Getting AOA right on carrier landings

I use the E-bracket, but wouldn't if I had some sort of visual reference to stand-in for me being unable to feel the motion of the aircraft slowing down. It's primarily there for me to figure out if I'm slowing or speeding up beyond what I want it to do.

That's where getting used to watching the analog speedometer comes in. With experience, you will be able to judge your accel / decel rate in respect to how fast the speedometer moves.

That's where getting used to watching the analog speedometer comes in. With experience, you will be able to judge your accel / decel rate in respect to how fast the speedometer moves.

The E bracket seems to have a finer movement than the airspeed indicator, where a jump of 5 knots is small on the ASI, but makes the E bracket fly off the chart.

The E bracket seems to have a finer movement than the airspeed indicator, where a jump of 5 knots is small on the ASI, but makes the E bracket fly off the chart.

Use Airspeed until below say, 180 knots or so on approach with gear and flaps down. Then as the tape approaches the on speed 15 unit mark, transition your scan to the AOA indicator, and as you trim on speed, to the AOA indexer (the Donut for you USAF types).

I took Victory’s suggestion and turned off the HUD. Made it easier to focus on the indexer and really stabilized what I was doing instead of chasing the e bracket around the hud.

Quick glance’s at the VSI and altitude gauges in the turn, then just focus on ball, indexer and line up as you round the 45.

I turned off the HUD and find it a bit easier. I can trim to level flight and on-speed, but as soon as I need to sink, or bank, anything that requires me to change my throttle, it seems like I need to re-trim and I am no longer on-speed. This makes sense to me since it has no FBW trimming to constant AOA, but I wanted to ask if people are re-trimming all the way to touchdown, or are they just using stick once it's trimmed initially? Seems like my level flight trim is not the same as my final glideslope trim.

When I say "turn off the HUD", I mean for landing only of course. ;)

Most left it in Landing Mode when just cruising around to get the heading and FP marker, and switched to A/A or A/G for social work.

When I started testing the various builds, I spent a lot of time just flying level in the landing configuration to determine the pitch and power settings to keep the aircraft on speed. I then practiced turns at various bank angles to determine power settings for different rates of descent. One aspect that took a lot of tweaking was the thrust line location. The aircraft came alive when the Geniuses at Heatblur got that right (they are geniuses, I'm not kidding).

I posted the general settings for the current release, but you should find your own by doing the same thing. Set it up and practice slowing down and trimming up to on speed. Try go arounds and note the stick position to stop the pitch up and lead for level offs.

Definitely practice the break maneuver, but know the procedures and sequence first. Don't practice bad habits.

Stay after it. This thing flies like an airplane. It isn't dumbed down at all and it requires techniques that Student Naval Aviators learn from day one in training.

I turned off the HUD and find it a bit easier. I can trim to level flight and on-speed, but as soon as I need to sink, or bank, anything that requires me to change my throttle, it seems like I need to re-trim and I am no longer on-speed. This makes sense to me since it has no FBW trimming to constant AOA, but I wanted to ask if people are re-trimming all the way to touchdown, or are they just using stick once it's trimmed initially? Seems like my level flight trim is not the same as my final glideslope trim.

Are you starting trimmed up hands off?

What bank angle? Are you getting slow? Try making the turn by pushing with one finger on the side of the stick only, and see what happens to AOA. Leave the power constant, and roll into a 15 degree AOB, what happens to AOA?

There is a tendency to put aft pressure on the stick in turns, even at 20-25 degrees angle of bank, and if you read my tips paper, you'll see that you may need to add power to keep the rate of descent under control. Power causes the nose to pitch up, and if unchecked, it can cause a slow AOA depending upon what the trajectory happens to be at the time of power application.

If you get slow, you'll need a little forward pressure on the stick while you add power, which will pitch the nose up at the same time. The opposite is also true if you get fast. See what is happening here? Each power correction requires three subtle movements. One to start the change of rate of descent, one to stop the inertia of that rate, and a final one to sustain the new rate.

It's exactly like flying formation. You will constantly be making small changes.

You shouldn't be killing snakes in the cockpit with your control stick. ;)

i have a few try and successful land already. You can refer to many case 1 tutorial from youtube.

Follow the case 1 pattern, change to display to LDG mode, trim with your datum(not FPV like hornet) to match E-bracket, get AOA ready at downwind.

The rest you need is patient, and practice and practice.

If you can land the hornet, not much different with the cat once you familiar with it's character, especially at low speed.

There are nothing can be done without practice.