Mastering your First Phantom Flight

[Victory205]

Surviving FAM-1 in the Phantom.

Congratulations on your purchase of the F-4E Phantom II. It is a sweet flying beast, with enormous depth and versatility. It’s easy to fly while being tactically challenging. The aircraft is versatile, and the era it dominated was interesting, a combination that produces hours upon hours of engaging fun. 

First, don’t be intimidated by the hulking beast. The surprising little secret is that it’s easy to fly. The Phantom is honest and uncomplicated procedurally, the engines are responsive and powerful, and the slats make it feel responsive, but also stable and precise. You point it where you want to go, push the throttles up and man, does it go!

As you would expect, Heatblur has delved deep into accurate modeling of systems and aerodynamics, and the result is a nuanced, detailed simulation of the F-4E. You will discover small details as you explore the aircraft and systems, they’ve even simulated the influence of engine exhaust flow on the stabilator due to its anhedral. How cool is that?

From broad testing experience and SME feedback, I recommend starting with a pitch curve of at least 10 for the F-4. The simulator is faithful to the real F4E, which is sensitive in pitch. Experiment and refine your axis tuning for your controller from there. I am currently using a non-FFB stick with a 4 inch extension and heavy spring tension, 12 works for me.

Map your controls. You only need pitch, roll, rudders, brakes, gear, flaps, nose wheel steering, speed brakes, trim in all axis and drag chute for this hop. Keyboard and clicking will be fine for the rest. We won’t be killing MiGs just yet.

This guide is meant to be a quick and dirty “FAM-1” guide to get you in the air and safely back to earth. We’ll also have some fun in between. I know you’re eager to give it a try, so skip startup and begin on the runway, ready to launch. 

Fly a clean jet today, or throw on a centerline drop tank for starters. The trim will already be set (understand that due to the way the bellows/trim system interacts, until airspeed increases, the stabilator will be positioned full leading edge down on the ground), engines running, check that the flaps are down, let’s go.

 

Normal Takeoff and Climb.

Apply full afterburner, position stick full aft when Jester calls 80 knots and hold it there. 

Nose-wheel steering until the rudder becomes effective ~70KIAS (the NWS button must be held during operation). If you drift and need nose-wheel steering to correct, then center the rudder pedals before re-engaging.

With full aft stick, the aircraft will rotate on its own when it’s ready to fly, ease off back stick to hold it at 10-12º nose up pitch attitude. Our intrepid F-4 SME’s and and recommended this technique, it works beautifully.

Gear and flaps up immediately to avoid overspeed. Both have limit speeds of 250 KIAS. Min flap retract is 180 KIAS, which is only a consideration during military power takeoffs. Jester will let you know when they’re up.

Terminate burner at 300 KIAS.

You’re in the air, easy peasy, nothing to it.

Climb at 350 to intercept .9 Mach.

Mil power climbs at 350 KIAS initially require just over 20º of pitch. 

In Max afterburner, it will climb into the mid twenties at .9 Mach at over 30º nose high. Beast mode.

Setting 3000 pph per engine results in a cruise Mach between .84 at FL 250 and .90 at FL350. That’s a fuel burn of 100 pounds per minute. Fuel planning couldn’t be simpler.

Mil power at FL350 tops out just below Mach, around .97 IMN. Ease the nose down and it will go supersonic without afterburner.

There is a little Mach Tuck going through transonic. Overall, the pitch changes are mild, trim is sensitive. Be quick with your thumb.

Operationally, the F-4E is a Mach 2 aircraft. In level flight, it’s fastest at 35,000, and can achieve the dash one charted speed of just over Mach 2. Unload in a dive, and if you sport an adequate moustache, you can hit 2.2 plus. You can have fun figuring out the profile for that for yourself.

At sea level, a low drag configuration tops out at 1.12-1.15 IMN. Adding external stores will reduce max Mach proportionately.

Maneuvering Flight

ROLL AUG off for maneuvering.

Always roll using coordinated rudder and aileron. The higher the AOA, feed in more rudder as ailerons are less effective. Rudder only rolls are smooth and predictable. Reducing AOA increases roll rate. Experiment at different AOA’s and speeds, it will come to you quickly.

Best sustained turns with typical Air to Air load outs at medium combat altitudes (SL to 15,000) range from 520-480 KIAS. Even with light pitch forces, flying a consistent, sustained turn is relatively easy. Smooth corrections pay big dividends. Control bank angle primarily with your feet. 

I checked the sustained turn G capability today from SL to 15,000 MSL, and it’s on the money. Gross weight affects performance of course, but if you’re doing your part, you’ll be able to hold 7.0 G on the deck, and 5.1 G while turning level at 15,000 MSL.  I’m quite impressed with how stable the Phantom is at high G loads.

