Flight Qualifications Campaign

[BBQ]

for those using IE to download--rename .zip to .miz and copy to missions folder

Edited April 15, 2011 by BBQ

[BBQ]

In the Takeoff / Emergency training--there is a reference to being within 2nm of TACAN arc. What TACAN arc? Are you talking about a circle around the airport--e.g., 10dme? After takeoff we stabalize on heading 300. When we make the turn--are we supposed to keep a constant distance from the TACAN station? I.E., keep needle on HSI at 3 o'clock during turn at a certain distance?

[Gandalf_56]

Thanks Sabre. These missions helps a lot!!!

Keep your good work

[derelor]

BFT05 - Basic Maneuvers has been posted to ED's user files section.

Thanks for your work, Sabre. I really love your BFT missions! I think (after some QA maybe) they should be officially integrated in the game.

[shagrat]

Thanks for your work, Sabre. I really love your BFT missions! I think (after some QA maybe) they should be officially integrated in the game.

 

Agreed! After training you go through BFT, perhaps with the benefit of earning promotions, medals and decorations is only recognized if you passed BFT :music_whistling:

 

Though I would not make it mandatory to pass BFT to play the campaigns as in other "games" where it's a real pain in the a... :pain:

[BBQ]

No response on the TACAN arc issue? Wondering if you got that criteria from the evaluation document, which would make sense. However--there are no directives as to the range DME. How do you check for this criteria? Here's a quick drawing of what I'm trying to get at--if I'm not mistaken, the "TACAN arcs" referred to are the two circles below--so inbound or outbound, when you intercept the arc, you can then stay on that arc by, e.g., using the tacan station and tacan navigation. E.g., fly outbound after takeoff to 10DME (on HSI, upper left corner number), and then make a turn to the right. All you have to do to stay on the arc is keep the bearing pointer at 90deg on the HSI, and you'll essentially be flying a perfect circle around the tacan station. I'm not sure though-what the range (dme) is supposed to be.

 

Edited April 17, 2011 by BBQ

[Sabre-TLA]

You got me! :(

 

I just copied the requirements from the USAF Aircrew evaluation criteria I am following. There is no TACAN arc checking in the missions so far - not to say there won't be in future missions once I fully understand it myself.

 

I'm not a pilot so maybe someone with more experience about this could respond.

 

BFT02 is a VFR mission so you are not supposed to use any instruments (I think you get an unqual if you use the ILS but I don't test for the TACAN or HSI currently).

 

In BFT09 - Instrument Approach and Landing you do get to use the HSI and ILS but I don't have TACAN implemented in my test version yet either.

 

It's a night mission so you won't really be able to use any visual queues to reach the runway. I'm still playing with weather effects to make it a dark and stormy night.:smilewink:

[BBQ]

You got me! :(

 

I just copied the requirements from the USAF Aircrew evaluation criteria I am following. There is no TACAN arc checking in the missions so far - not to say there won't be in future missions once I fully understand it myself.

 

I'm not a pilot so maybe someone with more experience about this could respond.

 

BFT02 is a VFR mission so you are not supposed to use any instruments (I think you get an unqual if you use the ILS but I don't test for the TACAN or HSI currently).

 

In BFT09 - Instrument Approach and Landing you do get to use the HSI and ILS but I don't have TACAN implemented in my test version yet either.

 

It's a night mission so you won't really be able to use any visual queues to reach the runway. I'm still playing with weather effects to make it a dark and stormy night.:smilewink:

 

As far as I know, "VFR" doesn't mean you don't use the instruments in the aircraft--it basically means the pilot is not checked out to rely exclusively on them (i.e., in conditions where there is little/no visibility). I doubt just because a flight is designated VFR, that the pilot therefore has to use dead reckoning to navigate when he's got a perfectly good TACAN under his nose. I could be wrong.

