Cannot line up in Hornet. Just do not see runway lineup lines on carrier until in close

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Motherloving LSO in DSC has bad habit of WO'ing me at the ramp. When its too late for me to do anything. I may ttrap, I may bolter. I go to full burner, but there is a delay as engines spool up and AB lights. 

[PawlaczGMD]

Also true, I sometimes ignore WO and land ok, but it is usually caused by me making serious mistakes, so it might be realistic. Getting OK consistently is REALLY difficult.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

We are presented with a contradiction regarding Calling The Ball. Pilot is suppoused to call the ball when he see it, then DCS ball overlay is suppouised to pop up. But I DONT SEE THE BALL LIGHT! Its too small, too dim.  So I call ball just to get overlay up as I roll into final for glideslope intercept. If I do that, it appears, the  LSO gives me bad grade for calling ball too early. If I don't call the ball, then LSO gives me bad grade for not calling the ball. So a loose/loose either way. Call to early so overlay pops up, get a bad grade. Delay until I can see it without overlay, then its  bad grade for not calling ball. Dear Lord! How did ED beta this? Process is confusing. It should not be. It should be straightforward and mechanical. Done in rote. I think I am getting incorrect information about bow break. At 350 knots, 800 AGL, banking 35 deg with 3.5G, by the time I am on base leg with 240 knots to get gear down and flaps full, I am 2 to 2.3nm from carrier according to DME, as it displays on HUD. 

[draconus]

Gosh, you're whining so much. Practice, practice, practice and come back after a week or two. You have all the info and videos of perfect examples - watch again and try to come close to it. Don't worry about comms, LSO, grades or some other details at this level. SC is not perfect but it is best what we can get atm. The Wags video is from 2020 - both SC and Hornet might have something changed, same with manuals.

The break is for loosing speed at medium G, to turn around and to get the aircraft ready for final turn. You'll get a feel for it after awhile. If you end up further from carrier then turn harder.

You call the ball when you see it around 3/4nm (if you made right calls before, open comms now and the ball call should be there) but you're seating at small monitor with big fov so it's not like IRL, that's why you have overlay available. The ball will be there as long as you're near the GS. If you can't use the ball or carrier deck lines then ditch it - use other means like course line (for lineup) on HSI and ICLS.

Use power on final to stay on GS. Keep the green donut. If you stay on GS with right AoA all the numbers will be correct: speed, vertical speed, altitude, pitch.

Navy pilots have to do it all days, a few traps a day to stay proficient and rarely make it perfect all the time. In a luxury of simulation repeating quick Case I missions already in the air you can quicky surpass them

Edited July 12, 2024 by draconus

[rob10]

Seriously, download the guide at the link I provided before.  It is MUCH more detailed than the online version you are using and will answer a bunch of questions you've been posting.  Also get BANKLERS RECOVERY TRAINER (you'll find it in the F-18 forum here).  It will walk you through what you need to do at each step.

Believe me, it is very possible to do a Case 1 without the issues you are having if you do it correctly.

A few pointers from your comments: make sure you are going to IDLE when you start breaking.  At idle throttle and pulling 1% G of your speed (so 3.5G's at 350 kts, 3 G at 300 kts etc) you'll naturally be down to <250 kts by the time you make your 1st 180 degrees.  If you have HSI up you can see your distance from the course line (set it to final bearing) in the bottom right (put it on the right DDI so that the advisories don't blank it) so you can loosen your turn in the break to make sure you end up at 1.2-1.3 NM out from the carrier.  Set your HDG marker to the reciprocal of BRC and fly toward that on the base leg.  Make sure you TRIM on AOA while in LEVEL flight.  Ignore your AOA while turning, it will come back where it should when you level out on final.  As others have said USE YOUR THROTTLE to control altitude (you shouldn't need to use pitch for anything other pulling a tighter turn).

If you're losing the IFLOLS overlay you're getting way too far right or left of proper line.  Same is likely true of why LSO stops talking to you.  From your descriptions the problems you're having (other than not being able to see the actual ball on boat which is a function of hardware/software vs RL) are 98% user error and not things that ED needs to fix.

[DmitriKozlowsky]

20 hours ago, draconus said:

Gosh, you're whining so much. Practice, practice, practice and come back after a week or two. You have all the info and videos of perfect examples - watch again and try to come close to it. Don't worry about comms, LSO, grades or some other details at this level. SC is not perfect but it is best what we can get atm. The Wags video is from 2020 - both SC and Hornet might have something changed, same with manuals.

The break is for loosing speed at medium G, to turn around and to get the aircraft ready for final turn. You'll get a feel for it after awhile. If you end up further from carrier then turn harder.

You call the ball when you see it around 3/4nm (if you made right calls before, open comms now and the ball call should be there) but you're seating at small monitor with big fov so it's not like IRL, that's why you have overlay available. The ball will be there as long as you're near the GS. If you can't use the ball or carrier deck lines then ditch it - use other means like course line on HSI and ICLS.

Use power on final to stay on GS. Keep the green donut. If you stay on GS with right AoA all the numbers will be correct: speed, vertical speed, altitude, pitch.

Navy pilots have to do it all days, a few traps a day to stay proficient and rarely make it perfect all the time. In a luxury of simulation repeating quick Case I missions already in the air you can quicky surpass them

 

This is the best Case I I have done thus far. Still was centerline. Though  LSO Grade did not state so. There were no Line Up (LU) remarks)

Grade was (OK)_FX_WIC (BC)

Fair pass with deviations ' (OK)',  Fast at start '(FX)', Wings not level inclose (WIC), called Ball a little too early '(BC)'.  

I hope my interpretation is accurate. However I am incosistent. I cannot gurantee repeatability.

 

FA18Case1_Grade_OK_wire3_BC.trk

[DmitriKozlowsky]

Not certain why I got C grade. On this pass. When it looked good, on centerline, and #3 wire.

FA18Case1_Grade_C_wire3_BC.trk

[fagulha]

On 7/3/2024 at 7:04 AM, DmitriKozlowsky said:

Not certain why I got C grade. On this pass. When it looked good, on centerline, and #3 wire.

FA18Case1_Grade_C_wire3_BC.trk 1.94 MB · 1 download

You can have a 3 Wire and get a Cut pass. It depends on deviations and corrections in your pass. It´s all about safety.  The LSO grade helps you to understand and improve your passes.

 

Call the ball at 0.7nm (it´s when the "call the ball" option will be available in ATC Comms. Before "call the ball" you only have "Clara Ball".

Edited July 4, 2024 by fagulha

[PawlaczGMD]

BTW you should try this mission:

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/189005-banklers-case-1-recovery-trainer/

[DmitriKozlowsky]

(OK) #4 Wire.  However after trap my right main gear leg was bent and broken, gear sensor was AFU, and wing would not fold. Perhaps ttapped a bit too much for plane to take. On playback,note how extreme the nose lean of Hornet after grabbing wire.

FA18Case1_OK_4wire_gearDmg.trk