jaylw314

You want to bind these under "Systems": IIRC, there used to be a "Engine Throttle (Left/Right) IDLE" which they removed a few updates ago. I think they were trying to make all the modules a little more consistent, and replaced it with a different command that does the same thing. Confusingly, they left the "(Left/Right) Engine Throttle Set OFF" in the "Special for Joystick" category, which does the exact same thing as "Engine Stop (Left/Right)", but there's no corresponding "Engine Throttle Set IDLE" anymore). This happened a few months ago, so if you haven't updated it in a while you may have missed it, and your controls are probably bound incorrectly now. Fix it.

Is there a possibility your button 3 has become intermittent? That's the only other thing I can think of.

I tested out putting the slew on a hat switch and the coolie switch with a modifier on a winwing orion, but it worked exactly as expected, so it's not clear it's a DCS issue. Is there a Virpil software app running in the background? Or there may be something different about the way the mongoose encodes button presses? I assume you've added the button as a shift modifier? Have you tried running it as a toggle modifier?

Cool beans, also note that you can cycle weapon profiles using the SEL rocker on the UFC, even if when HUD is not SOI. Some people find it helpful, others not since you have to take your hand off the controls. I find flipping the HUD to SOI has become muscle memory.

Oookay, I think I get it now. At the east/west edges of each grid zone, the northing lines don't quite line up with true north, they actually overlap a bit, since there's no way to paste 100,000m flat squares on a round surface. I was just thinking about the whole grid zone itself is aligned with true north, but that's only true in the middle, then

I do, and you've managed to confuse yourself. Good luck!

That's why I clarified "sideslip", which is straight uncoordinated flight, which is what people seemed to be confusing with "crabbing" A "slipping turn" is uncoordinated flight during a turn, with too little rudder A "slip" can be any uncoordinated flight

Oooh, I hadn't thought about the ruler/XYZ north, I was just turning my eyeballs to follow the grid squares I still don't get how UTM north would be different from lat/long north, though; I mean, the grid zones are DEFINED by the 6 deg lines of longitude, right?

?? a slip (sideslip) by definition is a constant heading, not a turn.

A wings level crab is still coordinated flight, and the ball will reflect that. "slipping" means you're drifting one way through the air and banked, so not wings level.

Wait, I thought grid zones were aligned with true north, so they should be the same?

A crosswind from the left will tend to do 3 things to airplanes on runways, in order of increasing wind strength: Yaw to the left (upwind) Roll to the right (downwind) Drift to the right (downwind)

I wonder how much the DCS A-10C does the automatic LASTE wind correction calculations? Is there a difference, say in starting a mission in the air and dropping bombs vs taking off and then dropping bombs? Presumably in the 2nd situation, the LASTE would have the data to correct for wind and temps at different altitudes as you climb, whereas in a air start, it wouldn't. These are the sort of things I should probably test but am too lazy to get around to it, since we can just lob GBU-54's at targets anyways

I think "polarized" specifies the direction of light they allow through. I also think the splotchiness you see with some windows has to do with tempered glass--the varying stress in tempered glass shows when viewed through polarized glass. In engineering, the effect is named after some dude I can't remember. I think the effect is less in acrylic, but still can be noticeable.

So, don't take off above max gross weight from any of the runways at Ramat David Those are some bumpy runways!

The predominant limit for all maximum weights is generally structural, but occasionally it's defined by a performance limit (or some other feature specific to the aircraft). Since maximum weights are usually just defined by the manufacturer without indicating what the reason for the limit is, it tough to know how often it ends up being influenced by a performance limit. AFAIK it'd be a pretty safe bet on any maximum weight that the reason for that limit is structural. FWIW those structural limits probably have a built in percentage safety margin, like a 50% safety margin to structural damage at 4.5g, which IIRC is the old FAA requirement for civil aircraft. I don't know what the definition is for the A-10C, but I suspect being above a maximum weight will not result in the plane suddenly snapping in half, but the safety margin at high g's is probably reduced below what is considered safe.

In theory, yes. In reality, glasses are polarized in one direction (horizontally?) to kill reflection off the ground or water in front of you, which would be polarized the other way (vertically?). Planes can be in all sorts of directions and surfaces, so while one particular direction may have less glint, most other directions would be less affected

Right now the only way to use custom profiles is to have some type of macro command for a sequence of OSB button presses to configure your stuff. I've heard a couple people use VoiceAttack, you could use Joystick Gremlin or anything else that can run a button macro. When you jump in a plane, you press your setup command and it runs your macro to set up your custom preferences. I've never bothered with it, though. FWIW, CCRP/CCIP is the least important profile setting, since you can just spam the Master Mode button after you select the profile to change it anyway...

