Getting Buffed.

[Sbob]

Meanwhile, I've attached an ACS flight plan for KMHR to KMER that I cooked up using Nav30.
I included the Top-Of-Climb and Top-Of-Descent (to prove a point). You can practice how to delete waypoints after you find out why I don't like using them.

Just dump the KMHR-KMER plan file into your ACS "Programs" folder then run the ACS data loader and select the flight plan. Hit "Load To GPS" then "OK". Start FS and load your T-43 at a KMHR parking spot. Bring up your GPS to make sure the new plan is loaded. Check the clock and note the time. Start the engines, lights On, pitot heat On, then contact Ground and request a straight-out departure. Use Progressive Taxi and get to the hammer head. Check your time again and write it down. Contact the tower and tell them you're ready for take off. You've already set up the auto pilot, right? Now would be a good time. While we're on the that subject, you wrote down all that data you'll need for Castle, right? Your pattern altitude is 1,000 feet. Make sure your altimeter is calibrated, hit the "b" key just to be safe (later on, your "b" key will be how you set a Combat Altimeter). Set your course on the HSI for 140. Make sure everyone has a barf bag. You'll be flying with ATC so remember your "O-N-E". We'll be flying almost due south so figure out an even altitude plus 500 feet. Did you remember to polish your boots? Too late.. Remember to check the clock when you start rolling and again once you take off.

Basically, take off from Mather and steer to 140. I included the LINDEN VOR (114.80) because its on our route. Set your A/P for something below 20,000 feet and keep your airspeed around 245 KTS. Set the GPS so it's talking to the auto pilot. Stay with the ATC. We're in their play ground. Dial up the LINDEN VOR and notice how well ACS compensates for the wind. From here on out, ACS IS your Navigator.

This flight should take less than half an hour. If you goofed something up, you can do it again without too much of a time hassle. Just be sure to recognize when and how you screwed up. Remember how we figured out when to descend to the pattern altitude? Castle's pattern alt is 1,000 feet, same as Mather. Try to get down to your pattern altitude just a little early. Try playing around with the auto throttles to see what works best.

Check in with Castle for a landing as soon as you can. We'll be using what is, essentially, a Combat Break (in an old 737) from here on out. Aim for the AFB at the pattern altitude, gear and flaps down, speed 150 KTS, and fly over the runway, then break to line up with the right glide slope. Remember, the folks in the tower and on the flight line will be watching so try to look classy. Once you're down, request a Gate to taxi to and shut down.

Remember to log your flight time.

If you haven't set up Dan's Castle AFB scenery, at least consider it as a temporary install in your scenery.cfg file. There's some stuff I'd like you to check out that was common to SAC bomber and tanker bases. You'll just need your favorite chopper for the tour.

 

[Sbob]

This thread is turning up some neat videos for me on YouTube.

We'll check out Sawyer and Wurtsmith, the two SAC bases in Michigan, as well as Westover AFB in Massachusetts ( I might be able to get Mick to give the tour). One topic of note is the RBS site, which I also covered.

 

[Sbob]

Meanwhile, this happened..

FS2004 will not load now!

For the life of me I can't figure this. I've been building my FS9.1 for years and have had no problems. Lots of add on scenery and aircraft. Then over night I start it up and I get is the splash screen and the revolving load thing as in a normal start up. But, it won't load. Checking around it...

sim-outhouse.org

I'm super proud of you folks working together to solve a problem and seeing stoney figure it out.

I've mentioned the AI congestion problem in another thread and I really should have mentioned it in this thread, that's my bad.
So, here it goes..

IF YOU'RE TEMPTED TO ADD SOME AI BETWEEN SAN FRANSISCO AND LA, DON'T. THE SKIES ARE ALREADY PRETTY THICK.

Now, we just have to figure out why zwobbie's second FS9 install is being such a bear.

 

[Sbob]

Once you've made it to Castle AFB, let's take a quick tour.

