bonesvf103 Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 Is there a recommended altitude to approach the CCA? Are there different ones for Case I/II/II? By this I mean for instance you are RTB and you are say 100 nm from the boat, does the boat want you at a certain altitude by the time you get to the 50nm CCA? Thanks! v6, boNes "Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon1-1 Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 (edited) You want to be at the optimum altitude shown on your FPAS page. This is because you want to conserve gas, and that is best done by flying the FPAS parameters. If you're very early, you'd hold at high altitude waiting for the recoveries to start, and only descend to marshal shortly before your commencement time, particularly in Case II and III, as they require a lot of gas. In the Tomcat and other pre-MFD jets, you need to calculate your altitudes for best range and best conserve. I'm not sure how that's done, though (probably a lookup table of fuel vs. speed and altitude). Edited March 21, 2023 by Dragon1-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonesvf103 Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 Thanks, makes sense. Just wasn't sure if there was a prescribed procedure like, "must be at angels 20 by 100 miles" or something. I also suppose that in terms of say the Tomcat, there is always max fuel endurance which is about 250 KIAS/1200 lbs every 15 minutes. Of course altitude will have an effect on that. v6, boNes "Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoda967 Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Bones, I haven't seen anything that says you have to be at a certain altitude when you contact Marshal (about 50-60 miles). Depending on the situation, the marshal controller may or may not assign you an altitude when you check in. For CASE I during cyclic ops, you do have to be at your squadron's assigned pattern altitude at 250 knots before you enter the CCZ at 10 miles from Mother. For CASE II and III, Marshal will give you a holding assignment in the marshal stack (say 7,000 feet at 22 miles), and you're expected to go as soon as possible to your assigned marshal altitude and maintain it. You don't have to fly in a straight line to get to your holding point. Very Respectfully, Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch London "In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonesvf103 Posted March 24, 2023 Author Share Posted March 24, 2023 Yoda, Thanks, that's what I had been thinking too. v6, boNes "Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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