I have been working on simulating the low level navigation techniques used by the military.
One of the challenges is hitting your way points on time and I thought I would share what I have learned so far.
The aircraft I am using are those such as the F-100, F-104 and the like.
Some easily identifiable land mark is used. In FSX I find this to be paved runways that are likely to have buildings on them.
As for the timing, a typical technique is to fly a speed divisible by 60 so for example 480 knots is 8 miles per minute
You plan times for the distance between way points you have chosen. Planning them out ahead of time is the key. Without the modern GPS,and Hud modern aircraft enjoy these times are critical to knowing where you are at low level.
The route I chose to start with is a route heading South out of Nellis AFB and it roughly follows the Colorado river for a while before turning for the Yuma proving grounds.
This route is appealing since it is not cluttered with a large number of airports along the way so picking out your way point is less problematic.
The route starts at the BLD VOR 17 miles south of Nellis
From BLD fly a heading of 151 degrees for 52 miles to KIPF
at which point you turn to 154 on the heading and fly 62 miles to P20
From P20 I turn on my final heading of 171 degrees for 78 miles then pop up shortly before my Time on Target and roll in. In real life I would imagine there would be an IP much nearer to the target.
As for adjusting your time so you are not early and beat your SEAD escort to the area or late and have the post strike Recce bird flying through your bomb fragments, you need to be able to adjust your timing.
The two methods I have used are----
Proportional--- For every second you are early or late change your IAS by one knot Hold that for a number of minutes equal to your planned ground speed in miles per minute
IE if 10 seconds late at a planned 480 knots (8 mile per minute) you would increase to 490 for 8 minutes. or 500 for 4 minutes and so on
The 10 percent rule---- The second technique is to take 10 percent of your planned ground speed and hold that for 10 minutes. for example 480 knots would be plus or minus 48 knots for 10 minutes to gain or lose a minute
I like this one since you can also make smaller adjustments, instead of 10 minutes you can hold the new speed for one minute and gain or lose 6 seconds on your timing.
That's all the theory as I understand it anyway. In practice it is a lot of averaging out.
One of the challenges is hitting your way points on time and I thought I would share what I have learned so far.
The aircraft I am using are those such as the F-100, F-104 and the like.
Some easily identifiable land mark is used. In FSX I find this to be paved runways that are likely to have buildings on them.
As for the timing, a typical technique is to fly a speed divisible by 60 so for example 480 knots is 8 miles per minute
You plan times for the distance between way points you have chosen. Planning them out ahead of time is the key. Without the modern GPS,and Hud modern aircraft enjoy these times are critical to knowing where you are at low level.
The route I chose to start with is a route heading South out of Nellis AFB and it roughly follows the Colorado river for a while before turning for the Yuma proving grounds.
This route is appealing since it is not cluttered with a large number of airports along the way so picking out your way point is less problematic.
The route starts at the BLD VOR 17 miles south of Nellis
From BLD fly a heading of 151 degrees for 52 miles to KIPF
at which point you turn to 154 on the heading and fly 62 miles to P20
From P20 I turn on my final heading of 171 degrees for 78 miles then pop up shortly before my Time on Target and roll in. In real life I would imagine there would be an IP much nearer to the target.
As for adjusting your time so you are not early and beat your SEAD escort to the area or late and have the post strike Recce bird flying through your bomb fragments, you need to be able to adjust your timing.
The two methods I have used are----
Proportional--- For every second you are early or late change your IAS by one knot Hold that for a number of minutes equal to your planned ground speed in miles per minute
IE if 10 seconds late at a planned 480 knots (8 mile per minute) you would increase to 490 for 8 minutes. or 500 for 4 minutes and so on
The 10 percent rule---- The second technique is to take 10 percent of your planned ground speed and hold that for 10 minutes. for example 480 knots would be plus or minus 48 knots for 10 minutes to gain or lose a minute
I like this one since you can also make smaller adjustments, instead of 10 minutes you can hold the new speed for one minute and gain or lose 6 seconds on your timing.
That's all the theory as I understand it anyway. In practice it is a lot of averaging out.