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He's barely touching the pitch - look at how long the throw is on his stick and how little he's moving the actual base of the stick in comparison - the shorter the throw on the stick (the part that connects where your hand rests to the actual sensors) the more dramatic a small movement will be. That's why I recommend using a curve on your stick even if it is precise - it gives you that leeway to make adjustments without going crazy. Cheers!

That's because they're flying a stabilized approach which means they've established the aircraft in a specific descent profile and trimmed on-speed AoA and they're managing glideslope with power. Once you trim the plane up it will fly itself as long as you maintain everything in balance. The way I was taught IRL is to establish a 'dirtied up' 500 fpm descent at midfield on the downwind leg, trim the airplane for proper approach speed, then just steer it through base/final. That gives you a perfectly stabilized approach that'll give you a 'greaser' every time. I've had a lot of success in DCS using the same principles. Cheers!

I think the ATC mode won't be 'easy mode' as you'll still have to maintain on-glide AoA within the 'E' bracket while pointing at the right spot on the deck otherwise you'll come in hot or too slow, right? The ATC AFAIK only maintains 'on speed' within the E bracket. Cheers!

I think what you may be missing is the transition from high-speed flight to 'slow flight' and the change in relationship between control inputs and power inputs. Basically, when you're flying at 'high speeds' without the flaps (which make a LOT of drag along with a LOT of lift) your control inputs dictate whether you climb or descend. When you transition to 'slow flight', you're generally dropping the flaps which creates more lift and can give you that 'balloon' feeling when you drop them because you have a sudden increase in lift and drag. Once you've entered 'slow flight' your pitch no longer controls your altitude (climb and descent). Instead, it controls your airspeed - nose down for more airspeed, nose up for less - while your power setting (throttle) controls your climb/descent rate. After reading the OP, I believe what you're struggling with is the mental change from pitch controlling climb/descent to power controlling climb/descent. I suggest taking the hornet out and practicing some slow flight (130-150 KIAS) and hold a random altitude, then practice climbing and descending 500 feet from that altitude until you can do that by using the throttle to climb or descend and the attitude of the aircraft to maintain airspeed. Once you can maintain a +/- 5 KIAS climb and descent to + or - 500 feet from your altitude, I suggest trying again with the carrier landings. This is one of the first things we learn as real pilots - controlling the aircraft in 'slow flight' because that's how you approach any airfield or even a ship which is just a really short, portable airfield. Cheers!

I use a curve of 16 on X and Y axis on the stick. None on the rudders. I also have a deadzone of 10 on both X and Y (again, none on the rudders) and I don't have any trouble. I'm using the HOTAS Warthog so the deadzone really isn't 'necessary' but the stick is so sensitive that I found resting my hand on it was giving me a slight right-bank input so I put the deadzones in just to get rid of that. My brothers use a Logitech generic stick to fly and the deadzone/curves are an actual necessity with those so you may want to try adding in a deadzone of around 10 and see where it goes from there? Cheers!

I know that's what they're for IRL - but they don't seem to do that in DCS so I assume it's mostly for timing issues with multi-ship attacks. Cheers!

So - I fly VR only and I'm still pretty new to DCS, but a couple things you should be aware of for VR flying... Don't just up all the graphics, even if your system can handle it (I've got a similar build to yours) because upping everything will start to make things hard to read/see. Mess with the focus point settings in the VR settings until things look 'right'. The plane starts out feeling really small until you change the slider - do a little bit of research on the size of an AIM-9 or something, and also the wingspan of whatever you're flying and then tweak the focal point until the missile/wings look to be right and you can read the cockpit displays clearly. Cheers!

I think in DCS delayed fuse is so you don't bomb your wingman? Cheers!

Anybody else have to die 4 times to get off the deck in mission 2? They put 4 planes sitting on the catapult track that they put the player on... Cheers!

So right now we have one of the Russian aircraft sitting in a regular airfield hangar as the VR 'hangar space' where we see the menu on that floating screen. I would really love the option to see the F/A-18 aboard the Stennis instead of that Russian plane. Would this be possible? Cheers!

I've had a lot of luck around 280 kts @ Angels 45. Yeah, it takes a LOT to get up there, but at that altitude you barely use fuel. Cheers!

I'm not exactly sure why it goes into ACM mode when you select the 120 - happens for me too. I try to set that up before I get into an engagement just to be sure I have it all how I want it. The radar will stay locked in the space where you last had contact to try to pick your lock back up as quickly as possible - same with the azimuth. Cheers!

Thanks, Silvern! Cheers!

Where can we see the newsletter? Cheers!

Hornet Flying with Folded Wings I believe this should be classified as a bug - the Hornet can currently launch from the CV with folded wings, do a complete pattern, and land again with the wings folded. The aircraft handles vastly differently than it does with the wings spread and locked, but I don't think it should be able to fly at all with the wings folded... Much less at the low speeds from a CV launch. Cheers!

I can confirm this is possible in DCS with the F/A-18C. Just pulled it off first attempt! It's a little dodgy going into final and I did end up a little high and fast (sounds like the OG pilot did too) but nothing you can't nurse down to a 3-wire trap! Cheers!

I'm not sure if anyone addressed the 180 degree turns as this thread is specifically talking about the ILS system... It sounds like you're not watching your runway while you're flying and that is a pretty big mistake. You want to have an eye on the runway throughout the pattern and it sounds like you're either too close or too far away from the runway on your downwind leg of the pattern (where you fly against the direction you're going to land). When you go to make your base/final turn, you'll either overshoot the runway or undershoot it depending on where your downwind leg was in relation to the runway. Also, the point where you're making your base/final turn is probably off - try extending a little further to get the hang of your distance from runway on the downwind leg - if you notice your final approach is always to the right of the runway, move a little further from the runway on downwind. If it's to the left of the runway, get a little closer to the runway on downwind. Extending gives you time to both see where you are in relation to the runway and also some room to correct so you don't have to go missed every time. Cheers!

The other thing you may want to check just to be sure - make sure you're programming your controls for the Sim version, not simplified. There's two different control schemes - I did that with my A-10 when I first bought it years ago! Cheers!

Do you fire your AIM-120s in LOFT mode? I *think* the F-15 may automatically switch between the 'normal' and LOFT firing solutions. The F/A-18 definitely does not. Cheers!

So, for everyone out there who likes to do the whole carrier thing, what are your tips and tricks for nailing the alignment for the cats, and tips/tricks for getting that perfect trap every time? I personally like to use the 1 & 2 cats where it's pretty easy to line up the weapon elevators just aft of the canopy bow before pressing 'U' to lock up. On the landings (and I'm still pretty bad at getting my AoA and approach speed just right) I try to put the flight vector just beyond the arrestor cables to catch them on landing. I use VR so everything's a little blurry and I can't see the meatball, but that works for me 99% of the time! Cheers!

I voted for finished A2A radar. Right now, we've got a half-working system that loses locks all the time and doesn't give nearly enough target detail. In a BVR situation, the F-15 has a huge advantage simply because it gives more information on the target and doesn't lose the lock. I don't fly the Russian planes, but from the times they've shot me down it seems they have a really good weapon control system as well. I think finishing up the A2A capabilities should come first so everyone knows what they're dealing with in that capacity, and then we can focus on getting the A2G systems up and running. I think part of finishing A2A is also the IFF capability of the Hornet which will also be useful in A2G stuff. Cheers!

This works! Key is to not disable VR in the game settings - just unplug everything VR (headset + sensors) prior to restarting the PC then start everything up and it's working in flat mode! Thanks! Cheers!

haha wrong quote - sorry! Meant to quote the guy saying the low tech option. Going to try this now... I've tried unchecking the VR box in-game, then restarting with the VR set unplugged, but maybe if I leave my in-game settings alone and unplug + restart it'll work... Cheers!

Yup - even after a complete re-install. I don't know what's up with it and at this point I'm trying to find a fix just in case anyone else has the issue - I've got DCS on another computer without VR so it's not too big a deal for me but it is annoying to have to pass mission files between computers. Cheers!

Guys, I've done the --force_disable_VR (yes, I put the space between the directory and the command) AND Skatezilla's thing (that's what I was calling SZS). Neither one of those worked (as per my OP). Cheers!