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Pre-SC Briefing from Paddles


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Hello everyone!

 

 

In anticipation of the SC being released, I thought I would pass some nuggets of knowledge on ball flying and carrier landings. This is not an in depth break down of the pattern, or comms, but rather a primer on doing things right, for those so inclined. The objective is for those pursuing relative realism, and is to encourage safe, solid passes that may end up in the 2,3, or 4 wires (or bolter), rather than a wild pass that ends up in a 3 wire, as Paddles will ALWAYS prefer the former.

 

 

Paddles always briefs the "rules to live by" and they have been unchanged for decades (except for those flying PLM the past few years, but that's another topic). These rules to live by are no joke. Paddles enforces them, and pilots put out their best efforts to adhere to them. Nobody is going rogue and deviating from them. Here they are:

 

 

Never lead a low or slow: This means that if the ball is low, add power until the ball rises above the datums, THEN reduce the power. Never reduce the power before that point in anticipation of the ball rising above the datums. The same is applied to on-speed. If slow and adding power, do not take it out until you are fully on speed in anticipation.

 

 

Always lead a high or fast: This is basically the opposite of the above. With a high ball, add your counter-correction early in anticipation of the ball coming down. Same for correcting from a fast back to on-speed.

When low and slow – Fix the low, then the slow: If you find yourself in the combined condition of simultaneously low AND slow, the priority is to fix the low before fixing the slow. Get the ball above the datums, then accelerate to on-speed.

 

When high and fast – Fix the fast, then the high: Opposite of above. In this combined condition, fixing the fast gets the priority over fixing the glideslope.

Never re-center a high ball in close, but stop the rising ball: This is IMO the one that needs the most emphasis. Note the words "in close" in there. That refers to the in-close position, which is a few seconds prior to crossing the stern of the ship. At this point, if the ball is high, do not try to get it back to center! You will scare yourself, and paddles, and either earn a no-grade, or worse, a waveoff. Reduce power such that you stop the ball from rising any further. However, TOO MANY people are so focused on trying to get the ball back to center. The IRL expression that is famous in Naval Aviation is "take your bolter like a man." If the ball is high while you're in-close, it is FAR better to bolter, than to make a large power-off correction to try to salvage it. Paddles will be much angrier if you try to recenter the ball to avoid a bolter. I cannot emphasize this enough: boltering is vastly preferable to catching a wire if catching a wire means making a big play for the ramp.

 

Fly the ball all the way to touchdown: The difference between a 3 wire and something else is often due to a pilot "giving up" in the last two seconds of the pass. This rule to live by is self-explanatory: Fly the ball. ALL THE WAY. To touchdown. There is still more ball flying to be done in the last moments prior to trap. If you just make that last little correction, you can end up with a better pass. Do not give up. Ball flying does not stop until you are literally weight on wheels.

Some additional points:

-Paddles' voice overrides what you see on the IFLOLS.

-Paddles' commands must be followed without delay.

-Paddles NEVER grades the wire you catch. This is one of the largest misconceptions in the DCS community. There are PLENTY of no-grade 3 wires, and PLENTY of OK 2 wires and 4 wires. A 3 wire doesn't mean squat if you had to BFM your way into that wire. Nobody will be impressed with it, least of all Paddles. The entire pass is graded as a whole, not merely the wire. I have seen some really beautiful 2 wire passes.

Grades:

-Underline OK: 5.0 (awarded ONLY for good passes under emergency conditions, or a pilot's final pass of his tour or career)

-OK: 4.0

-Fair: 3.0

-Bolter: 2.5**

-No-Grade: 2.0

-No-Grade Bolter: 2.0 (a bolter that was ugly enough to be a no-grade).**

-Pattern Waveoff: 2.0**

-Technique Waveoff: 1.0**

-Cut Pass: 0.0

-No Count: No points/Neutral

-Foul Deck Waveoff: No Points/Neutral

**Grades with the double asterisk count against boarding rate percentage.

While I said that Paddles does not grade the wire, it is very very very very likely that if you catch the 1 wire under normal conditions, it will be a No-Grade. Being that low at the ramp is an excessive deviation.

