Landing

Hi all

Just really getting started and learning and I had a question about landing.

I was doing the first Red Flag mission and when it came time to land I got to the penultimate waypoint and informed the tower that I was inbound.

The tower replied by telling me to proceed on a bearing for a set distance - which I did. I was expecting further instructions - but none came.

Now I'm pretty sure just flying around near an airport (especially one as busy as Nellis in Red Flag) is not an acceptable hobby.

So my question is - do you get talked down in this game (FC3, A-10C, Mi-8 or whatever)? Are proper landing protocols enabled and does the tower actually get back in touch, telling you how to get to the ground?

I remember a mission way, way back in Falcon 4 where I was heading back to base and I was very pleasantly surprised when the tower not only talked me down, but talked me around the airfield in the holding pattern whilst other aircraft landed.

So - do you "get talked down" in this game?

Thank you

The short answer is no, you need to request landing clearance once you are near the airport.

I take it they are still working on the new Comms then..?

Thank you for your response.

So - is it just a case of flying around near the airfield until you get the green light? I did ask for Landing Clearance - but it never came. When I eventually landed I realised why - there were 2 F-16s landing.

So does the airfield let you know and I just have to be patient? And do I just loiter around until I get said clearance?

Thanks.

That might work, but until a new AI-system is implemented in 2.x, I'd say that a reasonable advice is to mostly ignore the ATC. ;)

I take it they are still working on the new Comms then..?

Any news on the comms at all recently?

Just to the SW of Nellis is the holding pattern. Fly there and circle with other aircraft until you get clearance.

Thank you.

Pity about this. I mean, the sim is so detailed in so many other aspects. I would love to see proper comms and protocols from at least ATC

Well apparently improved ATC is coming, it is in fact supposed to be a pretty big feature of 2.0. I assume that we will have it once 2.0 goes out of Alpha, as for how long that will take is anyone's guess at this time.

It is indeed being developed, but for now, call inbound, and fly the course they tell you to, and you SHOULD get a second call. ATC at Nellis has had issues from day 1 of DCS World 2.0, so that second call may never arrive. In which case, be very aware of traffic, and try to land anyway.

The first call to ATC telling them your inbound gives you course and distance to fly. Once near the airport they will send message "cleared for visual contact tower" then you need to contact them again requesting landing, then they again answer "cleared to land runway XX"

If you don't get the 2nd message go into holding pattern until you do:)

I was having the same issue. I found that waiting to call inbound until you're within 5 miles helps. Or if you call inbound earlier, then cancelling and then call inbound again when you're closer and they will give you the command to land.

Yesterday I was doing the 1st campaign mission. During flight I knocked over something on my desk into my mouse which somehow opened my canopy, ripping it off. After the mission I had clearance to land 3 times but every time I was on approach I was called off due to aircraft on the runway. I decided to land anyway on the 4th approach and had a perfect touchdown. All of a sudden I see 2 F-16s ahead of me on my runway. I touched the nose down, slammed on the brakes, had to swerve around 1 jet losing control and sliding down the runway sideways. Jet began leaning over scraping the right wing, which caught fire, broke off 2 missiles and wing tank, blew the front and main right gear tires. Came to a stop and limped my Eagle back to chocks. Then got word over comm that the Mission was successful. I love this game.

I think my main issue was I was given inbound directions - and then nothing. Now as it happens, there were a lot of flights about and some were landing (F-16s for example)...but my main beef was no instruction.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't even get a nod to hold - just nothing. So I didn't know why I wasn't getting the call. I ended up trying to land myself and there were F-16s on the field.

So I guess the reason I didn't get the call to land was because of other traffic. But I had no other instruction. So I was left wondering what I should do after I had got to the point on the bearing the ATC told me.

I'm going to give the mission another go tonight and see if hanging around actually gets me the call. Or whether, as I suspect, I just get nothing.

ATC is so broken right now it's best to not even use it.

So I re-ran the first mission and followed ATC once I said I was inbound.

I received a bearing and distance to fly and then nothing else. In the end I was a considerable amount of miles away without hearing anything else and decided to head back.

When I did, I still heard nothing and decided to do what someone suggested above which was circle round south of Nellis AFB.

Eventually I got a clear to land message out the blue...however, as someone mentioned above, when I landed I was very surprised to see another F-15 on the runway which I had to avoid!

This is a bit of an immersion killer. It's all well and good having a great campaign (so I've heard...I've only done the first mission at the moment), but not being talked down with so many planes about, is rather disappointing.

I never really knew any of this because in all honesty, for all the time I've had DCS I've always been trying to just learn the flight models, systems and weapons and those tasks have kept me busy seemingly forever. So I've never had much in the way of dealings with ATC in a busy environment.

I'll be watching progress on ATC with mucho enthusiasm.

Yup, ignore ATC. Once you are within visual of the runway and you see a plane either on the runway or making an approach... just generally getting in your way... fire up the 30mm or an AIM-9 and blow the moron off the concrete. Then land and report to the Base Commander's office to be arrested.

(Free bread in the brig. All the water you can drink, too.)

:smilewink: