IFR/Night carrier landings

[Harley Davidson]

Just wanted to ask if anyone has been landing the Tomcat in case III?

 

 

I'm pretty new to the 'cat so wondered how to know carrier orientation at night? On the Hornet you can see this on the HUD when everything below you is obscured or pitch black. Is there a way to see carrier orientation (direction) with the 'cat?

 

 

Also is the cat equipped for IFR flight avionics? I guess for a case III for land and carrier based landings?

[whaaw]

On the Hornet you can see this on the HUD when everything below you is obscured or pitch black.

where can you see this on the hornet hud?

[sLYFa]

how to know carrier orientation at night?

I suppose you mean the base recovery course (BRC), i.e. the direction the ship is going. This is something you would get from the carrier air traffic control, there is no other way this information is passed to the pilot

 

Also is the cat equipped for IFR flight avionics? I guess for a case III for land and carrier based landings?

Of course it is! It has all these beautiful round gauges needed for IFR flight (AR, compass, altimeter, tacan etc.) without any nasty and distracting numbers and arrows on your windshield :)

The navigational system however is far from accurate enough for any sort of terminal approach procedure, so you are stuck with tacan+ICLS approaches at night/IFR.

However, the Tomcat's ILS reciever is a special one for carrier ILS and does not work with land based stations, so on land its tacan only.

Edited May 8, 2019 by sLYFa
messed up the quotes

[CoBlue]

Just wanted to ask if anyone has been landing the Tomcat in case III?

 

 

I'm pretty new to the 'cat so wondered how to know carrier orientation at night? On the Hornet you can see this on the HUD when everything below you is obscured or pitch black. Is there a way to see carrier orientation (direction) with the 'cat?

 

 

Also is the cat equipped for IFR flight avionics? I guess for a case III for land and carrier based landings?

Yes, you can land it manually or in ACL (Auto-land) mode.

 

You use the TACAN on HSD for orientation (top-down view), works like a VOR. Set your FB (final-bearing, or Rwy-heading) & you'll get the bearing, course divination & distance to the Carrier.

 

You don't have a modern Navigation Display like on the Hornet. It's old-school analog instrument scan on the Tomcat.

Edited May 8, 2019 by CoBlue