What is significant about this, is that a bolter is worth 2.5, and a No-Grade is worth 2.0. This goes back to that super important rule to live by:

Never re-center a high ball in close, but stop the rising ball. Hence, the grades incentivize taking a bolter rather than snagging a 1 wire, as a bolter is safer than a 1-wire.

If you haven't noticed yet, 1 wires are very frowned upon.

Of course there is MUCH MUCH more to carrier aviation than this, and this is the tip of the iceberg of the academics that pilots receive IRL. I hope that this information finds you well in the shiny new Super Carrier. If you choose to ignore all this, that's fine too! It is a game. But if you want to do what the real guys do, adhering to all this is a good start. See you out there.

Be the ball!

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Very helpful thanks.

 

Is the 1-wire such a bad thing due to it being potentially very close to face-planting the back of the carrier?

 

You got it! Too close to the back of the ship. Too little hook-to-ramp clearance.

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not being trimmed "ON SPEED" and / or controlling your glide slope with pitch instead of power given AOA changes with pitch inputs. (red/green chevron )

 

So basically, if I trim a hornet to "ON SPEED" and do not use flight stick to control descend, I cannot end up in fast or slow situation?

 

I guess slow and fast rules are more important for non FBW aircraft like F-14.

Do not expect fairness.

The times of chivalry and fair competition are long gone.

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So basically, if I trim a hornet to "ON SPEED" and do not use flight stick to control descend, I cannot end up in fast or slow situation?

 

I guess slow and fast rules are more important for non FBW aircraft like F-14.

 

You should control glideslope with the throttles, but it is permissible to use slight nudges of the stick to “influence the nose.” That said, trim will be your biggest aid to maintaining on-speed.

 

The rules are equally important for ALL aircraft. For example, not being on-speed means you have now changed your aircraft’s hook-to-eye value, rendering IFLOLS information inaccurate to you. Being fast means you could code a hard landing or have a hook skip bolter. Being slow means you could be underpowered and sink, or have a dangerous in-flight-engagement of the wire.

 

Never settle for not being on-speed.

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You should control glideslope with the throttles, but it is permissible to use slight nudges of the stick to “influence the nose.” That said, trim will be your biggest aid to maintaining on-speed.

 

The rules are equally important for ALL aircraft. For example, not being on-speed means you have now changed your aircraft’s hook-to-eye value, rendering IFLOLS information inaccurate to you. Being fast means you could code a hard landing or have a hook skip bolter. Being slow means you could be underpowered and sink, or have a dangerous in-flight-engagement of the wire.

 

Never settle for not being on-speed.

 

Yea, I understand that, I just cannot imagine a hornet in groove not being on-speed. :thumbup:


Edited by =4c=Nikola

Do not expect fairness.

The times of chivalry and fair competition are long gone.

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So basically, if I trim a hornet to "ON SPEED" and do not use flight stick to control descend, I cannot end up in fast or slow situation?

 

I guess slow and fast rules are more important for non FBW aircraft like F-14.

 

 

"So basically, if I trim a hornet to "ON SPEED" and do not use flight stick to control descend, I cannot end up in fast or slow situation?" all other things equal, very correct. (EDIT: also what GB said)

 

to drive home the point, when you trim *any* aircraft (nothing to do with FBW), the aircraft will seek that AOA/airspeed, regardless of attitude/power/etc (all other things equal)

 

... trim can be thought of as setting an equilibrium point, for which the aircraft will seek that aerodynamic state. If you are trimmed for what you want (in this case on speed) it will seek it and help you hold it, if you are trimmed for something different, it will seek *different* and you will need to fight it during the approach.


Edited by Lex Talionis

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to drive home the point, when you trim *any* aircraft (nothing to do with FBW), the aircraft will seek that AOA/airspeed, regardless of attitude/power/etc (all other things equal)

 

... trim can be thought of as setting an equilibrium point, for which the aircraft will seek that aerodynamic state. If you are trimmed for what you want (in this case on speed) it will seek it and help you hold it, if you are trimmed for something different, it will seek *different* and you will need to fight it during the approach.

