bonesvf103

Good tips! Thanks and thanks for your time. I look forward to seeing the vid so I can see your control inputs when you do get the chance. My appreciation in advance! v6, boNes

Follow-up: Yup, that looks like it worked! Thanks! v6, boNes

Sure, check your PMs! v6, boNes

I have many times argued the point that what is the point of having a $1.5 million long range missile that shoots and kills in the same effective range as an AMRAAM. I got a ridiculous amount of responses both for and against this argument, and most of them were against. To me it came down to, well, this is how it works in DCS as opposed to the real world and I am flying DCS not the real world so I will have to submit to that. The only part that I really got was that it was meant for big bombers at long range, like the Tu-95, that can't really maneuver and such. So yeah, against something like that, sure, set your target size to large and shoot at 110+ miles. But against a smaller fighter not so, since they are more maneuverable and better equipped. I get that too, but then I would think shots at say 50+ miles would be effective. Shooting at 30nm or less makes the Phoenix seem pointless since AMRAAM can do that. Of course the Tomcat doesn't carry AMRAAM. But again, I got so many arguments for and against that that it came down to meas being a fair tradeoff in the sim only. The thread where I pointed out what you said was here My post on page 15 all the responses following): I get alot of the arguments, and agree with many of them, but given the random inconsistency I get every time I fly the mission in the same way and under the same conditions, or even in different, I don't get consistent results. So I am left to just make do with what has been given to me and await all those fixes that are being promised and so on, whether it's realistic or not. v6, boNes

OK, so basically, I should immediately lock it into place with the TGP? I'll have to practice that, it's gonna take a little finger dancing. TDC up to HUD, look at target, TDC to designate, immediately TDC to TGP then choose PTRK or ATRK before losing the target to drift. Fun! I'll give it a few shots and see how it goes. Thanks! v6, boNes

Also I believe that non doppler radar modes cannot be notched (Pulse Search) but then the target can hinde in the noise from the ground clutter instead and the range is decreased because of processing said returns. v6, boNes

What I do and usually works against fighters, even against the MiG-29 is while they are still far out, more than 30 miles away, I will get as high and fast as I can. USually in the missions I've flown I'd get to about 30,000 ft, maybe higher but then I start to lose performance and speed. I track them with TWS until they get to around 30 nm. Once they break that range, I fire, then I immediately dive, but not necessarily right down to the ground. I just dive to about 1000 ft below their altitude. This way my radar can look up at them and avoid ground clutter and obstructions. I remain fast, closing the range and keeping high energy in case the missiles fail--I've already got a Sparrow lined up. If the Phoenix hits, great. If not, I close in with the Sparrow and attack, while trying to keep good SA for the enemy wingmen since I can only STT the one. If I start to get within 10 miles of the bandits, I also start popping flares even if offensive--too many times I neglected this and got killed by a heater while I was monitoring my target and missile. If they are heading at me nose on at this time I do a barrel roll at idle while popping flares and that almost always defeats an incoming IR missile. If they fire a radar missile at me, since I am already coming in hot at them fast, I do an F-pole and that usually defeats their missile and then I re-engage with the same missile or another one of need be. If nothing works, I still have alot of energy to split S to the deck and bug out an re-evaluate if I should go back in or run for it. That's just my usual tactic. I did the stock BVR missions in PG and Syria and it's been working rather well usually. On MP servers against AI the same. v6, boNes PS Note, the key word is USUALLY

Thanks for the tip. I think I figured out that F7 changes that sensitivity. I may have been accidentally hitting F7 without knowing at those times. v6, boNes

It is a good analogy to me, and why I think it is a good analogy is primarily because of the "ease of use compared to dealing with negative numbers" that RustBelt explained. It is exactly why I think the Kelvin V Celsius analogy is so great. You get -C deg but the Kelvin version will never be negative and it helps me have the mindset of the shift of scale in what is being measured. I'm not talking about it being an equivalent converted unit for unit thing. The analogy gives me a better sense about how to look at units of AOA v degrees of AOA. That formula you found is also kind of thing I was looking for because it is not in the HB F-14 manual that I could find, hence why I went here asking around to begin with. The manual only says what the instrument indicates, but it says nothing about what a unit of AOA is. That formula answers my original question greatly but it had to be found in the forums to do so. Thanks everyone for the info. v6, boNes

Kelvin V Celsius. Now THAT is a great analogy (at least for those of us familiar with that scale). Thanks! v6, boNes

Yes, I already read that. But a unit is a measure of an amount. ie, a unit of length could be an inch, a unit of volume could be a liter...what is a unit of AOA equal to? A degree? If so why don't they just say 15 deg AOA instead of 15 units? Or is it something else? The manual does not state that. v6, boNes

