Community A-4E Skyhawk Training Missions

[Rudel_chw]

Hello,

 

I'm currently enjoying learning to fly the Skyhawk and it was a surprise to see that this otherwise fantastic User Mod Aircraft cames with no training missions at all; so, this is my attempt at contributing to the community by providing missions for training.

 

Up to now I've completed three Missions, but intend to add more over the next few weeks.

 

M01 - Shipborne realistic Cold Start:

 

Here I attempt to teach a Cold Start set on the Carrier Stennis, following the procedures of the real plane as much as I possibly could. This is a video walktrough of the mission:

 

 

The mission ends with the aircraft ready to taxi.

 

M02 - Shipborne realistic Taxi and Launch:

 

This mission begins just after the 1st Mission, now the player will learn how to taxi and launch from the Carrier Stennis. This is a video walktrough of the mission:

 

 

 

M03 - Case I Carrier Recovery:

 

Unfortunately, the Skyhawk suffers from a bug that makes impossible to do a carrier recovery if the aircraft begins the mission airborne. So, for this mission we have to take-off from a nearby shore Airbase, then navigate using TACAN to locate the fleet and only then perform a Case I Carrier Recovery.

 

 

 

M04 - Autopilot & Navigation Computer:

 

This mission attempts to teach the use of both the Autopilot (AFCS) and the Navigation Computer. Rather than start in-air, I elected to begin on a Carrier's Catapult as it seemed more realistic this way, even tough it adds about 5 minutes to the flight time.

 

This is a video walktrough of the mission:

 

 

 

M05 - VFR Shore Landing:

 

This mission lets the player perform a VFR landing at the shore airbase of Anapa. It starts on the air as it is kind of a follow-up on the M04 mission. Once you land, you can optionally practice the shutdown procedure that was already introduced on mission M03.

 

 

M10 - Air/Ground gunnery:

 

This is the first Weapons training mission on this Series, and it shows how to use both the built-in guns and the external Gun Pods of the Skyhawk. This mission provides two aircraft slots: one where you start in-flight near the Weapons Range, and another where you start on the nearby airbase of Anapa.

 

For the sake of variety, this mission has friendly air traffic as background, so be careful when taxing and landing. Here is a video walkthrough of this mission, so that you will know what to expect:

 

 

M11 - Air/Ground rockets:

 

On this training mission you will practice how to use rockets for Air-Ground strikes with the Skyhawk. This mission provides two aircraft slots: one where you start in-flight near the Weapons Range, and another where you start on the nearby airbase of Anapa. For the sake of variety, this mission has friendly air traffic as background, so be careful when taxing and landing. Here is a video walkthrough of this mission, so that you will know what to expect:

 

 

M06 - Emergency Engine in-air restart:

 

Out of sequence, I know, but I was interested on learning about Emergency procedures and found that the A-4E mod is still lacking a bit on this regard, but I tried my best to learn at least how to re-start the engine on the air:

 

 

M12 - Air/Ground iron bombs:

 

This training mission is very similar to the A/G Rockets one, but this time you will practice how to use iron bombs for Air-Ground strikes with the Skyhawk. As before, this mission provides two aircraft slots: one where you start in-flight near the Weapons Range, and another where you start on the nearby airbase of Anapa. As with the previous ones, this mission has friendly air traffic as background, so be careful when taxing and landing. Here is a video walkthrough of this mission, so that you will know what to expect:

 

 

M15 - Radar Warning & Counter Measures employment:

 

This is a practical mission, where you will learn the use of the Skyhawk's  defensive systems: RWR, Counter-measures and ECM Jammer, while inspecting an area defended with SA-2 missiles. As with the previous ones, this mission has friendly air traffic as background, so be careful when taxing and landing.  Here is a video walkthrough of this mission, so that you will know what to expect:

 

 

Download:

 

You can download the latest version of these missions here: 

[Link Deleted as these missions are currently obsolete and dont work well with the A-4E v2.0]

I open this thread to gather feed back about these missions and to provide support in case any bug is found.

