Zone 5 - Navigation help

[Reflected]

Dear pilots and RIO-s,

 

Based on the initial feedback I realized that departure and approach procedures are not exactly clear for everyone. In this specific campaign it's a serious issue, because you're supposed to fly by the book, otherwise some comms and triggers won't fire correctly. The missions can still be completed though, but you're supposed to be a seasoned Tomcat crew, nuggets don't get selected for such trainings  These are accurate, real life procedures, that sometimes can seem a bit daunting, so let me offer a little help and walk you through it.

 

Takeoff & Departure

 

Start up, check ATIS on ch 11 for info, then the lead RIO contacts Nellis clearance (ch2), then Nellis ground (ch3). The channelization of both radios are similar, so it doesn't matter which one you use. You taxi out in order, cross 03L, and hold short 03R. That means you do not cross that black&yellow line without permission from the tower. When you finish your takeoff checklist you (or the lead) contact Nellis tower on button 4, and once cleared, you roll on to the runway and stop on centerline. Hold the brakes, mil power, control wipeout, zone 2, release brakes, zone 5.

 

After takeoff you intercept the LSV TACAN 028 radial. During startup you should already have dialed in to 12X and set the course to 028. Contact Departure on channel 6, and climb to 7000 feet at 250KIAS flying along that 028 radial. Once over truck stop, you turn towards WP1 (JUNNO). How do you find 'truck stop'? You tune your TACAN to BLD (114X) and set the course to 344. You intercept that radial with a left turn at about 10.8 NM from Nellis. This is called the Dream 2 departure:

 

 

To the range:

 

From here on, it's quite simple:  pass JUNNO (WP1) at or above 17,000 feet, then climb to 23,000 feet and follow your waypoints: RAMMM (WP2), MOOSE (FP), ELKXX (DP = Jester wheel/ switch to steerpoint/ "man"), BIGHORN (IP), INDIA (ST).

 

At the range:

 

It is imperative that you monitor both Blackjack (CH14) and Showtime (CH1) frequencies. Blackjack is the range control, responsible for airspace violations, and safety issues, e.g. hard deck. Showtime is the range training officer, who evaluates shots.

 

Flying back:

 

Your way back is almost identical to your ingress route: BIGHORN (IP), ELKXXX (DP or MAN) , MOOSE (FP), RAMMM (WP2), APEX (WP3) then Nellis. 

 

 

Approach and landing:

 

You need to descend to 13000 feet by the time you reach RAMMM. Check in with Nellis Approach on ch6, then descend towards APEX. You need to pass APEX at 4500 feet MSL, then contact Nellis tower. Aim for runway 21R (even though you will land on 21L), and overfly it at 3500 feet MSL with your wings swept back. Mid-field you break to the West (right), extend the speed brakes, and switch the wing sweep to auto as you decelerate past 300 knots. You set up for landing flying downwind, and go through the landing checklist. Jester will call abeam and may interrupt the checklist, but he'll pick up where he left off. Then you turn 180 degrees to the right to land on runway 21L.

 

Why is the pattern so weird? Because if you break left, you'd end up overlying the weapons storage area, and it looks like the USAF does not fully trust your flying skills

 

Exit right to taxiway bravo then turn left on Foxtrot and taxi back to your parking spot. It doesn't matter where you stop, the mission will be successful as long as you come to a full stop and you see the message.

 

Important notes:

 

All this is on your kneeboard and briefing cards. Study them. Things will happen FAST. Therefore I highly recommend you assign a key or a button to ask Jester to switch to all those different steerpoints. It's much better than fiddling with the comms wheel. Also, it's good to have a key assigned to switching the preset channel on your UHF radio, so that you don't have to look down and click the knob with your mouse.

 

Half the time an AI will be your lead, he'll do all the comms and navigation. Still, it's good to follow the route on your HSD so you can anticipate when the AI will turn.

 

Jester will automatically tune his radio to Nellis ATC. If you don't want to hear the built -in ATC comms, ask him to tune away from channel 10.

 

If you have any further questions, let me know.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Reflected

[Castor Troy]

Is it possible to create a short tutorial video of the departure only, demonstrating the departure. I am confused about when to tune BLD 114x, from LSV 028x. Right now I just take 028x for 10 miles, then switch to WP1.  So far it works, as I am starting Mission 4, but I would like to know I am doing things correctly.

 

Thanks for this great campaign, and all you do for DCS!

Edited February 6, 2021 by Castor Troy
corrected 28x to 028x.

[Reflected]

41 minutes ago, Castor Troy said:

Is it possible to create a short tutorial video of the departure only, demonstrating the departure. I am confused about when to tune BLD 114x, from LSV 028x. Right now I just take 028x for 10 miles, then switch to WP1.  So far it works, as I am starting Mission 4, but I would like to know I am doing things correctly.

 

Thanks for this great campaign, and all you do for DCS!

 

 

The way you do it is perfectly fine. Because JUNNO is programmed as WP1, it gets you the same result. If you didn't have that, you would intercept LSV028, then maintain that heading and switch to BLD, course 344, then just wait until you're on the radial.

[Dezmond]

I've got it set in Voice Attack so I can say [Jester!] Set Elk!

