Flying the Ball

[Darcwaynard]

At 3/4 mile the ball is pretty hard to see. If my turn to final is timed right its usually lined up center once I level out @ approx 330 feet @ 3/4 mile. At that point I have to "deck spot" a bit until I'm around 1/4 mile from the deck and can see the ball better. Do most of you guys zoom in on the HUD super close to help with this? Do real hornet pilots lean forward at all? I'm running 40" 1080p all setting maxed.

 

Second question, once @ 3/4 should we stare at the ball the entire way down to the deck or cycle between looking at the VV/deck and the ball?

 

Apologies if this has been answered already.

 

Thanks all!

[David OC]

Yep, I was zooming in a bit when long in the groove. If you are 18 seconds or less once wings level into the groove you can see the ball easier.

 

Scan

 

Ball - On speed - line up (Repeat)

 

To make this easier use ICLS for Case 1, it's even harder to see the ball in VR. The trick I got from Wags interview with a former F/A-18 pilot is to use the ICLS and fly the height bar with the throttle once it shows up in the HUD around the 45 degree mark.

 

This will have you at the correct height once you come wings level and if you are deep, keep flying the bar until you see the ball, then fly the ball. It's all in the same HUD picture.

 

This is what it looks like in VR, I like it better than zooming in and distracting myself.

 

I'm around 15 seconds here from wings level to landing, if your deeper than 18 seconds work on your turn in from the abeam. You should be turning in 30 degrees when across from the LSO / back of the ship. Adjust when at the 90 degree mark, takes practice to keep the skills up.

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by David OC

[Eagle7907]

Flying the Ball

 

I have to zoom in, and I don’t use VR. The problem is the resolution isn’t high enough to really get the meatball to such a precise indication. I don’t know about other pilots but it’s a requirement for me. I assigned the zoom to the slider on the Warthog throttle for friction. Once I get close enough I take the zoom back to normal to help with line up and touchdown. Don’t know about landing rates, but I haven’t crashed yet.

 

 

Addendum: When I zoom, I don’t go max zoom. Just enough to notice when the meatball moves up or down to the next cell. That’s all you really need.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[CheckGear]

At 3/4 mile the ball is pretty hard to see. If my turn to final is timed right its usually lined up center once I level out @ approx 330 feet @ 3/4 mile. At that point I have to "deck spot" a bit until I'm around 1/4 mile from the deck and can see the ball better. Do most of you guys zoom in on the HUD super close to help with this? Do real hornet pilots lean forward at all? I'm running 40" 1080p all setting maxed.

 

Second question, once @ 3/4 should we stare at the ball the entire way down to the deck or cycle between looking at the VV/deck and the ball?

 

Apologies if this has been answered already.

 

Thanks all!

 

 

Report immediately to sick bay for a flight physical to re-assess your medical fitness for flying.

[Habu_69]

With my 1440x2560 monitor 32" monitor, ball is easily visible at over 3/4 mi.

[Mr_sukebe]

I can’t read the ball in VR, but use the ICLS bars, which I assume represents the same data

[Tailhook]

I almost never reference "the ball", even in VR. The only time I do, during daylight, is peripherally for a split second to verify my altitude on glide slope. Other than that I'm watching my velocity vector and speed the whole time.

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/ClumsyLuckyRedpandaBibleThump

[Darcwaynard]

Yep, I was zooming in a bit when long in the groove. If you are 18 seconds or less once wings level into the groove you can see the ball easier.

 

Scan

 

Ball - On speed - line up (Repeat)

 

To make this easier use ICLS for Case 1, it's even harder to see the ball in VR. The trick I got from Wags interview with a former F/A-18 pilot is to use the ICLS and fly the height bar with the throttle once it shows up in the HUD around the 45 degree mark.

 

This will have you at the correct height once you come wings level and if you are deep, keep flying the bar until you see the ball, then fly the ball. It's all in the same HUD picture.

 

This is what it looks like in VR, I like it better than zooming in and distracting myself.

 

I'm around 15 seconds here from wings level to landing, if your deeper than 18 seconds work on your turn in from the abeam. You should be turning in 30 degrees when across from the LSO / back of the ship. Adjust when at the 90 degree mark, takes practice to keep the skills up.

 

 

Thanks for that tip, I'm pretty good at hitting the numbers but having the ICLS available until the ball is more visible will definitely be a huge help, will try it out tonight.

