Taxi tips

[Ala12Rv-Birdman]

Hi everyone.

Could anybody more skilled please give me some tips for taxiing the hornet?

I believe in the statement "show me how you taxi and I will tell you how yo fly". And if so, I should fly like a sick duck :(:(

Although practising, there's no way I could do turns soft and fluid. I do not know what's the proper way using throttle/rudder/Differential Brake/HI GAIN combination in close and medium turns.

Thanks in advance for your time and advices!!

Edited February 24, 2019 by Birdman81

[Scofflaw]

I've never found differential braking or thrust to be useful while taxiing.

[Kang]

If you are using hi gain NWS while too fast your front wheel might skid, so watch your speed. But as Nikola said, you hardly need it when operating from land bases.

[majapahit]

'Tap' high gain, I give quite the dot of throttle an immediately back off as soon as I move, and then 'tap' my way to the catapult.

 

In case of after trap, after raising hook, first thing to immediately do is 'wings fold' (a Voiceattack macro command in my case) and HI gain locks and makes for very easy taxiing (without hitting anything also and start a bloody fire)

[Drac]

'Tap' high gain, I give quite the dot of throttle an immediately back off as soon as I move, and then 'tap' my way to the catapult.

 

In case of after trap, after raising hook, first thing to immediately do is 'wings fold' (a Voiceattack macro command in my case) and HI gain locks and makes for very easy taxiing (without hitting anything also and start a bloody fire)

 

Is "wing fold" a default command already in VoiceAttack, or did you add that one?

[Zyll]

You would need to create that macro yourself, it doesn't come as a preprogrammed macro in VA

[Deano87]

Why would you need differential braking when the thing will turn on a dime just with nosewheel steering. Two things to practice, smooth application of rudder especially when in HI mode. And careful application of power so you keep the taxi speeds slow. Remember if you want to use full rudder in HI mode you need to be at a literal walking pace or you will just push the tyres across the surface.

[Drac]

You would need to create that macro yourself, it doesn't come as a preprogrammed macro in VA

 

Any chance you have that available to post? I tried to no avail. Thanks

[majapahit]

Any chance you have that available to post? I tried to no avail. Thanks

Here a pic of my VA

[SmilingBandit]

I've never found differential braking or thrust to be useful while taxiing.

 

Differential thrust won’t do anything appreciable since the engines are so close together. Differential braking shouldn’t even do much with hydraulics applied to the nose steering system (I say should as I’m not familiar with the details of the Hornet nose steering system). Differential braking is really only useful in planes that have castering steering wheels.

[Drac]

Here a pic of my VA

 

Thanks. Those were the commands I used previously. I noticed that I do not have on my keyboard list a command for twisting the handle to the left...only to the right. Am I missing a command on my list within DCS?

[majapahit]

Thanks. Those were the commands I used previously. I noticed that I do not have on my keyboard list a command for twisting the handle to the left...only to the right. Am I missing a command on my list within DCS?

the 'wing fold' result in my HTML generation:

 

"RShift - O" Wing Fold Control Handle - CCW/Left Right Vertical Panel

"RCtrl - O" Wing Fold Control Handle - CW/Right Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - FOLD Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - FOLD/HOLD Special For Joystick; Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - HOLD Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - PULL Right Vertical Panel

"O" Wing Fold Control Handle - PULL/STOW Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - SPREAD Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - SPREAD/HOLD Special For Joystick; Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - STOW Right Vertical Panel

 

both left and right

and that seems to be default

 

the functions that seem duplicates one has to ask DCS, don't need, haven't tried

Edited February 25, 2019 by majapahit

[Drac]

the 'wing fold' result in my HTML generation:

 

"RShift - O" Wing Fold Control Handle - CCW/Left Right Vertical Panel

"RCtrl - O" Wing Fold Control Handle - CW/Right Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - FOLD Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - FOLD/HOLD Special For Joystick; Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - HOLD Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - PULL Right Vertical Panel

"O" Wing Fold Control Handle - PULL/STOW Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - SPREAD Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - SPREAD/HOLD Special For Joystick; Right Vertical Panel

Wing Fold Control Handle - STOW Right Vertical Panel

 

both left and right

and that seems to be default

 

the functions that seem duplicates one has to ask DCS, don't need, haven't tried

 

It looks like the issue for me is that I do not have a keystroke on the Controls List for "CCW/Left". The keystroke you use "Rsft + O" is listed as "UFC Keyboard Pushbutton - 2)" for me. I can get the wings to go down, but cannot get the wings to stow and lock. Anyway, thanks for your assistance.

[majapahit]

It looks like the issue for me is that I do not have a keystroke on the Controls List for "CCW/Left". The keystroke you use "Rsft + O" is listed as "UFC Keyboard Pushbutton - 2)" for me. I can get the wings to go down, but cannot get the wings to stow and lock. Anyway, thanks for your assistance.

Which is an indication for a repair of your 'saved games' directory, or b. simply backup your old and start a fresh 'saved game' directory which generates all (new and up to date) key bindings ..

[Drac]

@majapait...roger

[sk000tch]

Go fly a traildragger with a big radial where you have to S-turn down the taxiway, get proficient then come back and enjoy the sweet no torque straight tracking high vis bliss that is the f/a-18.

 

But seriously, as with everything in a plane smooth control inputs is the rule... decent rudder pedals help, you don't need MFGs but I can't imagine using twist (I can't imagine flying with twist either). Despite other posts differential braking is essential to be smooth, and is an important basic airmanship skill to have for every airplane you fly. High gain in hornet helps but it doesn't replace brakes. No reason to use differential thrust however, but anticipating thrust requirements is key. Just like flying dirty anticipate throttle requirements and adjust before you turn, don't wait until you're stopped and the front wheel is cocked 90 degrees. It will come with time but if you plotted throttle input vs time it should look like gentle waves not the rocky mountains.

 

Careful where you stick your nose. Hornet doesn't have reverse like the A-10 but it can basically pivot on its inside wheel if you keep it locked, so you're never in trouble unless you stick your nose too far into a corner or something and can turn around.

 

You don't have a butt sensor in sims, and this is one of the areas it shows up. You can feel a car, feel it through the pedals, small changes in speed as your butt moves in the seat, so you just have to practice.

 

That fold wings script is cool, thanks for whoever posted it

[Ala12Rv-Birdman]

Thanks to everyone.

I'll try to keep in mind all those things on the next attempts

[Tenkom]

If you want to go full realism you should keep in mind that on a carrier deck you always have to be in IDLE thrust when turning. A safety precaution to avoid blowing people of the deck with sweeping thrust.

So you have to build up enough speed before you start to turn.