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Yup. That’s right. You control glideslope with the throttles. Do not think otherwise. But you can influence the nose to help it out. Influencing is what it sounds like: small nudges of the stick in the appropriate pitch direction.

You gotta touch the stick. Lineup is a big reason. But also to “influence the nose” with glideslope corrections.

Yes. Just make it happen.

**Public service announcement for the whole community.** “Needles” = ACLS “Bullseye” = ICLS That’s right. The symbol for ICLS is a pair of needles, and the symbol for ACLS (not in DCS yet) is a bullseye. The names and the symbols they represent are backwards. That is official. That is real world. Why is it that way? I have no idea! In DCS, when it says “say needles,” the readback is saying the ICLS needles readout. That is technically incorrect and an artificiality until ACLS comes out. The “say needles” call NEVER references ICLS.

During startup. After hitting the TO trim button and getting the Trim advisory.

I think Dusty meant to say 3 NM and 1200 feet.

It’s called a Shit Hot Break. There are many examples. Check out this one at 600 knots.

Yes there are division breaks. The standard is 17 seconds between each airplane in general. And with a division the lead as to break no further than overhead the ship.

The arresting gear is to a single weight setting. Each aircraft has their own single weight setting, so all they have to do is set it to “hornet” or “tomcat” or whatever. The only time specific weight settings are required are for emergencies with nonstandard configurations and speeds. Again, the arresting gear is NOT set by your weight at the trap. Your responsibility is to make sure you are below max trap weight when you land. You call the ball with your actual fuel state to have everyone see how close you are to needing to tank or bingo. It’s for fuel tracking purposes.

There’s allowed to be two flights at the same altitude. In fact, when everybody has reached the stack before the recovery commences, that will be the case. There’s supposed to be two per altitude. VFA-XX and VFA-XXX knows their altitude is 2000 feet during the entire time they are underway, for example. When the stack collapses, it is the responsibility of each flight lead to manage the spacing and separation. Hence there is no specific VSI, AOB, G, etc. for doing these maneuvers. Whatever it takes.

It’s complicated. The short answer is, there are not a thousand planes up in the air like some may think. The stack doesn’t go too high but it doesn’t have to. The other part of it is, it depends if it is cyclic ops or CQ. CQ: go where the air boss tells you. Descend when the air boss tells you. Commence when the air boss tells you. Cyclic ops: each squadron has their altitude. Once you descend, you don’t go up again. Aircraft at higher stack altitudes descend when they visually determine the lower altitude has been vacated.

Two elements per altitude (could be singles or sections or whatever). Across the circle from each other. However during CQ, while there could be 2 per altitude, it’s often just 1 if it’s not busy.

Optimum wind over the deck is 25-30 knots. The ship points into the wind as much as possible to maximize WOD and minimize crosswinds. That said, sometimes small crosswinds happen and they can exist up to a limit. That said, there have been exception cases with winds <20 knots and > 40 knots. Each type aircraft has a minimum WOD requirement (adjusted for density altitude). The burble pushes planes down. I don’t know if it is in DCS SC or not. I’m not sure what you mean by “stable on final” or how you noticed things have changed, so I can’t help you there. I imagine it’s a subjective thing, so you may need to share more information.

Do not use rudder. The gradual deviation from centerline as you rollout is common.

Look at the pants. The dark blue pants indicates an enlisted sailor. Khaki pants would indicate an Officer (all shooters are Officers). It depends if the shooters are working Topside or in the bubble. If they are topside than they are on the flight deck like you’re used to seeing in many videos and the DCS SC. If they’re in the bubble, a qualified enlisted sailor can do many of the same functions, then pass that information via a thumbs up to the bubble.

How much fuel is in the jet. Read off the IFEI.

During CQ the altitudes are assigned by the Air Boss. Otherwise, each squadron has an altitude that is theirs during the entire time they are underway.

Correct procedures would be: Gear up, flaps half, airspeed 150 Climb to angels 1.2 Call "(side number), airborne" When cleared, turn left to the downwind heading Fly 2 NM abeam the course line Call "(side number), abeam, state (fuel state)" when abeam the ship If told to intercept the FB at 4NM - dirty up immediately and start your turn If told to intercept the FB at 6NM - dirty up halfway through the turn If told to intercept the FB at 8NM or more - dirty up once on FB Fly on-speed once you dirty up Fly the rest of the procedure on the FB as normal.

Glad that it's working for you!

The stack's lowest altitude is 6000 feet. The stack can get as high as it needs to be. However, if there is a very large recovery, Marshal will actually use two marshal radials. Each will be offset the same number of degrees away from the final bearing, just in opposite directions (so it will look symmetric). This doesn't happen very often, and is beyond the scope of this discussion. It's just a fun fact. *The answer to your question is: the stack is built from 6000 feet at the bottom and then goes as high as it needs to.*

You don't have to manage multiple aircraft in a stack. The most aircraft in a formation that will check in with Marshal (for Case 3) is 2. If you were previously a flight of 4, make sure you split before checking in with Marshal. You will check in as the side number of whoever you want to land first, regardless of whether or not that is your side number in the formation. Generally, whoever has the lowest fuel is the one you want to land first. For example, if you were 306, and your wingman was 300, and you wanted your wingman to land first, you would say "Marshal, 300, holding hands with 306, marking mom's...." Marshal will pass Marshal instructions to 300 first in that example, and after a correct readback by your wingman (again, in this example), Marshal will immediately begin to give instructions to 306, which then you will readback. Since 300 got instructions first, 300 will be assigned a lower altitude, and thus commence first and land first. You each will be assigned individual altitudes in your instructions. In fact, every single airplane in the recovery has their own altitude (as opposed to Case 2 where you could have up to a flight of 2 holding together). *Once your formation has split, there is no longer any management of any airplane other than your own.*

Yes.

Not a bad start. Typically you’ll request whoever has less gas to go the lower altitude, not necessarily the flight lead. There are no altitude changes without Marshal approval within 30 degrees of the “hot side” of the marshal radial, or 10 degrees of the “cold side.” Since standard holding in Marshal is to the left, the holding side is the hot side. Once you are on your altitude, you are cleared weird. Intercept whatever profile you use to manage timing. No requirement for teardrop or parallel or anything like that. You could do figure 8s, skywriting, or draw phallic objects with your exhaust for all anyone cares, so long as you are on your altitude. You don’t have to go direct to the fix itself, unless you’re heading there for your actual commence.

Yes. The most common radial for the stack is offset 30* from the final bearing reciprocal (behind the boat).

With the CV-1, the Marshal radial is almost always offset from the final bearing. 30* is very typical. The CV-2 is an overhead Marshal stack to a teardrop entry to the final bearing. It is used when airspace won’t allow a CV-1. It is not very common at all. Edit: to clarify, the CV-1 procedure graphic you may find depicts a straight-in. That is a generic description of the approach so do not interpret that to mean that that is always what happens. It almost never does. Also, the description in the post above mine is a description of a generic CV-1, not what MUST happen.