 

You need to get out of power before you roll out onto the groove or you will balloon, that's what's forcing you high and having to deck spot.

 

No issues with power rolling out, its a ball visibility issue once I'm lined up. I'm deck spotting until I can make it out better.

 

With my 1440x2560 monitor 32" monitor, ball is easily visible at over 3/4 mi.

 

It seems like most guys running monitors are using 1440 these days. I guess its perhaps time to send 1080p to the boneyard and get more pixels. :P

 

Report immediately to sick bay for a flight physical to re-assess your medical fitness for flying.

 

Shhhhhh, I cheated the vision exam.

 

Thanks for the responses guys, just trying to tidy up my work flow once in the groove.

Seems its more of a "buy a new monitor" situation but I'll work on a system where I zoom into the HUD more for the first half then back out once its visible from standard position.

 

:thumbup:

[Darcwaynard]

I almost never reference "the ball", even in VR. The only time I do, during daylight, is peripherally for a split second to verify my altitude on glide slope. Other than that I'm watching my velocity vector and speed the whole time.

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/ClumsyLuckyRedpandaBibleThump

 

I see, I'm trying to use proper procedures. I'm not sure why you'd watch speed once the plane is configured for landing? A glance at the AOA indicator is warranted just in case but I find once I'm on speed and using throttle for altitude I never look at my airspeed again.

 

As far as the VV goes, if the HUD goes down during battle and you have to land with no HUD we would want to be able to fly the ball properly ya?

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Agreed. Tailhook's is not a good example. Not even on speed.

 

Keep checking ball and line up, that's all IMO. Landing without the HUD is fairly straight forward using this method.

[KIO1606688872]

I almost never reference "the ball", even in VR. The only time I do, during daylight, is peripherally for a split second to verify my altitude on glide slope. Other than that I'm watching my velocity vector and speed the whole time.

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/ClumsyLuckyRedpandaBibleThump

 

Except velocity vector placement will never be exactly the same, it will change based on environmental conditions. Calm winds with the boat making its own wind will look a lot different than high natural winds. Try to put the boat 3* down with the boat making wind and you’re asking for the burble to ruin your day. Pitching deck will also create false didn’t pictures and get you into trouble if you’re spotting the deck. Irl you can even run into hud boresignt issues, basically meaning that your velocity vector will read incorrectly.

 

Airspeed is checked once to ensure aoa is working correctly. Other than that, your mantra is meatball, lineup, aoa

Edited November 4, 2018 by KIO

[Tailhook]

As far as the VV goes, if the HUD goes down during battle and you have to land with no HUD we would want to be able to fly the ball properly ya?

 

Of course, when you have nothing to internally look at, you are going to reference "the ball" in this situation. ;)

 

Unfortunately however, the Hornet's current damage model programming is so weak right now that it's impossible to recover a damaged aircraft when you lose electrical. Every single, and I mean every single sortie, I've lost electrical, both engines automatically shut off after 10 seconds forcing me to eject.

 

Except velocity vector placement will never be exactly the same, it will change based on environmental conditions

 

Yes, the vector placement will never be exactly the same depending on conditions, but the movement of position is minimal. I've grown accustom to knowing what I should be seeing depending on wind and carrier speed. I just prefer to "ballpark" it by flying the vector anyways. I've ignored the "by the book" way for over a decade and instead do what works well for myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited November 4, 2018 by Tailhook

[kreisch]

Of course, when you have nothing to internally look at, you are going to reference "the ball" in this situation. ;)

 

Unfortunately however, the Hornet's current damage model programming is so weak right now that it's impossible to recover a damaged aircraft when you lose electrical. Every single, and I mean every single sortie, I've lost electrical, both engines automatically shut off after 10 seconds forcing me to eject.

 

 

That's a negative.

 

One time I was really dumb and greedy against an SA-2 and got it in my back - HUD froze completely, lost fuel and had a bit of fuzzy hydraulics but could fly back home, almost hit the sea.

 

I had to bring the F18 down without Hud, a strange experience..... :D

[Lange_666]

Do real hornet pilots lean forward at all?

Nope, there's no advance in leaning forward, real pilots don't have "zooming eyes" like we do... If they lean forward they just put there head/eyes around 50cm closer to the ball, makes no difference at 3/4 of a mile... :smartass: