DCS

[AndyJWest]

Jester's running commentary on my abysmal efforts at Tomcat AAR probably helps. Not because he actually says that much which is directly useful, but to ease the tension a bit.

[Gambit21]

42 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

Jester's running commentary on my abysmal efforts at Tomcat AAR probably helps. Not because he actually says that much which is directly useful, but to ease the tension a bit.

 

I'm looking into working with Grayson to record more Jester calls - just you wait.

[AndyJWest]

Just now, Gambit21 said:

 

I'm looking into working with Grayson to record more Jester calls - just you wait.

 

Can you ask him whether Jester can be persuaded to tell me 'right a bit' before I go sailing past the basket?

 

(Probably a DCS problem though, rather than a Tomcat-specific one - I think there is some sort of delay as it loads audio)

[Gambit21]

24 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

 

Can you ask him whether Jester can be persuaded to tell me 'right a bit' before I go sailing past the basket?

 

(Probably a DCS problem though, rather than a Tomcat-specific one - I think there is some sort of delay as it loads audio)

 

No, but I can arrange a "screw this up again and you owe me beers for a month" based on trigger logic.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Gambit21

[Bremspropeller]

This night's fun with A-4s:

 

Out with Pancake in a Kiwi A-4K.

 

I think he's close enough to inhale the vortex-generators on my wing.

 

We're out hunting trawlers which are illegally hunting within the sealife-reservatory.

"But won't a sinking trawler create a lot of oil-pollution?"

"Err...we'll discuss that some other time."

 

Heading for Fenando de BombMe.

 

Stooping in low to throw a practice paraflare.

 

The green light of the ocean indeed is mesmerizing!

 

Pancake throwing some more paraflares over Fernando.

 

Circling above the light like an insect about to be zapped.

 

Back to Saipan with Pancake and Admiral, who is leading us home.

 

DCS does a great job of showing Earth's shadow rising.

 

Somebody lost some Lovin' Feelin' out there somewhere...

 

We returned for more quick (it's a baaagm!) and slow (paraflares) enlightenment at Fernando.

You can also use faraflare-rockets, but they're pretty cumbersome to use, since their time of flight before the chute deploys is about 30s. Also their candlepower rating is lower.

 

Some bad moon rising over Fernando.

 

Shack! Two Mk82s are dive-tossed into the dummy targets.

 

On the way back to Saipan and calling it quits for the night for some Coors at the O-Club.

 

Did I mention the Scooter is a lot of fun?

[Sharpe43]

 

[Lusekofte]

WOW,  me fly Lankaster? Yes?

Edited January 30, 2022 by LuseKofte

[Monostripezebra]

A real detailed bomber? Wow, that sounds pretty darn cool!

 

 

I need something else beside the helicopters.. despite silly autorotations still beeing very fun:

 

[Gambit21]

A training hop out of Nellis.

A bit of trouble with bombs...but I'll get it sorted.

[41Sqn_Skipper]

Time for carrier qualification. 

 

 

Currently preparing the basics in the EFM for the calculation of the aerodynamic forces and moments and the simulation of the system. As for now there are 18 factors taken into account for the calculation, for example "lift and drag depending on angle of attack", "lift and drag due to flap position", "pitching moment due to elevator deflection" others for static and dynamic stability and damping. It slowly starts to handle like a real airplane. This step is still far from finished: side forces, post-stall behavior, ... 

 

And most importantly: At the moment only placeholder coefficients are used to test the formulas. For actual coefficients for the F4F I need to conduct a CFD simulation for different conditions, speeds and alpha and beta angles  ... another big milestone.

 

The shown systems (flight control, gear, flap, tailhook) are in their most simple form. They react to user input, provide their state to the 3d engine and for the aerodynamic calculation. 

 

[Bremspropeller]

Fenrir beating up the Melbourne with Kev and A.P. starting up.

[DD_Crash]

Thats not like hm at all

[Bremspropeller]

Looking good in-close.

