DCS F/A-18C

I’ll let you know when I get to it. :+1:

Yes - should be PC Pilot #116

That’s an enjoyable video…

Dude stop watching other ppl and get with the program. Glad your back from Sunny Colorado safe. Get some screenies done :sunglasses:

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You know, in the real world, they have started to retire the FA-18C…just say’n

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Yes! On a commercial flight, you can usually tell if the pilot making the landing was Navy trained, vice Air Force or Civilian trained. Not that I’m complaining…Navy landings can be a bit “abrupt”…albeit at least you know you are firmly on the ground.

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Alrighty…so got the little guy off to school and had a few minutes to give the module another whirl this morning. Sincere apologies for not being able to just give you hours of stream of consciousness impressions, but my TO DO list after arriving home from vacation is extensive.

I fired up the Quick Start Persian Gulf carrier launch mission. This one has you on the catapult with some fuel and bombs. Since I was just planning a lap around the boat, I found the jettison button and fuel dump switch. Again, not having read much on the manual and not knowing the max trap weight, I just dropped all my stuff on the wings and dumped fuel down. There must be a timer or something on the fuel jettison switch because I found it would turn itself off after a bit (probably a good idea!)…

Launch was automatic once I got into afterburner…

After dumping stuff…

First pass I started way too high and far away from the carrier due to looking around the cockpit for switches…

Fuel dumping underway…

A bit high…and I can’t see the “ball”…

Just shooting for an onspeed on the AOA indicator…again, the plane wants to really sink if you get toward the lean side of your speed (like minus 5 knots…you better be getting back into the power)…

First little nervous pass was a bolter…a bit high and a bit too conservative on the power in close…

Was a bit late putting the power back in…staggered off the deck at 135 knots and barely made it up and away. Left the gear and configuration the same for a shorter trip around the boat…

The tighter pattern actually is much easier to fly and gives you a better feel for getting in the proper slot I feel…

Flew a little slower with a bit more AOA on the second pass…

And my first trap is a 3-wire…! Woot!

Mapped the nosewheel steering key with does give you NWS HI and allows for tight maneuvering on the deck…still just a touch of shimmy on the deck with regards to the plane/deck interaction.

Watching the “experts” come back aboard (the AI from my flight). Don’t know if they dump fuel or stuff…but they brought bombs back…

Any-who…lots of fun and this is going to be a blast in MP around the boat. Will be fun to see how damage or a single engine approach goes with some poor weather. Exciting stuff. Can’t wait to try tanking and figuring out the carrier instrument landing system. Will check out the IFLOLS a bit more too and see what the lights look at up close.

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Now read this again, but slowly.

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OMG. I want! I want! I want!

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@PaulRix and @Troll and @smokinhole can confirm that there are times you don’t mess around with much flare and just plant it. Some of the short fields we go into the object isn’t applause from the passengers…but moving the flying machine to a ground machine in as short a span of time as possible. I always love the sarcastic comments from the nurses when we smack it in because of runway contamination or a short field. I’ve given up trying to explain it… :upside_down_face:

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Thank goodness we operate in the virtual and will get low time C models! Perfect. Feel sorry for the Canadians with their high time A/Bs.

A few bolters will cure that up nicely.

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On a dark, stormy night no less…!

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Looks good!

For the Nimitz I think you’re looking for a ~4 degree glideslope. Other than that the mantra for landing is on slope, alignment, on speed . I.E. Your primary concern is to make sure you’re obeying the meatball and not about to put it in the spud locker. Next check to make sure you’re not about to smash into a bunch of parked jets. Finally you want to make sure you’re on speed.

Final tip is cool kids don’t use anti-skid on the boat.

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Awesome, thanks for the look! I was curious about the IFLOLS too but it looks like you have that covered next.

I wish I had some intelligent questions to ask. The closest I ever came to Navy ops was an open house tour of the Kitty Hawk and supporting the occasional unit that visited the Air Force world for training. This should be a lot of fun to dig into.

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I don’t know what would be more terrifying - coming in to land within a few meters of parked jets, or being in a parked jet a few meters from a plane coming in to land.

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I’m actually rather terrified of the incoming Heatblur ships. I believe the Forrestals have a more severe deck angle, which means you need to correct more aggressively. Another thing to throw you off, at night, in a storm.

We need some A-5 Vigilantes to really spice things up…!

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I thought they had a more shallow deck angle? I think I read somewhere it 7.5 degrees, whereas for a Nimitz, it’s 9-9.5 degrees, depending on the ship.

Really? Maybe I’m thinking of the Kitty Hawk? Or maybe I’m finally losing it from lack of sleep :crazy_face:

Speaking of this, has anybody heard anything on the time frame we’re likely looking at for the campaign / missions for this? I’m guessing it’s not exactly today, but in the last decade or so?