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The Forgotten Legendary Jane's F/A-18
By Eshar Gal (8 June 2005)
Intro
I would like to start with a few words about the real world, before jumping into the virtual one.
In the seventies the USN (United State Navy) and the USAF regrouped to develop a ‘lightweight’ fighter that had the capability of serving also as an ‘attack’ aircraft. However, the USAF was more interested in the single engine light design, while the Navy had a larger interest in the dual engine one. Two competing designs resulted, General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas, YF-16 and YF-17.
As with powers in nature, every one has a different need.
The disagreement between the two different factions concluded in a win-win situation, with General Dynamics providing the F-16 to the Air Force, and McDonnell Douglas providing the F-18 to the Navy. In 1980 the first F/A-18A (Fighter/Attack) begun its services for the Navy. In 1986, after McDonnell Douglas completed production of the 371 “A” type models , they introduced the second version “C”. Please note that the “B”, “D” and “F” type models are the two-seat versions of the “A”, “C” and “E” type models. In 1991 the E/F version, which is a state-of-the-art aircraft, entered into service, and is to become every fighter pilot’s dream.
The Jane’S F/A-18E simulator was released into the market in approximately 1999, and to this day is still considered one of the most ultra-realistic sims we have ever experienced. This is the reason why I decided to write this review.
The Installation
The installation is pretty easy but somehow also tricky. Because I have only run it on Windows XP,
I don’t know how the installation fares on Windows 2000.
As with almost every application, you simply insert the CD into the drive and after a few seconds you get the auto run. Press install. Pick the expert option.
Run the setup and finish. If you can launch the sim on the first attempt, great. If you have difficulty at this point of the setup, simply run the Compatibility as Win2000 (I thought that since the sim was developed for Win98, than you simply have to change the Compatibility to 98/ME, but that did not work. In fact, after a few days that I desperately tried to run that sim, I changed the compatibility by accident to Win2000, and guess what, the sim ran perfectly
The Printed Manual
The manual is close to perfect, but not close enough.
This is the first time that I see a manual for a game/sim that doesn’t let you know all the things that your sim is capable of doing. There are 231 pages, every one of which is totally valuable. For example Just the HUD section includes almost 30 pages.
Again the manual is extremely detailed. However, it is not sufficient.
So, please be advised that in some cases you may have to understand some of the features without the help of the manual.
The Cockpit
When it comes to the cockpit it is “as real as it gets.”
The cockpit is actually a VC (virtual cockpit) that has many active switches. In terms of simmers, the active switches are not “eye candy”.
I remember seeing the movie “Behind The Enemy Lines” and some of the photos looked completely like our cockpit.
I have included some screen shots of the cockpit and point out the “eye candy” issue.
Notice that all the red boxed and circled toggles, switches and handles are fully functional and all the MFD’s PB’s (multi function display, pushbuttons) are also clickable and fully functional.
You should note that in addition to these three MFD’s, there is also one UFC (up front controller). This UFC is very similar to the MFD but it has some unique features. Instead of PB’s, you have to use your fingers on the screen itself.
As I said before, it is a VC, so you can turn your head around the cockpit, up to your body limits.
The Radar
The radar simulation in itself is a complete simulator.
It’s hard to explain how real it is, so I will tell you a short story:
During the campaign, our formation had a task to sweep some locations. As we advanced into the location, number 3 in the formation reported that he was been locked by enemy aircraft at his 11 o’clock. According to the RWR it seemed to be a SU35. I gave all the formation an order to engage.
A few seconds later, I noticed that we also had two MiG-29’s approaching towards us from our 3 o’clock. According to the AWACS they were about 38 miles. I decide to let my formation advance into the 35’s and I shall cover them from the 29’s
A few seconds later, my RWR detects a lock of the 29. I was desperately trying to get them on my radar screen, but at only 6 nm to the MiG’s, I finally got a radar contact. It was too late, because once I was able to determine the whole picture, his wingman was already on my tail.
The Bottom Line: if you don’t study the radar very carefully, you are limited to seeing only what your eyes can see. That is what I call “as real as it gets”
The Weapon System
As you can see from the screen shot above, there are 45 types of items that you can pick to setup on your plane. There is no need to add that each weapon is acting very realistically according to what the Jane’S team knows, and they do know a lot.
For example, if you release an unguided bomb, or if you release a guided bomb without laser guidance, their accuracy will decrease greatly. Another example is when you shoot a Sidewinder missile to a low level target and there is a flame burning on the ground in the course between your aircraft and your enemy aircraft, there is a big chance that the missile will choose to fly into the flames instead the enemy aircraft.
