ACL Tomcat

[draconus]

On 4/26/2025 at 12:44 PM, Kaktus said:

because lift surfaces i understand you would need as they enable the aircraft to lower the speed while maintaining aoa and sink rate, but braking surfaces such as dlc to me still don't make sense apart from enabling better throttle response.. so if this is primary reason i get it, if not i don't.. 

First off, DLC is not a surface. It's a system. It uses inner sections of spoilers to control lift. Yeah, when you engage it it moves the spoilers to the middle position, so it adds some drag, but it does so you can easily control the lift from there by either increasing it or decreasing by the spoiler movement up/down - that's the primary reason, braking is just the side effect compared to DLC off.

https://heatblur.se/F-14Manual/general.html#dlc-direct-lift-control

On 4/27/2025 at 7:00 PM, Dragon1-1 said:

It's there to help you with the burble or perhaps fix small mistakes, not as a crutch for bad technique.

It's there to help pilots with easier and safer Tomcat landings, period, not to brag about "I did SHB without even touching DLC ".

[Cab]

On 4/22/2025 at 4:37 PM, Dragon1-1 said:

Well, without DLC, your "on-speed" AoA really isn't

I’m not grasping this. Do you have a reference I can look at that explains this?

Edited Tuesday at 03:22 PM by Cab

[Ivandrov]

3 hours ago, Cab said:

I’m not grasping this. Do you have a reference I can look at that explains this?

NATOPS can tell you. Without DLC enabled you are about 6 knots slower and you'll be landing at 14 AoA instead.

DLC enabled, you are 6 knots faster at a slightly higher 15 AoA from the loss of lift by the spoilers in the neutral position and this configuration is what the hook was designed for.

Edited Tuesday at 04:53 PM by Ivandrov

[Cab]

So you’re saying without DLC engaged the hook angle isn’t at the optimum angle to trap?

1 minute ago, Cab said:

So you’re saying without DLC engaged the hook angle isn’t at the optimum angle to trap?

I don’t have a NATOPS or I’d look myself

[Ivandrov]

45 minutes ago, Cab said:

So you’re saying without DLC engaged the hook angle isn’t at the optimum angle to trap?

Sort of, it's more so that the Meatball is supposed to be calibrated so that for whatever plane is landing, a centered meatball means the hook hits the deck in the optimal spot for a trap

The more you deviate from this spot the more of a chance you will just bolter. The non-DLC configuration probably has the hook land a little long if I would have to guess, the suspension would have to compress more for the hook to reach down to the wires.

Edited Tuesday at 07:40 PM by Ivandrov

[Cab]

1 hour ago, Ivandrov said:

Sort of, it's more so that the Meatball is supposed to be calibrated so that for whatever plane is landing, a centered meatball means the hook hits the deck in the optimal spot for a trap

The more you deviate from this spot the more of a chance you will just bolter. The non-DLC configuration probably has the hook land a little long if I would have to guess, the suspension would have to compress more for the hook to reach down to the wires.

Any chance you can direct me to an online NATOPS source that references that?  I know you can't post it here.

[Ivandrov]

36 minutes ago, Cab said:

Any chance you can direct me to an online NATOPS source that references that?  I know you can't post it here.

I can't link to it either, you would just search for the Tomcat NATOPS on Google. There's one for the F-14B specifically.

But that's where the numbers come from. The why of it all is theory gleamed from pilots, as well as some deduction on my end.

Edited Tuesday at 09:49 PM by Ivandrov

[RustBelt]

4 hours ago, Ivandrov said:

I can't link to it either, you would just search for the Tomcat NATOPS on Google. There's one for the F-14B specifically.

But that's where the numbers come from. The why of it all is theory gleamed from pilots, as well as some deduction on my end.

Caution, the B NATOPS out there  is for a PTID B. You also want an A NATOPS to cover both A and our mostly A with good engines Fishbowl TID B. 

[Dragon1-1]

I don't think PTID changes the trapping technique. Two spoiler versus four spoiler DLC would be more relevant, but the theory behind it is the same, all indications assume you have the jet set up in full landing configuration, and if you don't, they will be off. So even if you never touch the DLC wheel, you want to have it extended. Either A or B NATOPS can explain that in detail.