 

That's true, but without FBW, changing power or trim would induce pitch oscillations and you would have to dampen them with flight stick input or wait for it to find equilibrium itself.

 

For example F-14 needs to be retrimmed for every power change.

Do not expect fairness.

The times of chivalry and fair competition are long gone.

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That's true, but without FBW, changing power or trim would induce pitch oscillations and you would have to dampen them with flight stick input or wait for it to find equilibrium itself.

 

For example F-14 needs to be retrimmed for every power change.

 

 

Is the Tomcat that tough to fly in landing configuration? Or in general?

 

I am interested in that module, but I think I need better hardware (pedals and a better HOTAS) before I get it.

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Is the Tomcat that tough to fly in landing configuration? Or in general?

 

The Tomcat feels very stable when dirtied-up. Plus with the DLC spoilers, it allows for some nice fine-tuned glideslope corrections.

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That's true, but without FBW, changing power or trim would induce pitch oscillations and you would have to dampen them with flight stick input or wait for it to find equilibrium itself.

 

For example F-14 needs to be retrimmed for every power change.

 

I don't have a DCS Tomcat so I'm just shooting my mouth here... How does that spring-loaded thumbwheel work? What's it called... DLC or somethin?

 

Edit: Tholozor answered

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That's true, but without FBW, changing power or trim would induce pitch oscillations and you would have to dampen them with flight stick input or wait for it to find equilibrium itself.

 

For example F-14 needs to be re trimmed for every power change.

 

It may induce oscillations, but by nature of the aerodynamics of how trim works, those oscillations will ultimately calm down and return to "equilibrium " with no pilot input. T-45 is the same, T-6 , Cessna 152, any aircraft designed to be positively stable act the same with regards to trim (which is all of them designed to be piloted by a human, weather by cables and pulleys or an FCS driving a FBW aircraft)

EDIT: if the need arises and you must move the stick to expedite dampening the oscillations, this is the "influence the nose" of which GB speaks of. But you don't need to re trim as the oscillations occurs or you will be changing the AOA the aircraft is aerodynamically seeking in those oscillations. You will be playing Ouija board with the airplane . This is also called "flying with the trim" which is typically frowned on in aviation.

 

If you need to re trim to *maintain* an AOA/AS because of a power change, that as a game flight characteristic is contradictory to real life.

 

EDIT all of that said, ensure your not re trimming because of flap changes, wing sweep, etc. And not confusing it with re trimming because of power. If you change the fundamental lift /drag aerodynamics of the air frame, you need to re trim. If all you are doing is changing power, you shouldn't have to. Also, don't confuse FBW with a FCS. One is literally a computer that helps the pilot fly, the other is just what translates pilot control input into flight control surface movements (DEL is basically the hornet FBW with no FCS input)

EDIT, again (sorry) : to eliminate more possible ambiguity, this is of course in reference to the hornet when the pilot is actually in control of the trim( landing config) and not when the FCS is auto trimming for 1 g when clean.

(Ok that's it I promise. I think we are saying about the same thing now. Trim is quite the can of worms)


Edited by Lex Talionis

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For the Tomcat I basically say F it and fly that sucker into the deck and hope for the best. Jester usually tells me if I scared him. My strategy with the F14 is it to ignore the AOA and just monkey with power and DLC until I hit the deck in one way or another. Works out about 50% of the time. Job done...:)

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If you need to re trim to *maintain* an AOA/AS because of a power change, that as a game flight characteristic is contradictory to real life.

 

all of that said, ensure your not re trimming because of flap changes, wing sweep, etc. And not confusing it with re trimming because of power. If you change the fundamental lift /drag aerodynamics of the air frame, you need to re trim. If all you are doing is changing power, you shouldn't have to.

 

I've just quoted parts I disagree with.

 

Power plants and propulsion systems create all sort of moments, and changing these moments by changing power inevitably changes equilibrium.

Do not expect fairness.

The times of chivalry and fair competition are long gone.

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