In the example I provided above you can see how you can set the payload of each number in your formation.
Now, you may notice that the selected payload is shown on the MFD SMS mode, and no, when I say SMS I am not referring to your mobile phone.
SMS = STORES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
The AWACS/ATC
Once you take off, you are not alone, even if you are not in a formation.
It’s not only you, there is a full system behind you. The AWACS is your backup. The AWACS can actually tell you where your high priority threat is, where your package is (the aircraft you have to escort), and even to send fighters or anti radar support to your location (if available). And much more…
The ATC, I can only guess, you already know very well about. It is not that similar to MSFS but if you familiar with FS it can only help. The ATC is less involved in your flight. The only part the ATC takes is in your approach to the carrier. The approach control will give you a weather update that is similar to ATIS, a marshalling stack. That is actually a holding point according to the carrier and an expected time to begin the approach.
The Landing
That is one of the most difficult parts in every flight. As far as I know, in the real life the carrier Ronald Reagan has only 3 wires. But in the sim we have 4. (More chances!)
I am not going to explain exactly how all the landing procedures should be, simply because you will probably fall asleep reading it. So for those of you who are familiar with carrier landing, I’d like to note two points, one positive and one negative.
I will begin with the positive:
In your landing attempts, you can actually see exactly which wire you have caught. That is what makes the whole thing more amazing, because this way you can actually test your skills and see if you have caught the wire that you planned to catch (usually the third).
The negative point:
You can actually touch down on the area between the stern of the ship, and the first wire. And nothing will happen to your aircraft, just a full stop. That is one of the only few bad things that I have found in this amazing sim.
If you may permit me to give you some advice:
Do not ever try to continue the approach if you are not 99% sure that it is going to be a full stop on the landing deck.
Always set your bingo fuel, so that you are able to divert to a land-based airport, usually Kirkness. (I usually set up the bingo between 4.5 to 2.5 before the approach.)
The Graphics And Sounds
Bear in mind that the sim was released to the market at about the same time that FS2000 was. With this in mind, the graphics are really good. And for 90% of today’s flightsimmer's computers, it should run as smooth as FS2000 will (very smooth).
Graphics bugs
I used to run this sim on 3 different computers with WinXP. In two of them there were problems with the water texture. Both of them had GF4 128 and one was the Ti4800.
On the other hand in my current system with GF5200, I don’t have that bug. So I am actually clean of graphic bugs. But this bug was really minor for me because 80 percent of the time the game is over the land, or you just don’t have an angle to see enough water to get that bug.
Sound and bugs
The radio communications are pretty realistic including a lot of reports on other formations. The sound quality is not state-of-the-art, but it is still really nice.
As for the bugs, as I said above, I used to run it on three different computers. But the case of the sound is the exact opposite from the graphics issue. On the other two machines the sound was clean of bugs. But as in life, nothing can be perfect, so on my current machine I rarely get a break in the sound communications.
However, it is never explosion or engine sounds which are ever disturbed. So, actually it is not that bad. On the other hand, for example: if the AWACS want to alert you about incoming threats there is a small chance that you will miss that transmit. 85% of every thing is good. If you asked me if I could live with these bugs, the answer is: Absolutely!
The Bottom Line
This program is one of the most realistic fighter simulations. If it is not the best, it is in the top of the list. There are many things that I didn’t mention. I only covered the basic of this excellent sim in this review.
It is worth purchasing even today, when this sim is almost out of the market, if you can find it at all.
Now, you may ask the question that I asked when I played for the first time: if it is so good, why did we almost not hear about it? The answer is just not as clear as it should be.
I remember that once I have asked in some forum about that sim and someone told me: “don’t buy it, you just take off over the sea, fly and land.” This is not true at all. There is much more to it than that. Some aspects I have mentioned in my short review, and much more which you just have to try for yourself.
A short time after the sim was released, Jane’s crashed, or something like that (a tragic loss).
Well... I have purchased the sim in 2003 and the price was less then $17, and that includes the great printed manual. So look for it. Find it and buy it before it is gone for ever!
 
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I will add a link for a website that is really good, there you will find a lot of helpful things, including the patch. And of course the hyperloby and his forum, where you can find many good people that still play this amazing sim (they don’t know me because I just don’t have a reliable internet connection).
So thanks for giving me the time to speak and for reading my review. I hope you will increase the FA-18E community. And sure, if you have any comments, question or anything else please email me.
Eshar Gal
esh@swissmail.org
