Help with the Hornet please?

[DevPreach]

Hi all,

I’m doing my best to work on improving my flight skills while having time off from work due to the corona virus. I’m just starting to enjoy the Hornet but I’m having issues landing it(I haven’t even attempted to do a carrier landing yet). I can get it down and I understand the concept of flying on speed aoa using trim and throttle to maintain the correct angle of attack. My issue is this: I trim up to get the nose up but I can never get the right amount of trim always giving too much. Is there info out there that would tell me how many pushes of the trim hat to give to get a desired result? Is there something out there that I could work on to get better at this? I’m also having a hard time adjusting to the lagged response in the trim system and the throttle system. I guess I am just too used to the fast response to the throttle and steering wheel in my car. Please help?

 

DevPreach

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Creepy]

It takes a few seconds for the aircraft to stabilize with a new trim setting. Try not to set the trim all at once or you’ll find yourself fighting the jet to keep it from doing something you do not want it to do. Instead, once you are dirty (gear down and flaps full), continue manually flying the aircraft as it slows down while adding clicks of trim periodically/as necessary to remove any stick pressures as the aircraft slows to on speed. Additionally, as the aircraft approaches on speed AoA, I recommend adding power to “catch” on speed and avoid “flying through” the HUD “E” bracket and becoming slow.

[Tholozor]

There really won't be a 'set number' of presses to get you on-speed AoA, as your gross weight will determine the necessary throttle and trim necessary to achieve 8.1°. Certain upgraded legacy Hornets and Super Hornets (depending on the block) can have the ability to set a 'target' AoA (not relevant to the Lot 20, but a neat solution the engineers came up with) in landing configuration.

 

Mostly it'll boil down to practice. The best thing you can do is to stay flexible, never leave the throttle in one place. Rock it back and forth to average out the power. Since the engines have a delayed response (analogous to the difference of control of a 2-stroke engine vs. 4-stroke), keeping the throttle moving puts the pilot in a more advantageous position to apply or reduce power as needed by changing the lower and upper limits of your average power curve.

 

If you find yourself adding too much trim, just apply it in smaller increments over time. If you watch the FCS page, you'll see that the flaps move to the FULL position very slowly during flight, which can put you in a bad spot as the amount of lift changes over time as you slow down and change trim. Most common problem I see are pilots trying to get on-speed AoA as soon as possible and ending up stalling out because they tried to configure too quickly before the flaps were fully engaged. Just be ready to catch yourself as your speed drops below 150tks.

 

As before: practice, practice, practice.

[donkeyrider]

DevPreach, a few things to try:

 

* First of all check all your control settings to make sure that your pitch and roll settings can only be done via the joystick. Occasionally other axis controls will be set up for pitch etc and you need to "clear" these unnecessary inputs.

 

* as other stated, just do a few clicks at a time. I normally do 3-4 clicks, relax the grip on stick, see what happens, then adjust. After a while you get a feel for how much you need.

 

* in terms of the throttle, the thing you have to accept is that there is no "set and forget" throttle position, so you're continually moving it up and down. Plenty of youtube videos showing pilots in real life continually moving the throttle back and forth. If I need to add power, then I would "bump" it up, once I hear the engine whine increase, I would look to bring it back to the original position. Then anticipate either moving it up again, or bringing it down a little. Again it's practice as others have said.

 

Hope this helps. Glad to see that you're using your time productively whilst at home!

[poochies]

Once you get the bug properly trimmed for landing AOA I find she's the easiest jet to land of all my modules , but took me a lot! of practice … keep at it , very rewarding when yo can nail the landings. I like to keep a 3 to 4 degree glideslope using the pitch ladder on the HUD... I think a 700 fpm decent rate is what you should be shootng for..

[BuzzU]

I agree with creepy. You're probably trying to trim it too fast. Click trim and wait a few seconds and a little more and wait. Otherwise, you'll be chasing it too much.

[Mouse_99]

Also, a common issue for newbies is, those engines need a little patience in allowing them to spool up. This means staying ahead of the engines, using the throttle actively constantly moving them and adjusting as they try to catch up to what you really want them to do. it takes a little practice, but once you've got it, it becomes second nature.

[CBStu]

Let's go over a straight in approach starting at 250-275, 8-10 miles out at 3-4000ft. Chop the throttle to idle and drop the gear. It won't actually drop til you go below 250 and it has a mild slowing effect. You can start cranking some up trim in now but don't get carried away as it changes drastically when the flaps come down. Don't drop flaps til 180 or you will just balloon up. Waiting til <180 the flaps give a huge slow down so now crank in more trim. I don't use the AOA lights at all, 100% use the E bracket to set trim. Generally your approach speed will be in the 130-135 range, so watch the E bracket to set trim but watch speed too. As you know reaction to more throttle is laggy so, as you get down to 140-145, start adding throttle. I think there is a quick action mission that is a straight in approach to a landing strip. You can use that as practice. As soon as your wheels touch just hit left shift-R to restart and keep doing this. BTW what you are using for a throttle will have a definite effect as you need really fine control.

[Habu_69]

Hornet was designed to crash-land on carriers. Just keep 3 degree glide slope and center the E bracket until touchdown. The key to doing this is constant minor throttle and trim adjustments and that takes practice. Do make long final approaches for initial training.

[PoorOldSpike]

..I’m just starting to enjoy the Hornet but I’m having issues landing it(I haven’t even attempted to do a carrier landing yet)...

 

 

Tip- fly in external F2 view sometimes because it gives you a great insight into how the plane "sits" in the air at various throttle settings and angles of attack etc, then when you go back into the cockpit you'll subconsciously be carrying the images in your mind.

 

 

Another tip- For learning carrier landings, create a mission with a carrier in it and set the carrier speed to about 20 kts and the headwind to about 30 knots or more and you'll float onto the deck almost in slow motion, piece o' cake. Gradually reduce the wind speed to make it harder as you gain experience.

 

 

PS- I remember hearing a navy squadron commander say in a book or film- "Fly straight into the wires, i'll court martial anybody who tries to flare" but I don't know whether that's official navy doctrine.

[David OC]

Practice just flying around first when setup on speed AOA

 

Always set AOA level and wings level on the down wind only then leave it, re trim on the down wind level if you bolter. Trim the flight path marker with the E bracket then use NO pitch with the stick.

 

 

This landing below is just an example, here you see me takeoff again, without touching the trim or stick and the aircraft go's right back to on speed. The aircraft will seek it (wants to be there)