SpaceMonkey037

Of course, we need all of the pins, not just the epu pin. I'll edit the title

Because of drift you should always verify that the standby attitude matches your ADI before you enter IMC in the case that you lose INS.

With loss of battery power the standby attitude indicator will function for 9 minutes. This could be a bug with battery power, or operator fault although you need to be blind to not see a battery failure. If what you're seeing is slight drift, this can occur with vertical manoeuvres. Can you please specify what you mean with tumble?

From what I know this is not a legal configuration, so we will hopefully not see this configuration added.

If the manuals are publically released I will be all aboard. Until then I can't see the aircraft being developed.

The block 50 is the block that has most available documents. It has the -1, -34, -1-1 and three software update documents available for it. The only thing it's really missing are loudout limitations, so over g'ing will probably be guesswork. For a OCP version to be possible you would need so much guesswork it isn't even worth attempting.

G problems is a known issue and we will just to hope it gets fixed in the future. ED did do a fix on it a while ago where they improved the pilots g tolerance, but I'm unsure if it is at an realistic level or not currently.

let me just take it from top to bottom: The engine the block 40 uses will 100% have a noticeably different thrust together with a completely separate thrust curve. Different engines work differently. This would also mean that we need documentation on how the engine system works in terms of electronics and hydraulics and we would also need to know the different fuel flows, RPM stuff, oil pressure etc. etc. Right now no information surrounding these areas are available. Additionally the block 40 has unique features like that fancy HUD. These are things that 100% need written documentation to be able to correctly implement. The block 40 would need way to much guesswork for it to even be a viable aircraft to create. Simulators and guesswork usually doesn't go hand in hand. The block 50 is the only F-16 block that has sufficient information surrounding it, so it's not a surprise that ED went for this block. The block 40 simply doesn't have the required documentation and for that reason more than likely will not be added into the sim, nor is there possibility for it being added before the block 50 is completed.

Again, we don't have any documentaion on the aircraft. The flight model would have to be a copy of the block 50, which wouldn't be correct at all for the block 40. Additonaly the block 40 has many systems that are uniqe to that aircraft version, and this wouldn't be possible to model correctly without real documentation on the aicraft. And even if ED had the documentation they would have needed to complete the block 50 first, which I'd wager is a but 10% complete currently. There are so many systems that reqire complete re-writing of the code and the aicraft might be added in 8-20 years maybe? that is IF the documentation is released.

The only docs I know available is a block 10/15 OCP -1. Other than that the OCP vversion seems completely "secret". O well, not much more to say about it really, a -1 won't make an aircraft

Yeah, like said the real F-16 can't do that.

Probably not going to happen because from what I know only the -1 is avaiable for the block 10/15, and that is far from enough information to create a full fidelity aircraft. I would love to have the aircraft, but right now there simply isn't enough information for the plane.

The hole datalink page has major problems and fiddling with it will only make problems worse. This has yet to be correctly impemented other than the DED pages actually being there. For now just don't ever use the datalink DED page as this hole system hasn't even been modelled at all.

I've studied the EM charts for the Block 50 in high detail. The magical speed in the F-16 for maximum sustained turn rate is: As fast as possible under 500 knots while not blacking out. That simple. Have a safe flight!

This is actually a bug that appeared when the improved dogfight mode was introduced. IRL the radar will automatically go into "SNIF" (I don't know how to spell it, but it's said like that) when the dogfight master mode is selected without a radar lock. SNIF is a radar mode where the radar still moves from side to side and up and down, but doesn't emit any radar signals. This increases stealth over just having the radar in a stationary standby mode. NO RAD should appear in the HUD when in SNIF mode. Until this gets fixed the dogfight mode will lack a major function.