This is using Dan's KMER scenery I attached to the thread earlier.
His version of Castle is pretty complete, but I'm starting to think its an FSX conversion which may explain the AI traffic problem.

Anyway, load up your favorite chopper and KMER and let's take a look around. Start at one of the MIL-CARGO parking spots. You should wind up at the northern end of the base. Take off and head south. You'll notice the MIL-COMBAT ramp. These are the normal parking spots for the B-52s.
Keep heading south past the tower and Base Ops. You'll notice a large hanger to the south with a red and white checker roof, aim for that.
Just past the hanger, you'll see the B-52 OPS building and beyond that will be the Alert Area. Notice the "christmas tree" parking area. Some folks call it a "herring bone". To us, its the Alert Ramp. While the numbers may change due to world-wide events, there will normally be four B-52s and two KC-135s parked on this ramp. There are also a lot of armed guards carrying M-16s full of armor piecing rounds. The Alert Ramp is a "no screw up zone". This is "no lone zone" and "two man rule" territory where you aren't allowed UNLESS you are on Alert Duty. The tankers are only there to re-fuel the bombers and... the bombers are fully armed with live nukes and are always ready to launch (ie, "Cocked"). We'll get into that some more at the end of this thread. Near the Alert Ramp is the Alert Shack, aka The Mole Hole:



This is the two level building where you'll spend, usually, one week each month. The top floor contains offices where you'll do stuff like mission and flight planning, course work, squadron paper work, etc. while you're on Alert Duty. There's also a 24 hour "on call" galley and TV/Rec room. The bottom level contains sleeping quarters, a laundry room, and a rest room area. One crew is assigned to each bomber and tanker on the Alert Ramp. One other thing to notice, the Alert Ramp is directly connected to the end of the runway. This taxi way is considered "sacred ground" and is NEVER to be blocked (remember the folks with the M-16s?).

 

[Sbob]

Just north of the Alert Shack is the OPS building. This is where bomber and tanker crews get briefed prior to a sortie, test their gear and oxygen masks, and catch the bus to their air plane. Its also where the Wing and Squadron bosses hang out. Post-mission, this is also where you'll debrief.
Besides Alert Duty and (weekly-ish) training flights, you'll also have Squadron Duty roughly one (24 hour) day per month plus any secondary squadron and wing collateral duties that are run out of this building.


Note the "bread truck" (maintenance) on the left in front of two crew busses.

A typical SAC wing may contain two bomber squadrons plus one tanker squadron. Each squadron will have ten to 16 aircraft assigned. Roughly, there are three crews for each aircraft. Tanker crews are made up of four people, bomber crews get six. Do the math and you'll understand why SAC crews don't bother with individual call signs or nick names. Its just easier to read the name tag.

 

[Sbob]

I'm jumping the gun a little, but we may as well get this out of the way. Nose Art and SAC planes.

Many of the B-52 repaints I've done feature nose art. That didn't mean I flew them when I was logging hours.
SAC and nose art got along like oil and water. SAC was ALL about standardization. A bomb wing was short a bomber? SAC would transfer one in. From where-ever they could find one. Likewise, a crew would request a plane to fly a mission. The planes could be considered "modular". A bomber from a south eastern wing could get slotted into a north western squadron with minimal fuss, as long as it was the same model. This is where it seems to get confusing, what about those B-17s (like Memphis Belle)? Didn't the same crew fly the same plane on every mission? Yeah, in WWII.

With SAC it was a different story. If anyone besides Gen. LeMay or the taxpayers "owned" a bomber or a tanker, it was that plane's Crew Chief and not the crews. Remember, roughly three crews per airplane. When the (SAC) Bomber Generals were running the Air Force, nose art was defiantly out. Imagine being the General who herded the cats to get a new base built out in the boonies or overseas. Imagine its the opening ceremonies for that base and all the hoi polloi and the local movers and shakers are in attendance. The bomber named "City of [your name here]" winds up with a hydraulic leak and "Miss September" (apparently giving an anatomy demonstration) taxis up to the reviewing stand.

