F/A-18C ACLS preview/tutorial

[marzzz]

thanks ivanK

[Foka]

4 hours ago, marzzz said:

Could someone explain to me or resume the differences between : mode1 1a 2 

 

Mode I - fully automatic landing
Mode Ia - automatic approach till Ball call, then manual
Mode II - you have ACLS symbology on HUD, but fly the plane manually

Edited April 28, 2022 by Foka

[kfrasson]

When will this be available for SC stable?

[Shimmergloom667]

34 minutes ago, kfrasson said:

When will this be available for SC stable?

Whenever the stable version is updated - lately that has happened around 2 - 3 weeks after the OB patch.

[stalhuth]

how can I change the Datalink to the awacs and see all the contacts in the SA page? 

[Harker]

how can I change the Datalink to the awacs and see all the contacts in the SA page? 

Press the D/L button on the UFC again, it will cycle between the MIDS and the L4 datalink menus.

[stalhuth]

1 minute ago, Harker said:

38 minutes ago, stalhuth said:

how can I change the Datalink to the awacs and see all the contacts in the SA page? 

Press the D/L button on the UFC again, it will cycle between the MIDS and the L4 datalink menus.

Thanks 

[equinox137]

On 4/24/2022 at 6:23 PM, BIGNEWY said:

Sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean. We've mentioned many times that carrier support for ACLS was being creating for SC and corresponding ACLS work for the Hornet. We've never said ACLS was coming to the old, free carrier. In fact, it would not even be possible given that it cannot support the comms or Link4 created for ACLS. Sorry for any confusion.

Someone is always going to complain.....

[sniperwolfpk5]

On 4/25/2022 at 4:48 AM, Thump said:

Turns out there's more than one carrier....

 

 

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/236553-dcs-fa-18c-hornet-features-roadmap/

 

Absolutely nothing about the SC in this post by your own people.

 

Placing a paywall on an expected module capability through another is very poor form.

 

I am 100% agree with you. Why a feature of F/a-18 is placed in a paywall. I don't want animated deck crew and new carrier blocks. I have same question for the ATC. ATC is a basic feature of a flight simulator. Why basic ATC commands are placed in a paywall. 

I am sorry to say that the F/A-18 is not feature complete. To get features like ATC and ACLS you have to buy SC. Why?. Why it is forced.

 

[Foka]

@sniperwolfpk5 you're late to a party. ACLS is already avaible to free carriers. There is Wags' tutorial on YT and there was a community annoucment.
On free carriers you also have ATC copied from land bases and you can communicate with it.

Proper Cases communication is part of SC AI interface.

[mwk360]

On 4/28/2022 at 12:20 PM, Foka said:

Mode I - fully automatic landing
Mode Ia - automatic approach till Ball call, then manual
Mode II - you have ACLS symbology on HUD, but fly the plane manually

 

hello, can someone tell me how do i choose these modes?

every landing i get the atc guy says mode II concur as i get close and then the hud tadpole thing shows up but i have to fly it myself.

how do i make it so i can automatically land? (i made in at night to get case 3)

 

sorry if it's an obvious question to answer.

i tried pressing the left ddi buttons where the acls shows up but they don't do anything, neither does pressing cpl in the a/p menu

[pete_auau]

13 hours ago, mwk360 said:

hello, can someone tell me how do i choose these modes?

every landing i get the atc guy says mode II concur as i get close and then the hud tadpole thing shows up but i have to fly it myself.

how do i make it so i can automatically land? (i made in at night to get case 3)

 

sorry if it's an obvious question to answer.

i tried pressing the left ddi buttons where the acls shows up but they don't do anything, neither does pressing cpl in the a/p menu

have  you watched  wags  utube on how  to do it,  also  there  are  plenty of  others  shown   as well

[mwk360]

2 hours ago, pete_auau said:

have  you watched  wags  utube on how  to do it,  also  there  are  plenty of  others  shown   as well

Yes

 

I have gotten it right sometimes but most often now 

 

The atc guy says needles and puts me onto fly mode 2

 

Is there a way to set or change the acls mode? That's I was trying to ask

 

When I went full flaps at around 6nm I more often get mode 1

 

But I want to know if its random or is there a way to determine or set acls fly mode before I get too close to the carrier to land 

[JeffreyC]

ATC always says mode 2, even in Wags video which he mentions. It doesn't matter what the ATC says it matters if you engage the AP couple to the ICLS.

[vitdor]

Is there a detailed description of the implementation of ACLS in the game? In the video, Wags simply performs a set of actions that need to be repeated, this is great, but alas, I don’t understand a lot of things, the very principle of the system’s operation is not clear.
Does it only control pitch and roll?
Does it necessarily require the use of the ATC system and preliminary alignment of the angle of attack?
Does it have certain trigger conditions? Which? What angles? Distance? What height?
Up to 6 miles controlled only by hands?
What is the CPL C/P indication? Why is she blinking? Why does she turn herself off?
What is CPL HDG indication? Under what conditions does it turn on?
Why is the tower giving the command to switch to mode 2?
When, why and why should you press the A/P + CPL button?

 

Yes, I did an auto landing in mode 1, but before that I crashed 3 times, ACLS just put me in the water. It was intuitive work. How does it actually work? I really need a brief description of the implementation of the system. I want to understand what I'm doing))

Edited May 25, 2022 by vitdor

[Tholozor]

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

Does it only control pitch and roll?

Yes, AoA would be controlled via ATC in landing configuration. The automatic throttle control isn't connected to the datalink commands in that way.
 

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

Does it necessarily require the use of the ATC system and preliminary alignment of the angle of attack?

See above.
 

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

Does it have certain trigger conditions? Which? What angles? Distance? What height?

Not sure what you mean by 'trigger conditions.' IRL, the system is limited by the maximum range of the carrier's ACLS radar (AN/SPN-42 or -46) and the datalink. Not sure what those values would be, and good luck finding that out publicly.
 

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

Up to 6 miles controlled only by hands?

Sort of. Prior to 6 miles, the aircraft can receive datalinked command messages for the Link 4 display for airspeed, altitude, and rate of descent that must be flown manually.

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

What is the CPL C/P indication? Why is she blinking? Why does she turn herself off?

Only CPL indicators I know of are T/C and P/R. Where are you seeing that?
 

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

What is CPL HDG indication? Under what conditions does it turn on?

Used when the aircraft is receiving Traffic Control (T/R on the Link 4 display) commands. The aircraft can couple to the command heading for automatic steering. This would be used prior to the final approach.
 

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

Why is the tower giving the command to switch to mode 2?

Standard practice in the Navy is to land hands-on (Tower will always call for Mode 2). Mode 1 isn't used that often unless absolutely necessary.
 

2 hours ago, vitdor said:

When, why and why should you press the A/P + CPL button?

You can couple the aircraft to the T/R command heading prior to the stack point, or to the ACLS itself once at the 6-mile lock-on.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Tholozor

[vitdor]

9 часов назад, Tholozor сказал:

Да, AoA будет контролироваться через УВД в посадочной конфигурации. Автоматическое управление дроссельной заслонкой не связано с командами канала передачи данных таким образом.
........................

Thanks a lot for the answers! Now it's more clear.

Nevertheless, I hope there will be a description (instruction) from ED, it is unlikely that players should intuitively feel all the parameters. 

I think that the angles, height, etc. in this simulator (not in the RL) could be suggested to us by the developers))
С/P - I was wrong - P/R.

Edited May 26, 2022 by vitdor

[Chops]

I have two issues when flying a Case III instrument approach using ACLS in hands-off, Mode 1.

1.  First problem is when entering the marshal stack.  I was instructed by Air Traffic Control to marshal on the 173 degree radial at 23 DME from the carrier.  So I setup my tacan with the 353 degree radial for the inbound course to the carrier.  I flew a heading to intercept the 353 radial, and when I was about 2 miles from the 353 radial I turned on autopilot CPL mode to intercept the radial.  That worked fine, and the course was intercepted by the autopilot and I was established on the 353 radial inbound to the carrier.

At 23 DME I went to heading mode and did a left, 180 degree course reversal to a heading of 173, and started flying outbound in the holding pattern.  After several minutes of flying outbound I turned left to a heading of about 030 to intercept the 353 degree radial inbound to the carrier once again in preparation for commencing the approach.

Once again within about 2 miles of the inbound course I turned on autopilot CPL mode to intercept the 353 radial, however, this is where I encountered a problem and possible bug. In CPL mode the autopilot turned the aircraft outbound toward 173 degrees (which is not correct) rather than intercepting the course and proceeding inbound on the 353 degree radial (as it did correctly when I first entered the Marshal Stack).

2.  The second problem is that I can never get ACLS Mode 1 to activate.  When I turn on Auto Throttle (ATC) and autopilot CPL at 6.0 DME from the carrier, the Mode 1 CPL P/R never activates.  The Link 4 page shows ACL ready Mode 1, and it never goes to CMD CNT.  The HUD always shows CPL HDG and the aircraft never automatically flies the glideslope hands-free to touchdown on the carrier.  If I stay hands-free the aircraft will end up crashing into the ocean.

I have attached a TRK file to show both of the issues mentioned above.

