CBStu

I keep seeing this 'fly the ball' but I can't see the ball well enough for it to be useful. I try using it once in a while but it's only good for the last 1/2 mile or so for me. I keep the top of the VV circle about even w/ the top edge of the deck.

I think your problem is that when you fly the ICLS approach the boat is constantly moving to the right relative to the plane. So if you are flying towards the boat for the whole 8-10 miles out you end up perfectly in line w/ the boat but the deck is angled to the left. You are using the ICLS system right? Assuming you are, doing a straight in approach, I fly to the right until the VV is just to the right of the vertical ICLS localizer line. I keep it there by keeping it just to the right of the boat. At about 1-1.2 miles out (you are setting up tacan on the hud also right?) I move the VV over to the flight deck. Keep the VV centered on the deck and that last 1-1.2 miles of boat movement will land you nearly perfectly in line w/ the deck rather than in line w/ the boat's course. BTW, the ICLS vertical localizer line will show up as soon as you get the system fired up as long as you are < 10 miles out ( I am not sure what the max actually is but the included carrier missions all start you at 8-10 miles out). but you won't get the glide slope horizontal line til about 6 miles out.

I agree. Every mission where you launch from the carrier the flaps are pre-set to 'Half'.

I started practicing carrier traps doing a straight-in approach. Both Caucuses and Persian Gulf have a quick action mission that works great. I get the plane stopped and hit L Shift + R to start over again. Once you are good at a straight-in then you can work on the standard pattern which is much, much more difficult.

It is really not too hard to file yours. I did mine in maybe 10 minutes.

Can you assign trim to keyboard buttons? I did that a few years ago but don't remember if it was in DCS or X-plane.

Question, what happened to the G readout in the hud? Is this something I have to turn on? I was refreshing my memory the other day and came across the mention of reading G for the first 180 deg turn. that reminded me I don't see it.

Just to add my experience here. I got the kit and the SCG and had a hell of a time getting it to work. But Two of the VKB guys stuck w/ me and we got it working. And WOW is this thing nice. There are so many buttons and hats that I still have several I haven't used yet. Flying an FA-18 in DCS w/ a Warthog throttle there has always been a problem w/ the slew. Set it to work on radar attack and it sucks for Mav slew and vice versa. Now I use the warthog throttle slew for radar attack and center black hat on the SCG for Mavs so I can tune each to work well for the different functions..

Every thing I have read says don't do anything in Windows. I have a TM throttle and VKB stick. I do all assigning and tuning in DCS.

Which ever of the two displays you get the mav screen on you have to set as the selected sensor using your sensor select switch. I typically have stores on the left screen so when I click the MAV button twice that is where the Mav aiming screen shows up. I sometimes forget to select that screen and nothing will work. It is a known thing that the slew on the TM Warthog throttle doesn't work correctly so I unchecked the 'realistic slew'. Officially you should depress the lock button and slew while holding it down. By unchecking the 'realistic slew' you can slew and then, once centered on your target, push the button to lock. You can also bind any 4 way hat switch to do the slew and any keyboard or stick button to do the lock function. BTW the Caucuses MavF training mission wants you to hit trucks and tanks which show up as tiny white dots. To practice your setup just fly a little past those targets and start taking out any buildings you see. Testing your setup or practicing your skill is a lot easier w/ a decent size target. BTW there is another known problem w/ slewing. Whatever 4 way you use will usually move great on the 'radar attack' screen and suck for the Mav. So I use two different 4 ways. That way I can tune them so they both work fine for their purpose.

Let's go over a straight in approach starting at 250-275, 8-10 miles out at 3-4000ft. Chop the throttle to idle and drop the gear. It won't actually drop til you go below 250 and it has a mild slowing effect. You can start cranking some up trim in now but don't get carried away as it changes drastically when the flaps come down. Don't drop flaps til 180 or you will just balloon up. Waiting til <180 the flaps give a huge slow down so now crank in more trim. I don't use the AOA lights at all, 100% use the E bracket to set trim. Generally your approach speed will be in the 130-135 range, so watch the E bracket to set trim but watch speed too. As you know reaction to more throttle is laggy so, as you get down to 140-145, start adding throttle. I think there is a quick action mission that is a straight in approach to a landing strip. You can use that as practice. As soon as your wheels touch just hit left shift-R to restart and keep doing this. BTW what you are using for a throttle will have a definite effect as you need really fine control.

