I am having difficulty finding approach speeds that don’t involve a sink rate of a falling star or a high aoa. I can get it down ok but it just feels messy if you understand me. Either down with a heavy thump or float along runway for 700 yards.
I have changed the curves on the control axis for roll as the slightest touch had me upside down and in a right pickle. This has definitely made it easier to handle but maybe I’m just so used to frog foot that this nimble little beast will take a bit more learning.
Be nice to have some hard numbers for t/O landing etc
Bear in mind that I kerplode into the deck more often than not, but…
Approach at 2-3000lbs of fuel or less
Spoilers armed
Flaps to full
Trim up for a decent AOA – this is the hard part for me, as I’m trying to avoid clipping the nose
Approach at 120-130kts
Ensure that my descent rate does not exceed 300fpm
It’s really sensitive to speed and descent rate, but when I follow the above I can generally touch the deck and don’t kerplode. The tricky bit seems to be getting it down at the right spot to catch the wire. Ideally, you should be trimmed so that throttle controls rate of descent and pitch controls speed.
That’s roughly the numbers I have been shooting for. I think I’m going in with nose to high and bleeding speed to much that I have to correct and add more power. I’ll upload video tommorow so maybe someone can enlighten me.
I’m frankly amazed I landed it all all the first time because by god I cannot replicate it.
Bear in mind my numbers are based on a static carrier when playing with a friend last night. I was using a static carrier so I could rearm and cold start from the deck.
I tried several touch and goes on both the Vinson and Stennis; here’s what I was doing:
Started with a clean aircraft, 2300lbs of fuel, static carrier.
Spoilers armed
Flaps full
Airbrakes on
Power variable between 30-80% – do not zero the throttle
Set radar alt warning to 350ft
Get into the break at 1200ft, keep airbrakes on until speed drops to 150kts, hook down
Down the break, gear down, flaps full, begin descent to 600-700ft
5-6 degrees of nose up trim
Speed down to 120kts
Line up approach 3/4nmi to carrier’s stern, drop speed down to 110-115kts
AOA between 12-15deg
VSI showing between 400-600FPM
Maintain AOA of 12-15deg, descent rate of 400-600FPM, speed at 110-115kts
Add or reduce power to maintain descent, carefully adjust pitch to maintain speed (keep AOA above 20deg), use speed brake if speed too high, wave off if speed is greater than 130kts
I’ll try a few more attempts and try and get some shots for demo purposes.
Great pics @franze thanks very much. I think I see my problem here. I’m far off to the right of your position. I will finish work and upload the same shots for comparison. I think maybe I’m to far away from the carrier before I turn on final. Thanks dude that has been very helpful
AoA Indexer shows a green downwards chevron all the way.
In the Hornet this would be too fast. You want to trim for on speed (orange donut). The actual approach speed is variable (depending on weight, drag, etc). The approach AoA should always be the same.
Yeah, I don’t trust the AoA Indexer in the Scooter. Every time I go for the donut, kablooey on the deck. So I watch my speed, AoA, and descent rate instead.
Found this helpful comment over in the ED Forums thread with links to 2 guides.
One is like a Chuck’s guide, the other is shorter notes which may be useful once you get the idea but
only need some reminders.
Tried it now. It looks nice, certainly flyable. Nice liveries and cockpit textures.
Some stuff is clickable, and I don’t mind if it isn’t everything, but for example the gear and hook levers not being clickable is a bit annoying to me.
The flight model is… a bit weird. Not bad for a mod though!
Perhaps it is because I took off with 30% fuel, but the engine feels crazy strong.
It is a pity that they cannot do a proper carrier launch due to DCS restrictions, but I can live with what they did. Carrier landing works fine, although I haven’t figured out the speed or the proper AOA yet. Really easy.
I also tried carrier TACAN but couldn’t get it to work. That might be me though. Other TACAN stations worked. Any idea what I could be doing wrong? I set the carrier up like I would set up a tanker.
Oh what a giggle! I had the stupid idea that I wanted to fly North Vietnamese today. I had the pleasure of reading “MiG-21 pilots of the Vietnam War” for the last couple of days. So I set up a scramble for 2x MiG-21 against 4 A-4s. I flew the Fishbed well, like a fish out of water. They were everywhere. I landed a few bursts with the gun and only managed to land the R-3S when they were unaware of my presence (far away). They killed me once and made me mostly run out of gas. Flew the mission 3 times and I was laughing by the end. Oh what a blast this is. Encouraged me to fly more MiG-21. What a great addition this little bird is to DCS. Thank You Merker and team.
I have been flying the same mission over and over. The only variations being I fly the MiG-15 sometimes and sometimes I arm the Skyhawks with missiles.
The A-4s will force you to fly the Fishbed to its strengths. I tried flying the A-4 in the same mission. Its hard for me to get a shot at the MiG-15 because its way too fast.
Still having fun.