There's alot of talk in the Tomcat about 15 units AOA. But since the indicator is an ANGLE of attack indicator, why do they say 15 UNITS of AOA? Wouldn't 1 unit=1 degree? What is the importance of 15 units of AOA to the Tomcat? Is that where you have the best balance between G and speed for your best and tightest energy sustaining turn? v6, boNes

I've been having an issue with this. I make sure nothing is designated and the TDC is assigned to the HUD and that I am in AG mode and see the dashed reticle in it. Then I look to say a target to my right with the JHMCS. I see the target, put the dashed reticle on it, and TDC designate. The dashed reticle turns into a dashed diamond, as it should , but it immediately drifts away off target. I don't know why. The only thing I could do to get around it was as soon as it turns into the dashed diamond, I use the TDC slew controls to put it back on target then redesignate. But it doesn't always work, at least accurately. Am I missing something? Or is my workaround actually how it should work? v6, boNes

Thanks, I'll check these. v6, boNes

@IronMike, I'm still trying to get this down and I'm getting close, but do you think there is anyway to post a video again like you did but with the control input display {RIGHT CTRL-ENTER] on? That way I can see your "fapping" and your throttle input. I've gotten some success but I feel like I have to be in Zone V all the time to get a hit and that doesn't seem right. Thanks. v6, boNes

I've noticed from time to time the way the view is with TrackIR changes mid-game. If I turn my head to look at something and stop suddenly, my view stops on a dime. BUt then later when I turn my head to look at something and stop, the view doesn't stop on a dime anymore but drifts past that point and then coasts to a stop. I don't know what causes this to happen but the only way I can get it to stop is to restart TrackIR. I think I may be accidentally hitting a keystroke that causes the behavior, but if I am, I don't know what the keystroke is or the keystroke to get it back to stopping on a dime. Does anyone know or know what's going on? I haven't changed any of my settings in TrackIR either. Thanks. v6, boNes

Yup, on my end, I was referring to it from the Navy standpoint--TA. Manual is here: https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/local/docs/pat-pubs/P-825.pdf Good point on the intercept clarification...although in my usual case I'd be slamming Phoenixes in the faces! v6, boNes

IIRC, you have to designate the point track. If you set point track on an object it merely is tracking it, but it has not designated it as the target. You may have to undesignate the WPDSG first (pinky button) otherwise it will go into offset mode. I'm going off of memory right now so I will need to reverify that but I'm pretty sure that's how I do it. v6, boNes

There is the possibility that the bandit was too close to be picked up by the current radar scan. The radar is like a cone emanating from the nose of the aircraft, the pointy end of the cone on the nose. So very close to the nose, there is very little coverage--a bandit can easily be under or over or to the left or right of it as opposed to 50 miles away where the radar scan zone can be thousands of feet wide and high. There is also the possibility of the bandit being in the notch, not just the 90 degree aspect one, but at a co-speed and altitude where there is no doppler shift so the radar filters the return out. This then depends on your PRF setting. It should not in theory do that in PRF HIGH, but then that mode is not effective less than 25 miles out as much as it is above that. MED mode is susceptible to notch. TWS and RWS are both pulse doppler modes so they would be subject to the notch by default. Now as for using the HUD or the JHMCS--that one should work, provided you are pointed right at the target with it and as long as they are not notching you. Wel, actually i think you still can if there is a notch, just not as easily. But these modes are very narrow scans so unless you see them to know where to point the radar, you might not lock them right away. v6, boNes

Also note that the BRA in the DDi is bearing and range, not heading and range. Bearing is where you are looking, heading is where they are, well, heading. To get the target heading, look at the upper left corner of the DDI and it is there. You can use that to calculate your bandit reciprocal heading for your AWI gameplan. v6, boNes

