A-10C alignment process

[Irregular programming]

Must be nice to have features that actually work.

 

?

 

Care to expand?

[Fakum]

Ive been digging around,, cant seem to find a straight, clear answer,,, was hoping to find a video on youtube for this but was unsuccessful. I too am trying to get a CLEAR understanding as to how and use in flight alignment vs waiting for the INS Alignment. My startup procedure prioritizes getting this process started immediately, then I move thru my startup procedure. by the time Im finished setting up weapons profiles etc, I still have about a minute of spare time waiting. Ive read so many variables about how to do this in the air,, its confusing,,,

[Tejkr]

When I get ingame, I start battery, invertor and APU. In meantime, I do oxygen, pilot heat, generators, fuel pumps, APU is ready that time, switchin APU Gen, starting alignment, then radios...

Then if it's not aligned and I have some time, I mess with DMSM, TAD etc. I don't think it's that much time of waiting.

 

Or as fast as your engines are on and you can taxi, you just taxi and alignment will continue, just much slower I think. I'd rather do it on the ground.

[Fakum]

I think I am doing a pretty good job in setting up for getting alignment setup as soon as I can. Here is my current procedure,, and even with all the events listed for startup, I dont include on the list laser coding etc when I carry that type of ordinance,, and i still have about a minute of wait time. Im not that worried about it,,, I can stick with what I am doing,, like I said, seen alot of discussion on this,, but all different approaches,,

 

DCS A-10 Startup Procedure 12/20/14.

(RAlt + “) to request Fuel and Ordinance in Multi Player

Battery ON R Console

Inverter Switch to STBY R Console

AC Gen Both ON R Console

CDU & EGI to ON CDU & CAUTION

Steer Pt. Dial to FLT PLAN CDU & CAUTION

Start APU L Console

Main & Wing Boost Pumps ON L Console

Close Canopy R Console

Set Countermeasure Switches to Center position R Console

Set Countermeasure Dial to SEMI R Console

Oxygen ON R Console

PITOT ON R Console

(Wait for APU to be 100%)

APU Gen to PWR R Console

Start Right Engine (RCTRL-HOME)

Set CICU and JTRS to ON

Set IFCC to TEST ONLY

Press ENTER on the UFC UFC

Power up both MFCD’s via Dial on Lower Left

Set all NAV Lights to opposite positions, then turn lights on LIGHTING

VHF AM & FM to TR & UHF to MAIN RADIOS

Go to Map (F10), find out what airport you are at and get Tower Frequency

Set Tower Frequency for Appropriate Airport RADIOS

Start Left Engine (RALT-HOME)

(HUD BIT TEST WILL BE COMPLETE WHEN YOU HEAR PULL UP AND ALTITUDE)

Press ENTER on the UFC UFC

On HUD, Select down to “EXIT” and press ENTER UFC

IFCC to ON

LEFT MFCD, PRESS “LOAD ALL” DTS UPLOAD

Turn on YAW & PITCH Switches L Console

Press TAKE OFF TRIM Button L Console

EAC Switch to ARM L Console

RDR ALTM to NRM L Console

Auto Pilot to PATH position L Console

ARM Ejection Seat MOUSE

Flaps to Takeoff Position

ANTI Skid to ON

TAXI Lights

Confirm NOSE WHEEL STEERING is ON Pinky Switch

APU to OFF L Console

APU Gen to OFF R Console

(DTS UPLOAD WILL BE COMPLETE ONCE YOU SEE DOTS NEXT TO TEXT)

Then, on RIGHT MFCD, Press CDU

(T=4.00.8 will appear once INS Alignment has completed)

Create Custom Weapons Profile (If Desired)

Set Throttle for TGP Slew

TAD ID# & Name

Master Arm ON

GUN/PAC ARM

Laser ON

TGP ON

UNCAGE SAI

RIGHT MFCD, Press “NAV”

Switch HARS to EGI

FPM to Manual so Waypoints don’t change Auto

Mav to ON

Mav Slew setting

[Pikey]

You tried to turn EAC on before alignment and EGI nav mode which doesn't work, it flicks back.

 

Then you essentially fenced in whilst on the ground and got yourself a court martial for making weapons unsafe and ready to fire. May as well hit the ground safety whilst you are at it.

 

Master arm and Gun/PAC for takeoff? holy cow, that will make it fly odd, I must try that...

 

You turned on your ECM before you gave power to the APU and set to semi whilst on the ground. Pretty sure firing flares on the floor might raise eyebrows...or burn them off.

 

There's a number of other things that seem odd but I have to ask what "set throttle to TGP slew is", its a wording i don't understand.

 

Probably not optimal to copy and paste random key switches and consider what you are actually doing.

[Fakum]

I developed that over several years based on threads in the forums as to how they react under certain condition,,, the priority is to start alignment ASAP,, the rest is configuration. Yeah,, a couple things may be premature if your that hardcore,, like master arm etc,,, I get your point,,, but I never released a flare on the ground either.

 

Without going through your critique and explaining though, to answer your question about "Set Throttle for TGP Slew" Thats a setting on the 2nd stat page so you can adjust the slew rate (faster or slower) of your TGP when it is SOI. Default is (4), I like to slow it down a little at a setting of (6). Hope that helps?

[Maverick-X]

Interesting, never saw someone slowing the TGP down. I usually set it to 1.

 

To anwer your question:

Inflight alignment would in reality give you a degraded INS accuracy. It is used if you have to scramble or for some reason realign the INS midair. Ingame however there is no disadvantage. You could say there is, because the alignment takes longer compared to ground align, but if you count in that you can move as soon as the engines are spooled up, you are way faster.

 

Regarding the startup procedure in general and inflight alignment aswell, I like to link a tutorial I made a while ago. This does not feature a realistic startup, as I usually skip some things or do a bit early... But it is the fastest way I was able to find in order to get that bird flying. If you count on realism to the last bit, you'd use ground alignment unless under attack. As I don't have much spare time on my hands I like to be in the air asap.

 

[Eddie]

It is used if you have to scramble

 

No it isn't. For "scramble" launches the stored heading or best available true heading (BATH) alignments are used, both of which are much faster than a full ground alignment and especially an in flight alignment. They do however provide a degraded alignment, at least if EGI GPS is not available. A stored heading alignment takes less than 30 seconds to accomplish.

 

These alignment modes are not modelled in DCS, and as you can't "cock" the jet (ie pre configure it for a "scramble" launch) they wouldn't be all that beneficial anyway.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Eddie

[Maverick-X]

No it isn't. For "scramble" launches the stored heading or best available true heading (BATH) alignments are used, both of which are much faster than a full ground alignment and especially an in flight alignment. They do however provide a degraded alignment, at least if EGI GPS is not available. A stored heading alignment takes less than 30 seconds to accomplish.

 

These alignment modes are not modelled in DCS, and as you can't "cock" the jet (ie pre configure it for a "scramble" launch) they wouldn't be all that beneficial anyway.

 

Nice to know how that works, thanks for the info and sorry for the misinformation!

 

I thought it would be used on a scramble aswell, at least if there is the time to do it at some point. It's some time ago I learned about IRS systems. From what I remember the alignment time depends on the latitude, because the north-seeking gyro has to face north (who guessed ^^) and the radial force accomplishing this is greater, the closer you are to the equator. If the stored heading alignment is that fast, there has to be something I missed out. Guess that's due to my lack in knowledge of small strapdown ins systems like the A10 propably has...

Do you have any additional info on that?