 

Applied just a tad too much power at the ramp and kept sailing across all the wires.

 

One more lap...

 

Just a bit low, coming in for a taxi-one-wire.

 

This approach is a good deal better. A fine approach can go down the tubes real quick...

 

After satisfying our appetite for fun in the pattern, we took two aircraft with half a tank of fuel, empty bags and some fireworks for the kids, to rendez-vous with a tanker at 500ft, 200NM from the boat. We arrived with 1000lbs of gas left* (of which I wasted half just to plug in). Filled up and went 100NM east, back to Faralon, to make some dolby surround sound on the ground.

 

We then came back for a Case III, one bolter each, and a WAG-TLAR one-wire in a Case I under a moonlit sky of stars.

That all, folks. Gone for midnight-rats.

___

* That's about 7.5 minutes worth of fuel at full stereo down low on the deck.

[Guest deleted@83466]

I’ve been doing other things these last months than flight sim, and am only now getting back to the Mi-24.  I know I’m rusty, but I can still fly the other copters like a boss…but not this Hind.  We are just not getting along.  It feels like a deathtrap of a helicopter compared to the others, and I can’t stand the way the way it trims.  I’ll learn and get better, but any expectation I had that it would feel and fly like a ‘Hip’, I couldn’t have been more wrong about. 

[Lusekofte]

14 hours ago, SeaSerpent said:

I’ve been doing other things these last months than flight sim, and am only now getting back to the Mi-24.  I know I’m rusty, but I can still fly the other copters like a boss…but not this Hind.  We are just not getting along.  It feels like a deathtrap of a helicopter compared to the others, and I can’t stand the way the way it trims.  I’ll learn and get better, but any expectation I had that it would feel and fly like a ‘Hip’, I couldn’t have been more wrong about. 

Long time since I flown too. But the random lack of left rudder authority at low speed get me a bit puzzled. I cannot figure out why it does that sometimes and other times is controllable. It heel like a very heavy  MI 8 good when flying fast but a bit helpless at slow speed.

For all I know it is realistic, but this is at sea level, and it did operate in warm weather up in mountains. 

[danielprates]

On 2/4/2022 at 9:03 PM, Bremspropeller said:

 fun in the pattern

 

empty bags and some fireworks for the kids

 

200NM from the boat

 

I wasted half just to plug in

 

make some dolby surround sound on the ground.

 

 a Case III, one bolter each, and a WAG-TLAR one-wire in a Case 

 

 midnight-rats.

 

Monty Python was on to something with that pilot banter sketch 

[Bremspropeller]

Everybody, the wings are NOT on fire!

 

WAG is my favourite - that's a Wild A$$ Guess...

Edited February 7, 2022 by Bremspropeller

[41Sqn_Skipper]

Another big step: Constant speed propeller simulation.

 

 

rpm= Propeller RPM (3:2 reduction ratio)

beta= Pitch angle (degree)

J= advance ratio

CP= power coefficient

CT= thrust coefficient

Eff= propeller efficiency (CT/CP)

epow = power available from the engine (=shaft horsepower)

ppow = power consumed by the propeller, derived from CT

thrust = forward force of the propeller, derived from CP

 

CP and CT are coefficients depending on J and beta. The values I'm using are taken from a NACA wind tunnel test of a similar propeller.

 

 

Principle: The power difference between epow and ppow accelerates/decelerates the propeller and thus increases/decreases RPM. Pitch angle is changed to keep the RPM constant, which causes an increase/decrease in ppow.

 

Videos shows 4 phases:

1. Throttle back and than forward: rpm stays high until minimum pitch (20°) is reached, then it drops
2. RPM lever back and than forward: rpm drops until maximum pitch (40°) is reached
3. Climb: pitch decreases to keep rpm
4. Dive: pitch increases to keep rpm

 

Next step: Engine simulation ?

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by 41Sqn_Skipper

[Gambit21]

One of the DD's trapping this afternoon (evening for them).