 

F-18C ACLS 3.trk

[Minsky]

1 hour ago, Chops said:

Once again within about 2 miles of the inbound course I turned on autopilot CPL mode to intercept the 353 radial, however, this is where I encountered a problem and possible bug. In CPL mode the autopilot turned the aircraft outbound toward 173 degrees (which is not correct) rather than intercepting the course and proceeding inbound on the 353 degree radial (as it did correctly when I first entered the Marshal Stack).

 

You activated the CPLD HDG mode, as seen on the HUD, so the autopilot tried to follow the ACLS command heading pointer:

It 'worked' first time because you haven't yet reported 'Established', so you didn't have the uplinked control messages and that pointer.

 

 

 

[Chops]

Thanks for the information.  Is this functionality documented anywhere?  I was unable to find information about this in the Manual, and Matt Wagner's video did not explain this in depth.

Why does CPLD HDG mode want to send the aircraft in the wrong direction?  Is there a way to activate CPLD TCN mode so that I can intercept the inbound course to the carrier?  I already have TCN boxed on the HSI.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Chops

[Minsky]

59 minutes ago, Chops said:

Thanks for the information.  Is this functionality documented anywhere?  I was unable to find information about this in the Manual, and Matt Wagner's video did not explain this in depth.

Why does CPLD HDG mode want to send the aircraft in the wrong direction?  Is there a way to activate CPLD TCN mode so that I can intercept the inbound course to the carrier?  I already have TCN boxed on the HSI.

Yes, this is covered in the Hornet's NATOPS (24.6.1.2.2).

Upon establishing, that heading pointer represents your assigned marshal radial. And upon commencing it switches to the final bearing.

There's no way to use coupled A/P modes other than HDG and P/R while the ACLS is active. The aircraft presumes that, at this point, you're aiming for the approach.

Don't think you're supposed to use CPL TCN in the marshal stack anyway. I haven't heard of this technique, nor saw it mentioned in any published document.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Minsky

[Chops]

20 minutes ago, Minsky said:

Yes, this is covered in the Hornet's NATOPS (24.6.1.2.2).

Upon establishing, that heading pointer represents your assigned marshal radial. And upon commencing it switches to the final bearing.

There's no way to use coupled A/P modes other than HDG and P/R while the ACLS is active. The aircraft presumes that, at this point, you're aiming for the approach.

Don't think you're supposed to use CPL TCN in the marshal stack anyway. I haven't heard of this technique, nor saw it mentioned in any published document.

 

Ok, interesting that CPL TCN is not used in the stack, seems like good technique to maintain correct lateral guidance just like in a holding pattern.  Regarding my second issue, any insight on why i can't get hands-free P/R to activate?

[Chops]

I think that I have figured out my No. 2 issue posted above.

Mode 1 hands-free ACLS does not seem to work when wingmen are present in the mission.  I have tested this issue on different maps.  When flying as a single aircraft, Mode 1, CMD CNT and CPL P/R work correctly and the aircraft will land hands-free.

Also, with wingmen in a mission I have seen weird behavior such as two AI aircraft landing one behind the other on the carrier deck, so that two aircraft are present on the runway.  Additionally wingmen will taxi into the player aircraft on the runway.

I am using the most current open beta version and the super carrier.  The missions that I have been flying to test these issues were created by myself in the mission editor.

So it looks like two bugs are present.  I have a track of the ACLS issues included in my above post, but did not save a track with the wingmen issues.  Maybe someone else can confirm these findings.

[NineLine]

1 hour ago, Chops said:

So it looks like two bugs are present.

Please make separate appropriate bug threads in the correct place if you haven't already. 

[vitdor]

2 часа назад, Chops сказал:

I think that I have figured out my No. 2 issue posted above.

Mode 1 hands-free ACLS does not seem to work when wingmen are present in the mission.  I have tested this issue on different maps.  When flying as a single aircraft, Mode 1, CMD CNT and CPL P/R work correctly and the aircraft will land hands-free.

Also, with wingmen in a mission I have seen weird behavior such as two AI aircraft landing one behind the other on the carrier deck, so that two aircraft are present on the runway.  Additionally wingmen will taxi into the player aircraft on the runway.

I am using the most current open beta version and the super carrier.  The missions that I have been flying to test these issues were created by myself in the mission editor.

So it looks like two bugs are present.  I have a track of the ACLS issues included in my above post, but did not save a track with the wingmen issues.  Maybe someone else can confirm these findings.

I think this is a correct remark. The solo mission ACLS in mode 1 is simple and easy to repeat. But for example from the Raven One campaign, mission 4 is always just a CPLD HDG. Mission with a wingman. Landing case III.

Edited May 27, 2022 by vitdor