RAZBAM A-7E..HUD ccip mode

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Prowler1111

Charter Member 2011
Gents:
Just a peek of the immersion this project is going to , a working as per NATOPS data HUD+ ccip for guns/rockets and bombs

View attachment 1284

HUD features as like the real one, keep in mind the A-7E/D had one of the world´s 1st operational HUD
Best regards
Prowler
 
This aircraft looks better and better everytime you post about it. Looks like it will go nicely in the hangar with the A-6 and EA6B. I imagine since you have worked on the CCIP mode it will have weapons capabilities similar to the A-6 package? Can't wait for yet another great example of cold war US Naval air power.
 
That’s looking very nice! One time the CO was starting up for a launch, and the HUD was AFU, and I knew that meant replacing the display unit in the cockpit. Now, what you see is only a six inch square piece of glass, but the A-7E’s HUD display unit is three feet long and weighs about 75 pounds. And the CO was all bent out of shape and insisted that I change the unit with him sitting in the plane with the engine running. Normally you remove the HUD by sitting in the cockpit seat because you have to slide the unit all the way “aft” (three feet…) before you can hand it down to somebody on the ground, or put in on your shoulder and carry it down yourself. So it was very awkward to remove the darn thing while perched on the boarding ladder on the side of the cockpit, with a ticked off pilot looking at you the whole time ("are you done yet...?"). But he was nice and decided to help me by holding and balancing the thing until we got it clear of its mounting rail thingies and I could carry it down. Then repeat and reverse the process with the new one. He handed me the two bolts that held it in place, dropped one, it went forward down the “dash board” and fell in a crack, so I had to get the long magnet on the end of a stick out to retrieve it. At that point he started being nice to me and said “thanks” and stuff like that… Pilots! I’ll bet jmig was never like that! :icon_lol:
 
Roadburner440 said:
This aircraft looks better and better everytime you post about it. Looks like it will go nicely in the hangar with the A-6 and EA6B. I imagine since you have worked on the CCIP mode it will have weapons capabilities similar to the A-6 package? Can't wait for yet another great example of cold war US Naval air power.
Click to expand...


Wait till we release this one and see what will be the "Xtreme A-6 Intruder" package..
Prowler
 
PRB said:
.......it went forward down the “dash board” and fell in a crack, so I had to get the long magnet on the end of a stick out to retrieve it.
Click to expand...


Paul, you were ONE lucky maintainer to have retrieved that bolt! And am sure you can relate numerous experiences when the "luck" wasn't there! Also, I can remember when pilots would go inverted, and all sorts of FOD would rain down on them.......

Pete
 
I must say you are the man. I take that as an admission that A-6 Extreme is a go. I didn't have my hopes up when I saw only 9 people vote in the pole on your site.
 
PRB said:
That’s looking very nice! One time the CO was starting up for a launch, and the HUD was AFU, and I knew that meant replacing the display unit in the cockpit. Now, what you see is only a six inch square piece of glass, but the A-7E’s HUD display unit is three feet long and weighs about 75 pounds. And the CO was all bent out of shape and insisted that I change the unit with him sitting in the plane with the engine running. Normally you remove the HUD by sitting in the cockpit seat because you have to slide the unit all the way “aft” (three feet…) before you can hand it down to somebody on the ground, or put in on your shoulder and carry it down yourself. So it was very awkward to remove the darn thing while perched on the boarding ladder on the side of the cockpit, with a ticked off pilot looking at you the whole time ("are you done yet...?"). But he was nice and decided to help me by holding and balancing the thing until we got it clear of its mounting rail thingies and I could carry it down. Then repeat and reverse the process with the new one. He handed me the two bolts that held it in place, dropped one, it went forward down the “dash board” and fell in a crack, so I had to get the long magnet on the end of a stick out to retrieve it. At that point he started being nice to me and said “thanks” and stuff like that… Pilots! I’ll bet jmig was never like that! :icon_lol:
Click to expand...

I caused a sortie abort once when I dropped the spring that held the lens cap on to the map light, while trying to see if the bulb was good on a night mission. Maintenance had to pull the ejection seat to find the darn spring.

