bonesvf103

I was trying out 2.7 and nearly fell off of my ejection seat when Jester actually started calling my airspeed out on the fly during a dogfight! Not that I really need it anymore since I've been flying the Tomcat for so long I can kinda feel the airspeed, but for new drivers and such, this is very helpful! At one point he even messed up his airspeed and was fumbling through his words to correct himself. I wonder if he'll say any thing else new? Thanks HB for the added realism! v6, boNes

For Steam users, my donwloader says it's scheduled to do the DCS patch at 1316 US Central time (1816 Zulu). v6, boNes

Thanks all..I should add that I am talking in a dogfight/merge/ACM/BFM situation. Obviously if there are radar missiles involved, the fight may be over before you have a chance to merge and use energy/angles. Please continue with your thoughts! v6, boNes

Sorry guys, I think I failed to clarify: I am talking about at the merge, in a dogfight ACM/BFM situation. So figure, say: 1. Guns only 2. Guns and Heaters only. Thanks! Great insights here. v6, boNes

Ah, ok, I think a mission briefing rewrite is in order then...HB? v6, boNes

Would you say that the Hornet is more an energy fighter or an angles fighter? Should she fight nose to tail or nose to nose? Radius fighter or rate fighter? v6, boNes

Thanks, Snappy. That is actually the reason why I was asking. The question was somewhat loaded, but not because of trickery or anything but because I've noticed that the Tomcat can fight in both situations pretty well, depending on how it was deployed, as you mentioned above. BUT, I didn't know if that was just me. So I wanted to hear others' take on it. I'm still interested to hear what other people think. v6, boNes

Would you say that the Tomcat is more an energy fighter or an angles fighter? Should she fight nose to tail or nose to nose? Radius fighter or rate fighter? v6, boNes

I was flying the HB Defend the Fleet mission and the TACAN appears to not be working. Briefing gave it as 74X. I tried both the front and rear cockpits. TACAN knob read 074X, pilot cmd, and steering was set to TACAN. HDI showed no TACAN info for range etc and the BDHI TACAN needle was spinning. Same in the rear cockpit, with CMD set to NFO. In both cases TACAN radio was set to on, T/R mode, channel X confirmed selected, and I was high up at angels 20 or so only 50 miles from the carrier. No TACAN on either TACAN or AWL steering, or with landing or cruise mode selected. Did I miss something, or is it a bug? v6, boNes

Exactly, I totally understand that you hit the master rest and it's fine but why does it happen--and at random--to begin with? The only explanation I can come up with is that it's a realism thing, where, hey, your CADC failed but you can reboot it. I also found there was one time that it was fine throughout the mission and then suddenly it happened without my knowing. I only noticed when I was in a dogfight and the plane didn't want to turn as usual. So I had to get my eyes off the bandit to look at and hit the button. By the time I looked back up I had lost the bandit and was now on the defensive. Grrr... v6, boNes

It's been over a year later and I still notice this even today. To reiterate, if I start in the air, at random, the wings will have a caution light and will not sweep automatically. You can swing them manually, and if you hit the reset they will go back to auto. But if you start the same mission again, the next time the wings may be fine in auto as they should, or they may be borked again. It happens randomly without explanation so it makes me think it's a bug. Two example missions where it happens is the instant action Caucuses F-14B Case I Recovery mission, the instant action NNTR guns only and fox 2s only mission, and the Syria instant action Dances with Wolves mission. These are just example missions; in truth they also happen in other missions and always appear to be randomly. Does this warrant a bug report? v6, boNes

OK, thanks for the info! v6, boNes

Hi again RandomToten, Thanks so much for the warm reception to my post, and for the great answers. IRL I'm a private pilot so I really like to try to keep it real, as I did in FSX, I would like to do in DCS since DCS has pretty much all the navaid tools and such for proper real life navigation and pattern. Blowing stuff up in DCS is fun, no doubt, but I also find just as much pleasure in admin stuff like flying cross countries, doing night approaches, doing instrument approaches per published charts, etc. Thanks to your explanation I just did a visual approach chart to Gaudata (page 12) and made what was probably one of my best landings in the Tomcat there. Your answers were so detailed it really clarified things. I was south of Gaudata so I made my way west to the entry/exit west CRP. There I saw the peninsula jutting out into the sea near Pitsunda, so I headed there. As I got close, I saw the lighthouse that as indicated in the chart, so I flew over it on a heading if 119 while descending to 2100 since the chart says app/dep max 2100. I flew 119 until I could see the end if RWY 33 and began my turn to the left to intercept the final approach heading, leaving airspeed at 350-400 knots with wings back at 68 deg. I flew up the runway and made my break at 800 ft AGL to the right per the chart, holding altitude and popping speedbrakes. At 300 KIAS I put the wings in auto mode and at 250 KIAS dropped the gear, then 225 KIAS and wings level, dropped the flaps and DLC. Flew the rest of the right hand traffic down to the runway. Sound about right? So I take it the blue solid lines are approach vectors while red dotted lines are departure vectors. The dashed blue line is the airbase airspace (kind of like Class D airspace in civilian flight). What is D(HX) 2600/GND? Is that airbase class D from ground to 2600 MSL? What is the D(HX) exactly? Thanks to the others who also posted to help. Three to one rule, that was it! It's hard to Google something like that when you can't remember what it was called. Eagle7907 those were some good points to bring up, especially the DCS references. Nikola, also great reminder that F10 map gives true course so you have to apply magnetic deviation and WCA. Great details on the TACAN approach. Reminds me of a VOR-A approach to some extent. Thanks again, all! v6, boNes