You can already sense that the F-4E needs and loves airspeed. Use a 500 KIAS entry speed for a mil power loop, 450 with burner. A 4-5G pull up to 19.2 units will result in 200-230 knots or so over the top.

It takes a lot of intentional baffoonery at very low speeds to depart controlled flight, which commonly shows up as a nose slice opposite to the direction of aileron input. The recovery controls are neutralize ailerons and rudder, unload with stick well forward (5 degrees AOA is a good target), and pull the throttles back to idle power. If the engines compressor stall, no big deal, go to idle, they recover quickly.

Continue to hold up to full forward stick and let the aircraft do what it wants to do during post stall gyrations. As nose falls below horizon, and speed increases to 200 knots, you are flying again, so it’s safe to carefully roll with rudder and aileron to wings level, then pull up in light buffet, approximately 17 units, don’t exceed 19.2 units in the pullout.

Spin recovery controls are rudder opposite the yaw/turn needle and lateral stick into (the primary recovery control is aileron), but perhaps the biggest shock having heard all of the lore, it is difficult to get the slatted F-4E to spin, even intentionally.

That said, if the aircraft doesn’t recover, pull the drag chute. The aircraft will pitch nose down and accelerate. Either jettison the chute or let it fail when airspeed exceeds ~250knots.

If you see a nose slice, it’s probably the ailerons causing it. Center the stick, reduce the angle of attack.

The AJB-7 attitude indicator is so well designed that it can be used to fly precise aerobatic maneuvers, including rolling out on a specific heading, without looking outside the cockpit. The indicator is surrounded by the primary flight instruments, so in addition to the heading marks on the AJB-7 itself, you can see airspeed, AOA, altitude and the VSI in your peripheral vision, without shifting your scan. It’s all right there.

Try this. Referencing the attitude indicator, pull up wings level and peg the nose exactly in the middle of the black dot that depicts 90º up, then pull the throttles to idle and do a lovely tail slide. If you get it right, the aircraft will back  down, and full aft stick will make it flop forward, full forward stick will make it flop on to its back. Hold controls neutral, and it will pendulum past vertical at the bottom, where inertial dominates aerodynamics, just as a real fighter does. 

The AJB-7 clearly indicates where the closest horizon is to roll and pull out with minimal altitude loss. You can use it to pull out of a hairy maneuver on a specific heading, bugging out directly at home plate, where you can change out your underwear. 

Landing

Max landing weight is 46,000 pounds. We aren’t too concerned with limitations for our hop today, but you don’t want to get into bad habits either. That’s about 12,000lbs of fuel for our configuration today, shouldn’t be a problem.

At max landing weight, a stable on-speed landing AOA of 19.2 works out to 168 KIAS. If we were down to 3000 lbs of fuel using today’s configuration, on-speed would be 151 KIAS.

Overhead breaks at 350-400 KIAS work well. 4000 pph will result in 400 KIAS on the run in. In this speed range, idle power in the break is fine, speed brakes are not necessary. If you do use the boards during a faster break entry, they should be manually retracted on downwind. If you are struggling to hold altitude when dirty, then you forgot to retract the speed brakes.

Seat full up for landing. It’s difficult to see over the nose, so you may need to use RCTL+RSHFT+8 to raise cockpit camera. 

Extend gear and flaps at 250 KIAS, get the power back up as the aircraft decelerates towards 180 knots. That’s minimum speed on downwind, but slow to the “on-speed” AOA of 19.2 units (the big white square) before or during the first part of the final turn. Jester will talk you through the simple Landing Checklist. 

For reference, when level downwind, pitch will be 10-11º, and ballpark fuel flow with be ~4000 pph per engine. The aural tone and indexers give plenty of feedback.

Gear and flap extension both cause a very mild pitch down. Flaps extend when decelerating through around 210 KIAS. Flaps will retract in the air if over-sped.

Like most fighters, you’ll need to add power around the approach turn to control rate of descent. It doesn’t take much. 

Perform all rolling in the pattern with coordinated rudder and aileron.

Trim and pitch are sensitive in the landing configuration, faithful to the aircraft, so smooth inputs are required. Fly with your fingertips.

Due to the -5.25 degree thrust line of the J79 engines, adding power causes the nose to pitch down, reducing it causes a pitch up. It’s exactly opposite of the F-14. When you push with your left hand, you will need a slight pull with your right and vice versa.

