need track file carrier landing - damanged tires

[Ladan]

It's a couple times again I'm noticing that my landings on the carrier with the F/A-18 have not been successful. I had a recent update done in DCS World, it was a couple days or so back. Since, I have not been able to land properly. Is anyone else having the same problem? It was fine before.

[Tholozor]

What's your gross weight when returning to the carrier?

[Ladan]

Just now, Tholozor said:

What's your gross weight when returning to the carrier?

Um, I'm not sure, but I'm not loaded or heavy. It's always been at a good weight.

[SteelPig]

3 minutes ago, Ladan said:

Um, I'm not sure, but I'm not loaded or heavy. It's always been at a good weight.

You should be sure. Maximum trapweight for the Hornet is 34.000lbs for a restricted approach. 33.000lbs unrestricted. So when you come in above this weight it can happen your gear takes damage.  

[rob10]

The two things I find are you need to make sure you are LEVEL when your wheels contact the deck (if you have any bank one side takes a bigger hit) and keep your rate of descent <800 fpm.  Weight also plays.  Typically it's overdoing a combination of these things that will get you -- i.e. if you're overweight but level and low descent rate you're likely OK, but if you're overweight and slightly high on your descent rate you'll break things.

[Razor18]

36 minutes ago, Ladan said:

Um, I'm not sure, but I'm not loaded or heavy. It's always been at a good weight.

If you are not sure, how do you know if weight was OK all the times?

Before landing, make sure on the CHKLIST page you are below 34k weight. If over, dump some fuel after setting your bingo to the required amount (so you don't forget to stop dumping). It's a good number to arrive with no more than 4k fuel to the boat. If you are further out and wanna be ahead of the game, check on the FPAS, how much fuel will you have when arriving to Mother, and dump accordingly. You can dump in several steps too if you wanna be cautious..

And as others said, make sure your VV is not bigger than 700 f/min all the way in the groove, but at least when you are touching down. Avoid pushing the nose down or cutting throttle in close to force the aircraft into the wires.

Edited October 12, 2024 by Razor18

[Ladan]

Ok, I'll take a look at everything again. But I'm pretty sure this started happening after the latest update, because I was fine before that.

[AndyJWest]

A hard landing can result in worst than a blown tyre. This was the result of an impact at about 1,200 ft/min, followed by a bolter. 

The wheel is canted over at a funny angle, and wouldn't retract. Trying to land on the carrier didn't seem a good idea, but I just about had enough fuel to reach a nice long runway...

 

[Ladan]

34 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

A hard landing can result in worst than a blown tyre. This was the result of an impact at about 1,200 ft/min, followed by a bolter. 

The wheel is canted over at a funny angle, and wouldn't retract. Trying to land on the carrier didn't seem a good idea, but I just about had enough fuel to reach a nice long runway...

 

That was one of my cases last night, except that I didn't have anything loaded.

[Lord Vader]

Hello, @Ladan

Regardless of what was already mentioned here, regarding weight, speed, and/or angles, if you feel this is a bug we require a track file to analyse what you claim.

I test landing in carriers frequently and only actually have mishaps when I go over the limitations or don't follow correct procedures.

[Harley]

I wish we could stop pretending that the difference between a good landing and one that breaks the gear is between 3° and 4° AOA. These hornets are made to hit the deck hard, and limitations are not exceeded by real world pilots, but 4° AOA folds the gear up on impact and 3° is smooth as glass? I don't buy it. Not to be difficult, but it really isn't that thin of a margin. There must be some data somewhere that shows what the G-limitations/speed/AOA/weight limits are on this gear. It was quite excessively nerfed when the Hornet was originally released, but it's so tight now that if the carrier deck pitches just at the wrong time, you can explode on touchdown. It seems a little overly-delicate now.

I'm going to test in some weather and see what the limits are, and I'll report. I'm not sure about how to save and upload track files, but I suppose I'll have to figure that out, also.

[Muchocracker]

4 hours ago, Harley said:

I wish we could stop pretending that the difference between a good landing and one that breaks the gear is between 3° and 4° AOA. These hornets are made to hit the deck hard, and limitations are not exceeded by real world pilots, but 4° AOA folds the gear up on impact and 3° is smooth as glass? I don't buy it. Not to be difficult, but it really isn't that thin of a margin. There must be some data somewhere that shows what the G-limitations/speed/AOA/weight limits are on this gear. It was quite excessively nerfed when the Hornet was originally released, but it's so tight now that if the carrier deck pitches just at the wrong time, you can explode on touchdown. It seems a little overly-delicate now.

I'm going to test in some weather and see what the limits are, and I'll report. I'm not sure about how to save and upload track files, but I suppose I'll have to figure that out, also.

FPM rate of descent is the determiner for exceeding gear stress limits at any given gross weight. Has nothing directly to do with AoA on touchdown.

[Dangerzone]

4 hours ago, Harley said:

I wish we could stop pretending that the difference between a good landing and one that breaks the gear is between 3° and 4° AOA. These hornets are made to hit the deck hard, and limitations are not exceeded by real world pilots, but 4° AOA folds the gear up on impact and 3° is smooth as glass? I don't buy it. Not to be difficult, but it really isn't that thin of a margin. There must be some data somewhere that shows what the G-limitations/speed/AOA/weight limits are on this gear. It was quite excessively nerfed when the Hornet was originally released, but it's so tight now that if the carrier deck pitches just at the wrong time, you can explode on touchdown. It seems a little overly-delicate now.

I'm going to test in some weather and see what the limits are, and I'll report. I'm not sure about how to save and upload track files, but I suppose I'll have to figure that out, also.

Can you please provide a track file of your 4° landing so we can observe all the other parameters to see if there's something else that might be the cause of this, or if it is indeed a bug? I don't have issues with carrier landings, but I know there's so many things I could be doing different to you that my experience isn't really valid until we can compare everything. 

[Razor18]

I'm not sure I understand how 3 or 4 degrees as on speed AOA comes into the picture in a first place, when proper AOA is 8.1° for the Hornet.

Is it supposed to mean maybe 3 or 4 degrees for glide slope angle? Or if it is really AoA, then coming in with that makes anyone waaay too fast... What am I missing here?

[Phantom711]

As someone who flies in a virtual Squadron that puts a lot of emphasis on Carrier ops, I can only recall one instance in the past few month(!) where someone damaged his gear on a trap. Otherwise it‘s really not an observed issue really…