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Want to chat with a recently retired A-10 combat and instructor pilot?


dabomb

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This was great to listen to. Thank you for posting the recording. Thank him as well for taking the time to teach us Virtual Pilots the A-10 ropes. It is so cool to see that there are guys like him that are willing to take the time to teach us such stuff. Now we just need to get him flying DCS!

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May I point everyone to Omega Tau? It's a podcast that deals with aviation (among other things), [...]

 

Good point! I listened to an issue about the SR-71 and another about jet engines and both were fantastic. Olie would be a perfect guest! :thumbup:

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LTC, Lt. Col, & Lieutenant Colonel are the same. When speaking, you just call them as "colonel" and not "Lieutenant Colonel"

 

I'm very much aware of that, but he said Major ;)

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DCS Panavia Tornado (IDS) really needs to be a thing!

 

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Thanks Dabomb and Lt. Col. Olson for making this possible ... thumbup.gif

Thankyou for very much for you time ... :)

Luv and Respect from India ...

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I'm very much aware of that, but he said Major ;)

 

Ah..must have missed that.

hsb

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Thanks again for arranging this epic chat with an actual A-10 Pilot. I'm wondering if I can ask a couple more questions for the Colonel, would he be willing to do another chat with us again?

HOTAS: Thrustmaster Warthog

PC: it's much better now

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He has expressed interest in doing another chat and/or podcast, unfortunately he is typically pretty busy with his farm and commercial pilot career.

 

If you want though, post your questions here and I'll send them over to him and see if he can find a few minutes to answer them. (no guarantees on if/when though)

 

-dabomb

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He has expressed interest in doing another chat and/or podcast, unfortunately he is typically pretty busy with his farm and commercial pilot career.

 

If you want though, post your questions here and I'll send them over to him and see if he can find a few minutes to answer them. (no guarantees on if/when though)

 

-dabomb

 

Okay thank you :), they are actually five questions so here goes:

 

 

I- Do you use the rudders to coordinate your turns? If so do you do that at specific modes only such as when landing and takeoff or do you also apply rudders when rolling in for a bombing & strafe runs or when turning for the next steerpoint etc. ?

 

II- Also I've seen in HUD tapes of strafes what seems like rudder input to correct the aiming for guns, we're always instructed in DCS not to use rudders while aiming the GAU-8, so what is it supposed to be like in real life?

 

III- What's the actual AoA limit for the A-10 & do you ride the chopped stall warning tone?

I ask this because in DCS A-10C when one tries to ride the chopped stall warning most of the time you stall one of your wings leading to a wing dip (rolling) in either direction as soon as you're more than 24/25 degrees AoA.. I've watched CAS videos & cockpit recordings where the pilots do ride the warning for quite a while without any indication of a stall or wing dip.

 

IV- Is the overhead break the most regular landing pattern or do you use other patterns or even straight in approaches just as much?

 

V- When landing, do you idle your throttles before touchdown like they do in high(er) speed jets or do you do that after touching down?

 

Sorry about the long questions, I had to get into detail a bit because they were nagging me for a while :P.

HOTAS: Thrustmaster Warthog

PC: it's much better now

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Apparently your timing was good, SCU. :)

 

I- Do you use the rudders to coordinate your turns? If so do you do that at specific modes only such as when landing and takeoff or do you also apply rudders when rolling in for a bombing & strafe runs or when turning for the next steerpoint etc. ?

 

The yaw dampener on the aircraft keeps the aircraft coordinated during most turns. The only time rudder use is very important is at very low airspeeds (<160 knots) and high angle of attack. This is typically during air-to-air engagements when you try to force your opponent to overshoot your position so you can let him taste some 30mm.

 

 

Only other time to use the rudder is on the ground for use with nose wheel steering.

 

 

If the yaw and/or pitch dampener systems did fail, it become very difficult to employ bombs or gun passes in the A-10. As I mentioned, the PAC system (precision attack control) does great things for gun employment. It helps to keep the aimpoint on the target while the gun fires; otherwise, it is likely the nose of the aircraft will shift long as the gun spins. Keeping a stable pitch attitude also smooths the bombing solution which increases weapons accuracy for the gun and bomb.

II-
Also I've seen in HUD tapes of strafes what seems like rudder input to correct the aiming for guns, we're always instructed in DCS not to use rudders while aiming the GAU-8, so what is it supposed to be like in real life?

 

 

 

Only reason to use the rudders during strafe is to increase bullet dispersion. The only time you would want to do this is when you are shooting an area target (lots of people) with HEI rounds and you cannot see each person with your eyeball (night or long range). You may be shooting at a point in the ground you believe where the enemy is located. Rudder use and "PAC off' will make your gun burst more dispersed to compensate for your precision location problem.