 

User Mods:

 

These Missions make use of a series of User Mods, that you will need to have installed on your DCS environment:

 

1) VPC Airfield Objects by @voc. This Mod was rendered incompatible after version 2.5.5 of DCS, but I found that disabling its lighting effects allowed its use again. You can download this compatible version from this link:

 

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%...&action=locate

 

2) 476th Range Objects by @Noodle & @Stuka:

http://www.476vfightergroup.com/down...do=file&id=287

 

3) A-4E Community Mod. Of course, you will need this amazing user Mod, get it here:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/forum/englis...-4e-c?t=242076

 

Important Note for DCS 2.7:

 

Please note that these missions were edited for the Skyhawk v1.4 and are not tested on the current v2.0 Beta. Also, they were edited for DCS 2.5.6 and will probably have issues if flown under DCS 2.7

 

I will update these missions once the v2.0 of the Skyhawk Mod gets released in final form i.e. out of Beta.

 

Best regards to everyone,

 

 

Eduardo

Edited August 30, 2022 by Rudel_chw
Deleted download link, as missions are currently obsolete.

[Baco]

Most excellent work!!!

 

Please confirm you are using 1.4?

I had some trouble geting carrier born TACAN stations on Stenis And Charles de Gaulle.

Then again I wasnt doing the correct procedures, waiting for tacan and nav systems to warm up...

 

Thanks again for this magnificent work!!!

 

Any chance of doing a spanish version? subtitles would also do fine!

[Rudel_chw]

Most excellent work!!!

 

Please confirm you are using 1.4?

 

Thank you :) Yes, I’m using the latest version of the Skyhawk: 1.4.0

 

I had some trouble geting carrier born TACAN stations on Stenis And Charles de Gaulle.

Then again I wasnt doing the correct procedures, waiting for tacan and nav systems to warm up...

 

I don’t think that the warm-up period is currently simulated. I didn’t had any trouble with the Stennis Tacan, but have not yet tried it with the CDG.

 

I shied away from using any other user mods beside the Skyhawk, but found that I can use the deck crew from the Supercarrier even if you don’t own that module, so I used them to add Ambiance to the Stennis’ deck.

 

Any chance of doing a spanish version? subtitles would also do fine!

 

No, sorry but Preparing the voiceovers Require too much Time to do, I’d rather use that time to edit more missions.

 

Best regards,

 

Eduardo

[Rudel_chw]

Hello,

 

Just a quick heads up to inform that I've updated these missions to work with the latest version 1.4.2 of the Community A-4E Skyhawk Mod. This is the download link:

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...files/3311789/

 

I'm currently editing a couple of additional training missions to add to this Set, hopefully they will be ready by early November.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Eduardo

[Rudel_chw]

Hello,

 

i’ve completed the 4th mission for this series, covering the use of the autopilot and the navigation computer. You can check it out on the first post of this thread. You will have to download the file again in order to get this additional mission.

 

Best regards,

 

Eduardo

[sobe]

I have downloaded the latest versions of the missions and Mod. In mission 2, I cannot seem to get the jet to move towards the catapult even when I go to 100% power. Also what is the normal position for NWS? I have the super carrier installed.

[Rudel_chw]

sobe said:

I have downloaded the latest versions of the missions and Mod. In mission 2, I cannot seem to get the jet to move towards the catapult even when I go to 100% power.

 

Thanks for reporting, I will test it tonight and then report back on it .. the last time I flew that mission was a while ago and at that moment it worked, but will check.

 

Quote

Also what is the normal position for NWS? I have the super carrier installed.

 

The NWS is enabled at mission start. The SC is not an issue, as the mission uses the standard Stennis carrier.

 

Edit: Just flew the mission and couldn't find the error that you report .. here is a track file of my test flight (I skipped most of the texts, to make it shorter):

 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ai6cuX3YQI26h4Ji...mn5Lg?e=8kSFqz

 

I also made a video of this test:

 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Rudel_chw
Fixed video link

[sobe]

Rudel_chw: User error. For some reason my wheel brakes were still on even though I thought I had released them. Changed the toe brakes to act as a slider and they worked without an issue. These lessons were sorely needed. Now on to mission 3.

[Rudel_chw]

Rudel_chw: User error. For some reason my wheel brakes were still on even though I thought I had released them. Changed the toe brakes to act as a slider and they worked without an issue. These lessons were sorely needed. Now on to mission 3.

