Carrier Landing Issues - buggy or ??

[AvgWhiteGuy]

Carrier Landing Issues - buggy or ??

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Version: 2.5.6.47404

Some of these may be buggy and some are pilot error-ignorance. I'm referring here to carrier ops with F/A-18, nothing to do with SuperCarrier.

 

Carrier Stennis gives the correct heading back to Mom (close to TACAN) but wrong runway heading. She had a true heading of 262° but called out RunWay 1-0. Happened on several occasions, same mission but different days.

 

Once you have contacted Carrier with Inbound, and she has responded with heading & runway...is there a way to recall this information or contact carrier a 2nd time....and not with Navigation assistance. Sometimes I don't get the info correct the 1st time.

 

Can someone tell me the exact requirement for setting the F/A-18 Radar Altitude? T/O from the carrier, all good...return to carrier and Radar Alt was high by over 1000 ft...which put me dangerously low. What are the normal steps on activating-calibrating Radar Alt in startup and/or pre-landing sequence? What all must be ON?

 

And the 'pièce de résistance', onboard carrier taxiing to Aat the A/C slid slideways toward the stern, stopped...then slid off the carrier and stayed in the air stationary, engine running while the carrier just sailed off. I've had some strange carrier events but this takes the cake....after a 4 hour mission

Attachment is the new DCS F/A-18 Stol hovering off the coast of Georgia after I had ejected.:helpsmilie:

[Harker]

1. Carrier ATC isn't available, you only get the generic ATC response now, that is useless (and wrong) for carrier approaches, save for the altimeter info. Sometimes you might get it accidentally. The only reliable way I know to get a correct response is to use VAICOM with Voice Attack, which bypasses the comms menu altogether and use "Inbound" twice (works the second time).

 

2. There is no native Repeat function. Again, using the aforementioned third-party software, you can simply say "inbound" again and you'll get the info again.

 

 

3. Make sure your radar altimeter is on (knob on the altimeter by your right knee, that altimeter scale goes up to 5,000 ft AGL). Turn the knob CW: the alert caret will start moving and the needle will cycle one. You can test the system by pushing the knob in, which will cycle the needle and illuminate its two lights (unless the cockpit lighting switch is set to NVG, I think). Normally, you should also get the aural warning, the ALTITUDE warning on the HUD and the option to shut the warning off, on the UFC, but these don't always occur 100%, in my experience.

 

You can verify that the system is also supplying info on the HUD by placing the HUD ALT switch to RDR and observe that the letter R appears next to the altitude box, while below 5,000 ft AGL. If it's not on, the letter B will flash instead.

[AvgWhiteGuy]

@Harker...thanks for the info, I'll check that later today....especially the Radar Altimeter.

 

Regarding the COMMS issue...I use VAICOM with Voice Attack but it has a very strange problem. COMMS is mapped to the correct Warthog throttle switch(es)...works perfect with A-10C. BUT when I use that same switches with the F/A-18 it launching a VIEW instead (enemy airport and other crap). I've cleared ALL the mapping between F/A-18 and the Throttle several times but can't seem to get it to work correctly. So I've just been using Comms menu. Any idea on that issue...driving me crazy!!!! If I can sort that out I can use your #2 suggestion.

So you're saying that it is a known issue that the Carrier ATC (generic) will give the correct ship heading but sometimes give a completely random Runway heading? It doesn't happen all the time, just sporadic but WAY, WAY off.

 

Thanks again, stay safe....

[Harker]

@Harker...thanks for the info, I'll check that later today....especially the Radar Altimeter.

 

Regarding the COMMS issue...I use VAICOM with Voice Attack but it has a very strange problem. COMMS is mapped to the correct Warthog throttle switch(es)...works perfect with A-10C. BUT when I use that same switches with the F/A-18 it launching a VIEW instead (enemy airport and other crap). I've cleared ALL the mapping between F/A-18 and the Throttle several times but can't seem to get it to work correctly. So I've just been using Comms menu. Any idea on that issue...driving me crazy!!!! If I can sort that out I can use your #2 suggestion.

So you're saying that it is a known issue that the Carrier ATC (generic) will give the correct ship heading but sometimes give a completely random Runway heading? It doesn't happen all the time, just sporadic but WAY, WAY off.

 

Thanks again, stay safe....

 

For VAICOM on the F-18, keep in mind that different aircraft have different radios, which VIACOM will recognize and map to different TX nodes. I have a different profile for the A-10C and a different one for the F-18, for example. Post your questions on the VAICOM thread, there are helpful people there. I'm not that knowledgeable about it, I've just gotten it to work for me well enough.

For the throttle, just to be on the safe side, go to Controls, select the Views category and clear everything from the throttle (you probably did that though). Otherwise, see if a macro or something is activated every time you press the button. Check the Voice Attack window, normally it should display each action, so you'll see if that's the reason.

As for the carrier ATC, you shouldn't be getting a runway heading, just the BRC for CASE I or the final bearing (BRC-9) for CASE III, both with additional weather, altimeter etc info, all given by a female voice. If you get the standard male voice that you get when you land at an airfield, then it's the generic ATC response and it's mostly useless.