Tutorials by a real A10 Crew Chief

Hey guys, Rettick here. I haven't really been on the forums because I mainly hang out on the Teamspeak channel and fly with the guys that come on. The first class I gave got a lot of flack on the forums, so rather than feed the flames, I just let them burn out. I am indeed out of the Air Force now. I got out last March. I served 5 years and 3 months. I recieved an honorable discharge under the DOS Rollback and am currently attending college. I've been flying DCS since about February and have been going completely off the DCS A-10C Flight manual for all the classes. I will say here and now that I was a 5 level, not a 7 level, I am no expert on the A-10C but I had some badass maintainers training me constantly on swings. I hope this puts the rumors to rest. I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers, just wanted to get the new guys spun up and have some fun times. As far as my job in the Air Force applying to the game? I know the airframe and the basic control layout fairly well. That's about it. I've been building missions and training myself as best I can so I don't give false information to anyone. In fact, if you watch the training video recorded from the last class, you'll see that I blatantly state there are things I don't know. Hope this clears up any mess I may have created.

For multiplayer purposes, can it save your flight plans locally so you can load it after a reconnect or does it have to be a fresh one each time? Like how you can make a custom load out and export to a role and see it on load out options online?

With custom flightplans, you are creating a new flightplan in game instead of having it in DTS already. I don't believe that the custom flightplan will remain in the CDU as you are technically getting into a new jet every time you load back into the session, which means you have only the flightplan from the mission editor in your DTC. So you'll have to manually enter the waypoints and create a new flightplan every time. However, you can just write down the LL or MGRS coordinates, expand your TAD, and find those coordinates on the map. Once you're in the air, you can slew your TGP to those coordinates and set markpoints on those coordinates by setting your TGP as SOI and then setting the area as SPI. Then you just press TMS right short once. Then you go to your AAP and set the STEER PT rotary switch to MARK and you can use your markpoints to locate targets that you had previously found in game. You could also use these markpoints as steerpoints if you really wanted to.

New tutorial video tomorrow. Topic: Basic Startup.

delete please

The new tutorial, Basic Startup:

I know I'm being picky but the title of this thread needs to be update to reflect a "Former A-10 Crew Chief" otherwise it gives the impression that he is currently working A-10s.

Also...a few items about the video....

He talks SAS panel twice. At 5:17 talking about the emergency flight control panel not the SAS panel.

7:05 the fuel check is actually (and this is per the real world 1A-10C-1 and the 1A-10C-6WC-1)

• Needles at 3,000 + or - 300
  
• Totalizator at 6,000 + or - 400
  

Didn't have 45 minutes free to watch the rest so not sure what else may be slightly "off."

I seem to remember people nit-picking the 476th's training materials, and then they all got removed because of it... just saying... ;)

This is a BASIC startup for people who just want to fly. Not a startup for a professional (virtual) fighter wing. And he even says that in the start.

ALSO the bio was quoted in the first post on this topic, stating he was former...

I know I'm being picky but the title of this thread needs to be update to reflect a "Former A-10 Crew Chief" otherwise it gives the impression that he is currently working A-10s.

 

Also...a few items about the video....

 

He talks SAS panel twice. At 5:17 talking about the emergency flight control panel not the SAS panel.

 

7:05 the fuel check is actually (and this is per the real world 1A-10C-1 and the 1A-10C-6WC-1)

• Needles at 3,000 + or - 300
  
• Totalizator at 6,000 + or - 400
  

 

Didn't have 45 minutes free to watch the rest so not sure what else may be slightly "off."

The title of the thread is not under my control, I may be "Former" Air Force but I'm still a maintainer at heart. You were absolutely right about the SAS panel thing and I am working to figure out a way that myself and jetliner can correct some of these minor errors. I don't have access to a real world manual anymore, so I went with a safe bet of +/- 200lbs. for both which is still technically within limits. Not to be too picky, but the 1A-10C-6WC-1 is pulled from the 1A-10C-1 which kinda means stating both is redundant. Thank you for watching the first five minutes and I hope to fix future errors before QA tears me up again.

The video was is just absolutely amazing. I do respect user paulrkiii but watching Retick's video I learned so much. I don't think it was done to amazed veterans. It was done for us, guys sitting whole day somewhere in office and scrambling minutes to play DCS in the night. And these videos saved me so much time. Thank you Rettick and Jetliner again and should you still have some to share, please do.

I don't think it was done to amazed veterans. It was done for us, guys sitting whole day somewhere in office and scrambling minutes to play DCS in the night.

PRECISELY! :D

Great tutorial guys, have really enjoyed all of them so far and seriously appreciate you guys putting the time into running and recording/editing them for us. Just a few things that caught my eye on this vid.

Ejector seat was not armed

Pilot heat was not turned on

CMS system was not turned on

APU was left turned on

Radios not turned on (although I did get that you were not covering that this time around).

I am just learning the startup myself at the moment and am now at a stage where I can run the sequence from memory so those points above are more of a question as opposed to any kind of criticism, is there any major relevance/downside to those not being/enabled or left on before takeoff?

The title of the thread is not under my control, I may be "Former" Air Force but I'm still a maintainer at heart. You were absolutely right about the SAS panel thing and I am working to figure out a way that myself and jetliner can correct some of these minor errors. I don't have access to a real world manual anymore, so I went with a safe bet of +/- 200lbs. for both which is still technically within limits. Not to be too picky, but the 1A-10C-6WC-1 is pulled from the 1A-10C-1 which kinda means stating both is redundant. Thank you for watching the first five minutes and I hope to fix future errors before QA tears me up again.

I'll say now, no disrespect to Rettick. Once a maintainer always a maintainer. My stating the thread should be changed has nothing to do with you but how members of this community "latch" on to those of us with real world experience.

So you know my background. I've worked A-10s for going on 10 years. Worked A models active duty in the 90s. Got out in the late 90s and worked F-15s (A thru E models) depot level maintenance and then went in the reserves a few years ago and now I am a current A-10C crew chief, 7 level and APG expeditor for the 476th Fighter Group at Moody AFB, Ga.

You and I may know the 6WC and the -1 may be redundant but most on here wouldn't know that.

The video was is just absolutely amazing. I do respect user paulrkiii but watching Retick's video I learned so much. I don't think it was done to amazed veterans. It was done for us, guys sitting whole day somewhere in office and scrambling minutes to play DCS in the night. And these videos saved me so much time. Thank you Rettick and Jetliner again and should you still have some to share, please do.

Yes it is for new users, and that's why I stated what i did so new users would know the correct information.

Great tutorial guys, have really enjoyed all of them so far and seriously appreciate you guys putting the time into running and recording/editing them for us. Just a few things that caught my eye on this vid.

 

Ejector seat was not armed

Pilot heat was not turned on

CMS system was not turned on

APU was left turned on

Radios not turned on (although I did get that you were not covering that this time around).

 

I am just learning the startup myself at the moment and am now at a stage where I can run the sequence from memory so those points above are more of a question as opposed to any kind of criticism, is there any major relevance/downside to those not being/enabled or left on before takeoff?

Originally we did record the ejection seat control handle. Where it was and how it worked. Unfortunately that clip got left out. In answer to your question, usually the ejection seat handle is lowered at the end of the launch while the pilot is preparing to taxi out.

The radios were touched on, but we only talked about the front radio as that is the radio used for talking to tower. The APU is turned off at EOR where, in real life, the pilot would stop to have his safety pins removed and his gun armed up. CMS system is armed just after takeoff to ensure that there is no accidental release that could harm ground crews. You could set up your CMS program without arming the buckets, but it's all about safety.

The pitot probe is normally switched on during the launch but only long enough to let the crew chief make sure it is warming up. After that, it'll stay off until the pilot reaches colder temperatures whether due to altitude, or location. The reason for this is that the pitot probe will melt.

Originally we did record the ejection seat control handle. Where it was and how it worked. Unfortunately that clip got left out. In answer to your question, usually the ejection seat handle is lowered at the end of the launch while the pilot is preparing to taxi out.

 

The radios were touched on, but we only talked about the front radio as that is the radio used for talking to tower. The APU is turned off at EOR where, in real life, the pilot would stop to have his safety pins removed and his gun armed up. CMS system is armed just after takeoff to ensure that there is no accidental release that could harm ground crews. You could set up your CMS program without arming the buckets, but it's all about safety.

The pitot probe is normally switched on during the launch but only long enough to let the crew chief make sure it is warming up. After that, it'll stay off until the pilot reaches colder temperatures whether due to altitude, or location. The reason for this is that the pitot probe will melt.

Ah great ok, many thanks for the detailed response. Is always very interesting to learn how the real life procedures work in relation to the sim. Thanks again for the reply. :thumbup:

Its obvious that what is done in real life and what happens in game with regards to power on checks and procedures has the very clear issue that much of the procedures in real life exist to check if a system that is used day after day is functioning. In a game effectively every session you receive a brand new, never used before, A-10 with 0% chance of failures, unless you turn that feature on which I'm sure most people don't since emergency/non-normal procedures is often something people know little about since they worry about knowing how to do the normal procedures correctly, and even then I'm not sure how that works with respect to pre-flight power on stuff.

Interestingly, the PMDG 737 NGX for FSX has a neat feature that allows for a kind of recurring wear and tear on a single airframe to be simulated. Basically every livery for every model of the add on behaves as if its an individual airframe and with this feature turned on the flight hours are actually logged and normal failures can occur based on time since maintenance and such.

Would be cool if that happened in more sims since it would make following the real manual's procedures step by step much more important.

At least it's the guy who ACTUALLY knows who is nitpicking in this case- knowing his past contributions it's easy to take for granted that it's for the sake of contributing to the information as opposed to trying to invalidate it.

What I'm happy about not seeing is all the second string armchair quarterbacks throwing muffins at a really great training aid. Lord knows there are enough threads chalk-a-block with that kind of nonsense.

I seem to remember people nit-picking the 476th's training materials, and then they all got removed because of it... just saying... ;)

Point me in the direction that happened because I didn't and can't remove any posts here on the ED board.

Also, your comment about me being why people don't help out in the community...I think I'm the last person causing this. As a matter of fact...

Some of the items I've done to help the community:

• A-10 Flight Crew Checklist downloaded 2,992 times
  
• KA-50 Flight Crew Checklist downloaded 777 times
  
• P-51 Flight Crew Checklist downloaded 1,692 times
  
• A-10 Air-to-Air Refueling Guide downloaded 1,409 times
  
• Formation Guide downloaded 1,398 times
  
• A-10 Cockpit Familiarization Guide downloaded 806 times
  
• Fixed Wing Basic Flight Maneuvers Guide downloaded 919 times
  
• DCS World 1.2.4. & beyond skin tutorial downloaded 235 times
  
• TACAN/ILS Mod downloaded 30 times
  
• Flight Plan Guide downloaded 2,771 times
  
• Original SKin Tutorial downloaded 3,796 times
  

Just saying....

We made an effort to help people, to belittle that effort is pretty rude, and is why people dont help on these forums anymore.

Thanks for the negative rep my friend...I'll leave this thread alone since it appears the opinion of someone who is still working on the A-10 isn't wanted.

Unbelievable.

Hey, I just wanted to say that we're not trying to bash Paul here. Regardless of what has happened, I've seen what Paul has put out and it's good stuff. I personally believe I should have just left the part about +/- (X) lbs. out of the video altogether. It is my fault for going too in depth on a video for new players.