When searching for where to make the break in the shore landing pattern I found some sources say you do it over the spot you intend to land, others say midfield, others say at the numbers, and others do it upwind beyond the numbers. So which is correct? Or does it depend on published procedures at that particular airbase? Also, if you look at the charts app/dep visual operation charts for airbases without a TACAN, how do you know where the CRPs are? Look at Mozdok for example (in the default kneeboard files or here on the very last page http://server.3rd-wing.net/public/Manuels DCS/DCS_VAD_Charts_FC3.pdf). There is no TACAN to measure where the CRPs are. There is simply a bearing but some of those are from a CRP that also has no bearing. I tried using the box in the corner that gives coordinates for CRPs, but when I punched in the coordinates these do not seem to coincide with the ones in the chart. Finally, say you are in Navy aircraft so there is no glideslope available to you on approach, or the airbase doesn't have an ILS. How do you know what alititude you should be at at what DME? What about if there is no TACAN to get DME? I recall someone once posted a formula that took range and converted it to altitude on approach but I don't recall what that is and searches didn't turn anything up. Anyone know? Thanks. v6, boNes

Makes sense. And yes it would help if it was shown in the map which modulation. sometimes in MP I will tune the radio to the ATC given, say 118.00 but when I broadcast the freq switches to 118.005 for some reason then ATC doesn’t hear me. Anyone else get that? v6, boNes

When selecting an airbase on a map it usually has multiple ATC freqs listed. I've had incidents where I tuned in on one of those freqs it didn't work, but if I tuned into the other listed one, is does. Any reason for this? Thanks. v6, boNes

Why did anyone move from the HGU-33 to the 55+? The locking visor seems like when it hit that 400+ knot slipstream, it's not ripped off and continues to shield your eyes. The -55 is just a visor attached with bungee straps that snap on. They come up and over the foam blocks easily enough so I imagine in a slipstream they would fly right over the top of the helmet and get ripped off. Why did they move to those? Was it that the 55+ had better visibility than the 33? Also in the 33, the visor is stored in that integrated cover while the 55 has a Velcroed lambskin cover. I think the visor housing is more protective than the lambskin cover is. Anyone know the reason? What happens if you eject and pass out over freshwater like one of the Great Lakes? How would your LPU inflate then? Any fix for that? v6, boNes

Thanks for the updates. What makes a LPU-34 different from the LPU-36? Could it be that not all helmets were converted HGU-68s? I have seen a black edgerolled and elephant eared HGU-55 that didn't have a -68 track or drill holes to attach the track. Is the MA-2 still used? If not, what's in its place? v6, boNes

You can "fly through" it by choosing CTRL-F11 then scrolling and slewing around with the mouse. Not the ebst, but only option right now. v6, boNes

This is not an HGU-68/P. HGU-68/Ps have the off center slide lock to raise and lower the visor (like the VF-201 photo you have above it). Rather, this is an HGU-55/P that has modification for using NVGs (hence the clips on the black "elephant ears." This is what the last Tomcat crews were wearing, though there were some HGU-68/Ps here and there, inasmuch as there were some MBU-20/Ps and Combat Edge systems. The horseshoe type flotation collar, with the beads like Megan is wearing, is the LPU-34 low profile collar. Before the LPU-21 was used (seen in most photos from the 80s). The CMU-33 is the newer version of the CWU-33, but there is little functional difference. The CMU-33 is for rotary wing crews and has a flap on the right clavicle that opens to expose a slot where an extraction hook can go. The CMU-33A is for fixed wing ejection seats and so does not have this, but it has slits cut into the vest at about pectoral level so that the Koch fittings and the D-Ring from the MA-2 can fit though them. The oxygen regulator that connected directly to the MBU-14/P hose was the CRU-79/P. The chest mounted version that attached to the modified SV-2B was the CRU-88/P. I believe the CRU-88 was used in the latter days of the Tomcat's era. The REDAR hose was used with the CRU-79/P, maybe the CRU-88 too. v6, boNes

Haha you know when I noticed this I did wonder what was up. Now I know! v6, boNes

I've tested and timed it and it appears that yes putting it right between those 2 markers seems to be the right place. You can check yourself by this way: a 2 minute turn means you do 360 degrees of turn in 2 minutes, or 3 degrees per second. So make a turn and count off seconds and if you change 9 degrees of heading in 3 seconds, you are in a 2 minute turn. In more round, easier to approximate numbers, make it 10 degrees of heading every 3 seconds and it's close enough. 10 degrees is easier to measure on your heading tape or compass rose than 9 degrees. v6, boNes

Yes I already tried having therm reload me on the ground and it still didn't work. I even checked the mission in the editor and it showed that you are full 100% of ammo. Seems odd that since the gun trigger by default is the spacebar that the mission writers would have the radio calls bound to it too. v6, boNes

Thanks! v6, boNes

Sorry you had such a bad experience with it. I'm not sure why but I've been able to get it to work pretty well, and for things I didn't like I was able to modify to my liking. In making the radio menu useless, it could be that you had it set to remove menus..this is a setting you can turn on or off. There is also that the microphone push button must also have a release button, and this is configured in the profile under radio controls. This is also where you map which radio you want for which PTT. It's not entirely difficult once you get the hang of it. I used Bailey's profile at first too, and it is good, but I wanted to do away with the distraction of the Jester wheel coming up and getting in my way when I really need unimpeded visibility for SA. PLus there were certain commands that were newer such as having Jester choose target size or Supercarrier commands and even air to ground functions or JTAC functionality. VAICOM Pro does lack in certain things and some things don't make sense logically to me, but overall I like it and have not looked back. But to each their own I guess. v6, boNes