 

Since it's in the evaluation criteria--they obviously have to meet that particular requirement. I just noticed the two circles I referred to in my post above are barely visible--not sure if anyone else can see the circles or not. Anyway, let me do a quick video to explain what I think the requirement refers to--I'll post it later tonight.

[BBQ]

ok--video was too time-consuming (although I plan to do a good training video once I wrap my head around it better)

 

So--imagine airport (TACAN station) is in the bull's eye of a dart board. All of the circles that radiate towards the edge of the board are arcs. The lines that radiate from the center (that designate different point values for dart game) are radials. So as I understand it--any given departure would have the pilot takeoff, and intercept an arc, e.g., 10nm out. So you start from bull's eye of dart board, head straight up the dart board until your TACAN is displaying a range of 10. Now you turn right, e.g., until the RMI needle that points to the TACAN station is pointing to 90deg on the HSI. If you manuever the aircraft (slight right bank turn) to keep the RMI needle so that it stays at 90deg on the HSI, you are flying on the 10nm arc around the airport. From there you can "intercept" a briefed radial that leads to your destination. So let's say the briefing called for the pilot to depart on radial 170. The pilot would takeoff, fly the runway heading until TACAN reads 10nm, turn right and maintain the RMI needle at 90deg, thereby staying nice and snug on the 10nm "arc". The pilot then inputs (with the course knob on the HSI) a course of 170. He's now flying the clockwise arc around the airport, and waits for the course line to start moving from the top of the HSI, towards the center of the HSI. When it gets to the center, he turns left until the course line is pointing directly to the top of the HSI. At this moment he is roughly 10nm from the airport, outbound on radial 170.

 

I imagine the evaluation criteria referencing the ability of the pilot to stay within 2nm of the TACAN arc has to do with keeping the RMI needle at the 90deg position on the HSI prior to the intercept of the outbound radial.

 

Totally going off of a 10 year old memory here--anyone feel free to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong about this. I was fortunate enough to spend a few months going through the same sort of initial qualification training with a F-16 pilot using Falcon 4. It was extremely difficult, to say the least. For example, if the goal of the day was to practice basic maneuvers, there was a pre-briefed area where this was to be done. However, I had to rely soley on the TACAN for navigation--and so had to develop a sort of picture in my head of a kind of "box" for lack of a better term--the sides of which were certain radials at specific ranges from the TACAN station. They weren't large areas either--and half the battle was staying in this "box" of sky. Of course then there are altitude parameters as well--and ops checks, fuel states, correct brevity, and a ga-zillion procedures that had to be followed--most memorably (frequently), calling out "blind" and having to go through that procedure, altitude seperation, etc. Oh--and then while all this is going on, I'm supposed to be focusing on the task of the sortie, e.g. basic manuevers, BFM, etc. It was an extremely intense, unforgettable experience. I frequently found myself sweating--and my hands would be sore after every flight :) Then there's the landing...perhaps a story for another day. Ok--my self-imposed rambling alarm just went off.

[Sabre-TLA]

Wow BBQ! Now I know why I'm not a real pilot :(

 

My goal in starting this project was to provide a more formalized mechanism so non-pilots like me would feel a sense of accomplishment in managing the plane before any combat missions. The level of detail in the DCS series is my motivation and keeps me going.

 

I try to make the missions as realistic and challenging as I can but my lack of actual expertise will be showing.

 

So please keep the feedback and info flowing as it helps me learn and I can make the missions even more realistic.

 

Now that I understand the TACAN workings maybe I can incorporate your example in BFT10 - Instrument Flight Plan Navigation!

[BBQ]

Sabre--your training missions are really impressive, especially now that I know your getting all of this info from the official documents, and figuring out most of it on your own! Of course, this is precisely why I love these study sims--the satisfaction of figuring the stuff out, and actually executing the procedures is a great feeling. Look forward to BFT10!

