One thing I have to say about the VRS Super Bug is that they did a great job coding it and working with the flight model considering the limitations with FSX. I had long held off buying the model until last year when I finally replaced my 2005 Dell PC with a new i7 core system which I knew would run the Super Bug with ease and the wait and purchase was well worth every penny.
Not sure how many have read the following but it is a very interesting bit of information from a Test Pilot about the handling characteristic of the Super Hornet:
For takeoff, Dave selected full afterburner and rotated at 105 KIAS. Once airborne, we leveled off and accelerated to 370 KIAS for a 45 degree pull up and full power climbout at 250 KIAS. The RoC off the runway was around 27,000 FPM and we climbed to FL200 ft in about 1.5 minutes from brake release. We reached FL260 at 297 KIAS and Dave handed the aircraft over to me with the customary stick waggle, pulling the throttles out of afterburner.
My first manoeuvre was a 360 degree left aileron roll at about 1/2 stick input. The aircraft's response was very crisp and full roll rate achieved very quickly, at about 120 degrees/sec. The roll recovery was a little messy, by force of habit I applied opposite stick to arrest the roll rate sharply and ended up 15 degrees into a right roll before I neutralized the stick position. The Flight Control System (FCS) reacts very sharply to control inputs and is perfectly damped from a pilot's perspective, the aircraft reacts almost instantaneously with G and roll rates proportional to stick deflection, at all airspeeds. Typically one inch of stick deflection produces 2 G of load factor, with very light and comfortable stick force for small control inputs. The Super Hornet can be flown very precisely with gentle control handling, and is very easy to point.
Once we completed the radar demo, Dave suggested I do a supersonic run and explore supersonic handling. I pushed the throttles past the detente into full afterburner and the aircraft accelerated through the sound barrier, with only a gentle bump to indicate that we had gone supersonic, the FCS smoothing out the Mach dither very effectively. Ten minutes into the sortie, at 735 KTAS/485 IAS/M1.18 I initiated a half stick 360 left aileron roll, and recovered the roll cleanly. The handling was indistinguishable from the subsonic roll, with a roll rate of about 120 degrees/sec for a half stick input. At Dave's suggestion, I pulled the throttle back out of burner and initiated a climbing supersonic 2.0G heading change to point at 330 degrees to the Hornet Box over Colac. The aircraft turns very smoothly and little stick force is required to hold 2G, virtually no lateral stick input adjustments were required to keep the nose on the horizon. Airspeed bled off fairly slowly despite the applied G and altitude change.
-The Virtual Speedbrake
The next handling demonstration involved involved the speedbrake and some high alpha low speed handling, an area in which many fighters experience problems in maintaining direction and avoiding a departure into uncontrolled flight.
The first demonstration involved the virtual speedbrake effectiveness and handling in this configuration. The F/A-18A-D, like the F-15 series, employs an upper fuselage hydraulically deployed speedbrake. The Super Hornet has no such device, yet achieves the same effect through what can only be described as digital magic. The speedbrake function is produced by a balanced deployment of opposing flight control surfaces, generating drag without loss of flight control authority or change in aircraft pitch attitude.
Dave demonstrated the speedbrake function, and I was asked to observe over the shoulder and in the mirrors the raised ailerons, lowered trailing flaps, raised spoilers and splayed out rudders. Deceleration is smooth and there is no observable pitch change.
At Mach 0.63 Dave invited me to fly another 360 aileron roll, to observe that the aircraft retains considerable control authority despite the fact that the rudders are splayed out, and the ailerons, spoilers and flaps are generating balanced opposing pitching moments. I applied roughly 1/2 stick input and the aircraft very cleanly rolled through 360 degrees at about 90 degrees/sec roll rate. I commented on the lower roll rate and Dave observed that we were significantly slower, he then proceeded to demonstrate the roll again with a full stick input, producing around 180 degrees/sec with a slight overshoot on recovery. The aircraft feels very stable throughout the manoeuvre and there is no observable change in control forces or control input response by the FCS.
-High Alpha Handling
We then proceeded with some high alpha handling. Entry into this regime involved pulling back the power, while I tracked the control movements hands on, Dave progressively increased the amount of aft stick to maintain a constant airspeed around 90 KIAS. Power is concurrently added to maintain altitude and airspeed, and the aircraft was stable at 43 degrees alpha. Dave then demonstrated a full 360 degree aileron roll while maintaining over 40 alpha and close to full aft stick. Having worked through several maneuvers, we took at break to explore further radar modes. Dave selected the high resolution spot SAR mode and slewed the patch map over Colac. After several sweeps the image sharpened up and we could resolve individual buildings and streets in the town, clearly contrasted against Lake Colac. The difference in groundmap quality against the sixties technology real-beam mapping APQ-161 truly reflects the 4 decades of intervening technological evolution. Having explored main street Colac for several minutes, we turned our attention to the Avalon airfield.
