Is there a reason you’d choose ballutes over snakeyes or vice versa?
Ballutes can be selected to be in high/low drag in flight whereas Snakeyes are always high drag. If my memory is correct, of course.
ETA: Wrong as all get out. Snakeye = Vietnam era retarder fins, max speed up to 450kts and more expensive. Ballute = cheap as all get out, 1980s vintage, max speed ~600kts. Both can be selected in high/low if so configured on the aircraft.
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Snakeye sounds so much cooler
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I think they look cooler, too. X’s of death, slowly coming right down!
I bet that the only way snake looks cool coming down is if the last time it was a napalm can coming at you. 
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You are correct. I was thinking more of viewing from this vantage point:
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Speaking of high drag bombs, any indications we’ll get ballutes or snakeye fins for the 83s?
And here’s the F/A-18 / Gulf bundle pack. For $90 You’ll be a proud owner of both, and they’ll throw a Su-33 in the mix as well. Something that’s nice is that partial discounts are now possible. You’ll get $10 off the gulf if you already have the hornet and $20 off the hornet in the reversed case.
It’ll go on sale october 1st.
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I just bought the gulf last night and was wondering why I got $10 off…
Nice surprise.
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(Sigh)…the $20 off was just too much temptation…Today, I bought the Bug.
I know, I know, I swore in this very thread not to purchase the FA-18 until it had all the features I wanted…but…but…oh I don’t know…I mean $20 off!
My embarrassment know no ends…perhaps a few CATs and TRAPs will cheer me up. 
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Well you don’t have to fly it!
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Wait’ll you find out how the radar currently works!
On the other hand, if you stick to Sidewinders and bombs, you’ll be good to go.
Hope it goes better for you than me. I’m still having a hard time getting it back aboard an airfield consistently, much less the boat.
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You might want to practice on the mirage. It is similar in that it also is a FBW jet but it has a marvellous landing HUD mode.
You get it by pressing the APP button on the left front dash. If you fly the thing onto the thing in that, you fly perfectly on speed and on AOA. It’s far better than what the hornet has in that respect.
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Unless they’ve changed something, the Mirage also maintains trim for 1G in landing configuration while the Hornet trims for input AoA. Most people struggle trying to fly the aircraft in the regime of reverse control while fighting the fbw.
It’s the ballooning you get when you drop the flaps, then the last turn onto final. I can never seem to get the lineup right.
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That’s my trouble spot as well. Everything is great until the last half of downwind…
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My first Trap (after 3 wave offs) was a success…and I blew up a lot of things with bombs and rockets. RWS is the only radar mode? Unfortunate. I shot down a couple of BEAR Fs but in all actuality, I found it easier to acquire and lock a target with the MiG-21. Dropping bombs in CCIP is always fun. I like the rockets too.
The graphics are gorgeous and what works, works well enough. IMHO, at this stage, the Hornet is about equivalent to a good FC3 fighter, like the MiG-29.
I like the Bug, but it’s not my favorite…yet 
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the ACM modes are also in.
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True enough. I was thinking of TWS. I’m a horrible dog fighter with anything that has a jet engine. 