hawkeye62 Posted February 14, 2012 Posted February 14, 2012 Well, just now I got all the way through the Air to Air Training mission. I must have tried the mission 50 times before this successful completion. There are three huge problems with this training mission. First, it took me a long time to actually see the targets after they stopped popping flares. The targets are just tiny black dots at the beginning of the mission. Even when the instructor says to disengage the autopilot and lock and fire the AIM-9, the targets are still tiny black dots. It would be nice if there was an option in the training mission to have the targets labeled. Second, in the step where FLIR is employed to White Hot view, the instructor gives the key press for black hot mode. (My notes say this causes the mission to stall.) Thanks to help on this forum, I was able to correct this instruction error. Third, it took me forever to find the second target, even though it started popping flares. After maneuvering to lock and fire the AIM-9 at the first target, the second target is off to the right quite a ways. Then it starts popping flares, but if you don't quickly maneuver behind the target it quits popping flares and you never have a chance to get it in the TGP view. The instructor tells you to set up the TGP for SOI, bore sight mode , etc. But, by the time I got that setup as instructed, the target quit popping flares and was not in sight. What I did was to immediately maneuver so the target was dead ahead while it was still popping flares and engage autopilot. This seemed to keep the target popping flares for a longer time and it was easier to get the target "locked" on the TGP. The final thing I did that resulted in shooting down the second target with the gun was to watch closely for the second target as the image on the TGP got larger. Then as soon as the target was visible, maneuver directly behind it and engage autopilot until the instructor says to set the gun funnel to SU-25 profile. After that, it is just a matter of getting the target into the funnel and pulling the trigger. Anyway, I feel pretty good about completing this training mission. Thanks for the help, Jim
BI6MAC Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 I am having the exact same problems as you; this training could be better - I agree! Taking out the first plane is easy but after taking out the first plane my biggest problem is not knowing where my AIM-9M camera is pointing so I have no idea which direction to slew to track the second plane. Does anyone know if there is any indication on the HUD to tell you where the IR camera is pointing to give me a clue as to which direction I need to slew? The flares do not help because they stop before I even have a chance to see them in my TGP. I will try the autopilot as you suggested to keep the flares coming longer but there's just got to be an easier way!
EvilBivol-1 Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 When the mission was originally created for the beta versions of A-10C, there was in fact a diamond on the HUD, but it was then removed for realism reasons. - EB [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Nothing is easy. Everything takes much longer. The Parable of Jane's A-10 Forum Rules
BI6MAC Posted August 11, 2012 Posted August 11, 2012 When the mission was originally created for the beta versions of A-10C, there was in fact a diamond on the HUD, but it was then removed for realism reasons. So, how do the real pilots know where the IR camera is pointing when they try to use these A-A weapons? I have a hard time believing this is the way the real AIM-M9 missiles work in actual combat. The real pilots would NEVER find the enemy in time! If the enemy in this training was not deploying it's flares I would have never seen the planes until I was on top of them!
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