You're the guy in charge, explain that one..

Things changed once the Fighter Generals took over and nose art (and tail art) became linked with esprit de corps.
While every plane in the squadron or wing might get a fancy tail (usually a throw back to a wing's WWII heritage or the location of the base), nose art was still tricky.
It was up to that plane's Crew Chief to come up with something that was NEAT and fairly unique. Again, the wing's heritage usually came into play.
From there, the Crew Chief would submit the artwork to the squadron and wing commanders for final approval and line up an artist to sling the paint. Nose art, also, only lasted until the plane went into Phase Maintenance where everything got sand blasted and repainted.

Getting back to the crews, usually early in the weeks when a crew was not on Alert Duty they would send one of their junior guys ("Hey, Nav..?") to the squadron office to "buy" a mission from a list of available IR routes and training packages. The AC, RNAV, and squadron commander would come up with a consensus on what the crew needed to work on. From there it came down to what planes were available (not in maintenance or on Alert Duty).

 

[Sbob]

One quick update on Dan's KMER scenery.
It really does look like it was either converted over from FSX or was compiled with an FSX-based program.
With the AI traffic, no wonder stoney got burned.
I wasn't a big traffic fan when I first installed this scenery so I took apart the traffic files today and, check out the "airports" text file:

*#@ ,N0* 0.00',E0* 0.00',0
KADW,N38* 48.64',W76* 52.02',279
KBAD,N32* 30.11',W93* 39.75',167
KBIF,N31* 50.97',W106* 22.79',3947
KDYS,N32* 25.24',W99* 51.27',1788
KEDW,N34* 54.33',W117* 53.02',2303
KLTS,N34* 39.83',W99* 16.43',1381
KMER,N37* 22.82',W120* 34.09',190
KMIB,N48* 24.92',W101* 21.45',1667
KMUO,N43* 2.62',W115* 52.34',2995
KSUU,N38* 15.75',W121* 55.65',62
KTCM,N47* 8.26',W122* 28.58',322
O68 ,N37* 30.64',W120* 2.51',2251
XMER,N37* 22.24',W120* 34.12',190

That first airport doesn't look too kosher. At least not for FS9.
The last two, I really want to verify what they are.

The good news, if you want the traffic I can fix the text files and re-compile them.
I'm not sure if you're supposed to run both of the traffic files at the same time?

You folks want me to fix it?

 

[ViperPilot2]

If you want to, feel free.

I'm just going to stick with the Default Airports as they sit in the Sim.

 

[Sbob]

The scenery itself is pretty good.
I'm just wondering if its worth $30 so I can edit some of the parking spots?
Anyone running AFX?

With the included traffic, the flight plans are a little complicated. I think it would be a lot more accurate to just have the B-52s fly up to Fairbanks Alaska then turn around for home. That would take about 12 hours. Two hours worth of touch and go's would also be a good addition.
There are newer AI B-52Gs and Hs plus some nice KC-135s kicking around. What ever I do with the AI aircraft and the flight plans, it doesn't change the basic problem of Cali just being too AI-congested.

Decisions, decisions..

 

[ViperPilot2]

I realize that to many, the addition of AI definitely adds to the Realism and Immersion factor in the Sim. However, it's one aspect of Simming I never really embraced just because it was one of those subjects I found very complicated to wrap my head around, like Repainting or Scenery Design. Plus, I found that those who knew the 'ins and outs' were not very keen on divulging their 'secrets' about said subjects. It's very difficult to find a comprehensive yet simple explanation (Tutorials, or "xxxx For Dummies") that a Beginner could follow along with and learn each step easily. The 'tutorials' found on YouTube are much the same way in that they jump around to involved Procedures and Terms that are not fully explained, so one attempting tends to get lost and frustrated within the first few minutes. Excludes, Alpha Channels, Mips and BGL's...