Yep brakes do seem weak. I always try to find a runway of 6500 or more. Also I usually do a straight-in but using AOA same as a carrier trap. That way you are normally at about 130-135k. And I work real hard on the approach to get on the ground as early as possible so I don't waste runway. Pop the air brake as soon as wheels hit, at 100 hit brakes and pull stick fully back. I also need to work on my throttle so I can pull it past the extra stop to get ground idle vs flight idle. It took me quite a while to get the AB working correctly w/ the modified stop so I have just left ground idle for another day, or maybe another year.

I haven't used a waypoint yet for targeting. This is another new skill I need to learn.

Good question. Now that I look at the keys, there is a R Shift that would be easy to hit w/ F10 w/ one hand. Now I am not sure since I deleted the binding but I always used the left shift. Maybe either shift would work? But even if it did, I had an extra button I wasn't using so it now toggles labels and is super easy to use.

May be. I can't tell how far away I am very well. So many times though, I keep trying for a lock, maybe get one and then try for another since there are maybe 8 helo sitting there. But as I keep trying, I either get shot down or I get so close I need more angle than the seeker can provide.

Yes, I just tried it for 'All Labels' I cleared the shift-F10 and added a button on my stick. Works great. What a super idea!

A somewhat related question. Flying the mission where we are supposed to take out helos on the ramp at the airfield I am flying in at 5000 ft and trying to slew the cross over a helo and push to lock it on. I have the screen zoomed in using FOV and step buttons but the helos are still tiny dots and it takes 5-6 tries to get a lock. Is there a better way? I can hit buildings no problem but the helos and the tanks in the training mission are so small.

I will be watching this. Currently I use Shift + F10 which of course means I take both hands off the throttle and stick.

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If I am doing a straight in approach (Quick Action carrier trap) gear and hook down at 250 but I don't lower flaps til <180. I then go to full so I just have to deal w/ the transition one time. At <180 all the flaps do is slow the plane w/ almost no ballooning. I will start cranking in trim right after that. Trim is 100% adjusted by looking at the E bracket in the HUD. At about 150 I start slowly adding in throttle because, as mentioned above, normal approach will be in the 130-135k range. If doing a pattern approach I am usually flying Banklers training mission. Into the first turn at 350, throttle to idle, 30deg or so of bank, slight back pressure on the stick, and finger on the trim button. I haven't gotten to a stage where I know exactly how long to hold trim because I just switched sticks and have a different trim setup now. Before I get to the boat hook, gear and flaps switches to full down. The hook is all that will drop at that point. flaps and gear won't drop til you drop below 250k. So somewhere in that 180 turn the flaps and gear drop automatically. You may feel somewhat of a bobble but it's not hard to adjust to and maybe 60-70% of the time I don't feel flaps and gear drop at all.

I am not sure of what you are looking for but I use this. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q2vH0WLm5mdu2U3GX8AkB1z6iIP-I_sF/view For anything else I go to youtube and look there.

This is weird to me that there seems to be so much variation in performance between posters. I do single player only against the AI in the missions in Caucusus and PG. For me the 7 is useless and the 120 my favorite.

I haven't done this exactly but on my approaches I go to full flaps. You will see 'FULL' illuminated. Keyboard setups can be strange and different so I'd just say do whatever you have to do to get the FULL light on. Take off is 'HALF'.

So I have been ignoring the MavF because the slew on the TMHW doesn't work very well. However it works just fine for me on the radar attack screen. I just got a Space grip for my VKB Gladiator II and it has a lot of hat switches. So I thought I'd give a try using one of them to slew a MavF. https://vkbcontrollers.com/?product=scg-space-combat-grip-kosmosima-stand-alone I am using the top right hand switch. Here is how I assigned the controls. TDC w SCG by craig stuard, on Flickr I was concerned that having two switches mapped to the same function would create some kind of problem but I flew for 2-3 hours yesterday and everything worked just fine.

Agreed. I got the same offer. I did not download them because I wasn't interested. Nothing has changed and no one is charging me anything.