Why do so few people only do VFR flights?

[cichlidfan]

These kind of things will force them to adapt and develop other useful tactics.

 

Or force them to use another server.

[winchesterdelta1]

Or force them to use another server.

 

Maybe that is a good thing as well so other servers can become popular. But i noticed if there is fun to be had somewhere even if they don't like the circumstances that much they just join back.

[Kayos]

I like that idea grunf. Considering we're generally all flying planes with 1980's or at best 1990's tech in them, GPS was still not that common and if your MFD or INS went out you just lost your "insta-nav" and had to rely on old fashioned radio navigation to get around.

 

The other thing is, while mission planners may try to avoid launching flights in bad weather, this would be a huge issue for ground forces on your side, because the enemy ground forces sure won't stop attacking just because of some bad weather. They'll hit harder than ever if there is no air support available.

 

In the book Viper Pilot I'm reading now the author describes a mission during the 2003 invasion of Iraq where a sandstorm started to engulf the entire Arabian peninsula. All airbases were shut down one by one by the sandstorm. This is what I think happens to most pilots who get into trouble, isn't it? They start out in VFR then get into bad IFR conditions where there is either no published approach available for the desired divert field, or the pilot just doesn't know how to fly IFR.

 

In the book, the author explained how he set a mark point on the ground above the threshhold of the runway, then set the ILS cues to the mark point to make an impromptu ILS approach which saved himself and a flight of 9 other F-16CJ's that had the same problem of not having any place to land. The visibility was down to 1/4 mile by the time they had all gotten down.

 

The other thing is if you have mavericks or a TGP you can see through fog anyway and still attack targets. If you have an A-10 that means you can also buddy lase for an M2000 or other aircraft who can't see the targets but are carrying a bomb/missile mix. (Depending on how bad the visibility / fog layer is anyway)

 

Good book, too bad it wasn't longer.

[cichlidfan]

Of course, the AI can see no matter how much fog/sand/clouds there is, so that should be lots of fun. *NOT*

[Yurgon]

Great topic, and good to know that quite a few folks around here like the additional challenge of night and/or bad weather flying. :thumbup:

 

Every once in a while I set up training missions with ridiculously bad weather conditions to practice bad weather AAR and approaches in near zero visibility to make sure I could get it done if necessary.

 

I once did a flight from in the MiG-21 using RSBN and ARC, with a big cloud layer (and landing twice for refueling on the way). Great fun when the only visible nav-aid is the Elbrus peak and some of the mountains around it (screenshots from that flight). :thumbup:

 

Together with some friends I once joined a public server with a night mission and we sneaked up on a SAM sight with Hueys in extreme NOE style - huge fun!

 

To me, noon flying with a clear blue sky and no winds is just boring. Whenever I create a mission, the first things I do are to set some wind and set turbulence to at least 1 m/s, usually a bit more, and typically at least a partly clouded sky.

[grunf]

Of course, the AI can see no matter how much fog/sand/clouds there is, so that should be lots of fun. *NOT*

AI can't see through full overcast.

[cichlidfan]

AI can't see through full overcast.

 

Since when?

[grunf]

Since when?

I don't know since when, but it's a fact. :D

You can easily test it with IR SAMs. They'll ignore you as long as you stay above the clouds.

[gnouze]

I'd like to fly IFR more often in DCS but the F-15 ILS is just inoperable in flight. Every bank throws instantly the CDI away. It's really a bug.

 

 

Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

[Specter1075]

Reaalistic weather wouldd be fantastic, but it would be a pretty big undertaking when you factor in all of those things affected. People have already mentioned how the AI reacts in weather would need to be addressed. Wind effects would be huge, and the type of wind would need to be tied to the weather present, such as light winds in fog, the up and downdrafts associated with convective and unstable airmasses, and wind shear at frontal surfaces.

 

I wonder how feasible it would be to model a couple simple air masses that are randomly generated at the start of a mission, with their frontal surface slowly advancing across the map. In the summer you could see frontal storms, isolated CBs in the latter part of the day, or thick nimbostratus bringing the ceilings down in heavy rain. You could tie a few generic systems together for winter conditions too. In this way your synoptic system is randomly generated, but the assosciated clouds are not. You'd get the type of cloud you would expect to see.

 

If it was tied together in this way, we could get a basic suface analysis chart as part of the pre mission briefing to give us an idea what to expect.

 

Of course, that's all easy to say, isnt it? No idea how feasible it would be.

[Charly_Owl]

Regarding IFR: Well, weather conditions tend to make big multiplayer servers difficult because of the lag. Many people request clear weather simply because it keeps the framerate better for everyone.

 

Regarding night ops: Well, IIRC the Airmobile Event Number 2 had a night op and it was tons of fun (I think there were 32 helicopters who took part). Huey and Mi-8 slicks had to pick up troops from the deck of ships in pitch dark... good times!

[mvsgas]

I think one of the major things preventing IFR flying is we lack a lot of info. For example specific miss approach for each airport, glide slope for each airport (if available), take of minimums, etc.

So if I take off from Sochi, what altitude am I suppose to climb? If I used the ILS in Nellis, what is the Morse code? On the A-10, what are the penetration speed and throttle setting?

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/procedures/application/?event=procedure.results&nasrId=LSV

https://skyvector.com/

https://skyvector.com/airport/URSS/Sochi-Airport

Edited July 1, 2016 by mvsgas

[Pitot]

Now... When you set JTAC AI (I think), you have that little option... I think it's "visible" or something (at work atm, can't check). It toggles should AI unit be capable of marking a target without having a line of sight or not. As for anything else than clouds - if this was to be applied to units it could solve the "Almighty Eyes AI" problem. When it comes to AI not seeing through clouds, I suppose there should be a lot of new code to implement it. But, just an idea on how to develop solution from an existing code.

 

I don't know since when, but it's a fact. :D

You can easily test it with IR SAMs. They'll ignore you as long as you stay above the clouds.

 

Could this be because minimum cloud level is somewhere near the line of IR SAM reach... XD

Edited July 1, 2016 by Pitot

[grunf]

Could this be because minimum cloud level is somewhere near the line of IR SAM reach... XD

[Eihort]

Night time conditions thoroughly break KA-50 capabilities.

[Pitot]

 

Point made.

[msalama]

Super fun stuff.

I've got a couple of nighttime missions which I occasionally host where the (dynamic) weather is cloudy and rainy. They're mostly bush war scenarios where the baddies don't have too much hardware, but they're well randomized as regards amount & location + well hidden and move around when certain conditions are met too. Your task is either to insert troops in an Mi-8 / Huey and give fire support when necessary, or fly CAS in an L-39; or as an alternative, direct ground forces as a tac commander if you don't fancy flying that night.

 

All FARPs (and sometimes some mobile units) are equipped with homing beacons, so radio navigation is doable and, indeed, strongly recommended unless you want to get lost. It's all super fun stuff IMO too; but no-one ever seems to join, from which I can only conclude that most folks are either fighter pukes only interested in furballing, or just plain out too unskilled to fly in difficult(ish) meteorological and/or nighttime conditions.

 

So WTH can you do? Send them back to school?

[Slazi]

It's all super fun stuff IMO too; but no-one ever seems to join, from which I can only conclude that most folks are either fighter pukes only interested in furballing, or just plain out too unskilled to fly in difficult(ish) meteorological and/or nighttime conditions.

 

Is your server a well-known well-populated server? If not, then nobody is going to join someone's random server running a random mission they have never heard of. Some might, but they have no idea what to expect from it when they do...

 

Unless your run a server 24/7 and build a reputation, the only way to get players to join is to host events where people all agree to play at a certain time.

 

You might get lucky and get the occasional player, but you're never gonna get many.

[msalama]

Could be. Still, I've been thinking about setting up a 24/7 box when the dedicated server becomes available, so we'll see if that changes anything.

 

But then, I've always subscribed to the "small is beautiful" line of thinking and my missions reflect that. So unless you're into COIN / bush war scenarios fought with light / outdated ground hardware and choppers / light attack AC, you probably won't be interested in what I'm offering. So there's that admittedly...

Edited July 2, 2016 by msalama

[msalama]

Some might, but they have no idea what to expect from it when they do...

 

They'll know pretty well what to expect if they read the briefings, which are pretty comprehensive.

[Enduro14]

Night time conditions thoroughly break KA-50 capabilities.

 

Not at all highly disagree, adjust the contrast brightness of tgt display and gain of your nvg's and you tv screen is then a nvg's sight works awesome. Plus you use manual override to launch your vikhrs anyway. I highly recommend the nvg's mod in the mod forums.

Ka50 is a beast at night

[Enduro14]

Could be. Still, I've been thinking about setting up a 24/7 box when the dedicated server becomes available, so we'll see if that changes anything.

 

But then, I've always subscribed to the "small is beautiful" line of thinking and my missions reflect that. So unless you're into COIN / bush war scenarios fought with light / outdated ground hardware and choppers / light attack AC, you probably won't be interested in what I'm offering. So there's that admittedly...

 

I will join your server in a heart beat screen name Crom

[msalama]

I will join your server in a heart beat screen name Crom

:thumbup:

 

Good to know. However, I'm kind of letting things simmer down for a while now since they're in a bit of a flux ATM, so don't expect to see much OL activity from my part just now. Still, I'm defo gonna set that dedi box up at some point...

 

S!

Edited July 2, 2016 by msalama

[firmek]

Not at all highly disagree, adjust the contrast brightness of tgt display and gain of your nvg's and you tv screen is then a nvg's sight works awesome. Plus you use manual override to launch your vikhrs anyway. I highly recommend the nvg's mod in the mod forums.

Ka50 is a beast at night

 

What you're describing is a hack that is possible only in the game by abusing the in-game implementation of Shkval display. In reality regardless of how much you change the contrast/brightness during the night you should be getting the black screen or just noise.

If you want to play DCS realistically the Ka-50 that we have does not have any night attack capabilities. Maybe someday we'll get Ka-50N or Sh, but for the moment running night missions with Ka-50 isn't fully correct.

[Enduro14]

 

What you're describing is a hack that is possible only in the game by abusing the in-game implementation of Shkval display. In reality regardless of how much you change the contrast/brightness during the night you should be getting the black screen or just noise.

If you want to play DCS realistically the Ka-50 that we have does not have any night attack capabilities. Maybe someday we'll get Ka-50N or Sh, but for the moment running night missions with Ka-50 isn't fully correct.

 

Lol sorry but my 19 years of continued service in using many many many day optics and camera devices with many many different nvg's devices tells me otherwise. No hack it's called field craft expertise. Go ahead and limit yourself with a false truth.