Chuck_Henry

Is it just me, or did this stop working in 2.8 and/or with Windows 11? Haven’t changed anything else.

There's more than size that goes into flares. Different flares burn in the UV and IR spectra in different proportions. Energy rise time (how quickly does it get hot) and kinematics of the flare (how quickly does it fall away from the aircraft) matter, too, when defeating the specific counter-countermeasures on a specific missile. Anything else is classified at the Secret level or above, and I cannot get into that here. To what degree any of that is modeled in DCS, I can't tell.

In real life, we at least have a co-pilot to manipulate the FLIR via a separate track handle, instead of in a single-seat fighter in which you're using HOTAS while also trying to fly and talk on the radios. The exact model of FLIR on my IRL aircraft (V-22) also does a lot of automatic thermal calibration, so brightness/contrast aren't a huge concern. What gets me is how insanely useless the current DCS F/A-18 FLIR is flying at night during low light conditions. IRL while flying at 240 knots and 300 feet, the FLIR is sometimes the only thing keeping me from plowing into a ridgeline. With no moon over the California or Yuma desert, even the new white phosphor NVGs become useless. Hopefully the DCS-wide FLIR rework corrects this, among other things.

TACAN is bugged right now across multiple aircraft; just gotta wait for a fix.

It is possible to aerodynamically brake the F-5E upon touchdown, but it requires quite a bit of finesse. I think the most important tip I can give you is you have, have, HAVE to be on-speed AOA or slightly fast. If you let the jet get slow in the transition and flare, you will need more nose up to arrest the descent rate. That's equals a greater nose down moment than the stabilators have the authority to arrest. Or if you just let the jet touch down hard, it will be a more violent nose down moment, which again the stabilators cannot arrest. The transition is the hardest part, and I really believe it requires a ton of "batting practice" to feel when the jet is getting low on energy. There are multiple techniques on how to fly it. Crack-shift-idle-flare works, so long as you can consistently feel how much power you're cracking out. I prefer constant pull to the threshold - that is, at the start of the runway underrun, begin steadily pulling the throttles back to hit idle right as you cross the runway threshold. At the same rate, add aft stick pressure to keep the descent rate steadily decreasing until you touch down as lightly as you can manage. Shifting your eyes to the end of the runway (typical airplane technique) or out to the side (helicopter technique I prefer) helps a lot with judging the flare. The final bit is anticipating how much aft stick pressure to hold as the main gears touch down. You can't just add full backstick, or you risk bouncing the jet. You also can't just hold what you had in the flare since the nose down moment will overcome that. Again, just practice.

I've tanked with KC-130Js in real life. The default is "normal" A/A TACAN which provides only range. However, they have a separate TACAN on board that can provide bearing. You can even couple your aircraft's Flight Director to it, if so equipped. However, that particular device is often broken and the -130 crew has no way of knowing if it's actually giving you bearing. Their crew troubleshooting and asking us to verify if we were receiving bearing or not was like those old cell phone commercials, "Can you hear me now? How about now?"

This discussion went further off the tracks and way more into the weeds than it needed to. Fact is, the F-5 we have *in DCS* is pretty garbage for flying in IMC, and this is almost entirely because of the attitude gyro discrepancies that have been reported and subsequently ignored by ED for years. Lack of ILS is realistic and is still the case for the F-5Ns flown by adversary squadrons such as VFC-13 and VMFT-401. On the off-chance the weather is really bad enough at Fallon or Yuma to require a precision approach, they have very well-trained controllers skilled in letting them down via PARs. Lack of radar altimeter gives some pucker factor, but the F-5s are still allowed to fly in IMC under a CNAF waiver. That said, this is not an "all-weather" jet by any modern standard and to claim such is ludicrous. Employing it as such is how you die, whether by CFIT or getting shot down.

To answer the original question - throttles to MIL as soon as you feel the main gears touch the deck and allow the aircraft to rotate on its own. With a positive rate of climb, retract the flaps from FULL to HALF (not necessary, but this minimizes the risk associated with excess drag on the aircraft should an engine fail in the upwind climbout), and reduce power to establish a climb to 600 ft AGL at 150 KIAS or on-speed AOA, whichever is faster (gross weight dependent). There is no hard and fast vertical velocity required for the climb to pattern altitude. I use a 5-degree high FPM. You're only wrong if you blow through 600 ft.

In real life, it is stupid easy for a 4th-gen pulse-Doppler radar to pick up a rotary-wing aircraft. It is even impossible for a helicopter or tiltrotor to employ notching against radar since the rotating blades will always create significant differential velocity.

Tau is the one who said he uses AP while flying lead. I was replying to the OP who didn't specify position.

The control inputs are sudden because when you couple a plane to autopilot, it increases the force gradient on the controls. It's essentially creating a soft stop that you have to break through to disengage or override the AP. It's actually quite hard to do in a real aircraft. In any case, you should not be using autopilot as a crutch to fly stable formation. Parade should have you constantly on the controls. Cruise a little less jockeying of the power, but still hands-on. IFR Trail is the only time that I've let the autopilot fly formation IRL, and that is to synchronize each plane's entry/exit from climbs, descents, and turns.

Right. What I'm describing is specifically for land-based operations.

It doesn't have to be. In fact, NATOPS says if performing a short field landing or a wet runway landing, consider flying the approach without DLC since this will result in a slower approach speed. In addition, upon touchdown you will immediately have access to the full aft deflection of the stabilators for aerodynamic braking, as opposed to having to manually deselect DLC.

Damn, and here I thought I was just crushing the short field landing game in the Tomcat.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3303095/ You want these 2 mods. They add ICLS and TACAN to most major runways. You have to make up your own procedures, vice follow an approach plate, but other than that it works very well for IFR practice in the F-14 and F/A-18.