[derelor]

I hope there will be an update to BFT01 which addresses the following issues:

 

1. Chopper timing problem: When you hear the message “Hey Cadet! Check out the flight on the right! I wonder where those choppers are headed?”, the choppers are not in sight.

 

2. Sometimes you don't receive your grade after shutdown, but instead the message "OK Cadet. Let's test your ground handling skills. Engage your Nose Wheel Steering an follow me!" which should have played right after startup.

 

3. Exact spot where to park the plane is not communicated. At least I don't get it :-)

[mikey]

Very good idea this Sabre, gonna try these tonight. Btw, could you put the links to the missions in your first post of this thread so it would be easier to find them?

[Sabre-TLA]

I'll take another look at BFT01 and see if I can fix the issues you are having. I can't recall if I tested it against the latest patch set.

[Sabre-TLA]

Very good idea this Sabre, gonna try these tonight. Btw, could you put the links to the missions in your first post of this thread so it would be easier to find them?

 

Good suggestion and implemented.

[derelor]

I'll take another look at BFT01 and see if I can fix the issues you are having.

Thanks :-)

[Sabre-TLA]

BFT03 - Fly Traffic pattern has been posted to ED's user files section.

 

This was tested on the latest patched version of the release.

 

Here is the link to ED's User Files Section: http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/54269/

 

For the Dev Team the file is located in the BFT03 folder in the documents folder.

Edited April 25, 2011 by Sabre-TLA
updating link

[derelor]

BFT03 - Fly Traffic pattern has been posted to ED's user files section pending moderator approval.

 

This was tested on the latest patched version of the release.

 

Here is the link to ED's User Files Section: http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/

 

For the Dev Team the file is located in the BFT03 folder in the documents folder.

Woohoo :-) gonna try it out right now

[Sabre-TLA]

BFT01 - Ground Handling V1.1 has been posted to ED's user files section pending moderator approval.

 

Changelog:

1. Fixed missing "Follow me" message when nose wheel steering was engaged.

2. Fixed Helicopter fly over timing.

3. Fixed buggy flag logic.

4. Added msg / sound for damaged or dead unit and for startup / shutdown.

5. Tested against the latest patch version 1.1.0.7.

[derelor]

BFT01 - Ground Handling V1.1 has been posted to ED's user files section pending moderator approval.

 

Changelog:

1. Fixed missing "Follow me" message when nose wheel steering was engaged.

2. Fixed Helicopter fly over timing.

3. Fixed buggy flag logic.

4. Added msg / sound for damaged or dead unit and for startup / shutdown.

5. Tested against the latest patch version 1.1.0.7.

Fantastic! Gonna try it out right after shopping :-)

[derelor]

I just played BFT01 v1.1 - it's fantastic! Mission played exactly as it should - also the choppers were there right on time :-)

 

Could someone please show me (using a screenshot) where exactly you are supposed to park the plane? I always follow the humvee till it stops and then don't know where to park. The instructor keeps yelling that I'm too close and in the end I always receive a Q- rating...

 

The Blue Task description in the briefing contains some typos that should be corrected:

1. Perform Pre-flight (-> two spaces between the words, remove one) Inspection

2 (-> 2.) Perform Checklist Procedures

2. (-> 3.) Start Engines

3. (-> 4.) Taxi Aircraft

4. (-> 5.) Perform Instrument Checks

5. (-> 6.) Park Aircraft

6. (-> 7.) Shut down Engines

 

Thanks for this great mission!

[Ells228]

Awesome missions there Sabre

[derelor]

Screenshot from BFT01 v1.1 - right after the choppers fly-by :-)

Guess that Unqualified rating is justified.

[Ells228]

Haha someone was watching the choppers and not the follow me truck.

I thought that bit in the mission was genius and a great distraction to see if you were paying attention.

[derelor]

Haha someone was watching the choppers and not the follow me truck.

I thought that bit in the mission was genius and a great distraction to see if you were paying attention.

It's really mean! The humvee almost comes to a complete stop during this event...