The F18 landing challenge

[Cavulife]

First time trying the F18 landing challenge and I’m #6! That Flight Path Marker is the secret…

 

I’m sure it won’t last long, but it’s nice for now. :)

[Aptosflier]

First time trying the F18 landing challenge and I’m #6! That Flight Path Marker is the secret…

 

I’m sure it won’t last long, but it’s nice for now. :)

I have no clue how to fly this thing. (I've yet to learn how to fly the CJ4.) I took off in it from KSJC in this afternoon. I managed to keep it airborne and found my way to Monterey Bay, and then got lined up with 10R at KMRY, but I didn't understand how to descend to the runway. I extended flaps and gear and throttled back the way I would in a prop plane, spun out, and ended upside down in a street. Strangely, despite the crash, my monitor didn't go black the way it has in the past, and I could see the damage. Is that a change with this latest update?

 

I'll look for some YouTube flight instruction on this monster some time, maybe.

[Cavulife]

I’ve only had the 1 flight in the F18, but the key is airspeed and the Flight Path Marker.

 

I think the directions in the landing challenge said 140 on final so I aimed for that. The cheat code is the Flight Path Marker, that little round thing in the display. THAT is what shows you where the plane is going. If it drops below the threshold then you had better re-check airspeed because you going to need more power (if you’re slow) or more elevator if you’re fast.

[b3burner]

Strangely, despite the crash, my monitor didn't go black the way it has in the past, and I could see the damage. Is that a change with this latest update?

 

I'll look for some YouTube flight instruction on this monster some time, maybe.

 

I believe you may have your settings set to not detect crashes. Possibly the update changed the settings, but I'd imagine you can still get the black screen if you prefer, by changing the setting back.

[g7rta]

I believe you may have your settings set to not detect crashes. Possibly the update changed the settings, but I'd imagine you can still get the black screen if you prefer, by changing the setting back.

 

Correct. All the “assistance settings” are now set to easy by default

Steve (Aptosflier) asked about this in a previous post and I’d already replied.

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?335034-Crash-realism

 

Regards

Steve

[Herc79]

First off, you will need to set a keybind in the Controls options for "afterburner", maybe "arresting Hook", and "wing fold", maybe some others too. I'm not sure if the SuperHornet uses it's airbrakes for landings like the older legacy Hornets used to.

 

Hornet landing using the HUD:

 

Ok, what others are calling "flight path marker" is generally known among fighter pilots as "Velocity Vector", it's the circle with two little wings and a rudder, and it's the same thing despite different names. Basically, it shows where you'll end up flying to. If you want to land someplace, put it right where you want to touch the ground, or move it with pitch and power (or rudders and ailerons if needed!)

 

Airspeed on the left rectangle in Knots of airspeed, altitude in feet on the right rectangle.

 

Once you drop your landing gear and flaps, you will get what's known as the E bracket, right beside the Velocity Vector O . The E bracket will move about up and down until you stabilize your approach. The E bracket is your precision angle of attack indicator for a perfect landing. You aim your Velocity vector onto the runway numbers. Then you adjust your throttles until the E bracket's middle is aligned right beside the "wing" on the velocity vector... meaning the E and the O are perfectly beside each other and stable. You are now on a path to landing your Hornet right where you aimed it, at the ideal airspeed, ideal angle of attack, whether for a ground landing or carrier landing (but put the hook down if doing carrier landings of course!)

 

Watch this video, and pay attention to how the E bracket interacts with the Velocity Vector... this is far from a "textbook landing", in fact this one is kinda ugly, but you can notice the HUD symbols and how they work as an observer:

 

 

The angle of attack is important in the real world because its very critical to ensure the landing gear and hook interact with the landing wires/cables on touchdown, or you'll miss the arresting wires, get yelled "BOLTER, GO AROUND", go full afterburner and pray you have enough airpspeed to climb and try again. Then that means burning fuel you are low on, waiting for your next turn to land. I believe the hook needs to contact the arresting wire BEFORE the main wheels touch the carrier deck. It's maybe not as critical on an airport landing, but the plane is designed to land a certain way for the geometry of the landing gear.

 

Hornets and carrier aircraft are designed to NOT FLARE upon touchdown. You can't flare on a carrier deck, there is no space to do so. You get everything ready to do a straight in approach and let it slam into the deck, and as you hit, you go full throttle full afterburner, in case of the bolter (miss the arresting wires).

