FC2:A-10: Campaign Mission 2 AAR

[dwpenney]

The point of doing AARs, for yourself or to share with others, is to offer up as a learning experiences - what you may have done right and what you most certainly have done wrong. Think of it as an investigation into how you performed the mission or discourse on how it could be done better.

 

In this case I am still learning the sim, let alone proper A-10 tactics on how to attack a target and stay alive in an hostile environment. And I have to state that I appreciate the campaign designers choice (intentional or not) to ease you into A-10 operations without kicking your arse off the mark. No hoard of MANPADs right from the jump, just an achievable goal.

 

A-10 Campaign Mission #2 for me is a repeat of Mission #1. I know that there is some variability built into the campaign engine in DCS and I am ok with repeating the mission; I just imagine some general on the other side thinking that a particular location is important enough to risk a second tank platoon on. You would think that after reading BeachAV8R's account of this mission (here) and going through the mission once myself, that I would walk through this mission with ease...

 

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Mission #2 looks surprisingly like Mission #1. I am not sure if the campaign makes you repeat missions if you miss a key trigger but I swear on my life I hear the 'Mission Completed' message and saw the text the first time through this one. :-)

 

 

The plan is the same as before - strike the units at the airfield and use the beach/bay area as a safe point.

My A-10 from Mission #1 was in maintenance when the frag order came down so I ended up borrowing one of the A-10s from our European allies. Here I am wheels up and overflying the airfield on my way north.

 

 

Note the 'odd' paint scheme but in these shots you can see how it does make the A-10 less visible to the Mark-I eyeball that might be looking down from above.

 

 

Thundering in on target at low altitude - this probably a mistake that will cost me in the later missions. Although at low altitude I am protected from the higher altitude SAM threats you have to keep your head on a swivel for AAA, MANPADs and other low altitude launched SAMs.

 

 

Unfortunately at this point I am still struggling to get my wingman to cooperate. This will 'improve' in later missions (which I will document then along with the technique that I used in the mission). For now, this struggle has me too close to the ZSU-23 sitting on the airfield. Lucky for me the Zeus takes aim at my wingman instead of me.

 

 

Note the result of the bad angle ejection - that is most likely my fault as flight lead for being so low that it did not give the poor guy a chance. Mental note that although this was my wingman, it could have easily been me and I would have faired no better with no altitude to work with (see my sig).

 

Circling back around, following the attack plan, I attempt to avenge my wingman. [NOTE to ED: You can see how some of the textures are showing through the Maverick launch plume - not a big deal of course but it's well illustrated here :-)]

 

 

Mistake on my part here. Instead of taking down the obvious AAA gun in the middle of the airfield I opted for one of the tanks, got myself too close for comfort and ended up with a few extra holes.

 

Tip of the Day #1: Silence the AAA first!

 

 

This mistake cost me my hydraulics for the mission.

 

Since I still had most of my MAVs I opted to try to stay in the fight. Not a 'bad' decision but again I ended up too close. I should have adjusted to a higher altitude and longer standoff distance.

 

 

At this point the -23 was burning but that T-72 ended up striking a fuel tank and starting a leak. Note: I did not notice the leak at the time, only on the replay. Obviously I am not paying enough attention to the fuel gauge - this will become evident later :-)

 

TotD #2: At low altitude anyone with a pea shooter can ruin your day.

 

On my RTB - out of Mavericks and with my hydraulics toast I did not want to get any closer. I headed home to reload some MAVs and finish the mission.

 

 

Back at base rearming. I did glance at the fuel gauge when I was rearming and I noted that I was at about 30% fuel. I had it brought up to about 75%, hoping that the extra weight would not mess with the flight controls. Of course the hydraulic leak would probably have grounded my A-10 but I took a chance and returned to the mission.

 

[Note to ED: Once you power down your engines, the leak disappears but upon starting them up again (which is the procedure I am using when I RTB to rearm) the leak did not return.]