 

Which I find mildly entertaining.

 

I find it very entertaining.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Dezmond

[Dezmond]

On 2/6/2021 at 4:37 PM, Castor Troy said:

Is it possible to create a short tutorial video of the departure only, demonstrating the departure. I am confused about when to tune BLD 114x, from LSV 028x. Right now I just take 028x for 10 miles, then switch to WP1.  So far it works, as I am starting Mission 4, but I would like to know I am doing things correctly.

 

Thanks for this great campaign, and all you do for DCS!

 

Sure this is long out of date, but what I think you do is tune your tacan to the nellis one (LSV/12x) and use the knob on the top right side of the lower display in the front cockpit to set a course of 28 degrees. And make sure you have the navigation selector set to tacan - the furthest left of the horizontal row of buttons underneath the vertical row of buttons you use to set the HUD mode. You take off and... this basically points you straight ahead. Once you are stable on the heading and climbing to 7000', set the tacan to boulder city BLD/114x and use the knob to set a course of 344 degrees. On the lower display/hsd, you get a course line pointing off to the left a bit, and another arrow off to the side of that that shows how far off a straight line drawn from the tacan pointing on a 344 bearing you are. You will be to the left of the course because you haven't reached - intercepted - the bearing yet.

 

What you want to do is keep flying straight on 28 until the offset line shows when you turn left on to 344 you will be heading straight away from the boulder city tacan transmitter on a 344 heading. So basically the offset line will be right in the middle and the course line will point straight up.

 

Even more basically you need to take off, fly straight then turn left over a truck stop on a highway just outside of vegas and fly directly north.

 

At that point you need to set the navigation system back to pointing you towards waypoints, using the button second to the left in the horizonal row of buttons, and head towards waypoint 1/JUNNO climbing to 17000'.

 

I think.

 

(I also think the Truck Stop is Love's Travel Stop here, at the intersection of I-15 and US-93).

 

Google Maps

 

I think Love's Travel Stops are a chain? I have no idea what it was in 1987. Am British so have no idea what I-XXs and US-XXes are  )

Edited February 25, 2021 by Dezmond

[84-Simba]

Your campaigns are going zone 5 on quality my dear friend !

Just a quick question on the landing though :

I see on the schema that we are supposed to turn on final just south of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, aren't we ?

It seems that we have to use the intersection between the highway and the road that marks the limit of the racetrack facilities as a landmark as the 90 degrees point in the final turn ... but it seems to be quite a tight turn after you pass the abeam point.

 

Could you make a map a little big bigger for us to get reference points ?

(zooming on this one is not great ...)

 

Merci camarade !

(j'ai vu que tu parles français alors je me permets ... Canadien, Français ?)

 

Sinon encore bravo !!

Les coms radio sont top et la gestion est super immersive !

[Reflected]

Hi,

 

It's a real-world map, I can't really zoom in. I usually extend a bit downwind and turn just over the stadium. Turning south of it seems a little tight, but that may just be the lack of skills from my part

[Gretsch_Man]

Which waypoint of the Jester nav wheel corresponds to the waypoint DP given in the missions? Is it waypoint MAN?

[Reflected]

Yes, it's 'MAN' - not sure why they didn't stick with the name 'DP' , that's how you need to name the point in the mission editor.

[Gretsch_Man]

17 minutes ago, Reflected said:

Yes, it's 'MAN' - not sure why they didn't stick with the name 'DP' , that's how you need to name the point in the mission editor.

I thought so, but wasn't sure. Thanks for the clarification.

[winghunter]

Another thing that got me in the first mission "Report at Coyote Bravo"

I was already low on fuel after downing 2 F5s, and while I searched through all the kneeboards for a reference i ran out of fuel eventually.

Its kind of hard to read on the map especially ingame, so this could be highlighted in the briefing or PDF.

EDIT: So NORDO means if I loose my radios I have to go there ? I didnt know what NORDO means so that confused me

Edited April 4, 2022 by winghunter

[winghunter]

Here are some of my annotations from the iPad

Marked waypoints 1,2,3,FP,DP / Manual, IP, ST

Marked Coyote Bravo

Ingress points green

Egress points red

[juvat22]

could someone tell me a certain word from ATIS: [...]altimeter 2948 [?????] departure runway 03 right, arrival runway 21 left.....
i always understand something like "notice" or "nozzle"?? sorry for that, thanks for your help.

 

[kotor633]

Hi,

Yes, the ATC in DCS is, to put it politely, 'crap', but what it says is quite simple: On the one hand, it gives you the altimeter barometric pressure, which you can/must set here:

and on the other hand it tells you from which runway you should start and on which you should land. But you can also find this information under Mods\campaigns\F-14 Zone 5\Doc. It's always worth taking a look here

Edited October 23, 2022 by kotor633

[Reflected]

That is not the stock dcs atc, I set up the atis in all missions. The altimeter is the pressure that you need to set in that little window as shown above. 
 

then she says ‘nosig’ = no significant changes are expected

[juvat22]

hi,

i´m familiar with my altimeter. ahh, "nosig", that´s what´ve been looking for. thank´s for your support!
great campaign, great missions.