more sluggish aircraft when you slow below 250kts but there is a dynamic variability between the aircraft that is a result of pilot stick/throttle input, airflow and inertia of all aircraft involved.
Even if a plane is on autopilot (like the tanker is) it will always be constantly moving in 3d space as a result of various changes in air pressure causing the autopilot to slightly raise and lower the aircraft to maintain an altitude number.
Up/down side to side and fwd/backyards is constantly happen even in the smoothest of air. This is what makes real-life refueling stressful and formation flying challenging.
Alas pc flight sims never seem to model this dynamic right, the AI planes always seem to be locked into 3d space. I have flown formation with AI in most of the recent flight sims and none of them model this variability. Real shame.
Just watch a few real-life formation videos and you will see what I am talking about.
One more note on the dcs hornet refueling video out there, the visual checkpoints of using the hud are not possible once in close to the tanker. Your head is no longer looking straight on and the hud is not in your field of view when looking at the probe/basket.
For the hornet, your best technique (as mentioned in the video) is to look through the basket and plane and reference the horizon so to keep you stable and not chase the basket with the probe. I have seen way too many close calls by pilots who wouldn't do this and chase the basket. It was never pretty when they did that.
And no, air to air refueling is never smooth like the video is showing for the reasons I stated above.:book:
Here is the proof, watch midway through the video for a near mid-air collision between two heavies.
Carrier Script Test
in User Created Missions General
Posted
Outstanding work! Looking forward to playing with this.