 

Under your airspeed indicator, you will see three numbers grouped lower left. The top of those three is your AOA angle of attack in degrees. I'm not sure what AOA should be for the SuperHornet, as my info is for the older legacy Hornet, and the Super is much bigger and heavier, but you should start by trimming to maybe 8 degrees AOA as a starting point, see what your results are like in future, maybe post them in this thread.

 

Under the AOA degrees, you'll see your Mach number in percentage of mach at that altitude, so unless you are deep into afterburner, it will usually be a subsonic number, or less than 0.99. Under that is your G's being pulled at that moment. The W symbol, shows the waterline, or exactly where the nose of the aircraft is pointed... it's not always super useful, but if you are trying to land, the W should be well above the O circle Velocity Vector/Flight Path Marker, so you'll know you have significant angle of attack (you are decending while your nose is pointed forward or slightly upwards).

 

This description is SUPER BASIC... it's probably only 1% of the description a real Hornet pilot would be thinking of during landing for shore or carrier. For more information I HIGHLY recommend downloading this PDF manual:

 

https://chucks-guide.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/DCS%20FA-18C%20Hornet%20Guide.pdf

https://www.mudspike.com/chucks-guides-dcs/

https://www.mudspike.com/chucks-guides/

 

That pdf manual will teach you more about the Hornet than you ever really wanted to know... the landing stuff begins on page 129, and after shore landing gives you carrier landing proceedures. FLIR pods, dozens of radar modes for air to air air to ground air to ship for a Harpoon missile strike, shoot an AGM-88 HARM at enemy SAM radars and follow that up with a pre-planned AGM-154A JSOW cluster munitions to take out enemy SAM site, and many other topics follow!

Edited November 19, 2021 by Herc79

[Disneyflyer]

First time trying the F18 landing challenge and I’m #6! That Flight Path Marker is the secret…

 

I’m sure it won’t last long, but it’s nice for now. :)

 

I must have bumped you because I show as number 6 right now.

[Aptosflier]

I believe you may have your settings set to not detect crashes. Possibly the update changed the settings, but I'd imagine you can still get the black screen if you prefer, by changing the setting back.

I don't like blackouts.

[Cavulife]

I must have bumped you because I show as number 6 right now.

 

Oh crap, it looks like it doesn't show the actual Top 10. It's just the 10 scores around me. It's still showing me 6th on the list at 615K. :(

[stumpwiz]

Haven't tried this, but I find I'm listed on the leaderboard!?!? Maybe that's because I've spent a few hours operating in/out of NKX in other aircraft. Trying to recapture my lost youth, spent flying the F-8 Crusader there in VF-124 some 52 years ago.

 

About the landing challenge.... Half a decade ago, runway 06L was never the active; always 24R. And landings were made using the Fresnel lens for glide slope and angle-of-attack indicator for airspeed. Landings were always a carrier approach, never flared. That meant touchdowns were at some 15 feet per second or so. 0fps must be some USAF thing :).

[Aptosflier]

Herc79, thanks for such a detailed explanation. I will print ii out to mark it up and study it. I prefer to “fly” GA prop planes, though. I haven’t learned to fly the CJ4 or commercial “heavies.”

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Herc79]

You are welcome! If you want more info, diagrams and color pics of the proper Navy carrier approaches, you really ought to download the .pdf I linked to, they have it all in detail and in a beautiful format worthy of a $100 book... seriously, yet free. It was published by a DCS enthusiast, and there are similar pdf handbooks for other fancy planes like the Spitfire, Harrier, and I think a few civil aircraft too.

 

The beauty of flightsims is that you can experience all the different types that you feel like trying!

 

At first I had just one or two preferences... but as my skills and experience grew, I ended up liking all the very different aircraft types that FS2004 (a Century of Flight) had to offer. And then so did my appreciation for the more difficult to fly aircraft... so I found myself downloading ever crazier/wilder aircraft, and appreciating them all!

 

One of the more interesting things I did a few times, was just randomly shut down all engines, no planning, no scenario built up, just a "hey, what if" and I'd shut them down, and try to piece together what I could to keep everyone alive! Of course that led to Space Shuttle gliders (meaning no engines, just configured for a glide landing), and their earlier "liftting body" X prototypes, also the wild X-15 and so on. And yet, the C172 and Antonov AN-2 Colt would still see my flying them regularly!

 

I found that using the imagination was key to fully enjoying flightsims, especially the civilian ones, because you imagine a scenario, and pick the plane and the flightplan to acheive it... makes it so much more immersive. Nowdays there are programs that help create flight missions for you, a sort of "virtual pretend dispatcher"... maybe try a few of those out!