No one who is trying, or has actually helped the community sets out to do so by admonishing others and tearing their material apart. I know that wasn't Paul's intent. Paul, I learned a lot from your videos and documentation when I first started. As a matter of fact, I still have a dropbox full of info from the ED forums, and I'm glad to say that your material is a part of it.

What I'm trying to say is that input from the community is welcome. If we make mistakes, we'll fix them as best we can. But there are some things that really don't matter that much. Like the limits on a fuel gauge. Let's be honest, this is a game, not real life. Unless the error percentage is above 0% in the mission options, we'll never see a bad fuel gauge, or a hung gun, or any of the real life code 2's and 3's out there.

Now there are those of you out there that may play this way, but I have yet to meet anyone that builds their missions with aircraft failures installed. I'm not knocking that, but I am saying that it's rare to see people using this. Especially new players, to which this content is aimed.

One last thing I'd like to say is that Jetliner has put as many hours into this project as I have. From editing the video, to highlighting switches, animating parts of the cockpit, and breaking down visually what I never could verbally. There was a lot of effort put into this project, and it's still getting better, but please, don't come in talking about the 5 minutes you spent watching and how you couldn't find time in your busy schedule to tear up the rest of the video we spent hours making. Respect is a two way street and the impression you gave was one of conceit and superiority. It may have not been intended that way, but we only have text, not eye contact, verbal inflection, or body language. I'll take your hits boss, but I won't let you swing at anyone else on my team.

I hope that you see this Paul, and I hope you continue to put forth effort to help us get better at making these training videos. As I stated before when I first posted, I don't want conflict, only to learn, and share what I've learned.

Point me in the direction that happened because I didn't and can't remove any posts here on the ED board.

I believe he was pointing to the Battle Book incident, where people were being enormous bitches about nothing in particular, and Eddie pulled the link from the first post. The post wasn't deleted however.

Frankly, I find the temperament of many knowledgeable people around these parts rather disappointing. Territorial pissing matches seem to crop up anytime supposed and fluid notions of "expertise" or what not get bandied about. Tags and labels and a whole lot of ego and posturing.

Worst thing is it just stifles the sharing of valuable and scarce information. Generally speaking, 476th stuff fills a rather enormous void of knowledge absent from this community, and its all rather disappointing to sense that a whole lot more of it isn't being shared based on how a few 476ths feel about the way a small bundle of people say stupid stuff.

I just wish the knowledgeable wouldn't punish so many of us who greatly benefit (and appreciate) what they offer on account of a handful of people they argue with.

I don't even want to take sides, I think frankly people in general get stupidly over-involved in arguing with a few people and the whole match becomes (to quote someone from the Battle Book thread) "I'm gonna take my ball and go home".

I wanna play with your ball too... :cry:

Hello,

Congratulation for this tutorial and the great quality of your video, a real master piece ^^

Your tutorials are awesome, I'm a great fan...

A great thanks for these videos, best regards. Skull

I believe he was pointing to the Battle Book incident, where people were being enormous bitches about nothing in particular, and Eddie pulled the link from the first post. The post wasn't deleted however.

 

The Battle Book is still available to the public in our downloads section of our website.

I'd say at least 80% of our stuff in the 476th vFG is available for the public. yes we have some training documentation that are in house only but that's only because we have to have some reason for people to join :D.

When new tutorial will take place how to participate ? Btw great job you guys and thank you for your service

F-15E Crew Chief walks in...looks around...see's no Crew Dawg bashing...walks out.

I'd say at least 80% of our stuff in the 476th vFG is available for the public. yes we have some training documentation that are in house only but that's only because we have to have some reason for people to join :D.

Yea, but its unfortunate that you're so popular recruitment is never open and if it were, it would probably close up real fast.

I think the stuff that isn't available is exactly the stuff I wish I had. There isn't much advanced stuff out there. Once you've learned to use the systems proficiently, there's a whole lot of technique that there just isn't any manual for around here, that I know of.

If I can ever get slicks to do exactly what I want, I'm generally unsure of exactly what I did right. :D