Itkovian

Hum, just where (and how) do you set the altimeter anyway? I'm through the instruments section of the flight manual, and must have missed that part. Thank you. Itkovian

I went to staples and had mine printed on normal letter paper, but with 2 pages per side, then spiral bound along the top (with the "back side" of each sheet reversed so I can read 4 pages at once by keeping it open). It cost me around 40$ in black and white, plus about 10 bucks to get a few things laminated (HOTAS layout, mission and 9-line callsheets, keyboard instructions). Well worth it if you ask me. It turns out the binding is more robust than Black Shark's manual, in fact, though the paper is not nice and glossy. The one thing to consider is that it does make the writing rather small, but not unmanageable. They could probably have zoomed in a little, too, as there are large margins inherent in the file, but either way I can handle it easily enough. I certainly would not have been able to play without a manual, so it was a worthwhile expense (not that most people agree... but then again most people don't understand the allure of study sims *grin*). Itkovian

Well, in that case the challenge will be to line up properly... once that's done, I would imagine the drogue is more forgiving of speed changes, so long as you aim on the faster side. Once we're connected, then we can speed up a bit and build up some slack. What scares me more is the idea of refueling at night in bad weather. Reading Warthog (book about the A-10s in the Gulf War), I get nightmares just thinking about refuelling in the middle of the Atlantic, at night, while dodging storms cells. :) Itkovian

Well, I finally did find a mission to practice in (Guns n Rockets, see http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=67702, thank you nomdeplume), and spent a couple of hours having a go at it last night. It was a challenge at first, but now I think I've got the hang of it. Still not perfect and I get a few disconnects, but nothing major (the mission starts you off at 25% fuel, too). To start off, I set my Y and X axis to 15% saturation, which isn't excessive and maintains good responsiveness. It is a justified change, considering that the real A-10's stick is at the end of a far longer lever arm than the HOTAS Warthog, which therefore allows them to be more precise. Saturation recreates that somewhat (except for the really coarse movements). Then, as suggested in this thread, I try and fit the tanker into a specific position in relation to the support frames, right above the HUD (where it is circular on either side and above of the HUD). So, as I close in 1 or 2 knots above the tanker's speed I try and keep it in a mental "slot", and then I just let the tanker make the connection when I get close enough. Once the connection is made, I have found that the greatest challenge is regulating speed. You have to keep the tanker in its "slot", while making sure you don't get too close or too far. And for that, I think the best help is to use the probe colour marks as a guide, and to anticipate needed acceleration/deceleration. If you're in the green but the probe is getting shorter, decelerate a little, and accelerate if its getting longer. In fact, I've found that sometimes sharp throttle changes might be needed for a split second or so before returning to "neutral" (so if the probe is rapidly shorterning to the red, I cut the throttles for half a second then bring the engines back up to a little slower than before). Doing so saved my connection many times. Also, it helps to "anticipate" the throttle a bit. For example, if the probe is getting longer, add more throttle, but when it starts getting shorter cut it back a little. If you're lucky you'll hit the sweet spot, but if not you will still have a few seconds of stability as your A/C slows down and starts losing ground again, at which point you add more throttle and repeat the process. Fortunately, you don't need to maintain the connection for very long to fill up. :) But anyway, I think the best hint is to try and fit the tanker in a mental slot you create for yourself above the HUD, and when you have the connection only use your throttle to maintain the proper probe length (and stay in the green). If you have to use the stick to move up or down, odds are you'll disconnect anyway. Stick should be just for keeping the tanker in the slot, and let the throttle handle the probe. That said, I did run into an interesting bug: the first time I filled up it worked fine, but in all subsequent attempt the tanker would call for a disconnect when I filled up, but not actually disconnect. And when I DID disconnect the tanker would call for a reconnect even though my tanks were full. And when I reconnected, tanker would again call for disconnect a second later but maintain the connection. It made for great practice mind you, since I could continue holding the connection as long as I could, but I had to abort the refueling to get the tanker to return to its station despite being "topped off" several times over. :) Anyway, thank you for the help on this thread. It definitely is quite a challenge. :) Itkovian

What's wrong with the campaigns? Itkovian

Failing an actual pre-made refueling training mission, would anyone please post some hints on how to create such a mission (what type of WPs to make for the tanker, what task, how do you assign frequency to contact tanker, etc.) Thank you. Itkovian

I did wonder about those. They were superimposed so well I almost thought it could be glare protection... which makes absolutely no sense, mind you. Either way, it shows you just how well it predicts the impacts though. Itkovian

Does anyone have a good air refuelling training mission, with the proper radio comms setup (I use complex comms)? I don't know how to use the editor (especially to set up frequency and such), so it would be nice if someone had a refuellling mission handy and could post it. Thank you. Itkovian

Aaah, when acronyms collide! :) Itkovian

Allright, I'll have to figure out waht DTS is (I am RTFMing, but not halfway through yet). Though my thinking was to use markpoints anyway (it's rather easy to drop one and then change its coordinates, or hook the JTAC symbol and drop a mark point. Itkovian

