HammerUK9

...and that's the mind-messing dilemma :) We're sitting here, using the simulator to do what the pilots can do in the real jet. The pilots are sitting there, using the simulator do do what they can't do in the real jet. While we're so intent on replicating actual operations and procedures, it's oh so easy to forget that they also use sims to practice not crashing in emergencies and to try new things - I guess that's why DCSWH was made in the first place! Tim

Hi BlueRidge, Thanks for those words of advice! I see what you mean about the flaps - almost all my practice has been flapless, as would be expected, but I haven't yet tried the pattern in Manual Reversion. I would imagine in real training that it would be done in normal flight mode (as the engines would still be running). I guess that, if you're going to practise at all (bearing in mind that ejection always seems the preferred option), you wouldn't add to the risk by attempting it in manual reversion. AFAIAA, Man Reversion IS practised but only under controlled circumstances. Do I need correcting on this? Anyways, my last one went pretty well so I've decided to attach a track. If you can see it, please excuse the half-finished skin! :) In a day or two I'll give it a voiceover and whack it up on Youtube. Cheers, Tim PFL.trk

Just to give my tuppence worth: I remember a mission on the 'introductory' campaign of DCS:BS that required you to pass over one of the mountain ranges to attack an encampment. When I first tried it, I flew nap-of-earth all the way in, but come the higher peaks of the range, ended up on the back of the performance curve and just couldn't climb/accelerate. After reading up on it, I then tried a gentle climb all the way from home plate - the result, sailing happily over the mountains without anything to worry about :) Energy management is a big thing boys and girls!

Afternoon all, I've been practising flameout landings in the past couple of days so that I can include them in some advanced training/assessment missions I'm making. The descent profile I've put together works, is consistent with what's in the 10-Alpha Dash-1 and also with my brief and limited experience as a military pilot. In an eternal quest for perfect adherence to procedure, I've got a few questions :) : 1) Is there a visual reference point for commencing the practice flameout from high key? One can't see the runway at all (even when on the deadside) so I've resorted to counting seconds after the IAP (Initial Aim Point) disappears below the nose. 2) Should you begin the downwind turn immediately over high key? I tend to carry on straight for a further 1000ft of descent before turning. Likewise, I begin the final turn when I've reached about 3000ft. 3) Are flaps used at any point in the procedure? In my experience, we went to T/O flap on the crosswind leg and then land flap when you were assured of making the IAP. I've found that glide performance with engines idling is quite close to engines off (as you'd always train with the engines left running!), while in a real flameout, starting the APU would allow you to retain HUD indications of speed and altitude so it is still usable. I'm sure I'll have more, but thanks for your attention in the meantime! Tim

Right Alt+Home for left engine, Right Ctrl+Home for right engine. And then +End to shut them down again :)

Hi all, I'm looking to do some missions based upon RL A-10 weapons training. At the moment I'm working in DCSW 1.1.1.1, but will be upgrading to DCS:W 1.2 shortly. Take for example the hit criteria for a dive bomb attack - 85ft(26m) for computed delivery and 145ft(44m) for manual delivery. This could be with either live or training ordnance (so BDU-33s are involved). I'm trying to create mission triggers whereby if the weapon lands within the required radius from a central point, a 'success' action starts, likewise a 'failure' action if the weapon misses. Is there any practical way to set this up within DCS? If I try and relate the condition to unit damage, then live ordnance has unwanted fragmentation and training ordnance doesn't count as a hit. Can I find out what weapon fragmentation ranges are? One solution that's occurred to me is to place a ring of units at a radius of hit criteria+fragmentation pattern. Therefore a live weapon impact, if dropped within the required area, would not damage any of the surrounding units, but a miss actually would. Is this feasible? Maybe I'm asking too much from the editor. If it's not possible, then I'll try something else. Thanks for reading!

For my sins I haven't - I couldn't find where there were located at a quick glance, but I'll have another look.

Please explain because, if this is true, I've been doing it the wrong way for 24 years ;-) Ditto - and got taught to do it by FAA PPL, JAA PPL AND RAF EFT training programmes :)

Hello all, I've done a few searches but can't find anything - how do you get the yellow boxes to appear over cockpit icons as per the official training missions? I'm trying to make a few of my own training missions, but am struggling to understand the correct trigger action to make it happen. Anyone got this to work? Thanks, Tim

YEEESSSS!! :P I've been off DCS for a few months, but since getting back to Uni (with room for a HOTAS on the desk!) I've been doing a lot of refresher work, and last night, AAR finally clicked after plenty of practice! I've been trying to follow the excellent 25VFS checklists for AAR etc, but neglected to return to the pre-contact position as my contact was the most stable it's ever been. Please see attached track Couple of questions: Is my relative altitude too high sometimes? Cause sometimes even though it's in the green, the pipe disconnects, and when I use a slightly lower altitude, it doesn't seem to be a problem. I'm unable to see either of the director lights from my position. The first couple of loads give me up to 4000 a side - is this maximum? Subsequent refuels do not increase the amount, and the tanker issues repeated 'disconnect' messages. Hopefully I'll be upgrading my HOTAS in the next couple of months - it's a stock TM F-16, and is a bit wobbly in all 3 axes - I'd love to have that miniscule pitch change or 0.5% core RPM change within my grasp! Thanks Refuelling Masterpiece.trk

Per Ardua Ad Astra. RIP Jon

Cheers, did a search but couldn't find anything - works fine now. Still got my entire flight slotted by some Apaches :P

This happens occasionally, sometimes a computer restart cures it, sometimes flying another mission beforehand does. Happens only in the Georgian Oil War campaign, few seconds after unpausing to start the mission. Tried TrackIR restart, Anti-virus off, no change. Don't want to reinstall DCS unless necessary. Have a few mods installed, but don't think they're involved. Error logs attached. Error.txt errors.txt

Silly question, but are you flying on runway hdg when you overfly the marker?

Most likely a problem at the primary field - some kind of accident, essential equipment gone U/S; in the context of the sim, maybe an attack was known to be inbound for the primary, and the a/c were redirected to keep them safe

A word and two digits: Falcon 4.0

Thought it might be something like that. In my tests, I had AI on average, so I tried it again on excellent, and engagement range/missile performance were identical. It also still ran out of ordnance. Personally I'm not too picky about its performance - I just avoid it in missions anyway - but I was just curious about that fact that it appeared to have an infinite number of missiles in one load, without needing to stop to reload.

Hello all, I was flying the Recon mission of the Georgian Oil War campaign (1.1) the other day, and engaged/was engaged by the Osa sitting behind enemy lines. It was happily shooting at us from approx. 15km away, altitude difference of maybe 100m or so, and getting rather close. Eventually it got us from 14km when I was getting in closer to attack it. Using F7, I also discovered that it was not using up its missile stock in the engagement - all 6 tubes were full. I ought to have saved a track, but didn't consider it. I recently did some tests in a mission, and discovered that it would only start firing at about 10km (50m altitude difference), and failed to hit me in a hover - missiles ran out of energy and passed below. It also used up all its missiles. Any thoughts? Normally I avoid the Osas in the campaign; this one was a little too close to the required route for comfort, so it needed destroying. I haven't tried repeating the test in campaign, for obvious health reasons :D