Fess Up

Flight Sims
1

Perhaps this should go in something more like an “After Action” area, and if there’s something like this already then…sorry. Seems like it might be helpful and FUN! So I’ll start…

Fess Up
Issue: Launching off the boat with the wings folded
Causal Factor(s): Distraction(s)
Solution: Checklist

Summary: So, “There I was”…have had the Hornet since it came out (1+ years now?); pretty sure I’ve averaged about 10 launches/traps per week since then. Goes with my usual, near, daily routine: launch, tank, break something, tank, trap. I enjoy it. I’m weird that way.

Was trying out the AirBoss script (.miz) mission. So I landed, refueled, then decided to watch the action, launch again and give it another go. Played around with the menus and such. Jet was refueled. Taxied up, hooked up, did a VISUAL scan of the buttons/knobs.

Light the burners…ziinnng…

Get the deedle, deedle alarm - but dismissed it as a Trim warning (seems this goes off, sometimes, even when I know it’s set correctly, or I could be missing something else).

So I ignored it.

Wouldn’t have mattered at this point anyway. Airborne; clearing turn; gear up, flaps up. Things flying “funny”. Play with trim, check aforementioned buttons/ knobs. Then I look outside. Disco! Wings still folded. Not happy with myself; all this time and I’ve never done that. Jet was clean, no stores, 1/2 tank of gas – so that probably saved me a virtual life.

Distractions are one thing. Skipping the checklist? Well, let me have it, I deserve it.

JR

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2

In your defense, there were no yellowshirt to tell you to unfold…
I blame ED for not releasing the Supercarrier module.

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3

It has been done a few time in real life too so you’re not alone! :grin:

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I dont think I can count the times I taxied off with the huffer dragging behind the aircraft and ground crew letting me off with a mere “hey, what are you doing?!”

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Same here. Nearly everytime. I sense a call sign creation “huffer”

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What’s a huffer?

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I’m pretty sure a huffer is, in, we’ll, you know, adult movie making, the person who is tasked with keeping the male actors, hum, you know, happy, between scenes. Or was that fluffer…I can never remember :face_with_raised_eyebrow::thinking::crazy_face:

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I have done this … a lot in the F-5 :slight_smile:

It is the air start blower (vacuum in reverse) used to start the engines on the F-5 in DCS.

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I’ll bet none of us has ever left a canopy on the runway either… :thinking:

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Let’s see what I’ve done off the top of my head:

  • Taxied with the huffer/ground power attached;
  • Taxied when they were loading weapons (not taxing when they were ‘loading weapons’ after a refueling request but actually not finished adding all the bombs);
  • Takeoff with the canopy open;
  • Jettisoned the canopy with a rogue mouse click;
  • Raised gear while on the ground;
  • Lowered gear at 10,000+ feet and 350+ knots;
  • Landed at the wrong airport;
  • Ground looped a tail dragger (but, honestly, that’s not a stupid mistake);
  • loaded training bombs when I wanted live rounds (I could hear the laughter of my enemy as I egressed from the target area in confusion);
  • Launched with wings folded;

I am sure that there are more! :slight_smile:

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One of my favorites was online a few months ago. Hopped onto one of the servers with strict server side settings more geared toward realism. Settled into my comfy Ka-50 and loved every minute of bringing her to life. Read the briefing and started heading toward my target area. I was being super stealthy though…I didn’t just draw a line from the FARP to the target…I figured every Tom, Dick, and Harry Blue player would be watching that route, so I went out of my way to take a circuitous route to come at the target from another angle. After 40 minutes of flying I found a nice little town to set up in where I could do some bob-up type attacks while being sheltered by surrounding buildings.

Started scanning with my Shkval…find a target…time to die Blue armor. Oh…no way. No weapons loaded.

cameron1

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12

Still better than dumping live ordnance while taxiing between your two wingmen.
Blowing up all three…
Twice.

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smith1

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14

Doing some Combat practice in the harrier. Without checking my controls.

I use the ‘sync controls with controller’ option, that includes the nozzle angle. I had just a few hours before ended the day with some light and breezy hovering around interesting objects, I am a rotary pilot at heart I suppose. That means that my nozzle angle rotary ended up in a 86 degree down position, the vertical position on the harrier.

After merging whilst I am on full throttle I start to get weird behaviour, now VIFF’ing allows you to achieve weird and unstable angles so that was fine, but when you pull hard the wings will almost instantly stall, together with full fuel and a weapon load and the harrier will simply not fly anymore. At this point you often find yourself inverted, with the exhaust now directly aimed towards the ground going full speed, with no forward speed on the aircraft itself.

It looks cool but it is never a pretty picture, especially not when the enemy now has all the time in the world to setup a shot at you.

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In multiplayer, if you use the respawn key combo while starting in a Bug on the carrier, you respawn on one of the catapults in a cold start state (I’m not sure if this has been fixed/changed yet). So one time, I was shot down, did a respawn, went through all the startup procedures, loaded up, locked into the catapult, and let it rip. Only instead, my jet careened right into the water with a massive splash!

The chocks were still in.

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True story. An EA-6B ECMO told me once that he took a CATshot with the wings unfolded but not locked. They got some some warning in the cockpit - sometime about the wings flexing when they were airborne and not being able to be locked but not folding back up, although they could have - he looks over at the pilot and sees that the guy has forgotten to strap himself in. This obviously would have had some serious repercussions if they had ejected. Fortunately they were able to bring it back and land.

So, missed Lock Wings and Strap In…I’m not a RL pilot but I would think those are two fairly important CL items.

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That’s insane!!

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Lined up for the shot with Master Arm - Safe. Anyone?

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Twice I’ve been in such a hurry I taxied and took off without weapons. Turn around, landed and rearmed.
Dumped weapons once in the Harrier, fortunately in the blast proof hanger.

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With a large failure in CRM like that leading to thee ‘ole Swiss cheese model almost lining up, I imagine that the debrief after that flight was a rather long one with more than just the crew in attendance. Not to mention the crew having to deal with a rather unhappy MO…

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