III
- What's the actual AoA limit for the A-10 & do you ride the chopped stall warning tone?

 

 

 

 

Each aircraft is bent a little differently from another. I never used the AOA gauge and relied completely on the tones. BTW: I am impressed the simulation includes the aural cues.

Real world, there are some big implications if you fly in continuous chopped tone. In uncoordinated flight at high angle of attack, it is very likely to create an engine compressor stall. I always advocated pilots to only use the steady tone because you never knew how close to the actual stall you were in chopped tone. Also, the marginal increase in performance was minimal from steady to chopped tone but the consequence of stalling the plane is significant (about 10 degrees of turn per second lost in a stall). I probably have an A-A briefing I can give you all to address this sometime. The only recommended time to use chopping tone was during a ground collision avoidance maneuver for a last ditch maneuver and even then it said to operate between the steady and chopped tones.

 

 

I ask this because in DCS A-10C when one tries to ride the chopped stall warning most of the time you stall one of your wings leading to a wing dip (rolling) in either direction as soon as you're more than 24/25 degrees AoA.. I've watched CAS videos & cockpit recordings where the pilots do ride the warning for quite a while without any indication of a stall or wing dip.

 

IV
- Is the overhead break the most regular landing pattern or do you use other patterns or even straight in approaches just as much?

 

 

 

If the weather is good (cloud cover above 2000' above the airport and at least 3 miles of visibility), the overhead pattern is the most expeditious way to land multiple A-10s. A good fighter pilots makes it "one to a full stop" because he doesn't need to spend time practicing landings when he should be practicing killing people and breaking things. He also wants to get out of everyone else's way so they can do the same. I know that sounds like a joke, but I am being serious.

Straight in approaches are appropriate for poor weather or emergency landings (single engine, loss of hydraulics, or anything else that may effect aircraft performance).

V
- When landing, do you idle your throttles before touchdown like they do in high(er) speed jets or do you do that after touching down?

 

 

 

Idle throttle when landing is assured. We flew the A-10 at a speed well above stall.

 

 

For the serious A-10 enthusiast we calculated our landing speed every time we did an approach or landing using this basic formula:

130 knot + 1 knot for each 1,000#s above a 30,000# aircraft

A clean aircraft with a pilot and full gun is a 28K aircraft. If I had 4,000#s of fuel and another 2,000#s of pods, suspension equipment and or weapons, then the landing weight was 34,000#. That would result in a final landing speed of 134 knots (130 + 4 knots for being 4,000#s above 30K). Final turn speed was always 15 knots above that so 149 knots in this case. If there was a strong crosswind in excess of 20 knots, then we added 10 knot to final approach speed (144 knots in this case). If there was gusty wind conditions, then we would add 1/2 the gust factor (winds are 180 @ 10G18 then 1/2 the gust factor is 4; final approach speed would be 134 + 4 = 138 knots). Do not apply crosswind or gust factor to final turn airspeed.

 

 

So to answer your question in most cases I would select near idle power when I was 20' above the ground in a safe position to land. Long engine spool up time is a big issue in the event you have to go around.

 

 

Two extreme comparisons:

 

 

In the T-38, we went idle power around 100' above the ground. Maybe a little less, but that plane is an extreme example.

 

 

I fly a Dash 8 Q400 now (commuter regional prop plane). Going idle in the plane reduces the lift being produced by the engines blowing air over the wing. We tend not to even touch the power until the main wheels touch down firmly otherwise the plane drops like a rock.

Sorry about the long questions, I had to get into detail a bit because they were nagging me for a while
tongue.gif
.

 

 

 

Anytime. Good timing on your part. I was headed out for a bicycle ride and it started to rain. Weird for that to happen in Washington state.

 

 

See ya!

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Indeed, some good stuff here! thanks! :thumbup:

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Apparently your timing was good, SCU. :)

 

I just read your reply now, couldn't access my internet yesterday evening hehe. Anyway thank you and thank Mr. Olie for me if you can :thumbup:.

Edit: By the way about the rudder use while strafing, I forgot to say that I've seen that video of an A-10 Pilot in Iraq who couldn't see the target immediately after rolling in when a couple of seconds later he found it some distance to the right of the gun pipper and instantly used (what seemed like) considerable right rudder to correct it, does it happen regularly to correct aim using rudder?

Vid (Contains strong language):

[ame]

[/ame]

 

Take your time to answer I'm in no hurry :), I'm even very lucky to have a real A-10 Pilot who answers my questions


Edited by SCU
actaully added a question

HOTAS: Thrustmaster Warthog

PC: it's much better now

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  • 3 weeks later...

would you mind asking them in windy conditions how do they attack with guns? My pipper slides right and left and I'm not touching the rudder..

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