Thanks for your inputs Tusky. Yes it is good to know that there are more than one method of doing it, some more accurate than others. I prefer the one in the AWI manual (P-825) simply because with the ever fast dynamic nature of an engagement, am I going to be able to do that math under that kind of time crunch and pressure? What if I left my calculator at home? Haha. But yes, if you wanted to go sharpen your pencil and you went right to the pencil sharpener to do it or you did a backflip, crawled further toward it, and then hopped the rest of the way to the sharpener, what difference does that make since you still end up with a sharpened pencil? Well, I guess the efficiency is the difference but still... I actually did not realize that there were the data in the STORES page when STT. I remember that was added on later but either didn't pay too much attention to it or was just set in the P-825 way. Great call about what ASPECT means in that. The ASPECT label in that case is somewhat of a misnomer. Another important thing to consider is drift. You have to take cuts to make sure there isn't drift toward the cold side of things otherwise that means you are intercepting too far ahead of yourself and in all actuality drifting across your target's nose (and WEZ). Of course if the drift is toward the hot side, then he is drifting into YOUR WEZ. I also encourage more discussion about this. It is fascinating to me. I would like to know, for instance, how to employ AWI in the real situation. The manual assumes that the target is non maneuvering, like intercepting a Bear or a tanker or other assets for formup. So the whole gameplan thing based on TA and ATA is all well and good, but what about if your're interecepting a MiG-29 that is hellbent on killing you? Also, it assumes that the engagement will go to the merge. So what happens if you are happily following your gameplan then they fire a missile at you BVR? Now I know there is a timeline that employs MRM in the manual. But when does that get implemented? When you are following the gameplan per the manual but then until you get to NLT than 20 nm then you switch to the timeline? Good stuff. v6, boNes

Follow up: I looked at the MFD data as shown by the other poster where it shows aspect as being 180 deg and that it means the bandit is heading toward you. I just tried it in the sim and although the stick showed straight down in the L&S star (0 TA) the MFD data said 180. This leads me to believe that the MFD data aspect is a angle of the tail angle aspect (the star is angle off the nose). To check this, I placed the bandit so that he had TA 20 off of the L&S star. Sure enough, the MFD data said 200. So it does appear to be off the tail. The pages from the AWI manual above also confirm that TA=0 (off the nose) when the stick is straight down, and this angle off the nose approach is what is used in the AWI manual for intercept calculations and methods. v6, boNes

I think a TA of 180 means the target is heading directly away from you (you are chasing his tail) not toward. Toward would be TA=0 (you are nose to nose). For instance, let's say the bandit is right in front of you and you are heading 360. Let's say he is also heading 360. Bandit bearing=360 Bandit reciprocal heading=180 TA=BB-BR=360-180=180 Thus TA=180 is he's heading away. Let's try it with bandit bearing=0 and you are both heading 360 (or 0) 0-180=-180 which is still 180 degrees, bandit is heading away. Let's try different headings. He is heading 090, you are heading 270, nose to nose: TA=BB-BR=270-270=0. Thus bandit is heading toward you. Recall his heading is 090 so his BR is 090+200-20=270. Now let's try with him off to the left of your nose by say 20 degrees. You are heading 270, he is heading 090. TA=BB-BR= (270-20)-270=-20. Thus bandit TA is -20, or 20 left. And if he was right of your nose by 30 degrees, you are heading 270, he is heading 090 TA=BB-BR=(270+30)-270=+30. Thus bandit TA is +30, 0r 30 left. Don't want to do math? VIsualize it from the DDI and HUD data. In the DDI, the little stick does not show the bandit's heading but rather the bandit's TA. So if you have him as L&S on your DDI and the stick is pointing straight down, that means his TA is 0. That does NOT mean he is headed right for your nose unless he happens to be dead center in your DDI. He can be left of the center of the DDI and if the stick is pointing straight down, that means his nose is on you. It is a common misconception to think that the stick is his heading and so if he was left of center on your DDI with the stick pointing down, one would think that he is flying parallel to you. He is not. It means he is to your left with his nose on you. You can verify this by looking at him in the SA page. You will see that he is heading right at you in the SA page, even though the stick in the radar DDI stik is pointed straight down, giving the illusion that he is flying parallel to you. The way I visualize the stick for TA so I don't need to do the math is the stick shows me where the pilot of the bandit is looking straight ahead. So if the stick is near the bottom right leg of the L&S star, he has to turn his head about 20 degrees to his right to see me. Thus his TA is 20L or left 20 degrees: The same in the NIRD circle. What shows in the NIRD circle is his TA, the same as on the L&S start in the DDI. Interesting to note is there is actually a number of degrees associated relative to the points of the L&S star: v6, boNes

I just noticed this this morning. I used a slider on my HOTAS to bring the wings back to 68 deg as I usually do. Then I opened the cover, popped up the handle, and let the bags deflate. Then when I pulled the wingsweep lever back with my mouse, it would just shake there. It never made it past the spider detent hump thingy. See at 01:29:57 it is stuck: Now, the thing was, this is the first time I flew the F-14A in a while. I had flown the F-14B just before that mission and the lever worked fine there, went into oversweep right after the bags deflated. So maybe it's only an F-14A issue? At 01:18:45 you can see it works: v6, boNes

I've noticed the same issue. The HUD is washed out, even when not going into the sun. in fact, the windshield has a way more green tint than it used to even, making it even harder to see. I have also noticed this on the F/A-18C. v6, boNes