 

OK, glad you found the cause .. :thumbup:

 

I'm still adding to this mission pack .. M05 will be a Shore landing mission at Anapa and from there on we will pass to weapons training using a Target Range near Anapa. I intend to use Gun, Rockets, Iron Bombs and SnakeEyes. Afterwards, I want to edit an AntiRadar Mission and an Air-Air using Guns and Sidewinders .. lets hope I can finish this before Xmas :smartass:

 

 

[NightHawk1867]

Installed your missions and loaded the first to test and had a minor panic attack as my Skyhawk began rolling backward on the carrier had I been any slower in following instructions I would have rolled into a Hornet. Think I'm going to really enjoy flying these missions. [update: I can fly these missions thru 'Mission' in DCS and don't have to go thru 'mission editor'] I have placed your mission files in a unique folder 'Skyhawk Naval Missions (Rudel)'

 

Location: Saved Games > DCS > Mods > Aircraft > A-4E-C > Missions > EN > Skyhawk Naval Missions (Rudel)

 

Thanks for all the work you've put into these missions. :thumbup:

 

Update: Able to fly missions thru 'Mission' menu in DCS.

[Rudel_chw]

NightHawk1867 said:

Installed your missions and loaded the first to test and had a minor panic attack as my Skyhawk began rolling backward on the carrier had I been any slower in following instructions I would have rolled into a Hornet.

 

Yes, that is a bug of the SFM (Simplified Flight Model) DCS component that the Skyhawk uses. As the Mod does not allow to place chocks at Mission start, I'm forced to ask the player to hit the brakes Fortunately, the Skyhawk developers are implementing an EFM (External Flight Model) that hopefully will solve this bug,

 

Quote

Think I'm going to really enjoy flying these missions. [update: I can fly these missions thru 'Mission' in DCS and don't have to go thru 'mission editor'] I have placed your mission files in a unique folder 'Skyhawk Naval Missions (Rudel)'

 

Location: Saved Games > DCS > Mods > Aircraft > A-4E-C > Missions > EN > Skyhawk Naval Missions (Rudel)

 

Actually, along with the missions I included a LUA file that allows the mission to appear on the TRAINING section of DCS, like this:

 

 

For this to work, you should place the missions (and LUA file) on this path:

 

Saved Games > DCS > Mods> aircraft > A-4E-C > Missions> EN >Training

 

Quote

Thanks for all the work you've put into these missions.

 

You are most welcome, I enjoyed editing them as this type of mission is a real challenge to do

Best regards,

 

 

Eduardo

 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Rudel_chw
Fixed image link

[PhyscoKillerMonkey]

Great missions, I'm new to the A-4E and DCS in general so they are very appreciated!

 

I've been unable to see them in the Training screen though so I've been opening through the mission editor, maybe I am installing something wrong? I've re-installed my A-4E-C mod to check it's not something with that, then copied the missions into "Saved Games/DCS/Mods/aircraft/A-4E-C/Missions/EN/Training" but the training section is still blank (although it shows up now whereas previously it wasn't there before so something is working):

 

 

Is there anything I'm missing?

[Rudel_chw]

... then copied the missions into "Saved Games/DCS/Mods/aircraft/A-4E-C/Missions/EN/Training" but the training section is still blank (although it shows up now whereas previously it wasn't there before so something is working):

 

 

Is there anything I'm missing?

 

did you copy the LUA file too, along with the missions?

 

 

[an-dre-as]

I had the same problem. After I replaced the spaces in the missionnames with underlines and adjusted the .lua I was able to find the missions in the training section.

But the missions works only in OB for me!

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-T595 mit Tapatalk

 

 

[Rudel_chw]

I had the same problem. After I replaced the spaces in the missionnames with underlines and adjusted the .lua I was able to find the missions in the training section.

 

Strange, I have no trouble using names with spaces on them, like this:

 

 

 

[PhyscoKillerMonkey]

I had the same problem. After I replaced the spaces in the mission names with underlines and adjusted the .lua I was able to find the missions in the training section.

 

Aha! This works for me too. After renaming them to just "M01, M02, etc." and updating the lessons.lua they show in the Training mission section.

