CBStu

I am using the vkb Gladiator and think it is a great piece of equipment. Bought it from XPlane. The only downside was it's throttle is too small and hard to make fine adjustments w/ for carrier landings. So I bit the bullet and got the TM Warthog dual throttle. Someday I may try pedals but the twist grip on the vkb works well. I strongly second (or third?) TrackIR. No need for the supposedly better head piece since the basic reflector works just fine.

I don't even use the meatball. Can't see it well enough for it to work. I get trimmed to center the VV in the E bracket and then follow the ICLS.

I changed the screen resolution. In Win 10 my screen is at 1920x1080. In DCS it is set at 1920x1000. This leaves the task bar at the bottom visible just like when running any other program.

A couple of thoughts. I come from the automotive repair world and have seen computer controlled engine fuel injection and emissions control parts evolve from on/off function to finely graduated movement simply because computers have advanced tremendously. Could there be some of this in an FA-18? I have no idea. Flying the DCS FA-18, I have done a little from a chase view to watch flaps action. My controller setup has a down and an up button for flaps. From up, 1 push on down gets me half flaps and a second push gets me full flaps as indicated by the lights on the panel. The reverse from full to up. In chase view I can see the flaps, after takeoff, retract w/ no button input from me. So there is some auto mode stuff happening but I don't count on it. I take off at 1/2 flaps and hit gear up and flaps up buttons nearly at the same time. So nothing unusual there. Slowing for an approach, I hit 1/2 flaps at about 200, and full flaps at 170-180. At these speeds there is nearly no ballooning on flap extension. The plane just slows really rapidly. Those speeds work fine on straight in approaches either to land or boat. Once is a while I will try a regular pattern carrier landing and, per recommendations from helpful guys here, I deploy flaps AFTER I roll into a bank for the 180 degree upwind to downwind turn. That greatly reduces the balloon effect

I remembered that too, and was going to look it up again. But then I started switching channels in the FA-18 radio looking for one where the Am had the colon showing up. 305 had the colon so i switched the Stennis 305 and all is well.

Thanks Radial9. I have watched and saved a link to his vids. Fantastic info. I just didn't know his name.

Guess I need to think about Nevada also. If nothing else it would be nice to have names I can pronounce.

Deano, that is helpful. just in the last week I figured out how to use the tacan to verify distance to the carrier. And, yeah, I do extend the down wind for sure. Mainly because I am never at the proper spot coming out of the second 180 so that gives me room to adjust. Question for you and Delta after watching that video. The pattern layout I got from one of the training videos shows going past the boat at 250. Deano I take it you are over that by a bunch and the RL pilot in the video was at 350(?). I do have the ILS running, but since I am so far behind the boat I am always way low. I think I will try extending my upwind leg some. That will give a longer downwind to get settled but not have me so far behind the boat after the second 180 turn. Thanks your help guys.

What display do you have on the DDI to see them. I usually have HSI there and don't remember seeing any clues to the caution.

I have tried this and doing it while in the 30 deg bank definitely reduces the ballooning problem. The rest of the pattern I suck at though. I usually do a pattern when I do a bolter figuring what have I to lose? Proper carrier traps are a long, frustrating, learning curve but they do slowly but surely get better.

Lex's videos? Where do i find them?

Me either but fortunately it is an easy fix IF you have some understanding of mission editor. And mission editor is a whole other learning curve.

If you want to fly the Hornet go for it. I started DCS 5-6 months ago flying the P51 that came w/ DCS world. Soon bought the P51 so I could have guns and bombs. Bought the A10 cause I think it is an awesome plane. But I started going through the training tutorial and so much was going over my head it wasn't even funny. Plus the tutorial sucks in that I couldn't figure a way to make the text come back after it disappeared. He said to do what??????? in which order????. huh? So, I had previously been flying a Hornet in XPlane which I liked but that one has a grossly overdone automatic trim control. So I got the DCS FA18. This thing is a blast. Flies great. I have probably done 500 carrier straight-in traps and am up to maybe 75% of them work. W/ help from here I have figured out the AoA flying finally. Carrier traps doing the standard pattern are maybe 5-10% successful but never pretty. But a TM Warthog throttle has made a huge improvement there. I figured out ICLS right away and am slowly learning TACAN and the radio. I have no clue about any other kind of navigation but will slowly learn it. The other investment I strongly advise is TrackIR. I haven't tried VR but TIR is such an advance over screwing around w/ views controlled by arrow keys and hat switches etc it isn't even funny.

I have had a delay when paying by credit card also. Everything completed on the pay page and then go back to DCS and nothing there. Usually it's only 5 minutes or so as I keep messing around trying to figure what is wrong and then, suddenly there it is.

Not sure if this will help because I don't even know what JHMCS is but I have large null zones set for my TrackIR5. That may not be the correct term. I have, in both vertical and horizontal view angles, set so I can turn my head about 10 degrees each way before my view begins to move on the screen. This has helped a lot w/ cutting out unintentional movement. It also gives kind of a snap back action when you have angled your view because as soon as it gets to 9 deg it snaps to center.

I have been doing a ton of straight-in carrier approaches using the instant action and a similar mission I created. Plane starts at about 350. I chop the throttle and yank back on the stick and release it. As it is slowing I set ILS and TACAN and keep my eye on the speed. A little under 250 I drop hook and gear, at about 200 I drop half flaps and it really starts slowing. About 170 I drop full flaps. I sometimes start cranking in some up trim. At about 150 I start bringing in the throttle and more up trim while watching the E bracket. Getting the throttle right is hard to do but I am trying to let the speed drop to about 130-135 but no lower or plane drops like a rock. The AOA light is OK but the E bracket is a lot more useful to me. Once I get it stable at 135 or so w/ everything full down, pitch trim adjustment gets the E bracket centered, and throttle gets me on the glide slope. Problem is the 100 tiny throttle adjustments needed to keep it on slope. But that is why this is a fun challenge.

I had that problem also w/ the Stennis in a mission I created that is similar to the instant action Case 1 Carrier recovery. Supposedly 127.500 is what the carrier Stennis radio is on but setting that in the FA18 there was no AM and I couldn't make it work. So I went to mission editor and changed the Stennis channel to 305.000 and that works in the FA18 also. BTW I also set the Stennis TACAN and ICLS channels to 1. So when I am setting those up in the FA18 I don't need to hit clear and then channel # buttons. When you hit 'On', the channel window always pops up with a 1 already there, so I just hit enter.

I have full screen not checked but then I adjusted the screen resolution in the options/system menu. In windows my screen is set at 1920x1080 which is a common number. In DCS resolution field I originally also had it at 1920x1080 but I manually changed the 1080 to 1000. Now I have the task bar across the bottom of the screen. Depending what icons you already have there, and what you want to be able to do while you pause DCS, you may need to add buttons to the task bar. I have Chrome and File Explorer icons there. So I can easily search the web or open some of the stuff I have saved in my Sim Flying folder. In that folder I have runway layout maps saved as pdfs for the airports I fly often in XPlane. I also have manuals for planes I fly here and over there. It works great because DCS is just like any other program you may have on your PC. It's as easy to switch from DCS to the web as it is to switch from email to the web. I have been flying the FA18 a lot and it's nice to be able to 'active pause' DCS and look in the manual to figure how to set Tacan or ICLS or radio channels.

That is an excellent idea. I could use the notch as my standard position and then be able to zoom in or out from there. Thanks for the idea.

Along the right side of the base there is a light grey lever that looks a lot like a throttle on a stick. The handbook either doesn't label this or says it's a throttle friction adjuster. It definitely isn't that as the friction adjuster is a roller wheel at the front of the base. I notice there is a slight notch at it's center of travel. What do you guys use this for on an FA18?

Thanks for this. I have problems when wife is in kitchen w/ the ceiling can lights on. They are behind me and as she walks around Track IR goes nuts. She must block/unblock a reflection. I will try this trick.

I am using a Warthog throttle and VKB Gladiator stick which has twist. Quite happy w/ this combination.

Got the Warthog throttle and find it to be fantastic. Haven't even started using buttons switches, but the throttle is so much better it is worth it.

I am a maybe a 4 month newbie at DCS after a 10-15 yr break from flying most of the MS sims. I got a VKB Gladiator stick for one reason, that I don't want to go to pedals for a while. The stick is very good in every way except the throttle. Moving a small near zero effort (although perfectly smooth) lever about 1.5 inches total travel just wasn't helping my straight-in carrier traps. So I kept looking around at options and finally gulped and bought a TM Warthog Throttle. Got it yesterday and have just the throttle working- no other buttons at all so far. 3 hrs yesterday and 3 hrs today and I have to say, this thing is absolutely wonderful. Having a real throttle w/ 4-5 inches of travel and a perfect feel ( I am surprised I have the friction at the minimum) is so much more flyable it is unbelievable. I have even made a couple of pattern traps. They are ugly, but now my problem is not so much getting altitude correct, as getting the final lineup correct. Was it worth the $? If I weren't doing carrier traps maybe not, but I am, and it is a fantastic improvement. And I haven't even explored how much I can get away from the keyboard w/ all these buttons.

+1 on this idea. I will have to try the active pause idea. I did a couple of tutorials but because the info disappeared before I wanted it to, and because you can't just back up one pause button, but have to restart at the beginning, I haven't used them any more. Seems a waste doesn't it?