I bought a case of beer for that one. :)
 
Yep, most pilots really do appreciate the work the maintainers do. Even our cranky CO got a sheepish look on his face after dropping the bolt, and all the impatience and “attitude” instantly drained away. Cool of you to buy the boys a case a beer!

:guinness: :icon29:
 
Different HUD functions:
CCIP in action, the "bomb lineup cue" (that vertical line) moves 40 degrees either side, it means that´s the most critical angle bombs could be drop (which, btw, seems too extreme, but it´s on the NATOPS)

View attachment 1350

View attachment 1351

"pull up" cue, different to modern planes, (f-16´s and such) it marked the safe altitude on which bombs could be drop (lower than that, you´ll "bomb" yourself).

View attachment 1353

Best regards
Prowler
 
That one is an all time favourite of mine, so you can imagine i can't wait for her.
Do you need any Beta Testers? :wavey:
 
Ron, you have done something amazing with this airplane. You have brought it “back to life” in such a delightful way. I've worked on those HUDs for a long time, but I never got to see what it looked like in flight, and for some reason seeing it dynamically, in flight, has been completely unexpected and a surprise. I keep going back to the NATOPS and saying “wow, that's exactly what it would have looked like … cool!”

Thanks!

:guinness: :icon29:
 
PRB said:
That’s looking very nice! One time the CO was starting up for a launch, and the HUD was AFU, and I knew that meant replacing the display unit in the cockpit. Now, what you see is only a six inch square piece of glass, but the A-7E’s HUD display unit is three feet long and weighs about 75 pounds. And the CO was all bent out of shape and insisted that I change the unit with him sitting in the plane with the engine running. Normally you remove the HUD by sitting in the cockpit seat because you have to slide the unit all the way “aft” (three feet…) before you can hand it down to somebody on the ground, or put in on your shoulder and carry it down yourself. So it was very awkward to remove the darn thing while perched on the boarding ladder on the side of the cockpit, with a ticked off pilot looking at you the whole time ("are you done yet...?"). But he was nice and decided to help me by holding and balancing the thing until we got it clear of its mounting rail thingies and I could carry it down. Then repeat and reverse the process with the new one. He handed me the two bolts that held it in place, dropped one, it went forward down the “dash board” and fell in a crack, so I had to get the long magnet on the end of a stick out to retrieve it. At that point he started being nice to me and said “thanks” and stuff like that… Pilots! I’ll bet jmig was never like that! :icon_lol:
Click to expand...

I love this, back in the day mate before modular systems, what a great story! And a forgiving CO, personally where I come from you just wouldn't have even been given the choice as to whether you could have flown it or not, one jet my mate was working with had a GPS/INS aligning failure and he had to swap aircraft, not like tha back in the day ehh!:salute:
(hate to say but it was the Harrier GR7)!!! Personally I like to hit things with hammers but it doesn't work with this glass tech, and why not ehh!! LOL
 
Roger on modular systems, and “back in the day”! I went from an A-7E squadron to an FA-18C squadron, and some of that change was already underway. But, some of the differences are related to if the discrepancy is a “downing” discrepancy. In the A-7E, for example, the HUD is not a “downing” discrepancy, meaning, you could still go flying if it was broke. Not so in the FA-18, in which the HUD is the primary attitude and flight reference display. During the transition from A-7s to FA-18s, in the 1980s, one of the jokes was to make fun of Hornet pilot weenies, who couldn't fly without HUDs. It was true, if not a little bit unfair – the “Hornet weenies” were not allowed to fly without a HUD...

As for hitting things with hammers, try this: The A-7 had a big “box” we called the ASCU (Armament Systems Control Unit). When you selected stations for bomb release, Master Arm modes, release intervals, etc., etc., all that crap went through this box. It was full of giant relays and weighed about 90 pounds. Often problems related to this system were due to these relays getting “stuck”, and many of these problems could be fixed by removing this box from the plane, setting it down carefully on the deck, raising one edge about two inches off the deck, and letting go... This would often “loosen up” the sticky relay contacts, and the problem would go away for months!
 
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