AV-8B Harrier Thread

I Could be wrong but I believe the NVG's are a core part of DCS and Zues may have no control over its functionality.

No. I don't, but fortunately ED knew how to deal with the problem. It is fixed.

Hi All,

 

Firstly, just want to say how amazing this project looks and what a great job the team is doing.

 

Secondly, Zeus, will the NVG's be reactive to ambient lighting?

 

Under full moon, clear sky conditions they were extremely bright, really turning night into day. Over snow covered ground, under the above conditions, they were too bright in fact, the same under the Northern Lights. In civil twilight they were almost unusable due to high millilux levels but you just fly with them up until they become effective. Reducing moon phase or increasing cloud cover and thickness reduced the effectiveness up to the point that a new moon phase and thick cloud cover, especially away from urban lighting made them once again almost useless.

 

Another good aspect of the NVGs is that you can see aircraft lights (non NVG compatible) at great distances, well beyond normal visual range, this often gave up "enemy" aircraft who didn't go covert. However as NVGs are so powerful, even a single non NVG light can blind you if it's close by, important when you make landings to carriers, airfields and also tanking operations.

 

I'm sure this is an obvious comment but when wearing the NVGs you look underneath them when viewing the cockpit and sometimes FLIR on HUD image as well.

 

Night EO low level ops are really about using the best that both the FLIR and the NVGs can give you under the conditions at the time. The FLIR image in the HUD wasn't great to identify targets unless they were huge and had contrast, so was mainly used for track 12 navigation, switching between black and white hot depending on the background thermal transmissions and pilot preferences. Sometimes it was not used at all, once again depending on the conditions. The FLIR degrades significantly due to humidity, be it rain, mist, or just high moisture content. The FLIR image on the MPCD was much clearer in the right weather conditions and often would be displayed on one screen with the moving map on the other. Once again each pilot had their own preference for set up.

 

A 75% phase moon and clear night in low humidity conditions wasn't much harder than a day mission for a single ship flight. A new moon night in bad weather with thick cloud and no urban lighting was another matter, then throw in a formation.

I have no control in the NVG behavior. We are using the DCS built-in NVG. I could fix the tint problem but that's about all I can control.

I Could be wrong but I believe the NVG's are a core part of DCS and Zues may have no control over its functionality.

I have no control in the NVG behavior. We are using the DCS built-in NVG. I could fix the tint problem but that's about all I can control.

Thank you for the replies, I understand now, is it the same for the FLIR?

I have no control in the NVG behavior. We are using the DCS built-in NVG. I could fix the tint problem but that's about all I can control.

Thanks for the rapid response Zeus, she’s lookin awesome...and pre-ordered :thumbup:

WAR great post, nvg bloom from strobes was a distraction, even IR, also image ghosting (as you move your fov from a bright light source) on older tubes.

In the early NVG's, (70's-80's) the Puma pilots would night fly with one pilot with NVG's and the other safety pilot without. There was depth of field problem with them. We tried them by walking down a track where we could see the trees, they looked about 20ft away, then you walked straight into it. Has that been fixed nowadays?

In the early NVG's, (70's-80's) the Puma pilots would night fly with one pilot with NVG's and the other safety pilot without. There was depth of field problem with them. We tried them by walking down a track where we could see the trees, they looked about 20ft away, then you walked straight into it. Has that been fixed nowadays?

Short answer is no.

Short answer is no.

Confirmed. Shortly before my last deployment before leaving the USAF, I went through combat skills training. One of the exercises was driving a humvee, at night, through a wooded course with current-gen NODs. The lack of depth perception had me overshooting more than a few turns...

Poor humvee had at least thirty pounds of palmetto bush wedged in the grill by the end of the night.

Thanks for the rapid response Zeus, she’s lookin awesome...and pre-ordered :thumbup:

 

WAR great post, nvg bloom from strobes was a distraction, even IR, also image ghosting (as you move your fov from a bright light source) on older tubes.

In the early NVG's, (70's-80's) the Puma pilots would night fly with one pilot with NVG's and the other safety pilot without. There was depth of field problem with them. We tried them by walking down a track where we could see the trees, they looked about 20ft away, then you walked straight into it. Has that been fixed nowadays?

We were lucky enough to have Gen 3 goggles which had reasonable depth of field on the terrain and when the millilux levels were high, you could certainly fly very low level at high speeds. But of course they have their limitations like when the ambient light levels drop or on single points of light. Sometimes it was difficult to distinguish the tail light of the formation member ahead from a bright star! Poor NVG/FLIR performance however didn't stop us from flying low level attack sorties, it was just a damn sight scarier.

Another aspect which helped was the training, we had a simulator, well the US did initially until ours was built, so all pilots underwent a course before they began the EO workup in the jet.

I see Gen 4 googles now exist, though I'm not sure if these are in use on the Harrier now. Anyhow I guess this is going off topic for this thread and deserves it's own in due course.

The rear nozzles now glow with raw engine power.

The glow is the product of the engine JPT (Jet Pipe Temperatture) as indicated by the FM.

Wow. Really nice. :thumbup:

I bet that looks awesome at night.

NVGs

No. I don't, but fortunately ED knew how to deal with the problem. It is fixed.

I had a mod for the A-10C ages by Frenchy and tacca. I never did like the wide aspect of the ED nvgs. Any chance we can get a more circular realistic version?

The rear nozzles now glow with raw engine power...

Thanks HYENA, that’s a more impressive way to test the NVG

WAR, that sound really scary, so must try it some time. I found night flying in game rally good if you can Chet the house light off, it is just moe immersive,

Just never tried it with NVGs

Thank you Gents

IRL comparison of the glowing. Never knew that it did that :O

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=105_1467355039

I've seen this video, but I haven't noticed the sparks (?) in the fan face lol

Amazing the video! I tried to found a video with a the glowing effect at daytime but nothing. Is this effect in real almost noticeable at night?

Amazing the video! I tried to found a video with a the glowing effect at daytime but nothing. Is this effect in real almost noticeable at night?

AV-8B Plus making an emergency landing.

AV-8B Plus making an emergency landing.

 

It's the only one, and still very subtle compared with the pictures in DCS... the effect is way overdone in my opinion.

Regards!

It's the only one, and still very subtle compared with the pictures in DCS... the effect is way overdone in my opinion.

 

Regards!

Agree. It is a validation test for the glow. It will be fixed.

Super Cool documentary about the harrier, little dated tho I think its pre 2001ish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzFr_w1aKqw

Amalahama,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4trG-BSRgI4

I realise this is wip but I personally never saw the (GR7) hot nozzles glow in daylight, only a dusk/night. Does the AV8B engine make the hot nozzles glow in day light?

I realise this is wip but I personally never saw the (GR7) hot nozzles glow in daylight, only a dusk/night. Does the AV8B engine make the hot nozzles glow in day light?

Never seen it either and I have been rather close to them at times.

Never seen it either and I have been rather close to them at times.

Argh! 20 Sqn! Pass the eye soap!