FightsOn

You should also be able to double click the A/P push button to access the "soft" altitude bugs in addition to the "hard" bug on the dial. That doesn't appear to be simulated though.

Hey all, I'm experiencing some issues with the waypoint / designation system in the Hornet, and was wondering if it was known / in work / will be fixed eventually. Basically; the Hornet should only have 1 waypoint active at a time. Either the navigation waypoint selected on the right side of the HSI, or a target designation. A target designation becomes the active waypoint. I will caveat this next part with saying I've only got experience with ATFLIR, and not Lightning. The targeting pod always points at the active designation A/G. Currently, it is possible for the Lightning Pod to point at a point on the ground that isn't the active designation. Finally, I have been able to get into a scenario where I have a target designation on the ground, and also a different waypoint selected on the HSI. This is incorrect. Once the jet takes a designation, that designation should be the selected waypoint as well, and all information on the HSI/HUD should reference the TGT designation.

The Hornet won't sustain knife edge flight...it doesn't have enough rudder authority. It'll to 80 degrees or so with G on it, but the rudder authority as modeled is fairly accurate.

I fly the thing in real life...ALE-47 doesn’t require Master Arm.

IRL you do the FCS IBIT immediately after both engines are online and the hyds have warmed up. The test will complete with the wings folded, indicating GO, but then will return to DEGD until the wings are spread. Make sure you look at the BIT status as soon as you hear the tone, otherwise you may miss the GO indication and think you’ve got an issue.

The A-D Hornets rotate themselves off the ground at nosewheel liftoff speed, the Rhinos (and Growler) need to be positively rotated with aft stick (ashore). It’s one of the differences between the two airframes they cover in transition training. Both jets need a little push on the stick as the flaps come up ask the jet transitions to UA flight. It’s very little, but if you pay attention it’s definitely there.

The ALE-47 should be able to be programmed / fired without the Master Arm switch being armed. That’s why “dispenser” is in the landing checklist...so that flares/chaff aren’t accidentally fired in the landing pattern.

Ah, it should display whenever pitch trim is changed, stay for 3 seconds, then declutter.

The actual jet times out too...I don’t see how this makes it less useful? Just hold the trim aft to 8.1 then it’s set, and disappears. You shouldn’t need to see it anymore after this? I get that it was added post 2005 (I didn’t fly the Hornet until 2013) but I think it would be a worthwhile concession for usability.

The real jet has a trim value that shows up in the HUD when the trim hat is moved. Just hold it aft until 8.1 shows up and the jet is trimmed on-speed. Both Hornet and Rhino have it. Then you’ll just deal with the forward stick pressure until the jet decels to on-speed. ED refuse to implement this even though it is an accurate feature to the real world and would make landing much easier. The other option is to implement BIT Memory Inspect, but that is more involved, and nobody uses it anymore with the new functionality in the HUD.

Gain Override Select GAIN ORIDE. This effectively disables the FBW by forcing the flight control computers to use fixed gains vice air data computer inputs. With flaps AUTO, your flaps will should be more or less fixed up.

The pitot heat will turn on with weight off wheels automatically with the switch in AUtO. No reason to move the switch. For engine anti-ice you’d put that on any time flying in visible moisture with the inlet temps on the engine page between -10 and 10. The real life consequences of inlet ice are potential FOD damage to the motors as that I’ve is shed from the intakes and goes down the motor.

The Hornet is like this; the Super Hornet is not.

Alpha is important on landing because the “ball” shows the pilot his glideslope relative to the hook position. So in the F-18C, the pilots eye is 16.35’ above the hook, so the “centered ball” is 16.35, above the #3 wire. This is called “hook to eye” and is different for different aircraft. Hawkeyes are 15’, Rhinos 17.15’. The takeaway is that if you are slow, your hook to eye value increases because the airplane is cocked up, so even though you’re seeing a centered ball, your hook is closer to hitting the back of the ship. Conversly, if fast, you can bolter with a centered ball, because at a higher speed (and therefore less alpha) your actual hook to eye value is less than the assumed 16.35’ and your hook goes over all the wires.

The hook is absolutely fully extended with all 3 wheels on deck. In fact, the reason you get a red hook light with the hook down on deck is because the hook doesn’t match handle position; it can’t fully extend on deck. This ensures you can snag a wire ashore during an aborted takeoff. In flight, with the hook down, the light extinguished when the hook is fully down and matches the handle position. Unless you exceed 450kts or so in which case air loads push the hook slightly aft and turn the light on until the aircraft decelerates below 450 again.

You should be able to cage/uncage when the radar gun director comes up, and it should put you back in the training funnel.

USN Hornets do this quite a bit, but not in dry climates (like Lemoore, or China Lake). In Oceana as well as The Boat it's a common sight. Normally doesn't happen until the throttles come up around 75%-80% which is why you generally don't see it in the line, as we try to keep RPM below 75% until we are on the runway out of concern of blowing someone / something over with exhaust.

Rules of Ball Flying; 1.) Never Lead a Low or Slow 2.) Always Lead a High and Fast 3.) If Low and Slow fix the Low then the Slow 4.) If High and Fast fix the Fast, then the High 5.) Never recenter a high ball In-Close 6.) Fly the ball all the way to touchdown. So, what does leading mean? Leading means anticipating the next power correction. So if you are high, and make a power off correction, you'll "lead" the next power on correction to stop the ball before it actually gets 'centered'. So you really want to go from high, to a little less high, to a little less high...that's what is referred to as 'chipping it down'. You don't want to go from high to centered, since if you overshoot you're not low. Now, why don't we lead a low? Because if you add power to go from low to on glideslope, and lead the power off correction, you can end up staying below glideslope, which we don't want to do. Get the ball at least to the datums, then make your power off correction, realizing that you have traded a low for a high, which you can now lead, and chip back down.

What about the control surface animations? Are the dev’s aware of those? Flaps during UA CAS on the ground, IBIT, aileron travel, and flap transition speeds?

Yes, the F/A-18A-F all retract the speedbrake when the flaps are lowered (when the flaps actually start to move below 240 kts, not when the switch is lowered). But in the A-D you can hold the speedbrake out manually. As long as the switch is held aft the board will extend. In the E-F it cannot be extended in PA mode at all until Weight on Wheels.

As you'd enter the landing pattern you Memory Inspect Unit: 14 Addr: 743 When the value is (I THINK) ~3200 the jet is trimmed to onspeed. That said, my memory is fuzzy since I haven't used this function during my time flying the Hornet outside of being taught by an instructor during my early training.

See my above reply, but I agree that the jet is too draggy, and requires A/B when it shouldn't (such as in the approach turn) but I think the requirement to lead power additions and subtractions is good. Good modeling of response time, too draggy of an airframe in PA mode.

I'm happy with the response time of the motors, in that you have to lead power additions and subtractions, and the engines don't provide instantaneous power. Separately, I do think the jet is too draggy in PA mode, as sometimes I have to tap blower in the approach turn to maintain on-speed AOA. But I think those are two separate issues. The response time I think is good, I do think the airframe is too draggy in PA requiring excessive power (A/B) in the approach turn and some other phases of flight where it shouldn't.

Yes, you should have a SKID advisory on the ship.

I don't know when the feature was implemented in the A-D, but the 23X and 25X airplanes I've flown have all had it. More importantly, if it's not implemented, that is fine, but BIT-MI needs to be implemented as the real-world workaround.