 

Did some experimenting and it seems it is the spaces aren't the issue at all: the dash between "Training – M01" is an en dash on the filename, but not in the lessons.lua! Changing this to be a hyphen in the filename means everything works as expected (spaces and all).

[Rudel_chw]

Did some experimenting and it seems it is the spaces aren't the issue at all: the dash between "Training – M01" is an en dash on the filename, but not in the lessons.lua! Changing this to be a hyphen in the filename means everything works as expected (spaces and all).

 

Thanks a lot for this feedback, I will edit the filenames and update the downloadable file. It is a weird issue, as on my PC this does not happen.

Best regards,

 

Eduardo.

 

 

[an-dre-as]

I guess it has to do with the different language versions. My is german. ????‍

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-T595 mit Tapatalk

 

 

[Rudel_chw]

I guess it has to do with the different language versions. My is german. ????‍

 

You are probably right, I will eliminate the dashes altogether and leave just the spaces :thumbup:

 

[NightHawk1867]

Read over the thread again and still not have been able to get these training mission to show up in the 'Training' section. In regards to dashes I tend to eliminate them from all file names. A lot of those dashes and other symbols are also used as commands and the pc can glitch over them. In the 'Lessons.lua' structure symbols like - " _ ( ) can act as commands. Might be easier to eliminate them all together form file names and blurbs you've written. Would eliminate '&' and replace it with 'and' This is all based on my experience and headaches working with music files.

 

If you let us know when you have updated the downloadable files I can download them and test them out.

 

ps What program are people using to edit 'lessons.lua' I remember a video from Cap that you have use a specific program to edit files such as liveries.

[Rudel_chw]

If you let us know when you have updated the downloadable files I can download them and test them out.

 

Hello, I’ve just uploaded a renamed version of these missions, please if you have the time try them out. They do work on my english version of DCS, but can’t test them on foreign versions. :thumbup:

 

ps What program are people using to edit 'lessons.lua' I remember a video from Cap that you have use a specific program to edit files such as liveries.

 

I use Notepad++.

 

I have the 5th mission almost ready to add to this set, hopefully on a couple more days it will be finished. This is the last mission about just flying the Skyhawk, thereafter I will follow with Air-Ground missions, one for each weapon type :pilotfly:

 

best regards,

 

Eduardo

 

[sobe]

Your training missions are fantastic and easy to follow, although I have done Mission 4 three times. I have found the cockpit a little hard to see when flying so your missions has inspired me to do a Helios profile for the skyhawk. I have attached a very early version of the profile. I was able to reproduce the radar on my second monitor and have added a number of buttons for navigation, etc. When we get into weapons and other stuff, I am sure my layout will change. There is still a lot of work to be done on the profile. Interestingly, I could not find a key command for the magnetic variance encoder. I will be trying this profile out with your mission 4 later today.

[Rudel_chw]

Your training missions are fantastic and easy to follow, although I have done Mission 4 three times. I have found the cockpit a little hard to see when flying so your missions has inspired me to do a Helios profile for the skyhawk.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your kind words regarding my missions :thumbup:

 

Your Helios layout is very attractive, as I don't have a touch monitor I've never used Helios, but I do make an effort to place on my HOTAS the most used controls, currently I have it like this:

 

 

There is still a lot of work to be done on the profile. Interestingly, I could not find a key command for the magnetic variance encoder.

 

Yes, thats so unfortunate .. the Skyhawk still lacks a lot of key commands, the navigation computer among them. I suggested adding these, but it may take a while as the development team is small and they work on this on their free time only:

 

https://github.com/heclak/community-a4e-c/issues/237

 

https://github.com/heclak/community-a4e-c/issues/231

 

https://github.com/heclak/community-a4e-c/issues/238

 

That's why my above HOTAS config has a lot of positions empty .. I need the keybinds in order to be able to control more items from the HOTAS.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Eduardo

 

 

 

 

[sobe]

Helios can be used with a simple mouse and a regular monitor. No need for a touchscreen. In fact, most times I use the mouse with my touchscreen.

[Rudel_chw]

Helios can be used with a simple mouse and a regular monitor. No need for a touchscreen. In fact, most times I use the mouse with my touchscreen.

 

Didnt knew that, I always saw it used alongside touch monitors :thumbup: