Dethmagnetic

Are there key bindings I can use to immediately set the flaps to UP / MVR / DN position, regardless of the position they're currently in? I'm working on a custom TM HOTAS Warthog profile, but I can't find any key bindings that will let me do this with the flap switch. All I could find is the flaps up/flaps down bindings, which doesn't really work with the way the flap switch is laid out. I'd rather not use the default DCS mappings because I wanted to change some stuff around (add TrackIR centering, use APU switch for landing gear, a couple of other things).

Unfortunately the short answer is "you wouldn't" :(. The A-10 needs a radio reference to do an instrument approach. Some real life aircraft can do instrument approaches with nothing but GPS, but the A-10 doesn't support this. In real life, you would probably be forced to divert to one of the airports that has an instrument approach, and return to your home base when the weather clears. Edit: to clarify, you probably could set up your own approach procedure using the CDU/EGI and HSI, but I seriously doubt that this would be approved and/or actually done in real life.

What he said. I don't see zooming (or using labels) as cheating, I see it as compensating for the optical disadvantages sim pilots have to deal with. It must be much easier to spot targets in real life - they move, they kick up dust, they have muzzle flashes and exhaust fumes, they don't get decluttered if you're too far away from them, and you've got lots of other people on the radio around you helping you find them.

You have to wait until the DTC finishes downloading to the CDU before you turn on the CICU. A good rule of thumb is that it's safe to turn on the CICU once the HSI uncages and shows the correct heading (instead of north). If you do that, the CICU will be able to get the correct data from the CDU and your DSMS and map page will work correctly.

I made a cheat sheet for the A-10 HOTAS with all of the switch functions, and I figured I'd share it with you guys in case anyone is interested. It is sized to fit in the right flap of a Jeppesen kneeboard, but you can probably resize it as needed. You can download it from here.

Clicking the switch turns the base of the knob, which controls power I think. You need to hover the mouse over the knob and use the mouse wheel to turn it.

This might be a bit off topic, but I wasn't sure where else to post it... what's the real-life story with the airports in Tbilisi? Why do they have three separate airports within 1-2 miles of each other? Seems like kind of an odd arrangement, to say the least.

If you already shelled out for the TM Warthog, why not just buy a set of pedals? You can probably get them for like 1/5th of what you paid for the HOTAS.

Trim isn't normally used for turns (at least in my experience), since you'd just have to go back to the original trim setting when the turn is over. The important thing to remember during turns is that you also need to pull back on the stick through the turn. When the aircraft is banked, part of its lift is turned horizontally, so you need to increase lift (by pulling back on the stick) in order to compensate and maintain a correct pitch attitude. Roll/yaw trim is used more for balancing out turning tendencies caused by non-symmetrical weapon loads, battle damage, etc. And yes, pitch trim is absolutely essential. Usually only larger, jet-type aircraft have roll and yaw trim, but even the smallest aircraft have pitch trim, otherwise it would be hellish to fly :joystick:

I think that the throttle axis needs to be set all the way back in order for the OFF/IDLE keypress to work... sometimes when the sim starts up, the "in-game" throttle setting isn't synchronized with the actual physical throttle position. I usually just move the throttle all the way forward and all the way back before I try to start the engines, that gets everything synched and ready to go.

The MAP is intended for approaches done by instruments, where you can't see the runway due to clouds or fog. If you get to the MAP and you still don't have the runway in sight, legally you have to do a missed approach. Like Wikipedia says, it depends on the airport layout and the type of approach. Non-precision approaches (without vertical guidance, like TACAN approaches) usually use a DME distance or a specific time period from the final approach point. Precision approaches (with vertical guidance, like ILS) usually use a specific altitude to go around at as you're descending. In either case, the only criteria for going around at the MAP is whether or not you have the runway (or the approach lighting) in sight. Making the decision to go around due to a bad/sloppy approach is more of a judgment call, and doesn't really have a fixed point where you need to make a decision... I was always taught to go around at 200 feet AGL if I didn't have a stabilized approach, but you can definitely go around earlier (or later) if things aren't looking good. It just depends on the conditions and how comfortable you are with the airplane and your skills. As far as approach plates go, I doubt they will be included with DCS, but you could probably find them online (you can get US plates at this site, although I'm not sure where to get Georgian/Russian plates).