It’s also a happy little airplane during approach, with the AOA tone beeping and chirping. In fact, it’s quite easy to get on the runway in one piece. All of that cheerful noise should be a clue that the Phantom is flown while referencing AOA in the landing pattern. If you are struggling, try flying a little fast, with the AOA needle at the bottom of the white, “on-speed” index mark, around 17-18 units. 

We aren’t landing on the ship, so a little fast is fine as you get familiar, you have plenty of runway to work with. 

Use the “bug on the windshield” for glide path reference. Just like landing a Cessna. If you are addicted, you’ll quickly wean yourself off of HUDs.

If you get behind the power curve, above 19.2 units or more, understand that excessive AOA causes enormous drag that if unchecked, will dramatically increase descent rate. To recover, forward stick to reduce AOA immediately is critical, while adding lots of power. You need both, don’t try to power out, reduce AOA with pitch.

Danger of stall buffet and nose slice lurks above 25 units.

In the flare, you may need to look to the left or right through the windshield side panel to see the runway, like Lindbergh did flying the Spirit of St Louis. It’s where you look when landing tail draggers or even fat nosed single engined Cessnas. Some instructors call it  “The Lindbergh Reference”.

I find that carrying power into the flare makes for a smoother landing. Arrest the rate of descent before you ease the power and let it settle. If you are fast, then pulling more power in the flare is fine.

When you try a carrier landing, and we all know that you will, keep in mind that you will need a significantly wider abeam distance. The F-4E lacks the BLC flaps of the Navy versions, so you’ll be flying a much faster approach turn with a wider turn radius. The LSO’s will be nervously eyeing the net. Good luck.

Single engine approaches are simple. Only real change is you a little faster, at 17 units, the yaw due to asymmetric thrust is easily controlled with rudder, even in burner. Fly a straight in approach using gentle bank angles and you’ll be fine. It helps to get rid of most of your fuel before landing with an engine that is “uninterested in further toil”.

The F-4E also has a nifty flight director on it’s remarkable AJB-7 attitude indicator that makes ILS approaches a piece of cake. ILS freq is set on the pilot’s left console. The controls for what drives the needles are on the lower right side of the instrument panel. Give it a whirl, flight directors are amazing.

After touchdown, lower the nose, pop the chute, hold the stick aft, and enjoy Jester’s compliments on your landing as you roll out. 

I bet that you land it on the first try.

When clear of the runway, there is nothing like opening the canopies and enjoying the sound of two J-79’s while enjoying some fresh Phantom Air. Soak up the satisfaction of a flight well-flown as you taxi back to the ramp. You just experienced what it is like to fly an iconic fighter that continues to menace the skies even today. 

Damn, that was fun.

Maybe that's why Jester loves to say, “We have the best job in the world.”

 

 

Edited May 22, 2024 by Victory205
Added notes on NWS, Flap and Trim in response to "first day flailing" comments.

[Jayhawk1971]

Thanks Victory, I'm very much looking forward to the Phantom. This tutorial will surely help getting started! 

I also look forward to Reflected's "TOPGUN" campaign for the Phantom, which will hopefully do for the Phantom what Speed and Angels did for the Tomcat WRT really learning the basics as far as they could be simulated in a consumer level environment.

BTW, I was lucky enough back then to be able to find your Tomcat tips, they were really, really helpful! 

Edited May 16, 2024 by Jayhawk1971

[Kerbo 416]

excellent write up!

[Art-J]

The only problem with it is - for us dark theme forum users it displays as black text over almost-black background, making only the "welcome" sentence visible. Vic, could you please edit the post using unformatted text please?

[ARM505]

1 hour ago, Art-J said:

The only problem with it is - for us dark theme forum users it displays as black text over almost-black background, making only the "welcome" sentence visible. Vic, could you please edit the post using unformatted text please?

Just left-click drag and highlight the text, but your point is valid.

 

Nice 'fam flight' write up to the OP.

[Art-J]

^ Ha! That's indeed what I do when browsing on my PC, but trying to do it on smartphone is much more cumberstone. All good now, however, post has been edited, thanks!

[Eldur]

Thx.

 

Also: Screenshotted and put into a special locker. I've seen Victory's content disappear phipheever before.

[Alicatt]

Thanks for the reformat @Victory205 can read it well now

Nice write up thanks for doing it.

[Victory205]

My pleasure. Feel free to pass it along. Hopefully, it will make everyone’s transition to the F-4E go smoothly. It’s an amazing aircraft and the module is a ton of fun to fly. 

