The Aircraft Carrier Thread.

[Sbob]

So, this is finally finished:

Update kit for the IRIS/DSB T-45 Goshawk for FS9.

Updates for the DSB T-45C Goshawk for FS9. Includes new panel and sound folders plus ATC voice files and callsigns for most of the T-45 squadrons. Full install notes in the README file, make sure you READ it.

sim-outhouse.org

and I can get my life back.

I've had the Goshawk installed in FS9 and FS2002 for quite a long time and figured it would be a snap to just zip-up the update kit and upload it. Then, I wanted to try some night landings and things went sideways.
For daytime ops the Goshawk is fine. Its a trainer so you don't want too many bells and whistles.

But then I noticed some odd stuff at night. The VC light was over-powering so that got fixed. There's also a problem with add-on textures, you'll see an artifact on both sides of the virtual cockpit at night. Trying to fix that (and I've thrown the kitchen sink at it) has eluded me and its makes NO sense why. The stock textures are fine, any repaint will cause the artifact to show up at night.

The basic problem is that you only NEED two carrier landings at night in the T-45, so it becomes a question of diminishing returns and how hard I wanted to flog on it.

Anyway, have fun with it. I swapped-in a better AOA indexer, at least its closer to what you'll need. Let me know if you're missing the ASI, I swapped in the ASI from the other DSB (UK) Hawk because it has a red tag at the over-speed point on the dial and now I'm wondering if I included the gauge?

 

[Sbob]

To start off, Merry/Happy [what ever you're celebrating].

This is a good time to take a short break but things will be starting to speed up.
If you're new to carrier landings, keep practicing with your Trainer aircraft on land.
The better you get to know this plane, the better you'll be ready for CQ at sea.
Concentrate on being able to touch the mains where you intended on a runway.

I've included some AOA Indexers with the TA-4 and T-45 aircraft updates.
The Indexer is the gauge in your line of sight with the two carrots and one meatball in the center, usually found to the left hand side of the HUD except on the Goshawk where it's just to the right of the main PFD.
Its also your newest and bestest buddy because the Indexer simplifies your instrument scan when you really need it.

For basic pattern work, drop the gear and the flaps (fully). Drop your airspeed to "Bachelor's Standard", ie. 150 Knots and maintain level flight with the nose pitched UP slightly. You want to maintain a straight-on course that's lined up with the runway for your approach leg. Naturally, the downwind leg will be 180 degrees from that. For turns, maintain airspeed and use a consistent 45 degree bank to the LEFT. This will put you on a basic "racetrack" pattern over the runway. Use this time to drop your speed slowly. Watch your Indexer, it should change from the lower carrot to the meatball. Dropping the speed below the meatball (the top carrot turns on) will make it almost impossible to maintain altitude and you'll be really close to a STALL. From here on, your throttle position becomes VERY important. Only use SMALL changes on the throttle to maintain altitude and keep the meatball lit.

Time for a quick aside- Your LSO (Landing Signals Officer) on the the boat ALWAYS knows when you're too fast or too slow. Those three lights on your Indexer are also connected to three small lights (green, yellow, and red) on the nose gear strut or inside the nose gear door. Your bestest new buddy is also a bit of a snitch. One other thing to understand, you ALWAYS fly a "corrected" 3 degree glideslope to the carrier deck. The carrier, itself, "broadcasts" a 3.5 degree glide slope which evens-out to a 3 degree glide slope due to the ship's speed. "The more you know".

So, getting back to pattern work, what you're really doing is getting used to flying near a STALL without actually getting into a STALL. If you're having issues with getting the meatball lit, try opening the speed brakes and use a little more power to compensate.

For your touch-and-go's, pick a spot near the runway. Once you're on the glide slope, try to keep that spot in view and WATCH if it starts to drift high or low. Use small throttle corrections to keep that spot in the right place. Normal touchdowns would be somewhere near the first 1/3 of the runway for a touch-and-go. This is where you start to build some consistency, and that's what gets you aboard when it matters.

Most AOA Indexer gauges allow for some in-between values and you can use this as a bit of a cheat. While you always want the meatball lit, there will be times when you'll also want to see the lower carrot lit and even a few times when you'll want the upper carrot lit.

Since we're getting closer to CQ, you may as well get some carrier scenery installed if you haven't already.

To me, the pick of the litter has always been Carriers 2006.

Carriers 2006.zip

Carriers 2006 (1385) Flight Simulator 2004 (Scenery) Carr2006.zip (5.85 Meg) (downloaded 1946 times) This package is an update of the 18 ArrestorCable Nimitz Class aircraft carriers by Javier Fernandez & Richard Hogan, with all new Afcad...

sim-outhouse.org

Its free but more than that, it has the BEST (IMHO) layout for carrier scenery files. Pay attention to how the two main folders get installed and added to your scenery.cfg file. Try to AVOID using FS's layering tool, if you've never done it now's a good time to learn how to manually edit your scenery.cfg file.

C2K6 is US-centric and fairly modern and there are some really small problems to fix (the traffic file for the carrier near Miramar) and I'm not super-happy with some of the locations (Korean DMZ and Gulf Of Sidra), but C2K6 is, pretty much, all you'll need. We'll dive a LOT deeper into other carrier scenery and, ultimately, how to add your own later in this thread.