glide slope lights

[john9001]

Why don't the runways have PAPI lights (Precision Approach Path Indicators), to help show the glide path? Landing is hard enough to do. :helpsmilie:

[shagrat]

The ones that do have them in real life have them in DCS as well.

Batumi for example, does have PAPI, TACAN and ILS...

[john9001]

I need to get around more.:pilotfly:

[cichlidfan]

I need to get around more.:pilotfly:

 

Do what I did, back when the A-10C was it's own sim. Set up a separate landing mission for each airfield and fly it, repeatedly.

 

I did it to help me learn how to land the A-10C but it was also helpful in learning the airfields and the surrounding terrain.

[Northstar98]

Do what I did, back when the A-10C was it's own sim. Set up a separate landing mission for each airfield and fly it, repeatedly.

 

I did it to help me learn how to land the A-10C but it was also helpful in learning the airfields and the surrounding terrain.

 

Ditto for this, everything is practice, practice, practice - even with PAPI and ILS and such things, it all boils down to practice - I find using ILS I'm a bit wobbly wobbly flying rubbish descent patterns - so I need to practice getting it right. PAPIs I tend to be better at, but like you say they're few and far between.

 

I guess it's difficult because without multiplayer (though we still don't have positions for the RSP-7 PAR) we don't have talk downs unless you want to get a little creative with triggers, which may make it more difficult as you have to be your own judge on the fly...

 

But yeah, DCS is always about practise, practising procedures, practising flying (of all forms), practise taxiing, practise taking off, practise BFM and ACM everything boils down to practise.

 

Maybe in the future we could have static objects that act as approach and landing systems, like ILS glideslope and localiser antennae, PAPI lights etc then place them by runways of your choice, input parameters (channel/frequency for ILS, as well as glideslope angle for things like PAPI etc, eh just an idea...).

Edited December 21, 2017 by Northstar98

[shagrat]

(...) I find using ILS I'm a bit wobbly wobbly flying rubbish descent patterns - so I need to practice getting it right. PAPIs I tend to be better at, but like you say they're few and far between.

This usually happens, if you focus on the needles and start chasing them. The Aircraft needs a moment to react to your input. I found it easiest to focus on the TVV and set up a decent 3-4° glideslope, directly after intercepting and likely overshooting the ILS (being abit too high).

From there nudge down the throttle and keep the attitude. I was trying to correct with stick inputs for a very long time, until I realised that is asking for trouble.

Simply let it slowly(!) sink onto the ILS glideslope or even a tad bit below. In my experience better come in a bit shallow than too high and start flaring too much... :smartass:

[Art-J]

John, mind you, you might not notice PAPI at Batumi and Tblisi (the only two that have them IIRC) anyway, because they got glitched a dozen of patches ago and still don't render correctly.

[Northstar98]

This usually happens, if you focus on the needles and start chasing them. The Aircraft needs a moment to react to your input. I found it easiest to focus on the TVV and set up a decent 3-4° glideslope, directly after intercepting and likely overshooting the ILS (being abit too high).

From there nudge down the throttle and keep the attitude. I was trying to correct with stick inputs for a very long time, until I realised that is asking for trouble.

Simply let it slowly(!) sink onto the ILS glideslope or even a tad bit below. In my experience better come in a bit shallow than too high and start flaring too much... :smartass:

 

Thank you for your advice! Much appreciated :thumbup:

 

Little OT but I find I sort-of end up maintaining altitude and never really establishing a glideslope - just periods of descending more rapidly and more slowly.

 

I guess the aircraft where I practice this the most is the Su-25T though I do have aircraft which also has ILS installed. The thing is with the Su-25T is it has the ILS symbology on the HUD as well as the needles on the ADI, I guess I perceive deviations from the HUD information as exaggerated and end up over-controlling.

 

Mind you saying that my landings while not perfect in anyway are what I'd call acceptable (no bounces, not too hard - most of my trouble is actually landing on the desired touchdown point - I sometimes (especially in the F-5E) go a little too fast meaning when I flare I might end up 'floating' over the runway.

 

Oh well, like I said, best thing for me is practice.

 

If you are visual and you can see the runway everything is way easier because you should simply keep the runway threshold at a fixed point in your HUD.

 

I wouldn't say so much as using the ILS as the landing aid it was designed for (use it until you can see the PAPIs and then just do it visually), I'm more using for not it's intended purpose to practice maintaining a glide slope, using the ILS as a reference point which is probably the source of the chasing of needles.

 

Btw, not only the PAPIs can be inaccurate. At least on a few Caucasus airports the ILS glideslope is mislocated and leads to a touchdown at the midpoint of the runway.

That might explain a few observations I have made whilst in the Su-25T, but it may not be the case, I started just flying an approach visually trying to stay within the bounds of the ILS (the Su-25T displays the desired altitude and speed on the HUD as well as 2 circles for the ILS) I found after passing the markers at Mozdok I was descending way too much looking at the desired altitude value, but from where I was sat visually it seemed just right and I had no trouble landing (apart from I was a tad too fast), that to me would be indicative of flying me down to a distance further down the runway (I thought it was going to take me straight past the runway from where I was sat)... Edited December 21, 2017 by Northstar98

[cichlidfan]

Oh well, like I said, best thing for me is practice.

 

It's the best thing for anyone. :)

[Northstar98]

It's the best thing for anyone. :)

 

True, then again I don't spend a lot of time playing DCS (my PC specs should be a good enough indicator as to why) so I find I am exceptionally bad at certain things, but sometimes I surprise myself...

 

Even in DCS which is envisioned as a combat simulator, out of all the things I do on DCS combat is probably the one I do the least, because I don't like skipping through things, I feel like getting straight into it, especially with the more complex modules with steeper learning curves, for me it's like choosing to build a solid state AESA radar when starting electronics if you know what I mean.

 

The thing is DCS is probably the best flight simulator out there for the PC, it has the best mix of great realism, great graphics, decent performance and unlike other sims actually has proper internal systems for everything and a damage model as well as a mission editor, so I'm allowed to be creative. That's why I love DCS even without the combat aspect (which I've never really done in-depth).

 

FSX and even P3D have crude flight models and physics engines, this means that helicopters still behave like fixed wing aircraft with exceptionally slow stall speeds, it's quite difficult to accomplish anything close to real helicopter performance, DCS it actually feels real, I can better emulate the real world. If I crash, I get something I can work with not just an instant flight termination, it also has no mission editor. The only thing that FSX/P3D have on DCS is tonnes of content, mostly brought on by FSX being more popular and thus a larger market, it also has superior ATC comms and weather but there's nothing stopping DCS from having that, the only other thing is of course a world map, but lets not go there...

 

Right OT moment over

Edited December 21, 2017 by Northstar98