Thing is, if you want a full explanation of the checklist you will end up with a copy of the flight manual. Word by word pretty much. So... It's not going to happen really, at least not with my current approach. Who knows, maybe I'll try to conquer this task another time

I am sad to say this, but I need to realise that the project I have started has no end. This was originally meant as a guide that as supposed to be the easiest way for people to fly realistically, but this simply isn't currently possible. As said I am not creating some revolutionary product, rather I am just re-writing the real flight manual. The guide I tried to create serves no purpose, and the project will therefor be halted indefinitely or until I figure out some better way to write it. I was really exited for this project, and because of that I failed to see this earlier, although I knew that this would be an almost impossible task from the start. Don't be all sad though, as I will in compensation of the promises I made, release my F-16 Flight Checklist for normal procedures. It was the foundation for the "Flight Guide" and it's progress started early summer this year. I've probably put in over 300 hours of work into this checklist to make it a direct improvement over the checklist provided in the real flight manual. The checklist I've made contains all necessary checks and other additions to the original procedure that are necessary, but not touched upon in the actual flight manual. The checklist has re-arranged a lot of the steps to make them "flowy", while still being perfectly legal. I hope this will be a decent compensation. The support for the project was overwhelmingly positive and I apologise for the inconvenience and thank everyone for their support. Enjoy the checklist in orange, white and black colours. F-16 Flight Checklist BLACK.pdf F-16 Flight Checklist ORANGE.pdf F-16 Flight Checklist WHITE.pdf

I agree, most of the points mentioned above are true. The landing example was a really unrefined product smacked together in a couple minutes simply to show how something could have been done. The example was meant to only surround landing, and not patterns as these require complete separate explanations. As for the ejection part I have gotten a really helpful comment already that made me implement a ranking system for how relevant to general flight different systems are in DCS.

I am generally interested in RC flight and have created RC planes from the ground up, but other than that I have no connection to IRL aviation. I am simply a guy on the internet who is slightly too interested in the F-16 and aviation in general. I know how painful finding good system explanations are, and how terribly difficult it is to cross the bridge between the "quick and dirty" and the "Hardcore milsim" flying styles. Mindset is "I've done it the hard way, so you don't have to.". I am really interested in passing my knowledge on, and can't think of a better way to do this than to create a guide for everyone to enjoy free of charge. Right now of course the guide will only be including F-16 operational information, but a long term goal is to have the guide cover multiple aspects of aviation such as mission planning and basic air traffic navigation, flight operations (formations etc.), etc. etc. Although this is a REALLY long term goal, and I do not expect to be able to complete guides surrounding all these areas any time soon. Right now the first iteration of the F-16 Flight Guide will sent the benchmark for what the possible future guides might bring. I am very excited to see how this project progresses, and how it's received by the community once released!

I'll take that into consideration. I won't remove things like the handcrank, as these are things that shouldn't be left aside although completely meaningless in DCS. For this reason I will add a ranking system to each explanation that ranks the importance of the systems. This way the guide will be a lot more relatable to people who desire to know the basics or to people who want to know super advanced stuff. Thanks!

Yeah, illustrations as to where stuff is located and keybinds will be added later on, should have mentioned. As for the difficulty, what made it non-beginner-appropriate? Complicated explanations, too much information, etc.?

Great to hear so many people are interested in this! Really makes this a fun project to work on. As for a possible release date I don't think you guys will be having to wait for long if progress continues with the current paste. I would be expecting a release in no more than 2-3 months, but I really hope to be able to get the project really rolling over the Christmas and new year holidays, meaning that hopefully the release should be early after new year. Keep in mind that this is far from set in stone as I am a lone writer, and if anything happens progression might be completely halted for a considerable amount of time. I will try my best though! The first release will mainly be focusing on the normal procedures and the considerations that should be made to sustain safe operation of the aircraft. To be able to get some more specific feedback on the layout and general flow of how the end product will look like, I have made this Escape System description as an example of how I would expect most of the guide to be made. Do you feel like this will turn out to be a great guide, or a guide that you will fall asleep reading and won't get any sort of useful information out of? Highly appreciate all feedback as to how these system explanations should be made. PDF document attached to this post. F-16 Flight Guide ESCAPE SYSTEM TEST.pdf

Example? I can give you an example no problem! This is an example of how to land the F-16, so ONLY landing procedure (keep in mind that this is straight into it, the guide will most definitely contain more information about different things to make the procedure easier for people, and then have another version that quickly explains how to land so that it's easier to memorize the procedure. 1 for leaning, 1 for remembering. I will also keep the guide more formal than shown in this example : *****************************************************************************LANDING START*********************************************************** To figure out the correct approach we first need to input the runway coordinates as a steerpoint. Choose steerpoint 1-25 for this and select that steerpoint. Then figure out the heading on the runway by any means and input the heading into the HSI’s course (that blue line on the HSI). I’m not going to go over correct VFR approaches, but I would recommend to somehow get infront of the runway, no matter the distance. At 12-15nm away from the runway lower the landing gear under 300 knots and extend the speedbrakes. Once lined up with the runway intercept a 3 degree glide slope. This can be achieved by using the dotted attitude line that appears in the HUD with gear down shows you 2.5 degrees nose down attitude. Line up the dotted line slightly above the runway threshold and place the flight path marker on the threshold. Doing this will result in a 3 degrees. Then simply fly for 11 degrees AOA. 11 degrees AOA is preferred of 13, as 13 degrees proved to give too little room for error when flaring (11 degrees is achieved by placing the flight path marker on the top of the AOA bracket) Fly the 11 degree glide slope until you’re at approximately 2 seconds from impact when following the 3 degree glide slope. Here you will pull back on the stick, idle the throttle now, or a few bits later if you are heavy. When touching down you’re not trying to smash the plane down, but also not try to just kiss the runway. Smashy smashy style is self-explanatory as that will destroy stuff, however landing too softly increases the chances of aquaplaning with wet runways. For this reason, ALWAYS try to firmly place the aircraft down, not too soft not too hard. Even if the runway is dry it is a good habit to land it firmly. Once you’ve touched down slightly (very slightly) lower the nose to avoid floating back up into the air. Then a split second later pull back on the stick and aim for 13 degrees AOA. Do not exceed 15 degrees as you will tail strike above this. Keep the aerobraking for as long as possible. If your runway is long enough keep your nose up until it falls down by itself, once the nose wheel has touch the ground fully extend the speedbrakes by holding the speedbrake switch aft and give full back stick pressure to increase the drag of the horizontal tail. Keep in mind that there is no reason to lower the nose “manually” if you’re not going to brake immediately after the nose wheel as touched the runway. For shorter runways a shorter stop might be needed. Here you might need to lower the nose at 100 knots and apply brakes. For absolute maximum stopping “power” you will want to aerobrake and apply full brakes while aerobraking. You will then lower the nose at 100 knots, keeping full brakes, full back stick pressure and full speedbrake once the nose wheel as touched the runway. Hot brakes is another consideration when landing. If heavy use of wheel brakes is necessary you risk getting hot brakes. Hot brakes can destroy the hydraulics in the wheel brakes and might lead to fires, so avoid this if possible. Unless you have a really light loadout (4k pounds and belove) you won’t get hot brakes no matter what you do. If you brake at anything under 80 knots you pretty much won't get hot brakes unless you have a heavy loadout. Anything under 7k pounds will be just fine. You can calculate your current weight by estimating each missile to 250 pounds and bombs to.. whatever bombs you have, and then of course adding on the amount of fuel left as it is calculated in pounds. Generally you want to avoid using brakes if you don't need to, as you will have to change out the brake pads more often, however changing brake pads is a lot cheaper than changing the plane. It's better to use them rather then not if you're unsure about the braking distance. As for the actual braking technique, think like this: No matter the braking power you will always have the same amount of heat build up, meaning that it is better to brake hard over a short amount of time rather than braking softly over a long time. Same goes for taxing. With hot brakes i mean red glowing hot brakes. The only way to actually confirm that you have them is if a flight member can spot the brakes. As for when you want to stop I would say slightly before the runway end, roughly 1/8 of the way down the runway or 1000 feet. Use a minimum runway length of 8000 feet. It is possible to land at shorter runways, but 8000 is a good “minimum” for most weights. *****************************************************************************LANDING END**************************************************************

That's another thing I am trying to do with the guide, make the world of realistic simming accessible to everyone, with minimal time investment. The guide will, in best case, work as a gateway into realistic simming.

Did you at least confirm the INS alignment coordinates and SALT?