So, I subscribe to the 'KISS' method; keep the Sim simple and just use what's included. Besides, I also don't have the best Processor speed or Graphics Card capabilities at my disposal so the KISS method is the order of the day. Mather, Castle and Barksdale are all depicted as Default Scenery, so that's what I'll use for the exercise.

 

[Sbob]

I hear that and I agree with what you're thinking.
My one goal is to keep the FPS at 60 on an older i3 CPU.
I've been wrenching on FS since FS98 and even FSfW95.
Traffic was my last dive into FS files. I still don't like overly complicated traffic files.
The traffic for the Cariers2006 package is ideal if you want to learn how it works.
I could modify some carrier traffic to make a couple of B-52s just do "touch and go's" at Castle and it would be pretty accurate.

Still, many folks like traffic so I'll come up with something for Castle.

A lot of what I'm doing in this thread should feel monotonous, this is the "lessons learned" stuff I found when I was doing a lot of flights in the B-52. It sort-of flies like every other plane, until it doesn't. Flying this plane showed me that FS models "ground effect", big wings pushing down on the ground and the ground pushing back. If you're used to fast fighters flying at low level, the last thing you want to do is push the stick down. With the B-52, pushing the yoke down at low level is, well, normal. There were crews who flew really low during Desert Storm who mentioned the same thing.
In terms of flying, pattern work is the most tricky. You CAN'T fly the Alpha FD with the gear and flaps down AND the auto pilot ON. Its all seat-of-the-pants when you're in the pattern. That's why you practice the pattern on every flight.

This pattern work is why I chose Fairchild as my home base. If you think you're good at Flight Sim, Fairchild is where you prove it.

Check out the basic pattern for B-52s and KC-135s:

https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/2413/00553T23.PDF

Think about how you fly this pattern with only your butt and the radios.
They also have that cool "sea eagle" on the tails.

 

[Sbob]

So, back to the T-43. Keep the same flight plan in ACS-GPS.
Take off from Castle and head back to Mather, use an ODD cruising altitude plus 500 feet.
Take some notes on how long you think it will take to get to cruising altitude vs how long it really took.
Try to ballpark your timing from start-up to when the wheels lift off the ground.
Set a time including 15 seconds after the minute. Don't sweat it if you miss the timing, just get used to it.
While we're at it, there's a hot spot in the lower left corner of your cockpit clock.
Click it and the clock will shift to ZULU time.
With the GPS, select the LINDEN VOR and head directly for it. Kick in the auto pilot and let the GPS do the steering.
Once you get to LINDEN, click backwards again to select Mather.

After that, its the same drill as before. Figure out when to start your descent. Mather's pattern altitude is 1,000 feet.
Contact Mather and request a landing. Use your own pattern to get on the glide slope.

If things are feeling easy, don't worry, we'll be starting to accelerate your training. Soon.
If things didn't go easy, repeat the Mather-Castle-Mather flights until you feel confident.

 

[Sbob]

Its time for some more "film work".

Pay attention and we'll dive a little deeper once the show is over.

You're still awake? Good.
SAC bought the B-52 and the KC-135 as a combo deal.
Without the B-52 there wasn't a need for the KC-135.
Without the KC-135 the B-52 would only be limited to its internal fuel.

And yet..

Things quickly devolved into the "bomber puke" and the "tanker toad" camps.
Consider how many flying jobs there are in a typical Bomber/Tanker wing.
Two thirds of those folks are giving the hairy eyeball to the other third.
Never mind that the tanker crews have to pull off even tighter timing.

BTW, McConnell AFB is the tanker equivalent of Castle.
If there is a crew of McConnell "nubes" doing their "rated" quals, take a wild guess who will get sent out to work with them?



It won't be the senior Crew Dogs.

 

[stoney]

Probably the most interesting thread I've followed in some time. As a former C-133A crew chief I say "kick the tires, light the fires, last one in is a sissy"

Please fix the file.