I spent my time boltering and crashing...and taking screenies (I really need more stick time)...but had a great time!

[DD_fruitbat]

Brems in the lead, Gambit on his right,

 

 

Gambit on the ramp,

 

 

 

 

[DD_fruitbat]

Playing around with Mavericks in a Viper, Ripple firing them at an airfield, ignore the unfortunate bug where currently one of them just disappears at impact, its a known issue at the moment!

 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by DD_fruitbat

[Gambit21]

Well guys I did a bit better...a bit.

1 wire

1 wire

bolter

bolter (Jester "can you get us down next time? I have to take a $hit) ?

bolter

3 wire

 

Problem is I was so busy looking at the velocity vector, I once again neglected to check any other indicators, E bracket, tape...ball.

I'll have to work on that next time. I didn't kill Jester though! ?

 

 

[unlikely_spider]

Yeah, I have difficulty often balancing my attention between the ball, the velocity vector, and the ils needles. Funny thing is that I think the Tomcat is actually easier to land at the moment than the Hornet (a fly by wire plane) because your AoA needs to be near perfect in the F-18 or else your hook will skip and bounce, but that is not modeled to that degree in the F-14 yet.

 

At least that's my understanding, unless they fixed it recently. I got the Hornet somewhat recently and was perplexed by how much harder it was to catch a wire than the Tomcat, even as I was hitting the deck in seemingly the right place.

[DD_fruitbat]

2 hours ago, unlikely_spider said:

Yeah, I have difficulty often balancing my attention between the ball, the velocity vector, and the ils needles. Funny thing is that I think the Tomcat is actually easier to land at the moment than the Hornet (a fly by wire plane) because your AoA needs to be near perfect in the F-18 or else your hook will skip and bounce, but that is not modeled to that degree in the F-14 yet.

 

 

Pretty sure the Tomcat had that modelled first, think its only pretty recent in the Hornet, whereas the Tomcat has had that and hook breaks since last June. Came the same time as the Burble, which the Hornet I believe still doesn't have.

 

You're obviously just better in the Tomcat!!!

Edited February 9, 2022 by DD_fruitbat

[unlikely_spider]

1 hour ago, DD_fruitbat said:

Tomcat has had that and hook breaks since last June

Ok, I see. I think my info is outdated then. I would like to think that I'm just better at pure stick and rudder planes, but fat chance that's actually true ?

I'm also really careful now with my AoA in the Hornet, but I think the Hornet makes it easy to do that. Just slow to about 150 knots, trim for the yellow circle, then don't touch trim again.

 

But still, any man making bets on me hitting 3 wire in that server rack of a plane will be broke in no time though, strangely. I still bolter in it quite often.

Edited February 9, 2022 by unlikely_spider

[Gambit21]

19 minutes ago, unlikely_spider said:

...server rack of a plane...

 

? Exactly.

That’s why for me it’s all about TOMCATS!!!

[unlikely_spider]

15 minutes ago, Gambit21 said:

 

? Exactly.

That’s why for me it’s all about TOMCATS!!!

Yep, no argument there.

I held off on the Hornet for so long, but folded because I wanted to play Baltic Dragon's campaign (plus his upcoming prequel on the Syria map).

I'll come back around to the Tomcat soon enough I'm sure. The lust is real with that module, and was immediately apparent the first time I sat in her.

[Robli]

My approach to this is probably not correct by the book, but I manage to put my Hornet on a carrier deck without problems practically every time with visual landing conditions. After I have slowed down and dropped my flaps/gear/hook, I just trim the velocity vector to the middle of the E-bracket, line up with the carrier, with velocity vector pointing to where I want on the carrier deck and then just adjust throttle as needed, so it keeps pointing where I want it to point. I use rudder for small directional adjustments. That method gets my Hornet down on a carrier deck reliably all the time.

[Gambit21]

7 hours ago, Robli said:

My approach to this is probably not correct by the book, but I manage to put my Hornet on a carrier deck without problems practically every time with visual landing conditions. After I have slowed down and dropped my flaps/gear/hook, I just trim the velocity vector to the middle of the E-bracket, line up with the carrier, with velocity vector pointing to where I want on the carrier deck and then just adjust throttle as needed, so it keeps pointing where I want it to point. I use rudder for small directional adjustments. That method gets my Hornet down on a carrier deck reliably all the time.

 

I can eyeball/seat-of-the-pants fly a Tomcat to the deck almost every time. In fact my first 2 traps ever were successful doing this, then I missed a few... it’s sketchy. I stopped this (at least doing it intentionally) after the first few times as it’s not the correct way to trap. 

 

So now the idea is get proficient at on-speed AoA/proper procedure...fly the ball. 

[BladeMeister]

In the latest stable version, posted on the 9th? I think, ED finally reduced the elevator trim sensitivity 3 fold as they worded it on the Mosquito ?. I tried it in sim and it does  work like a charm now. I cannot find the takeoff assist setting which if I remember correctly used to be on the Misc tab of the settings page. Anybody seen it??

 

S!Blade<><

?

[Bremspropeller]

You need to go into the options (gear sybol) in the main screen, then "specials" and then find the Mossie.

In one of the last patches, DCS went on a spree and turned on most of the airplaes' take-off assists for me, resulting in me going sideways for most of the time flying a Spit.

[BladeMeister]

Thank you Sir. I knew my takeoffs and taxing, especially in the Spit, were to good. Here I go to start practicing for real and see if I can master them again.

 

S!Blade<><

[Lusekofte]

Takeoff assist ....what?

Maaan, damned. I did believe I was king of taxiing and takeoff

[Gambit21]

I finally remembered/had the bandwidth to look at more than my velocity vector while trapping the Cat. First time. I was on the perfect on speed AoA approach - it was beautiful for a few seconds. Then...RAMP STRIKE! 

[Bremspropeller]

I mostly only scan the ball. AoA is trimmed ballpark-okay and since I can't see the effing line on the deck anyway, I'm also not paying too much attention to lineup - I'm just trying to stay inside the landing-area and be on final-bearing (the heading of the landing area's centerline). But there are too many lighting-conditions where the markings are just invisible.

Scanning the ball should take care of rampstrikes anyway. I usually find myself tuning down the HUD-brightness or even pull the red filter (F-14), so I can see through it and actually see the ball.

 

I have found that my approaches tend to be worse when paying too much attention to the FPV - the only thing it helps me is gauging changes in the glideslope.

But the ball can do that better, since it's the primary instrument anyway.

 

If you fly the T-45, you'll need to fly at least a ball's width low to actually catch a wire. I see myself get off-scale low just over the ramp and catch #2 wire.

[Hoss]

3 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

I finally remembered/had the bandwidth to look at more than my velocity vector while trapping the Cat. First time. I was on the perfect on speed AoA approach - it was beautiful for a few seconds. Then...RAMP STRIKE! 

The rowndown is not your friend..........  did you punch out as she went down the deck?

[Gambit21]

1 hour ago, 352nd_Hoss said:

The rowndown is not your friend..........  did you punch out as she went down the deck?

 

It happened very quickly - yeehaw Jester’s dead. No punch out.

 

I think it will come together next time. I spend so little time in a cockpit compared to editor work or 3D - takes me a minute to get proficient at anything. So with very little ‘muscle memory’ I get into task-overload very quickly. 

 

Getting past that with landing. Doing anything with the radar/Jester - another story. Need to work on that next.

[Bremspropeller]

 

Where's da choppa?

[DD_Fenrir]

9 hours ago, Bremspropeller said:

 

Where's da choppa?

Are we playing ‘Hunt the Lumberjack’?

[Lusekofte]

9 hours ago, Bremspropeller said:

 

Where's da choppa?

In Caucasus transporting geologist into a forrest.