Outside of they all use PN at some point, the Phoenix, Sparrow and AMRAAM all use pretty incomparable guidance methods.
That said, I don’t know how much is gonna be extrapolated (I assume a lot).
Honestly yes, it depends on wind speed and direction. There’s usually some prevailing wind, so that’ll be taken into account as well. 25-32 across the deck sounds familiar fun what I used to see (there were indications close to where I stood watch), and it’s usually a combination of that wind + forward speed. Plus, above about 20-22 knots, the escorts start chugging JP-5 like kindergarteners with Kool-aid in the summer.
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So twenty knots for the ships and then into the wind for flight ops, right? Or does the skipper aim for a certain windspeed and adapt his speed to the prevailing wind?
@BeachAV8R re that pica : 
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The ED hype thread is closed due to folk bitching about EA YouTubers video content. DOH I am glad we have this oasis of calm here thanks 
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Indeed.
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The Captain and Air Boss will aim for certain wind speed ranges on deck. Some of that has to do with what’s flying and how much fuel and ordnance they’re going to be carrying. If it’s just a CQ (carrier qualification) evolution, there’s no need to carry weapons onboard, so the planes are lighter and can launch with a lower gross takeoff weight, and a lower required takeoff speed.
@BeachAV8R now that I’m thinking about this, if you have time and the interest, could you maybe see about loading up with different fuel levels and seeing if you notice a difference around the boat, on launch and recovery?
My antidote to waiting was to go buy the Harrier 
Off to map controls…
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The harrier is my go to right now, love it. Has a quite a few bugs and missing features, but they have been steadily adding stuff.
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Oh, you definitely notice a difference. The speed required to maintain the proper AOA goes up the heavier you are. Lighter is better = slower and a better chance of getting a wire.
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Does the carrier always strictly head into the wind during flight ops or is a certain cross-wind component tolerated? I figure that a requirement to move into the wind is a serious limitation to the tactical mobility of the carrier, especially during prolonged sustained flight operations (24h strikes, CAP and ASW patrols). Also, how frequently is the carrier maneuvering for flight operations? Each time, the carrier changes course to launch or recover aircraft, this must be a nightmare for the escorts. Perhaps not so much for the air defense ships, as these are probably operating on fixed bearings from the carrier in relation to the primary threat axis. But the ASW escorts would probably operate in relation to the carriers movement and that at a considerable distance. Trying to keep an ASW destroyer 20 NM ahead of the carrier seems somehow incompatible with said carrier changing course let’s say two times per hour.
Cool!!! Are you noticing any differences on launch?
For launch, into the wind is what I remembered seeing, especially if only the bow cats are being used. For recovery, my understanding is having the wind down the angle is more desirable, if it’s possible. I believe that depends on how much prevailing wind is available at that time - for 76 and 77, the angle was 9.5 degrees off-angle from the bow, while earlier Nimitz-class I think was 8.5, so there’s a bit of difference to try and achieve there for wind down the deck.
That reminds me of this story…which I don’t know whether it is an urban legend or what…but it IS a great story:
I was once on a US military ship, having breakfast in the wardroom (officers lounge) when the Operations Officer (OPS) walks in. This guy was the definition of NOT a morning person; he’s still half asleep, bleary eyed… basically a zombie with a bagel. He sits down across from me to eat his bagel and is just barely conscious. My back is to the outboard side of the ship, and the morning sun is blazing in one of the portholes putting a big bright-ass circle of light right on his barely conscious face. He’s squinting and chewing and basically just remembering how to be alive for today. It’s painful to watch.
But then zombie-OPS stops chewing, slowly picks up the phone, and dials the bridge. In his well-known I’m-still-totally-asleep voice, he says “heeeey. It’s OPS. Could you… shift our barpat… yeah, one six five. Thanks.” And puts the phone down. And then he just sits there. Squinting. Waiting.
And then, ever so slowly, I realize that that big blazing spot of sun has begun to slide off the zombie’s face and onto the wall behind him. After a moment it clears his face and he blinks slowly a few times and the brilliant beauty of what I’ve just witnessed begins to overwhelm me. By ordering the bridge to adjust the ship’s back-and-forth patrol by about 15 degrees, he’s changed our course just enough to reposition the sun off of his face. He’s literally just redirected thousands of tons of steel and hundreds of people so that he could get the sun out of his eyes while he eats his bagel. I am in awe.
He slowly picks up his bagel and for a moment I’m terrified at the thought that his own genius may escape him, that he may never appreciate the epic brilliance of his laziness (since he’s not going to wake up for another hour). But between his next bites he pauses, looks at me, and gives me the faintest, sly grin, before returning to gnaw slowly on his zombie bagel.
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In typical operations, during flight ops the carrier would operate in a box or racetrack - like pattern. Turn into the wind to launch and recover, and keep steaming on that course as long as possible. If we were running out of sea room or had finished the evolution, we’d turn 180 degrees, come up to a flank bell, and sprint back up to the top of the pattern before recoveries started. I never got to actually see the dance our escorts must have been performing around us, but I know we had to be in constant contact with them, and would give a heads up well in advance of starting any turns. I’m sure all those moves were prebriefed well in advance, I just don’t know where or when.
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Anyone happen to know what L/D Max (I assume it is an AOA unit) is for an F/A-18C is and what altitude for operating there is?
A very interesting article on “combat radius” here:
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Shouldn’t it be your on speed AoA?
That’s what I would think…but the AoA indicator doesn’t show in cruise flight - only the AoA readout on the HUD. So I was wondering if there was a published AoA angle that approximates L/D Max with the gear up and flaps in AUTO.
The Thunderbirds are at Langley AFB this weekend…I’ll have to see if they copy the @BeachAV8R Blue Angels maneuver.
FYI - I can watch a good deal of the show from our back deck as I live just a stone’s throw from Langley…although they frown on throwing stones at the AFB.
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To the NATOPS?