 

Note to pilots out there: I could not find an option for someone in the ground crew to tinker with the hydraulics or hand me some duct tape :-)

 

Back on target I had the unfortunate luck to lock up a moving fuel truck on my first pass instead of the remaining tank.

 

 

That unfortunate truck driver incident is in the inset picture with the main picture showing me destroying that last tank on a second pass.

 

TotD #3: Verify your target.

 

Now I should have just called it a day here. But being in a virtual cockpit instead of a real one you are usually more willing to chance your life on a gamble - it's an ego hit instead of a mortal one. I had a pair of MAVs left so I thought about the AAA guns operating off to the west. I figured that I could stand off far enough away to take at least one of them out.

 

 

TotD #4: AGM-65 Mavericks can get distracted by fire in the background.

 

Can anyone confirm this behavior or were the MAV's just getting distracted by the buildings?

 

I had my first MAV finish off one of the buildings that was on fire. The second was a struggle to get a lock. When I did I was fairly close but it was not unmanageable. If this had been planned I would recommend a different approach: more of an E to W run instead of a S to N run, which would have taken me along the row of buildings instead of toward them, allowing the -23's to get lost in the background ground clutter.

 

Now my instinct here is to put the -23 on my beam where my speed, maneuvering (even with my hydraulics out) and distance would be an asset and not make it too difficult. My problem was in turning right instead of left. If you can picture this: there were two other ground units deployed in an L formation, now I can't rotate that L to effectively show you but the -23 I attacked was at the was at the 'top' of the L and there were two other ZSU-23s (part of other ground units), one directly W of the first (ZSU-23 #2) and the other SW (ZSU-23 #3). that's an L laid on the ground running E to W to S.

 

By turning right I and turned into the corner of the L.

 

 

Chronologically these shots go from top left to top right, then bottom left to bottom right. Top left is ZSU-23 #1 taking a shot (no idea if my MAV got him after this shot or not as I was busy maneuvering). Top right is the ZSU-23 #3 shooting, followed by ZSU-23 #2 in the bottom left and both @3 and #3 firing in the bottom right shot.

 

I thought I was dead!

 

TotD #5: When going after targets of opportunity, remember your briefing and the locations of all known hostile threats. Don't turn toward them when in trouble!

 

Sure enough, both my engines flamed out as soon as I had put #2 and #3 behind me (on my 7-8). At the time I thought I had gotten shot from behind from those unexpected gunners but, during the replay you can see that in the inset image I have two Caution lights lit: I was out of fuel!

 

 

Remember that T-72 from way back that tagged me with his 12.7mm antiaircraft (I had to look that up, I thought it was going to be the 7.62mm instead).

 

TotD #6: Watch (scan) your gauges!

 

I turned toward the coast but again, my low altitude was working against me. I had to punch out before I was clear of possible collateral damages from the stricken airframe impacting Mother Earth.

 

 

Although I narrowly missed this house, I am sure that in the end the fire would have taken it out too.

 

I would like to take a moment to point out the excellent animation of your pilot during the election sequence. Hats off the ED for this!

 

 

Mission Accomplished (even with a pretty high cost)!

 

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On the plus side I think that this can easily illustrate why AAR's are important - even if you just take a few minutes to play back the track and accelerate to all of the good stuff. It is very easy to critique yourself and see where and what you might have done wrong (AAA threat, moving target, turning toward the enemy instead of away).

 

Coming up next: the Mission #3 and #4 AARs (late tonight, tomorrow and/or over the weekend) as I take to the sky for Mission #5 on Friday! In Mission #3 and #4 I try to control my wingman more; with him surviving longer, but not by much :-)

 

Fridge

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Things which do you no good in aviation:

1) Altitude above you;

2) Runway behind you;

3) Fuel in the truck;

4) The airspeed you don't have.

[Distiler]

Thanks for the briefing!

 

BTW this is phase 2 / mission 2A. This mission also slipped to Phase 1, along mission 1A. I suppose it's a bug to have this one also in phase 1.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Distiler