The advise is not to STARE at the basket. You do still need to SEE the basket Track the tanker with your eyes. The basket will be in your peripheral vision, so you won't see any details (and in IRL would be out of focus). Of course, you don't NEED to see details on the basket, just that it's in the right place. One subtle benefit is that your peripheral vision is significantly more sensitive to motion than your foveal (center) vision, so you can perceive movement of the basket earlier than if you were staring at it. In the meantime, you're tracking the tanker with your foveal vision, where you DO need to see details to monitor your relative position and distance, but it's motion in your FOV is much less relevant.

There is none specifically, but CMS Up dispenses one flare and CMS Down dispenses one chaff bundle.

IIRC, the FAA published an AC a few years ago suggesting pilots forgo polarized lenses with the increasing number of digital displays in cockpits

Are you using CCIP? The CBU-97 has so much drag CCIP drops can be quite difficult--by the time you're close enough to see the CCIP reticle in the HUD, you're often already too low. I've always understood the HOF for CBU's to be feet AGL, not feet MSL. Better is CCRP mode, best is using CCIP in CR (Consent to Release) mode (enable from the IFFCC test menu). Bunyap's On the Range videos are brilliant, and how I learned the A-10. The only complaint I have is that he keeps saying "reticule" instead of "reticle"

I reported this a while back. That whole row should actually be shifted left one column

Pretty quick, unless you don't use a spell checker

During startup, turn on the CDU and EGI. When that completes, go to the SYS menu -> INS submenu -> ALT ALIGN submenu and press the button next to FAST. This starts the "cocked" or scramble alignment that completes in 90 seconds, simulating the ground crew starting up the EGI and aligning it before you got there. It's supposed to be less accurate, but that's not modeled in DCS. Note you only have 25 seconds to do this after the startup BIT page completes on the CDU (if you're too slow, it skips the FAST align and starts the default GROUND alignment). Once the INS NAV RDY block flashes, press the NAV button per usual (I think the alignment data reads "1.6.x.x") -- If you're trying to intercept an aircraft with A/A TACAN, use the HSI: Tune TACAN to the appropriate channel and press the TCN button on the NMSP Dial the CRS arrow until it points at bearing pointer #1 (the skinny doghouse), which is the TACAN bearing. The CDI should center. Fly the heading on the CRS arrow and watch the CDI. It will drift left or right. Turn in that direction to stop the drift, 45 degrees if it's drifting fast, 10 degrees if it's slow. Recenter the CDI needle by turning the CRS arrow. Repeat #3-5 until the CDI needle stops moving. You are now flying the intercept course This works better than watching the bearing pointer, because it's easier to see rate of movement on the more sensitive CDI -- The default head position can make it difficult to see the top of the colored telescoping section of the boom in AA refueling. Lean forward a bit or lower the seat so you can see it, since it's your distance cue. -- Use the HMCS symbology to judge distance. The HMCS boresight cross is about 20 mils across, which means a fighter-sized aircraft that is the same span is about half a mile away. If that aircraft takes up half the cross, it's about a mile away. A vehicle-sized target is about a quarter and a half mile away, respectively, using the same references. While there are a number of other mil size references in the HUD and airframe, the HMCS symbology has the advantage of being nearly everywhere you look. -- If you're in a flight, hook your wingman's datalink symbol on the HMCS using TMS up short while HMSC is SOI. You will now always have a yellow line pointing in his direction, which will help with SA. Note that this does not affect or interfere with the other functions of HMCS cueing. Likewise, you can hook a different target on the TAD, so it does not interfere with that function, either (IRL, it seems you may only be able to have one hooked target between both, though). -- With laser-guided weapons launched at maximum range in a medium-threat environment, it can be difficult to keep the target in the laser FOV while staying out of enemy firing range, since keeping the target near the 3 or 9 o'clock position involves turning towards the target and masking the laser. Being above 15,000-20,000' AGL can make this turn possible. Alternatively, a 10 degree climb can also make this possible, since the geometry of the climb allows for a slight bank into the target without masking.