Vergeev Campaign - Mission 07/20

[BeachAV8R]

 

After the excitement of taking fire and engaging the enemy during the morning mission, I’m curious to see what the midday mission holds in store. The poor weather is still in the area and now we are tasked to perform a search offshore for the cargo ship Kurshev. Only a few hours have passed since our last mission and unfortunately there has not been enough time to fully repair our Ka-50 from the battle damage in the previous mission. Maintenance has advised me that some of the dampeners are still out of service and the autopilot functions are not repaired yet either. Our task is to fly offshore and perform a grid search to try to locate the missing cargo ship.

 

 

 

 

I takeoff and immediately see why this mission is going to be challenging since flying without the bank and pitch channels of the dampener makes for a skittish flying helicopter. I head for the first waypoint and notice that the winds and turbulence are extremely bad requiring a very large crab angle to give the proper ground track.

 

 

The HSI and PVI-800 are not providing data due to damage so all navigation is being done by referencing the ABRIS moving map – not an ideal situation in such poor weather and unstable trim. As I head offshore, one of the other aircraft searching reports that he has had no luck.

 

 

 

Somewhere on the vast Black Sea is our lost ship…

 

 

I battle with the turbulence and crosswinds and start flying the pattern when I arrive in the search area. The surface of the sea blends with the sky and with the autopilot limitations the flying is extremely difficult. The risk of crashing into the sea due to lack of depth perception is a constant battle.

 

 

 

As I pass waypoints I finally come across a ship. I’m unable to identify it and the mission controller tasks me to get close enough to it to read the name. Hovering carefully alongside we learn that the ship is under a Ukrainian flag and it is not the ship we are looking for. Getting close is a dicey affair and it takes a ton of concentration in the horrible flying conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

After hovering nearby and getting the ship identified, mission control clears me on my way to continue searching for the Kurshev.

 

 

My serpentine path as I battled the controls and was making sure to hit the waypoints. The wind drift made it extremely hard to stay on course.

 

 

As I pass the final checkpoint in the search area, mission control radios for me to head for base. I’m disappointed that we didn’t find the missing vessel, but very happy to be heading to base.

 

 

 

Cont..

[BeachAV8R]

Several times during the mission I was within a second or two from crashing into the surface of the sea. This was probably one of the most difficult missions I’ve ever flown despite the fact that no shots were fired. The combination of missing dampeners and brutal weather conditions along with the featureless ocean surface all made this mission really tough to fly. My shoulders were aching by the end.

 

 

 

Relieved to finally have the coast as a point of reference…

 

 

Thoroughly exhausted after such an “easy” flight.

 

 

The 48 minute flight was quite stressful – I’ll be happy when the maintenance team gets the Shark fully repaired.

 

 

 

BeachAV8R

[bengo]

Great, enjoyable and informative read, as always. Thanks.

[roob]

I really enjoyed these "stories", and that campaign seems to be very well made. Keep it up :)

[Yurgon]

Another great AAR, thank's a lot! :thumbup:

 

The campaign looks really well done, good to know it appears to work with the current DCS release. I just purchased a copy, time to get back into the Black Shark. :)