Question about tacan navigation HUD indication

[sirrah]

It appears that when in tacan navigation mode, there is no steering cue or symbol in the HUD.

 

Is this correct/realistic, or is it WIP maybe?

 

Compared to the rest of the 4th gen avionics, it seems a bit old fashion to me that the pilot is required to go heads down to check the HSI for this.

I would expect some indication in the HUD as well, just like we have in the Bug (see screenshot)

 

[unknown]

It seems that this is actually not a thing in the F-16.

 

 

[kengou]

I don't think it's a thing, based on other simulators. Honestly never missed it.

[Rubberduck85]

It appears that when in tacan navigation mode, there is no steering cue or symbol in the HUD.
 
Is this correct/realistic, or is it WIP maybe?
 
Compared to the rest of the 4th gen avionics, it seems a bit old fashion to me that the pilot is required to go heads down to check the HSI for this.
I would expect some indication in the HUD as well, just like we have in the Bug (see screenshot)
 

I believe the reason is based on the usefulness of the TACAN for the F16. The aircraft heavily relies on data cartridge pre-planning (still missing).

TACAN is used for:

A) Finding an airbase (not already marked by a steer point) if too lazy to set up as steer point or in case of navigation system failure/damage.

B) Finding a Tanker or any aircraft with a TACAN beacon on it.

C) Finding a carrier


So once you go towards TACAN source, you just go head down every 5/10 minutes to check alignment/distance.
In both cases (C is not applicable here) when you are reasonably close, TACAN is redundant as you can see your destination or tanker.

As any toy/update costs money, probably designers did not deem it worthy to include his TACAN reference in the man-machine interface.

Why is it available on the hornet? Carriers tend to move while at sea (C is applicable here), opposed to airbases which tend to remain where you left them, plus in nighttime condition it is important to have quick reference for carrier deck alignment.

Regards



Sent from my MI 10 Lite 5G using Tapatalk

[sirrah]

Ok, fair enough

 

I actually use it a lot in the Hornet. Obviously for the carrier, but I find the HUD marking especially useful for finding tankers, which most of the times are out of visual range (might be a VR thing though)

 

I wonder if real F-16 pilots would consider this useful (perhaps not, because they never had it before )

[Dee-Jay]

41 minutes ago, sirrah said:

I wonder if real F-16 pilots would consider this useful (perhaps not, because they never had it before )

TACAN is helpful when no precision approach are available on airfields (no ILS/no PAR). It allows to have an instruments approach even if minimums are higher than precision approaches.

Is also a backup for navigation/positioning in case of IRS/GPS issues.

 

TACAN steering on HUD ... not needed at all.

[SpaceMonkey037]

On 12/9/2020 at 2:07 PM, Rubberduck85 said:

I believe the reason is based on the usefulness of the TACAN for the F16. The aircraft heavily relies on data cartridge pre-planning (still missing).

TACAN is used for:

A) Finding an airbase (not already marked by a steer point) if too lazy to set up as steer point or in case of navigation system failure/damage.

B) Finding a Tanker or any aircraft with a TACAN beacon on it.

C) Finding a carrier


So once you go towards TACAN source, you just go head down every 5/10 minutes to check alignment/distance.
In both cases (C is not applicable here) when you are reasonably close, TACAN is redundant as you can see your destination or tanker.

As any toy/update costs money, probably designers did not deem it worthy to include his TACAN reference in the man-machine interface.

Why is it available on the hornet? Carriers tend to move while at sea (C is applicable here), opposed to airbases which tend to remain where you left them, plus in nighttime condition it is important to have quick reference for carrier deck alignment.

Regards



Sent from my MI 10 Lite 5G using Tapatalk
 

F-16: TACAN is primarily used for ranging, not direction finding (in VFR). Used in formations and for tanker rendezvous. Very few airplanes have tacan statinos, only DME, meaning most of the time you won't get directions.