bonesvf103

I would like to voice some concerns with Jester and LANTIRN. Maybe someone knows a fix to this but here are the issues. First, to further the post above about Jester switching to the TCS on a bomb run, whenever I am on a bomb run and then there is an air to air threat nearby--even if it's far enough away to still get the bomb off then defend myself, Jester always seems to abandon the LANTIRN duty and switch to the TCS camera and start looking for bandits. Even if my HUD mode is still in A/G, he will do this. It has ruined alot of bomb runs and it's very annoying especially when he does it when the bandit is still far enough away for me to get the bomb off. After he does this, I have tried to jump into the RIO seat to switch it back to LANTIRN and hope I can get back in the front seat in time to make the drop. But even when I do, he automatically goes back to TCS and screw up the run. He didn't used to do this before. Is there any way he can just stick with LANTIRN unless I go to A/A mode? Next, Jester annoyingly switches to what he thinks is the target. Here's the scenario: I call eyeballs, I place the cursor where I want him to have LANTIRN look, then I hit "A". He slews the LANTIRN over there. Then I jump in the backseat to fine tune the LANTIRN and I hit designate on my HOTAS and get the countdown to drop symbology, etc. I switch back to the front cockpit to make the drop--and Jester has switched the LANTIRN back to where I had hit "A" when I used eyeballs, losing the target that I designated from the back seat. Even if I did eyeballs>A>head control>A then went in the backseat to fine tune then designate, as soon as I go to the front pit he switches back to the "A" designation. It seems the only way I can keep my designation is if I run the LANTIRN completely without him. Then when I switch to the front seat he will keep my designation as he should. So anyway to fix this? Thanks! v6, boNes

OK, must have missed that,but thanks, glad I'm not going crazy. It was weird...at one point the right feed burned out then BOTH my engines shut down. Next, I blacked out. By the time I came to, I was too close to the ground to recover and crashed. Why it would make me black out I don't know since I never touched the O2 switch or was experiencing G (I was in straight and level flight). Odd. v6, boNes

I've noticed as of late that my FWD & R fuel runs out quickly and the aft & L one does not. ANy reason why it's not feeding equally? The cover is down on the fuel feed switch. v6, boNes

I would like to add a request that has just come up recently. Can we have Jester NOT switch us out of LANTIRN to the AXX-1 when hostile air is nearby? It didn't used to happen before, but I've noticed lately that it does. Just yesterday I was in hot with only 5 seconds left to drop the bomb and a bandit who was not close enough to be an immediate threat came around and Jester immediately switched the LANTIRN to the AXX-1 and trashed my drop. I dropped anyway and luckily the bomb still shacked the target, but it could have been worse and it has been. Sometimes, as the pilot, you are willing to take that extra second or two to make the drop and ignore the bandit until you've finished your run, but this Jester behavior doesn't allow for that. Thanks, v6, boNes

OK here is another one. I had Jester select Paveways, even told him to select the stations for it as a safeguard, then he talked me onto the target. When he said to pickle, I did...but nothing happened. Everything checked out---master arm on, weapon selector switch on off, A/G selected, ORD in HUD, etc. I noticed in the ACM panel, the indicators for what weapon station was selected were all blank--no checkermarks. I jumped into Jester's seat...and he had all the correct stations selected. He also had the proper GBU showing in the drum, and it matched that shown in the bottom center of the LANTIRN display. I also hadn't taken an battle damage or hard manuvering. So, what gives? v6, boNes

Well, when I launch, I immediately try to get 1000 ft below the target ASAP to minimize that so not a problem. Perhaps but it seems like 30000+ is the agreed best altitude for best loft so I guess again I just have to get the feel of things with all factors considered. v6, boNes

Well, I was being factious actually... I see your point there! I was being facetious but I see what you're saying. All I was getting at was that if a missile is supposed to be a long rang missile, shouldn't it be? 22 nm is not really long range. I'd say the missile is more "long range compatible/ready." But semantics aside... Understood. So, when a target is how low do you get how close? That's what I'm trying to get the feel for, and ultimately, how to decide how to set myself up to emply in the best way possible. v6, boNes

I did a few tests in the Devil's Edge mission. 30000 ft shooting at targets at below 10000 at 30 nm. 50% kill ratio, but I finished them off with Sparrow and Sidewinder. Will do more checking. v6, boNes Thanks. I actually have both books, will look it up. I also eas listening to the F-14 Tomcast about it and there were some points of interest there too. Thing is, if I'm waiting until 22nm to fire...well, for one, what was the point of having a Phoenix then (now wonder they were pushing the AMRAAM so much, haha!) and also, now I am nealy in the bandit's kill zone for his missiles. Seems like getting in close like that defeats the purpose of having a long range missile. v6, boNes

Really great discussion, and a great question about the missile beaming itself. I'll play around with this and see what happens and post back. v6, boNes

Thanks. OK, but then at what range/alt should I fire? If I'm at say 30 nm at 30,000 ft and he's at 5000 ft, that's a huge volume of air to have to fly through with the air densities throughout than say if you were at 20 nm at 30,000 ft (or maybe better at 20 nm at 20000 ft). I saw that even HB remarked in a situation like this that that is 25000 feet down through air that gets denser and denser that the missile has to fly through and doesn't help its PK. Also, would the Phoenix know that it doesn't have to loft as high if it was fired say with the bandit at 5000 ft and you at 10000 ft with only 20 nm between you? It seems as if if it goes all the way up to 30000 then back down, it's wasting alot fo energy going all the way up then losing it all the way down than if it only lofted up a little bit then came down again. Of course that would mean it's doing it in more dense air in the latter case than the former. v6, boNes

So usually you want to fly high (30,000+) to employ Phoenix. But what if the target is down low such as 5000 AGL or below? That's 25000 ft of altitude and thicker air for the Phoenix to fly through to hit. So what is the best way to employ Phoenix? I was thinking get in close, so at least the horizontal distance is not so bad...but then how close is close? 20 nm? Thoughts? v6, boNes

800 ft level in the initial into the break. Remain level until established in the downwind then when established on downwind, descend to 600 ft. v6, boNes

He does, but for air to air. Even if I cycle the HUD mode switch for air to ground, he still in the back has changed the camera to TCS--not that I expected changing mu HUD mode will do anything, but who knows? On the plus side I was 4 for 4 for non-assigned targets with the LANTIRN and Jester at my last test...so thanks again! v6, boNes

You know, you're right. I think I've just forgotten that I DID used to do that nuance. I tried hitting A as you described and whilst doing it, it did kind of seem familiar to me. IN any case it worked, and so thanks for reminding me! Now the only thing now is I've noticed that if I'm on a bomb run and there are enemy air nearby, Jester switches over to the TCS. I can't get him to switch back even if I jump in back and switch it myself, he'll switch it back. This is a problem because I could be say 5 seconds from drop then he'll switch it, even if my wingmen are on the bandit, or if the bandit is far enough away that I could get a bomb dropped before he actually can get a shot on me. Kind of annoying. Anyway, thanks again! v6, boNes

Thanks. I've never had to do that before for it to work, but maybe that's one of the things that changed. I'll give it a try and report back. v6, boNes

I'm actually using VAICOM Pro. But I'm using the same technique that I have ever since Jester and LANTIRN started working with eyeballs etc. Up until recently, the technique worked. I would be able to have Jester designate and drop on anything I wanted and if he couldn't (say like on a control tower), I'd be able to go in the RIO seat and do it for him, then jump back into the pilot seat and he'd leave it designated. Now with the new updates, as soon as I get back in the pilot seat, he drops the designation and goes looking elsewhere. Or he goes back to the first target designated that has already been destroyed. Or he does weird things like the TTI countdown and lasing even though the bomb didn't drop--all things he didn't used to do. So I can't tell officially if it's the updates, if it's VAICOM Pro not keeping up with the updates,myself, or something else. I'm still testing out what works and what doesn't but wanted to ask around here too to get more answers and explanation if any. v6, boNes

I tell him to designate every time. In the worse of scenarios, I do eyeballs>designate>head control>designate But I notice then that the symbology and TTG doesn't appear. If I say track designation, he goes back to the already killed target I designated. v6, boNes Honestly, all I've been saying is for him to select stations 3,4,5,6 even if I'm carrying 2 Phoenixes and he drops without a problem. I think also that if I just tell him to select Paveways, he will turn the drum to the proper GBU but also select the proper stations. In the front seat I have seen the non-Phoenix stations go checker, and hopping in the back to micro manage him haha I see the right station switched are also flipped. v6, boNes

Well, I dunno what else to say. All I know is that all the times BEFORE the patch when I failed to drop the bomb because of say master arm was off or I hit the wrong button or whatever, the TTI timer kept going and Jester didn't say squat and didn't lase. I've been dropping bombs with Jester for well over a year before the improvements even and he's never continued a countdown or lased when the bomb did not drop. Personally I think there was some glitch in the server or maybe I was below the staple (although I don't know that being below the staple would inhibit your drop) because it hasn't happened much since. But it was an occurance before. Now what I'm experiencing, even in SP, is that I will tell him to designate a target and he does, and after we kill it, if I designate another target via eyeball and head control, then tell him to track designation, he always go back to the 1st killed target. If I tell him reset LANTIRN and try again, he still goes to the first killed target. I have to jump in the back and designate the new target myself then jump back in front before he will track the new target. Now I will say that I am using VAICOM Pro with AIRIO and that may have something to do with it, but that's what I'm trying to figure out. Plus VAISOM doesn't explain him counting down without a dropped bomb when he didn't all those times before. v6, boNes

I was in CMPTR Pilot mode. Just seems odd that he would still be lasing knowing no bomb came off, even if he's just reading off f the LANTIRN display. Almost seems as if the bomb did come off, but no one told DCS haha v6, boNes

I can confirm that not only was I in A/G, but I had the weapon selector switch all the way to off and ORD in the HUD. v6, boNes

Just did another on the server and I did everything the same way and this time the bomb dropped no problem. Server fluke? I dunno. v6, boNes

I was flying a hop in our server with Jester as my RIO. WE had a target designated and locked in LANTIRN, and he talked me on, and when he told me to pickle, I did. But I never heard the thump and the ordnance remained hung. HOWEVER, the LANTIRN TTI countdown was still running AND Jester was still counting down TTI. At 10 seconds he even called 10 seconds and then said "Lasing." It was as if the sim thought I dropped the bomb and so did Jester, but we didn't. I tried 3 more passes on the same target and the same thing happened everytime. I troubleshot as much as I could considering I had bandits coming in and everything checked out: I was set to A/G I had the weapon select switch to off. "ORD" was in the HUD with a bomb fall line. I had Jester select stations 3,4,5,6 AND he correctly had GBU-10 selected Master arm was ON Wings set to bomb mode I pressed and held down the correct pickle button--in fact in a CCIP non Jester drop later, the bombs did drop when I pickled them. On the third pass I even made sure I was above the staple and still no dropped happened. Has anyone else experienced this or knows what could have gone wrong? Thankfully my wingman in his pitifully inferior F/A-18 (haha) finished off the target with a Maverick but I would have had it long before if it was working! v6, boNes

I fly both the Tomcat and the Bug. IN the Tomcat, it's there, but I don't really notice it--I think I just got used to factoring it into my traps. Now the Hornet, I just tried today and I was on the ball and CL all the way and when I got to the ramp, boom, that burble dropped me right down on the deck, like an express elevator. It was so sudden, I didn't know what happened and then it dawned on me that there is a burble now. v6, boNes

OK..checked in the Hornet. Wands come on only for essential personnel, namely the greenshirt when getting you hooked up on the shuttle and the flight director. Lights on does not trigger the deck crew launching you. You have to choose "salute." When you do salute, the wands come on for the remainder of the deck crew. v6, boNes

I noticed that the deck crew doesn't turn their wands on until you request launch and get close enough for the flight director to catch you. BUt, they ALL do turn them on. v6, boNes Mine works. BUt it is when you hit the master light switch so they all come on at the same time. When you do they will get you launched, you don't have to even salute. Come to think of it that was the Tomcat, haven't tried the Hornet yet. Will get back to you... v6, boNes