We also have a window to revisit some nuances in the F14 flight model. When that is complete, I’ll update and post new F14 tips. I alone made the decision to pull them because the rapid updates we were making in the FM made them obsolete and confusing. That’s on me, not Heatblur. Hopefully, it won’t be too long.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

My first 2 hops in the Phantom were a ton of fun, and both times Jester complimented me on my landing 
Your suggestion to use a +10 curve on Pitch indeed works very well, Victory - I have a 20cm extension on my stick.

[Victory205]

Well done. It's fun to fly, isn't it? 

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Very! My attempt at a tail-slide had some room for improvement though, and I got a compressor stall in both engines but the aircraft recovered by itself without fuss.
I can't wait to become fully proficient! 

[Hummingbird]

Quite an easy bird to fly really

My biggest problem right now is how I get the radar picture back after I pressed the cage button,  anyone know?

[TOViper]

If I may suggest this section in the online manual for beginners who start with the TRAINING lessons first:
https://f4.manuals.heatblur.se/dcs/training_missions.html#training-missions

 

[gulredrel]

Need to read this carefully. My first attempt the flap handle moved, but the flaps stayed down and did not retract. Hopefully there is some time tomorrow for the training lessons.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

1 hour ago, Hummingbird said:

Quite an easy bird to fly really

My biggest problem right now is how I get the radar picture back after I pressed the cage button,  anyone know?

Double click the Jester context button.

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

2 hours ago, gulredrel said:

Need to read this carefully. My first attempt the flap handle moved, but the flaps stayed down and did not retract. Hopefully there is some time tomorrow for the training lessons.

Maybe jammed because of excess of speed? 

[Victory205]

It's helpful to post problems and systems questions where others will benefit from seeing the solutions. I'd like to keep this thread primarily focused on flying.

The guide above is meant for transitioning pilots who are familiar with how to fly, set up control bindings, and have a basic familiarity from skimming the manual. It's not a good place to cover how to start the engines, run the weapons system, use Jester, etc. Guys needing that information won't look here.

Have any of you read through the dash-1 "Zoom Climb" profile and procedures? It was in the Navy F-4J NATOPS manual , and I recall former F-4J/S drivers who would talk about doing it off the coast of California. It's insane flying it without a pressure suit, topping out above 70,000 feet. Give it a try when you get comfortable in the aircraft.

[Vyacheslav]

Hi.
Who measured the speed, the turn time at the ground? How in the dogfight against the Mig-21?

[Victory205]

The answers will be found at the link above.

Edited May 22, 2024 by Victory205

[Hummingbird]

13 minutes ago, Vyacheslav said:

Hi.
Who measured the speed, the turn time at the ground? How in the dogfight against the Mig-21?

Don't compare vs ai MiG21, as the ai will make the 21 turn like a legacy fighter. 

In my preliminary testing of the F4E module it checks out as accurate to the performance charts in terms of sustained turn rate. Which means it will outrate a human flown MiG21 in DCS between 0.7-0.8 mach. The only issue DCS Phantom jocks will find when dogfighting human piloted 21's is that the 21 is currently overperforming below 0.6 mach - but that's not heatblur's responsibility. 

Heatblur's F-4E really is setting a new standard, esp. when it comes to accuracy on release. Really impressed so far. 

[TOViper]

3 hours ago, gulredrel said:

Need to read this carefully. My first attempt the flap handle moved, but the flaps stayed down and did not retract. Hopefully there is some time tomorrow for the training lessons.

Hey gulredrel!

If you have been on the ground, and moved the slats/flaps switch from "OUT & DOWN" position to "OUT" position (which is one step up), then both the slats and the flaps do not change their positions, the will stay in "OUT" and "DOWN". Only when you set the switch to "NORM" position, slats & flaps change to "IN" and "UP".

If you'd go for the training lessons, both the switch AND the indications are being checked by the trigger logic in most cases.
So if a lesson requires you to set slats & flaps to OUT & DOWN, but only set the switch to "OUT", the lesson usually will not continue.

You can read about this system behavior here: https://f4.manuals.heatblur.se/cockpit/pilot/left_console/wall.html#nose-gear-down

Just if that was the problem at your first try ...

Edited May 22, 2024 by TOViper

[aztec01]

Oh, I mastered the first flight just fine.
The first landing, not so much  (To be fair, I did make it to the ground)

 

[umkhunto]

On 5/17/2024 at 1:09 AM, Victory205 said:

 

ROLL AUG off for maneuvering.

 

 

 

 

So like the Tomcat, turn it off when doing aerobatics?

[Ghostmaker]

Does anyone have this issue?

When started in instant action in free flight, why is my F4 Completly powered down and juat falls out of the sky?

 

When start from ramp - usually your all setup hot ready for take off.. my F4 is powered down??

Can anyone help please?