VC

I certainly won't be saying no to a Belsimtek F-4E when it comes out, but the fact we're not getting a true blue blooded carrier based Phantom disppoints me slightly. I also think that for all the complaints, Jester is fantastic. I'm curious how ther devs would do the back-seater, but I don't think they can do better than HB on this front.

The air brake self closes with gear and flaps down. This is one thing that really frustrates me. It switches to a "spring loaded" behaviour where it doesn't stay out unless you hold down the extend button. Both Tomcat and Su-33 do the whole carrier landing with the airbrake out and it really speeds up deceleration response, lets you keep the engines spooled higher. I'm sure there's a good reason the Hornet doesn't land with the board out but I wish it did.

Alrighty, no pitch input it is. Damn FBW :music_whistling:sometimes I feel it doing stuff for you hinders the feeling of what you should be doing. Yeah, the roll-out into the groove is by far the hardest part because of this.

From what some people are saying, I think I was making life harder for myself by trying straight up to fly it without any pitch input on the stick. Sounds like this is more advanced technique? Is it OK for now to let the AoA vary slightly so I can use stick input as well as throttles to help maintain my glide path?

Yeah I really should do that too. I thought about it but I don't have a lot of spare time to fly so I thought I'd pick it up as I go along in the pattern. Worked for others but guess the Hornet needs more muscle memory training first.

Oh god yeah, at least I'm better than the ATC, that just takes the jet for a bucking bronco ride followed by a swim :D Thank you very much for the feedback, I will practice constant throttle movement like that because indeed I have not been doing it. I should probably do it in the Cat too but that seems more forgiving to ham-handed piloting (or at least has other tools to mitigate poor throttle management). I don't have split throttles, but I do have my friction very low so hopefully I can practice and get used to this "always moving" technique. :) Something someone mentioned I realised is one reason I feel very little feedback. "Throttle controls pitch", yes, because trim holds AoA. In the Cat, power changes require stick input to maintain AoA, so I get a feedback loop that helps my throttle management.

I've recently started spending more time with the F/A-18 I've owned for ages but not flown much, and decided the best way to get to know the plane and have fun was some carrier ops. However, all I got was a lot of frustration and a couple of hours of going around and around and never catching a wire (plus hitting the back of the ship a few times). Now, I'm not a carrier landing expert by any means but I can reliably get the F-14 down in a messy but recognizable Case 1. The Hornet however comes apart for me when trying to set descent rate. I'm downwind, dirty, trimmed to AoA and then the problem starts. I get +/-1000fpm descent rate variations with what feel like tiny throttle adjustments, and there's so much lag in the descent rate response to throttle input (both accelerating and decelerating) that I find it impossible to not get into a cycle of overcorrecting. The plane feels so floaty and gives me nothing to judge a throttle response by. I got to a point where I can bounce my way around the finals turn at about the right altitude, but when I roll out into the groove and need to change throttle setting again, I either soar over the ship or sink below deck level. I can't settle the descent rate in such a short time window and any attempt at last minute corrections are disastrous. I thought it might be my control setup, but I have a Thrustmaster TWCS which has a very long and smooth travel, which should be good for making small adjustments. I do have similar issues in the Tomcat but nowhere near as bad (I trapped fine second go while being really out of practice). Maybe the engines respond faster, or the inertia of the heavier plane makes it less bouncy. Also the F-14 lands with the airbrakes out, and has DLC, both of which are a huge help. I expect most of this is "practice until you get it" and that's fair enough. But I wanted to see if there's something obvious I might be doing wrong, or something I can do in control setup to make my life easier while trying to learn this.

I learned that DLC is the best thing since sliced bread, at least as far as carrier landings are concerned, and I wish I could bolt it on to all other planes (Hornet especially).

No AIM-7?!

Does the JF-17 have access to any medium range SARH missiles? I'm just thinking ahead, there are some nice servers where ARH Fox 3 are banned. All other aiframes have a Fox 1 to fall back on, but looks like JF-17 will potentially lose all BVR capability in a "no Fox 3" server. :(

Ah OK I understand now. There's an unrealistic "feature" that multiple guides have taken as deliberate and documented, which now doesn't work as documented, except it never should have anyway. Fair enough, so bombing TGP "on the fly" with JDAM has to be one at a time in TOO... target, drop, target, drop. I can live with that.

Oh pfew, thought I was going mad. Sorry for duplicate bug report then. I followed links in the bug thread to a workaround. Going to release isn't really an option for me, playing mostly MP and all my squadron is on Beta.

Can't get multiple JDAM on different targets with TGP I've been following Chuck's guide exactly but every time I end up with all JDAMs hitting the last designated target instead of each hitting different ones. What I'm doing: - QTY select all stations with JDAM - MSN - pick TOO - TGP point designate - co-ordinates entered in TOO1 - switch to PP - co-ordinates transferred and saved in PP1 - STEP next station - pick TOO (although usually it is by default after STEP) - TGP new point designate - co-ordinates entered in TOO1 - switch to PP - new co-ordinates transferred and saved in PP1 for new station etc. but even though I watch to make sure every time I designate with the TGP the co-ordinates change, in the end all bombs just go for the last target. :doh: Obviously doing something wrong but no idea what.

Thanks for the tip! I'll try this, it should help a lot just in the first try, to at least not immediately start scanning in the opposite direction to where I want.

Ah ok, so some WIP functionality, which in some way will eventually solve this issue. Manually moving the TGT point on HUD and slaving the TGP would be awesome I'll look for the marker on SA/HSI, that will work fine with waypoints. But not so well with quick "hey we're smoking this random target go bomb it". But then I guess if JTAC is smoking they're probably also lasing and I can just CCRP it and leave. 8)

LITENING question The targetting pod is fantastic but I run into a small issue when using it: it's very difficult to find the target area. E.g. if I have a waypoint or something is marked with smoke, it takes me ages to get the pod looking in the right general area to start with. Usually it requires diving the plane at the point and estimating 5 degrees below my datum line, but even that is inaccurate and often impractical (results in very high closure to target and not enough time to set up the attack run properly). Is there any way at all to either: display where the pod is looking on the HUD (like the AGM-65s do) slave the pod and tell it "look at this waypoint" then go from there? Thanks!

I think you understood but just to say it in a different way. It may be counter-intuitive at first that you are not controlling the antenna elevation directly like Western jets, rather telling the radar distance and relative altitude and it sets the elevation for you. But that's what it is, antenna elevation control by 2 indirect numbers instead of direct. And it makes sense in the context of Soviet interceptor doctrine, where aircraft were expected to fly in rigid adherence to ground control instructions and likely would have their radar off to reduce chance of being detected. Then, as other said above, if ground control gives you a BRAA you need to point your radar there and turn it on, find the target ASAP, you don't want to be doing mental maths to calculate what angle antenna change you need. You just punch the same numbers to the radar as ground control just told you, and presto the antenna is on the target even if it's not on. It's a different philosophy because you are aiming the scan center at a known point, while Western jets tend to care more about defining the scan area as this lends itself better to independent air superiority sweep type operations.

Right, thanks. So it always mixes EWR and AWACS as available. Not too bad then if AWACS isn't in the air.

Possibly a silly/simple question but what does the current Flanker simplified datalink actually show you? Everything friendly AWACS can see? Everything friendly EWR can see? Does it combine data if both AWACS and EWR are available or just pick one? Any information from other sources e.g. other aircraft on same side?

I have no physical detent on my TWCS and I just listen for the audible clicks that sound when you hit/pass the detent. Occasionally I glance at the throttle and it's quite easy to see if they are behind the white line that denotes military power.

Ah, my apologies for the bug report then, I misunderstood the intended behaviour. I'll check it works correctly in conjunction with LMT.

DCS F-14B allows you to take and launch wing phoenixes only with no palettes fitted.

Issue with both Jester and human RIOs. RWR does not filter based on RIO selection, it always shows everything.

Nice, thanks lunatic. So if I'm reading that correctly, drag index of 2 PH in tunnel and 3 SP on wings plus tunnel is: (10+12+12+2) -5 + (3+6)*2 = 49 And 4 SP in the tunnel plus 2 PH on wings: 2*4 -5 + (3+12)*2 = 33 Wow... 16 less drag index and an extra Sparrow! Is the pump restriction for the 54A modelled in game? I assume in my picture above those are Cs, especially since that's an F-14D carrying them. But I'm sure I've seen this loadout for early 14As.

This makes sense while you're still carrying the missiles. But after you fire the Phoenixes from 2-3-2 the palettes are still there causing drag. Wing Phos are just gone. This is the loadout I'm talking about: