Extremely Long Marshal Times

Expected approach times in Case II and III seem to be ludicrously long. I just flew a mission where I was the only approaching traffic coming back to the carrier making a Case III approach at night, and was given an expected approach time 45 minutes after my inbound call at 40nm. I was at the marshal point in less than 5 minutes. Not feeling like flying in circles for over half an hour waiting for no one, I just called commencing and flew the approach normally. Everyone talked to me as expected and no one gave me any lip for being half an hour early.

This has been pretty typical for me on Case II and III approaches. Why are we being asked to marshal for 20 to 30 minutes, especially when there is no other traffic?

This hasn't been my experience. I don't remember having to wait for more than 10-15 minutes, after I was established in the stack. And that was with other traffic there before me.

Keep in mind that Marshal will give you the minute of the current hour (or next, if applicable), not a countdown. So a push time of 45 means that your push time is 22:45, if the current hour is 22h. Maybe you're seeing that?

same here no more than 15 minutes

Keep in mind that Marshal will give you the minute of the current hour (or next, if applicable), not a countdown. So a push time of 45 means that your push time is 22:45, if the current hour is 22h. Maybe you're seeing that?

Yup, I understand how it works. In the case of last night I called inbound at about 02:30 and was told "expected approach time 19"

I only waited once in the stack for my expect time. After it came and went with no call to commence, I just commenced on my own and figured the game was set to let me head in when I want.

Since then, I call established, do a procedure turn of some sort to get lined up on BRC, then make the commence call and have at it. Works like a champ in SP. I suppose in MP you'd need some coordination so everyone isn't coming down the rails on top of each other.

Yup, I understand how it works. In the case of last night I called inbound at about 02:30 and was told "expected approach time 19"

I only waited once in the stack for my expect time. After it came and went with no call to commence, I just commenced on my own and figured the game was set to let me head in when I want.

 

Since then, I call established, do a procedure turn of some sort to get lined up on BRC, then make the commence call and have at it. Works like a champ in SP. I suppose in MP you'd need some coordination so everyone isn't coming down the rails on top of each other.

No one tells you to commence, you're supposed to hit your expected push time +/- 10 seconds. You declare to Marshal that you're commencing, when you exit the stack and start the approach.

Fair enough. I sort of mentally compared the marshal stack to a holding pattern in civilian life. In the real world, when you're issued holding instructions by ATC they include an 'expected further clearance time,' which is for use in the event you go NORDO. Otherwise, you don't leave the hold until ATC issues a clearance.

So that first time, I was expecting to hear a clearance to commence from the boat.

I was a P-3 guy in the Navy IRL about twenty years ago, so I don't have any experience flying around the boat IRL. I always imagined the boat would issue the clearance to commence, since they can see everyone on radar and know if the intervals are good.

Hmmm, when I set up a mission with just myself and the carrier I get a reasonable marshal time, so there must be something more going on here.

I notice this problem typically when coming back to the boat in campaign missions, such as Cage The Bear (so of course if I grab it in a track it'll be huge). So maybe even though there's no other aircraft within 30 miles of the carrier Marshal still thinks there's a bunch of approaching aircraft to account for. I'll do some more experimenting and see if I can nail down a specific cause.

I’ve seen times of up to 45 minutes and I was the first in the stack. I think it’s due to the distance away from the position of the Marshall stack. The further away you are when you check in the longer the wait time.

I realize this is an old thread, but has anyone figured out what DCS Supercarrier uses to determine the assigned approach times?  My friend and I have flown a custom mission twice that involves a night Case 3 landing.  Both times we were given approach times in excess of 40 minutes with no other traffic ahead of us.  Does calling "inbound" closer than 50 miles help?

Thanks

On 6/6/2021 at 6:05 AM, Tshark said:

I realize this is an old thread, but has anyone figured out what DCS Supercarrier uses to determine the assigned approach times?  My friend and I have flown a custom mission twice that involves a night Case 3 landing.  Both times we were given approach times in excess of 40 minutes with no other traffic ahead of us.  Does calling "inbound" closer than 50 miles help?

 

Thanks

I'm not sure what DCS uses as a measuring stick and that maybe the issue. IRL, we would use the number of aircraft on deck to launch (Case III) and multiply that by a number. It took maybe 5-7 minutes to get a launch out. At night, it is a slower pace for separation and safety. Whatever number you ended up with was your "Ramp" time. This is the time the first aircraft crosses the ramp for recovery. This information is then given to Primary and dispensed to CATCC. In DCS, there is no living "deck caller" Primary or anything else. Maybe that's the problem, I guess!