For the record, I have NO idea what @BeachAV8R is talking about. My landings are always silky smooth…
Unless, of course, when they’re not. 
A typical northern norwegian slam dunk short field landing on a contaminated RWY, in gusty variable winds, is not a pretty sight. 
@Troll As a Captain, all your landings are indeed smooth. All the rough ones are owned by the First Officer!
@BeachAV8R, taking the Global into Carlsbad (KCRQ) always makes me think of what it would be like to land on a carrier (it’s not horrendously short but you can’t mess around fishing for a smooth landing there). Of course, landing on a carrier in a F18 you would be coming in much faster and the deck is much, much shorter, but yes, if I use my imagination, put the HUD down and start humming Highway to the Danger Zone while on final, I can kid myself into believing I’m carrier qualified 
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@BeachAV8R, on other Youtubers videos, that show a Persian Gulf map extension over the first Wags videos. What extension has the “Alpha” Persian Gulf map actually?
Here’s what buddy who flew F-18s in the Marines told me that Navy guys said whenever he and his fellow Marines were observed to squeak a touchdown at a base:
“Flare to land, squat to pee!”
Another buddy who flew F-14s boltered his 2nd solo trap and struck an F-18 parked on the angle deck. T’was just a scratch believe it or not, the only damage being the plastic nav light cover on the Tomcat. They let him keep flying. And yes those boats are really small.
Well, this is what I see when I zoom out fully in the Mission Editor…second pic is slightly zoomed in on the area that seems to mostly be modeled…
But that First image though…
My Body is ready
Good to see that there is a usable part of the Arabian Sea, because that is where the carriers are going to be hanging around.
Does the ATC report the pattern is full?
Did you have Bingo set?
I did not set it…it looks like it defaults to zero at least in the Quick Start mission I had selected. I’ll have to investigate further as to when it (fuel dump) shuts off…perhaps it was related to extending the gear or hook or something.
So there is some launch logic going on there on the catapult. If I advance just single throttle to full power but not the other, the auto-cat stroke thing doesn’t happen…you just sit there. Once you run up the second engine to full power, a few second later the cat fires. And I have to say…they modeled the bouncing down the catapult physics really nicely. You can see the nosewheel strut sort of bouncing along. Really awesome…
OK. Did the same mission again (Quick Start - carrier launch), came off the deck, dumped my ordnance, and then selected fuel dump. In level flight the fuel starts coming out. Slowing down and extending the hook does not cause the dump switch to move. Putting the gear down does not cause it to move. It kept right on dumping until it reached this level and the switch moved itself and the dumping ceased. So I don’t know if it is a hard wired “stop” based on some level other than bingo or if it is on a timer, or if bingo setting isn’t modeled totally…
And whatever the case, I’m surprised there is not a more impressive fuel dumping annunciator of in-your-face indicator that you are dumping (like something flashing on the HUD) since it is such an important switch to not-remember. LOL…
Just tried out some basic autopilot modes…which is a great crutch while I’m heads down exploring the cockpit…
Yep, that was it at para 2.2.7.d. The feed tanks were within the 800 ± 100 range to trigger the FUEL LO light and release the switch.
Thanks for digging that up…! I figured it had to be some self protection logic there. I wonder if fighter pilots have some sort of technique for remembering they are in DUMP. As a civilian pilot, at least in the types of planes I fly, we don’t have the capability to dump fuel, only transfer fuel…which becomes dump if you send fuel to a tank that is already full…LOL… Anyway, our pumps send fuel at around 1,000 lbs. an hour across the crossfeed valve to the receiving side tank. It is pretty easy to get distracted during a single engine approach (in the sim) and forget you are crossfeeding, and then you get a handful of aileron (at best) or complete loss of control when you get too slow (at worst). So different guys have different techniques to remember they are in crossfeed. Some will switch the flight director to cross pointers…I like putting the radar in the test pattern. Yes, there is an annunciator that shows you are crossfeeding, but oddly enough it isn’t a light that says “crossfeed”…instead it is a boost pump light that gets buried in the forest of other lights that are on when you are single engine:
Nice video from Crash Laobi.
Warning: The commentary is for an adult audience and not considered safe for work or children.
In the strike eagle it’s pretty much the same as the hornet, the only things that stop dumping are the switch, bingo bug, and the low fuel caution (1200 pounds left).
How we remember is simply by the fact that we are doing it, ie it’s a deliberate action, and if we are dumping we are both going to be monitoring it until it turns off.
If we are dumping fuel it’s usually to bring down our landing weight, in which case we have a specific number we are dumping to, and the bingo bug is set to that. We can both look outside and visually monitor it as well, seeing if it’s stopped with the bingo bug or not.
I’d say that in fighter jets, fuel and fuel management are some of the things that are intensely ingrained into us during training because we go through it so fast. And especially in an f-15 if you run outta gas you cannot land. (Dual engine failure means no hydraulics below 200 ish knots, you can get the gear down with the alternate release but will have no flight controls) So knowing your fuel state at all times is pretty much standard.
Sure, once you start dumping, don’t take your hand off the switch until you turn it off. Though, your bingo bug should catch you.
But you wouldn’t be the first to dump too low or trap with your dumps still on.
The Rhino shows current gross weight based on ordnance and fuel on the checklist page, not sure if the legacy does.