At about Mach 0.6 at FL200 Dave selected SAR spot mapping and slewed the radar over the Avalon parking area. With the nose pointing to Avalon, a few miles east of Colac, we had very little lateral Doppler and at Dave's prompting I slewed the nose about 30 degrees to the right to get a larger angle off the nose. Within several seconds the picture began to sharpen up, and Dave adjusted the patch position so we could observe the corral and pilot's hut from whence we had departed less than an hour ago. It took little effort to resolve the parked aircraft and the hut, the fence posts along the runway resonated nicely and we got a clean row of dots across the picture. Exploring the image, the fields full of parked cars were easily resolved, as were the row of chalets, the control tower and taxiways. Picture contrast was excellent and the synthetic image was highly stable.
An attack with a glide weapon like an AGM-154 JSOW or winged GBU-31/32 variant would be very easy to execute with a delivery accuracy of mere feet, in zero visibility conditions, using this mode.
Dave handed the aircraft over and I flew several gentle 1.5G turns, while we discussed the control forces and required inputs per G. Dave switched the radar into real beam mapping mode and pushed the throttles to mil while I pulled the nose up to climb back up to FL280.
I was invited to fly the aircraft into a high alpha regime. I pulled off the power at Dave's instruction and applied aft stick to bleed off airspeed while holding altitude. At about 30 degrees alpha a distinct rumbling sound developed, as the airflow over the aircraft began to break up into turbulent flow, yet the handling did not perceptibly change. Stick force however did increase noticeably, as I approached 3/4 aft stick deflection I needed both hands to comfortably pull the stick back further. Holding 90 KIAS I pulled the aircraft gradually back to 48 degrees alpha, while Dave worked the throttles.
The aircraft was very stable throughout entry and the progressive increase in AoA, there was no perceptible rolling sensitivity in lateral stick inputs, the knife edge balance preceding a wing drop which one would intuitively expect as a result of the aircraft's speed and angle of attack was absent. From the pilot's perspective, the feel is very solid and smooth.
Small lateral stick inputs yielded a proportionate response, there was no perceptible reduction in control input sensitivity in this regime. To exit from the manoeuvre, I released the aft stick pressure, and as the aircraft unloaded Dave pulled back the power.
2.4 Flying the Pirouette
-Pirouette Manoeuvre
The pirouette manoeuvre was developed at the request of operational pilots, as a high alpha low speed reversal, akin in its purpose to the classical yo-yo. In a high yo-yo, the pilot unloads in a tight turn, climbing and decelerating, then rolls 90 degrees and pulls through 180 degrees to reverse direction, leaving the aircraft pointing at the target with an altitude advantage. The pirouette is an in-plane reversal manoeuvre which resembles a conventional stall turn or hammerhead in a piston aircraft.
To execute the pirouette at low speed, the aircraft is placed into a high alpha attitude, and as airspeed drops to around 100-200 KIAS and full back-stick is held in, full lateral stick and rudder are applied into the direction of the reversal.
The stick and rudder force for the pirouette entry are light, compared to the aft stick force, and the aircraft very smoothly slices around in-plane, wings level, to point in the opposite direction. The stick and pedal inputs are in effect the same as for a snap roll, but the FCS software senses the attitude and control inputs and executes the pirouette. Without the FCS code designed to do this, most fighters would depart and possibly do so in a direction other than that intended by the pilot.
To demonstrate the pirouette, Dave asked me to take the controls and apply progressively more aft stick to bleed off airspeed. As we hit 155 KIAS, 20 degrees alpha at 1.9G load factor, I followed his instructions and applied full right rudder and stick. The aircraft pivoted around, slowing to 80 KIAS over the top and with controls neutralized accelerated quickly to 215 KIAS coming out of the maneuver.
The pirouette is almost ridiculously easy to fly, and the aircraft does so very smoothly, at no point does the pilot feel an impending departure or other loss of controllability.
Having played through the key radar modes and worked through the basic high alpha maneuvers, Dave was unable to tempt me into the inverted stall and pull through manoeuvre which I had a mere one hour ago looked forward to trying. My lack of currency had been catching up with me, and we agreed it was time to exercise the aircraft through a couple of touch and goes and then call it a day. We departed at a leisurely pace from the Hornet box for some circuits at Avalon.
