flap deployment in wing sweep?

[FlyingTaco21]

I can't really tell whats' going on here I have my wing sweep in auto mode... as you do. This is supposed to change the sweep based  on airspeed. You can manually command  sweep, and there are two bars one for commanded and one for actual... because the aircraft wont let you put the wings in a dangerous position or so i thought. 

    Upon getting fuel warning i decided to try to land at an airfield to refuel. I ordered the wings forward to bleed speed think i was going around 400 knots or so ... Thinking " well im not at landing speed but at least ill get the the wings forward a bit and that will help."   The flaps somehow auto deploy and break. the knob was in the lower position.. no input from me. I dont know if this is a feature i've missed or a bug. I didn't find anything mentioning auto flaps, only spoilers and that was associated with the DLC which i have not used yet. I am in the Caucasus   map  where I have set up a sort of testing ground to try new things and this has happened several times. I usually land at sochi-adler  which I made a blue airfield. They will refuel me and rearm, but the repair command does not seem to work. 

so 1. mystery auto flap deployment  

2. repair  not working. 

 

its entirely possible i missed something, but I did try to read up before i posted and the only thing I came up with was overspeeding the flaps.. but that should not have been possible due to the limiters in auto sweep mode. 

[draconus]

1. Check your bindings - the flap handle on axis category. Also which flaps you mean? Maneuvering flaps (outer) or auxiliary flaps (inner)? The former can be used safely in flight but overspeeding the auxiliary flaps is very possible, there are no limiters that prevents that!

http://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/general.html#flaps-and-slats

Also you do not touch the emergency wing sweep handle in flight unless... in emergency.

 

2. https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/262020-repairs-are-incomplete/?do=getNewComment

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by draconus

[Jayhawk1971]

Adding to what draconus wrote, if you want to reduce speed before landing, do it right by performing an overhead break. Wings will sweep to 20 on their own if set to auto as you bleed speed rapidly in the turn (especially if you enter the break with wings swept full back MAN).

[FlyingTaco21]

I've only used f for flaps and this seems to be bound to the main flap lever.  I did notice thst after going back and checking things again, thst if I command 20 degrees and push forward on my wing sweep, manual is engaged regardless of it not being the actual binding for manual mode. Might have inadvertently engaged manual in this way, but I'm  not sure why  overspeed  in this case would lead to lowered flaps, rather than just stuck retracted flaps. I'll do some testing I check back in. In practice ive always raised flaps with the lever and lowered them with F which I believe Is the default binding, but in the scenario mentioned  its a bit of a nonfactor in that I'm not touching anything but wing sweep. I  was just flying straight and level went to extend wings and it sounded like a folly artists set up shop in my aircraft. Had an immediate uncommanded climb  and the wheel caution light lit up. I'll post an update when I can. Thank you for the ideas.

[r4y30n]

I did notice thst after going back and checking things again, thst if I command 20 degrees and push forward on my wing sweep, manual is engaged regardless of it not being the actual binding for manual mode.

Pressing forward or aft sweep will put it in manual mode. And even then, it’s not entirely manual.

The wings are not strong enough to withstand high speed flight at minimum sweep so they will always sweep back as Mach increases, the difference in manual is that they will no longer come forward when Mach decreases. Put another way, you can only command more sweep than auto, never less.

[Dannyvandelft]

Just keep the wings in auto, unless bombing and unless you're coming into the overhead break.
Don't lower the flaps until you're below 220 kts.
You CAN hit the flap button/switch while the wings are swept, but they won't deploy until the wings sweep forward.
You can manually sweep the wings back, but you can only sweep them forward to where the computer says they should be at your current speed, meaning if you're going 200 kts, you can sweep them fully forward, but if you're going 400 kts, you can't.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[draconus]

400kts is Mach 0.6 at sea level (and higher MN at higher alt) around which the wing sweep program starts to move the wings back a bit.

http://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/general.html#wing-sweep-system

[mattag08]

If you had the flaps down (handle aft), then they deployed as soon as the wing sweep reached the flap deployment limit (I forget the exact angle, but it is fairly far forward). They didn't "automatically" deploy. You told them to deploy and they prevented the flaps from impinging the fuselage until that was not an issue and then deployed as you requested. Not a bug. You also damaged the flaps due to this (anything above 300 KIAS is a guaranteed flap jam).

Forcing the wing sweep forward at high speed is dangerous and can lead to a wing spar failure. Leave the wing sweep in AUTO and only use the emergency handle if you have a wing sweep failure (if you do, you must follow the mach/sweep angle schedule or risk wing failure). Use other methods to decelerate like the speedbrake or high G maneuvers.

Repair does not, and has never worked since the launch of the F-14. The only solution for a broken F-14 is to respawn.

Edited March 2, 2021 by mattag08

[FlyingTaco21]

Throughout all of this, the flaps have been set up. never got to the point that messed with flaps in an active way. I mentioned the bindings and how I interact with them. wing sweep is on the stick, I lower flaps with F and raise them with the clickpit. Never touched them before this occurred. 

[Golo]

On 3/2/2021 at 4:32 PM, mattag08 said:

If you had the flaps down (handle aft), then they deployed as soon as the wing sweep reached the flap deployment limit (I forget the exact angle, but it is fairly far forward). They didn't "automatically" deploy. You told them to deploy and they prevented the flaps from impinging the fuselage until that was not an issue and then deployed as you requested. Not a bug.

 

 

 

From 01-F14AAP-1 (01-F14AAA-1)

 

2.20.5.3 (2.19.2.4) Flap Wing Interlocks. The main flap and auxiliary flap commands are interlocked electrically and mechanically with the wing sweep to prevent flap fuselage interference. An electrical interlock in the CADC and a mechanical command in the wing-sweep control box prevent wing sweep aft of 22° with auxiliary flaps extended. In a similar manner, upon extension of the main flaps, the wings are electrically and mechanically limited to wing-sweep angles less than 50°. The FLAP handle is mechanically prevented from moving to the down position if wing position is aft of 50°. If flaps are lowered with wings between 21° and 50°, main flaps will extend but auxiliary flaps will remain retracted.

 

What is happening now is that if you are over 50° wing sweep you can move flap handle DOWN (should not be possible, in cockpit flap handle should remain UP), flaps will stay UP (correct). As soon as you go anywhere between 50° to 21° sweep, main flaps will deploy DOWN (correct), BUT!!! at this point wings will automatically sweep all the way forward (if allowed given speed) and aux flaps will also deploy DOWN (incorrect). 

 

Flap handle down between 21° to 50° should NOT command wing sweep forward. 

 

So its a BUG.