So, no news on this being possible? For now I'm just leaving the LEDs on, since I dont' want to load up TARGET every time I boot my computer just to turn off the LEDs. Itkovian

Excellent, thank you. So the cue is based on SPI. *mental note* :) Concerning the streepoint's elevation... do you mean its elevation above MSL, or above ground (probalby the former, but maybe the TDU has the ground elevation above MSL stored already and "knows" the ground's elevation automatically)? Itkovian

I rather like the former... so then you can set the TGP as SOI, then set it as SPI and slave all to it to start firing the Mavs and such? The latter is also nice... TMS down long is a good shortcut if it works for all SOIs. Here's a question to sate my curiousity (I'm one of those people who reads the entire manual, but I'm not at the weapons employment section yet): If I want to drop some bombs, for example, what will the HUD sight use as its target point? Does it automatically assume you are aiming for the current SPI? Or does it follow where the SOI is currently pointed? So for example, say I've set the steerpoint as SPI, then I switch to the TGP after I've Slaved All to SPI, and move the TGP around a bit to another target nearby. Will the CCRP sight still be "aimed" (I mean the vertical line that appears on the HUD, that I believe indicates offset to the target) at the steer point, or will it be "aimed" at where the TGP is currently pointed? If the former, how do I switch it to the TGP's new target? Make the TGP the SPI? Thank you. Itkovian

From what I've read in A-10 books, it would seem the pilots agree the A-10 is a superb flyer with few vices. So I just think the A-10 is simply an easy plane to land. Behaves well at low speeds and is very forgiving of less-than-perfect touchdowns. I haven't blown any tires yet, and I make it a point to do a landing a day (while I'm still learning the avionics). Itkovian

I have a question concerning that procedure: Last step is to slew your TGP to the SPI... but at what point in the procedure did you set your SPI? Is the current steerpoint automatically your SPI when you make the HUD the SOI? It looks to me that a step to set the SPI is missing. I'm not sure if using the HUD to set SPI will set it to the streerpoint (wouldn't it be set to the HUD marker?). Thank you. Itkovian

Excellent, thank you. :) Not quite there yet in the manual, mind you (currently reading about the DSMS). Itkovian

Well, if I can reproduce the situation I will, but this was the first time it happened to me. And it wasn't TrackIR, as I could see the scratchpad that is normally underneath it (I was in permanent function mode for the UFC, but that can't be it). Itkovian

Hum, so I just flew another free flight (finishing navigation section of the manual), and then played around with mavericks and the TGP a bit, and when I was done and diverting to a nearby airfield, I noticed my heading scale was again gone. This time, there was no flashing message, nothing. It simply was not there. I fiddled with HUD modes and gunsight modes, to no avail (and tried TMS left short). Anyone know how to restore the heading scale at the bottom of the HUD? Thank you. Itkovian

Hum, well I'm not sure about the mavs, I was flying a free flight mission and I haven't learned how to use ordinance yet. But allright, I will keep that in mind next time it happens. TMS left short, got it. :) Thank you. Itkovian

Salutations. I was flying my daily landing practice mission, and fiddling with the CDU a bit (reading the navigation chapter of the flight manual), when I noticed that after playing around with acceleration and the autopilot a bit my heading scale at the bottom of the HUD was replaced by a flashing NOTE message. I looked around for anything I might have borked, and could not figure out what was doing this, or how to return the heading scale. So if anyone could tell me what I might have done wrong that can cause this, and how to restore the heading scale, it would be most appreciated. Thank you. Itkovian

That's aobut what I've been doing. I appreciate their higher sensitivity, as it is useful for slight corrections. I do wish the bloody things were on the HUD though, like on the Viper. I believe I will email my displeasure to fairchild republic and DEMAND it be rectified post-haste. :) Itkovian

Autothrottle? Interesting, very interesting. Though really, I would think they'd try and land manually as often as possible, if only to stay ready for their yearly qualifications. But really, you wouldn't want to be rusty the one time you actually need it. :) I wonder if they take autothrottle into consideration when rating a pilot's landing score (which is extremely important as part of their performance rating, from what I understand. Miss enough of those and you're in trouble). For example, if they score higher when going completely manual. Itkovian

Of course. Though I dare say the autopilot function is still extremely useful when you need to do some heads down work. The A-10A must have been fun to fly. :) Itkovian

I remember meeting an AF pilot in DC once, who told me that (he believed) Navy pilots usually landed their night traps using autopilot. I personally thought that was strange and might be just a bit of inter-service rivalry, since it does not jive from what I had read and seen (like on PBS' carrier series), plus it makes little sense. You'd want to land manually as much as possible, so you're in practice for when you suffer an AP failure. Seems to me any automatic landing capability is there for emergencies only (pilot injury/illness, for example). A non-sequitur, I know, but this topic reminded me of that encounter all of a sudden. Itkovian

Well then, I stand corrected. Good to know. And remember a bit more from my F4 days, I should be using the stick to maintain AOA (so that velocity vector is at -3 pitch), course corrections, and using the throttle to remain on glideslope, correct? Itkovian