If your son has never played flight sims before, DCS might not be the best place to start... I'm not sure how old he is or what his interest in aviation is, but it does take a significant amount of time, practice, and study to get into DCS. It does have a "game mode" which is less complicated, although I haven't used it much. Maybe HAWX or X-Plane (or IL-2 Sturmovik maybe) might be better if you just want to spend some time flying with your son?

If that's what you're looking for, DCS is probably the wrong flight simulator for you. The point of DCS is to have a single aircraft modeled in realistic detail to the point where you can learn to fly the real airplane by playing the simulator. If you're just looking to fly around different planes, X-Plane or FSX would probably be better.

This is a peculiarity of the X52, it has bitten me a few times as well - the throttle hat switch is backwards from the joystick hat switches. On the throttle switch, forward is "down" and backwards is "up", while on the joystick hat switches forward is "up" and backwards is "down". Just something you have to keep in mind when setting up your profiles. :joystick:

Personally I use the Shooting Range mission as my training mission. There's plenty of "dummy" targets to shoot at, and you can easily adjust the mission to work on whatever you want to (night flight, group tactics, etc.).

You need to keep the airplane coordinated by applying the right amount of rudder in the direction that you are turning. Fortunately, this is simple to do with the ball instrument (beneath the ADI) - if it's deflected to the right, you need to apply more right rudder. If it's deflected to the left, you need to apply more left rudder. If it's in the middle, you're perfect. This is the origin of the phrase "step on the ball". (note that the Ka-50 doesn't have a turn coordinator instrument - the ball is underneath the attitude indicators, normal and standby) Coordinated turns are the "nice looking" turns where the chopper turns smoothly like an airplane. Uncoordinated turns are the ugly duckling turns where the airplane flies sideways or banks without turning or otherwise generally looks like a drunken seagull.

Thanks for posting this :thumbup:

I had no idea how a helicopter even flew before I bought Black Shark - first thing I did was map the Ka-50 throttle to the main throttle axis on my HOTAS, it took me a while to figure out why I wasn't going anywhere. Needless to say my first couple of flights looked a lot like this...

It would be nice if all of the units (not just foot soldiers) showed a little more "combat awareness"... there's been lots of times where I've basically just hovered in one spot and picked off entire groups of tanks while they all just sit there and let me snipe at them. I know realism is one of the big focuses of this game, and it kind of kills that "realistic" feeling when a combat mission turns into target practice because the enemies aren't smart enough to move for cover when someone is shooting at them.

If you are in anything other than the vanilla nav mode the auto-hover indication doesn't display... if it's not there reset your weapon system by hitting Backspace. Also make sure that you don't have the triggers flipped to fire your cannon, they should be in the default position.

Are you running Vista with DCS installed in the Program Files folder? If so, you need to run Notepad++ in Administrator mode or else Vista won't let it save files into Program Files. /had this same problem

The eastern air bases in the autumn season look kind of desert-y, if you're looking for that ambience.

You initiate auto-scan by uncaging the Shkval ('O') and then pressing the uncage button again (this only works if you don't have the HMS active). manne, I have seen something similar where my Shkval goes crazy and starts randomly tracking to some far-away point. It's not slow like scan mode, it looks like how the Shkval looks when it is tracking to the HMS target, only it's heading to some random spot 40 miles away. It behaved like it would if I had a target point selected with datalink ingress mode on when I uncaged the Shkval, only I could have sworn that ingress mode wasn't on. I have a track saved at home where this happens, I will try to find it after work.

Hey, I like Counter-Strike :D

I had this exact same question a while ago... here's a thread with some more info: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=45337 Hope that helps