 

[Sbob]

stoney, coming from you, that means a lot.
I did my time in the Navy on submarines, I'm trying to work in some of the "feel" of what this stuff is like.

Feel free to drop a post or two (at least) on how the USAF flies compared to, say, TWA or Delta.
I've touched on "due regard" but its tricky to really explain it, especially when you apply it to how FS does things.
I haven't even gotten into "STAN/EVAL" (the cops in the Wing) and "PRP" but its coming.

With the traffic, I'll be honest, I have Cannon installed but I didn't install the traffic.
One of my pet peeves is having aircraft take off from the Alert Pad. If you really see that, run for the hills!
I'll post the corrected AI traffic, but I'm still not planning to use it after I make sure it works.

That does bring up one thing I wanted to touch on.
The B-52/KC-135 combo have only been flying for 60-some years. What era do you want?

 

[stoney]

Personally I was active duty 1966 to 1970, that's always a fav time of mine. After Dover AFB I went to the 17th TAS (C-130D) in Alaska to resupply the DEW line sites across the Greenland ice cap. I also belonged to the base aero club and flew the C150 around the AK. So the 50's and 60's are my time. What about the other guys?

 

[Sbob]

I'll put together some traffic and test it.
stoney, I'll message you with the 1950's zip file.
This might take a while, be patient. I promise I'll work on it.
I'll also make a "traffic kit" the rest of you can load into Traffic Tools with instructions on how to swap out the AI models.

Everyone, keep in mind I don't recommend adding traffic to Castle AFB. If FS9 randomly dumps you out to the desktop, delete my traffic.
I also can't edit the parking spots and types at Castle. I'm not in a hurry to drop $30 on AFX only to find out it's a pain in the ### program to run.

I'm taking this weekend off to watch the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Get ready to get busy on Monday.

 

[ViperPilot2]

stoney, coming from you, that means a lot.
I did my time in the Navy on submarines, I'm trying to work in some of the "feel" of what this stuff is like.

Feel free to drop a post or two (at least) on how the USAF flies compared to, say, TWA or Delta.
I've touched on "due regard" but its tricky to really explain it, especially when you apply it to how FS does things.
I haven't even gotten into "STAN/EVAL" (the cops in the Wing) and "PRP" but its coming.

With the traffic, I'll be honest, I have Cannon installed but I didn't install the traffic.
One of my pet peeves is having aircraft take off from the Alert Pad. If you really see that, run for the hills!
I'll post the corrected AI traffic, but I'm still not planning to use it after I make sure it works.

That does bring up one thing I wanted to touch on.
The B-52/KC-135 combo have only been flying for 60-some years. What era do you want?

Although it would be nice to play in the 'current' Timeframe, whatever Era you decide is fine with me. I like the 'slow and steady' progressions you've been steering us in regarding Training. The Traffic in the skies is secondary to the actual Cockpit time we're getting.

 

[Sbob]

I'm kinda partial to the mid-8o's to the mid-90's. I did my Navy time from '87 to '93.
Really, its up to you what era you want to fly in. I haven't done any of the old school bare metal repaints because my bare metal texture work stinks. I've tried it going back to FSfW95 and I've never gotten the hang of it. BTW, head over to flightsim.com and do a search using "bob seaman".
You'll find my B-52 repaints. I've covered the early 70's to modern stuff.

 

[ViperPilot2]

Thanks, Bob!

Just starting out in the T-43, and trying to get better with the ACS-GPS stuff. One question I always have about airplanes like the 737/T-43 and others is how exactly to get to the required Cruise Altitude. I know it's not just putting the airplane into a Climb and punching a hole in the sky until I get there, and it's a query that I could never get a straightforward answer to, like it's some sort of secret or something. It's one of the reasons why I never got into Airliners or other Big Iron. But, I would like to try and fly these larger Aircraft or at least have a rudimentary understanding of the proper Procedures...