Intermediate Experienced DCS User w a few F-14 Questions

[redmantab]

Team - My experience with DCS has been (in order) with the P-51, F-5, Mirage 2000 (completed both campaigns), and now the F-14. I use Oculus Rift VR, X52, a flight seat, and have a pretty nice setup. Never flew IRL. I have a few potentially silly questions about the F-14. I've watched a ton of Videos to learn what I describe below but wanted to ask you folks a few quick things if I may -

 

1 - After using the Mirage I think I may have this statement somewhat correct? . . . The Mirage was the first of the aircraft I flew (see above) that uses Fly By Wire systems. This basically means, I think, that the computer knows how to make sure when I fly around I don't "yank too hard" and maneuver inappropriately....and blow myself up.

 

With the F-14, I am noticing I frequently pull to the left or right and blow my own wing off lol. I'm guessing that this is because the Tomcat is older than the Mirage and doesn't use Fly By Wire? FBW wasn't "invented" back in the time of the F-14's development? Can anyone help me with a little blurb on this overall situation so I understand it?

 

2 - If I have 1 somewhat correct, what do I need to do to judge not damaging my own jet? Do I simply fly a ton until I learn what works and doesn't? Is there some sort of way to gauge if I should or shouldn't use a certain maneuver?

 

3 - I've successfully learned F-14 Cold Start w full checklist, Take off with Carrier, Landing with Carrier, and Guns. All with Pilots point of view. RIO perhaps way down the line. So I'm prepped on what to expect, it seems so far that the "radar" as pilot doesn't show much....probably due to the RIO having "it all?" As pilot in single player, any general advice on how I use radar / my RIO to spot enemy aircraft and ground targets.

 

 

Thank you. Doing what I can.

[RustBelt]

1. Tomcat is a basic hydraulic flight control system. You literally can move the controls as hard as 3,000 PSI of hydraulic system pressure will allow you. In the real world you notice you're about to rip the wings off because your head is in your lap. A typical desktop joystick has too short a throw to work linearly with this kind of control. Pulling all the way back on your X52 is the same as pulling all the way back in the Tomcat, and that's not something you can do easily or comfortably in real life.

 

2. You'll need to get used to it, don't slam in deflections, gradually increase pressure on the stick and let the plane tell you what's going on. Remember the handy buffet shaking tells you AoA. Smooth is the key.

 

3. The Tomcat is a 2 Crew aircraft. You and your RIO have to work together as a team. Talk to Jester. Right now he still needs a bit of Micromanaging but even still you need to communicate to get the most out of the crew. The Tomcat radar is more like the F-5 than it is the Mirage so be mindful of its limitations and idiosyncrasies. Unfortunately there's no way to just practice RIO in Single Player in real work environments so you'll have to be bossy with Jester.

[SVgamer72]

The Tomcat is analog (no fly by wire), and does not stop you from inputting more control than the airframe can handle. She will try to do whatever you tell her.

 

A. Add a curve to your stick for pitch to dampen the amount of input you feed in. Start with a curve of 20 and tweak up and down until you get the feel you want. Maybe you will end up back at 0, but at least you will get a feel for it.

 

B. Watch the AOA meter to the left of the hud and try to keep it no higher than 15 units. She will do more, but that is the sweet spot and bad things happen if you exceed that and are not in total control.

 

Try A and B and see if you have more success keeping the wings on.

 

Cheers

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[r4y30n]

Remember the handy buffet shaking tells you AoA.

 

This has been the most helpful advice in my learning the cat. It takes a bit to get a feel for heavy buffet vs moderate but once mastered it's more intuitive than trying to eyeball the AoA meter.

[Paganus]

You might want to add a bit of curve to your controls. That should help with the wing snapping.

[redmantab]

A few follow ups if I may -

 

1 - Buffet Shaking is the console and everything in front of me shaking as I turn etc?

 

2 - I've watched other videos of F-14 DCS and their VDI looks almost like a map of the ground in more detail than anything I've been doing. How ? Also, during a night mission my VDI was red...how do I make it green as I'm used to?

 

3 - Fuel. If I go full afterburners it seems to be using my drop tanks first but sometimes I see my left and right tanks start to drain....but then they fill back up again. Is that how drop tanks worked on the F-14 since designed back in the 60's?

 

4 - Sparrows. When I swap to sparrows from guns, then sidewinder, then SP on the flight stick they don't always fire dependably like the sidewinders. What gives? Do I need to do something else to use them?

 

5 - When about to engage air to air with the F-14, do you typically always want to jettison the drop tanks? That's alot of fuel to dump even when traveling far they hold ALOT. With that in mind, I'm enjoying trying instant action Persian Gulf summer of 88 mission...where you launch from a carrier and engage about 100 miles north. What would you do? Burners until within 25 miles of the enemy and then drop tanks for increased maneuverability? Or did F-14 Pilots typically always keep drop tanks anyway for their long range?

 

6 - After using the P-15, F-5, Mirage 2000, and now the F-14 it seems as if the F-14 has a much larger fuel capacity and flight range. Also a much faster speed, even than the Mirage. Am I right on this overall?

 

Great experience so far.

[mwlue]

...With the F-14, I am noticing I frequently pull to the left or right and blow my own wing off lol. ....

:megalol:

 

I just managed to do this stun last night, was doing some bombing and trying not switch to bombing swept ( so leaving the wings not swept to bombing position, not fully extend neither). When I pull out of the bombing run.... BAAAM :music_whistling:

[uri_ba]

Sometimes (not specific for F-14) fuel usage may exceed max fuel transfer speed from external tanks. In this case, aircraft will use internal tanks. In fact, it always uses internal tanks, it's just that the externals keep topping off the internals.

 

In some cases, IRL, it was even more extream.

The engine is always fed from small engine tanks in the fuselage, they are fed from the fuselage tanks which in turn are fed from the wing tanks (fed from externals).

In some aircraft, without the fuel pumps the engine will drain it's feed tanks in AB. The MIII was like this, so is the F-16.

[Fri13]

 

With the F-14, I am noticing I frequently pull to the left or right and blow my own wing off lol. I'm guessing that this is because the Tomcat is older than the Mirage and doesn't use Fly By Wire? FBW wasn't "invented" back in the time of the F-14's development? Can anyone help me with a little blurb on this overall situation so I understand it?

 

FBW was invented "back then". It is very old invention really. Its idea was to separate the pilot controls physically from the control surfaces electronically, so the Input signal that pilot generates by moving his controls is converted to electronic signal, that then can be transmitted through the wires to the actual control surface servos and motors on different parts of the aircraft. This way there is no mechanical or hydraulic link between controls and control surfaces.

 

And then when you add there an computer to act as "controller", you can get fancy stuff done. So the computer is inputted constantly all the sensor information about speed, accelerations, attitude, pressure etc that are affecting to the aircraft externally and what the aircraft is generating itself, and then computer makes the output to control surfaces to keep aircraft flying straight. Then pilot controls are inputted to the computer as well and the computer will read out what is required to do to fly aircraft straight, and then it reads what pilot would want and applies the pilot inputs to the output and this way the computer listens what pilot wants to do, but computer operates all the control surfaces as it sees required to perform only the output the pilot input generates. So if pilot doesn't add any inputs (wants to fly straight) but other forces are affecting that aircraft would pitch up or down, the computer will apply the controls so the aircraft is flying straight.

 

The FBW technology is about couple decades older than the F-14 project itself is. So it is well known technology but limited by the era computerized capabilities. Today few years old smartphone has tens of thousands times more calculation performance than the fastest computers back then when F-14 got out.

 

But many many things are totally lacking that virtual pilots can do, that is all the feelings that pilot gets when they fly. That is one huge challenge in DCS as one can pull so easily high G forces and look around without any problems, move hands without any problems etc, that they wouldn't do in real life. And while doing so, keep focusing only to the things that matter etc.

 

Such lack of experience generates serious "Air Quake" behavior to virtual pilots as they can do things they wouldn't do in real world as they would feel the limitations and be limited too.