Hours

[Raisuli]

64 hours in the Hornet (the first 24 or so were probably spent goofing off, certainly not doing anything worthwhile because I was using an ergonomic horror show for controls). I'm just starting to get comfortable with it, even if I still forget to configure things now and then.

 

 

217 landings, so 3.4 landings per hour rather than the 7 to 10 I'm shooting for. I can get a landing on the CV more often than not, though the LSO has been known to give me a USUCK grade and the CO threatened to eat my cat if I land on his boat again.

 

 

Still haven't caught a basket, but I don't spend much time working on that.

 

 

So, leaning the Hornet in a vacuum and just wondering how many hours the hot sticks have.

 

 

I have 3 hours in a Huey. My hover looks more like an epileptic seizure, but I can land. On a runway. Somewhere. Just clear the airfield and hope the shrapnel doesn't hit anything vital. Last night I learned the collective needs constant stroking.

[maxTRX]

... just wondering how many hours the hot sticks have....

 

 

Luke warm here... I stopped couting:music_whistling:

 

Oh, your CO... where... nah, better not.

[Harker]

My logbook says 253 hours, but between MP, a reset and the fact that I often quit straight to Windows, I'd add something like 100 hours to that.

649 (2.56/h) landings, but that includes carrier trainings and bolters (I think). I normally fly long-ish missions. 72 refuelings.

If you are in the EU area and feel like it, feel free to PM me, I have some guys I fly with a few times a week, either for training or light missions, pretty casual stuff.

[Raisuli]

If you are in the EU area and feel like it, feel free to PM me, I have some guys I fly with a few times a week, either for training or light missions, pretty casual stuff.

 

 

I was supposed to be in the EU in a couple weeks, but someone closed it.

[Harker]

I was supposed to be in the EU in a couple weeks, but someone closed it.

Oh boy, you're missing out on all the fun. Joking aside though, it's probably for the best.

[dburne]

I have just over 100 hours in it now and am still going through the learning process.

I don't learn as fast as I used to - it is hell getting old lol.

[Nekhebu]

Why are you aiming for 10 landings an hour? You'd be constantly taking off and landing without ever doing anything else.

[Raisuli]

Because that's how I play my game? Drop bombs, fire GWDODs, shoot guns, or just do 7-9 touch and goes, then land? It's amazing how you develop the muscle memory to land that way.

 

 

Since we don't have FLCPs set up I do most of my touch and goes on the carrier, but that's a special mission setup to keep the aircraft light enough.

[BuzzU]

I'm not sure touch n go's are the best idea. You don't know if you caught the wire.

[G B]

I'm not sure touch n go's are the best idea. You don't know if you caught the wire.

 

 

Touch and Goes are done IRL in order to keep the tempo high and get more looks at the ball. Trap to Cat takes a significant amount of time. While not as much time in DCS, it still is faster to do touch and goes and reenter the pattern. IRL the LSO will let you know what wire you would've caught during your debrief; maybe DCS one day could do the same.

[BuzzU]

Exactly in real life but in DCS a couple of mouse clicks and you're back in the pattern.

[Raisuli]

Touch and Goes are done IRL in order to keep the tempo high and get more looks at the ball. Trap to Cat takes a significant amount of time. While not as much time in DCS, it still is faster to do touch and goes and reenter the pattern. IRL the LSO will let you know what wire you would've caught during your debrief; maybe DCS one day could do the same.

 

 

And in DCS I watch the ball set into the deck just before I cross the threshold. I'm almost on CL most of the time now, but I just can't seem to get the glide slope right. Low. Always low. I can hear the "power. Power POWER!" in my head.

 

 

 

Glide slope is my next project. That and a steady hover in the Huey. You get diminishing returns working on one thing to exclusion. After ten or fifteen passes on the carrier I just get worse. I watch all of those approach tracks in slow motion so I know just how badly I suck, where the mains hit, and which wire I would have got. I'm a nuke. Obsessive is my middle name.

 

 

 

(I saved a track of the worst landing you can survive in DCS. Ramp strike; or at least the mains hit the white part of the round down. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, but still got a wire and stopped. In DCS the aircraft looked flyable, IRL it gave the fire teams something to do)

[Raisuli]

Exactly in real life but in DCS a couple of mouse clicks and you're back in the pattern.

 

 

Meanwhile I'm collecting hours on-speed, making turns. Also worthwhile.

[BuzzU]

Meanwhile I'm collecting hours on-speed, making turns. Also worthwhile.

 

True, it all helps but I don't smile until i'm on the wire. ;)

[G B]

And in DCS I watch the ball set into the deck just before I cross the threshold. I'm almost on CL most of the time now, but I just can't seem to get the glide slope right. Low. Always low. I can hear the "power. Power POWER!" in my head.

 

 

 

Glide slope is my next project. That and a steady hover in the Huey. You get diminishing returns working on one thing to exclusion. After ten or fifteen passes on the carrier I just get worse. I watch all of those approach tracks in slow motion so I know just how badly I suck, where the mains hit, and which wire I would have got. I'm a nuke. Obsessive is my middle name.

 

 

 

(I saved a track of the worst landing you can survive in DCS. Ramp strike; or at least the mains hit the white part of the round down. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, but still got a wire and stopped. In DCS the aircraft looked flyable, IRL it gave the fire teams something to do)

 

Yes diminishing returns are real. That’s why IRL there’s a limit to the number of passes, even for FCLP.

[Raisuli]

True, it all helps but I don't smile until i'm on the wire. ;)

 

 

Caught a wire...

 

 

Low over the threshold, 880FPS descent rate, left of center line. 2 wire. Not smiling.

 

 

 

The LSO just slapped me and suggested I get back below the waterline where I belong. She was being a little harsh; we were going to retire that aircraft anyway...

 

 

Seriously, though, I'm getting better at this. And flying the Huey. Didn't crash the chopper once in about 20 landings flying laps around Nellis.

[Harker]

Yes diminishing returns are real. That’s why IRL there’s a limit to the number of passes, even for FCLP.

Definitely. If I'm not feeling it, my entire approach will be markedly worse. Bad days are real too. You know how to fly the ball. You've done it hundreds of times. But today you got a couple of bolters out of nowhere and suddenly you're frustrated, low on fuel and just want to get it on the deck, which in turn makes things worse.

[CBStu]

For practice I fly either the Quick Action approach in the Persian Gulf (the water is a prettier color than in the Caucuses) or Banklers. In the QA, as soon as the plane stops I do a quick F2 to see which wire I caught or Bankler tells me that in the score. As soon as I know that I hit L Shift + R to start over.