Need help with airbase landing

So I purchased the Hornet and I'm really enjoying it but I'm having a lot of difficulty pulling off a realistic landing. I flew the F-15c previously so I was accustomed to coming in with flaps on auto and at first, that's exactly what I did with the Hornet. I really didn't have much of a problem.

That said, I'm trying to do this thing legit and everything I've seen says you go full flaps for landing in the F-18. This is where it all goes south. I have my speed and altitude right where it needs to be but as soon as I go full flaps, I get crazy lift and I'm literally having to push the stick all the way forward just to get this thing to the deck and it's wonky as hell. Am I missing something here? Surely this can't be right?? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

That's normal, the flaps on the 18 are massive, and generate a ton of lift when at FULL, try waiting until you're slower before dropping them and the effect won't be so bad. You don't notice it as much in a CASE I at the boat because you drop the flaps during a turn. Once you get configured (flaps FULL, gear down, on-speed AoA), be ready on the power, rock it back and forth a little to average it out. The engines aren't as responsive at they are in the Eagle, so you'll have to anticipate when to add or take away power. Don't drop the throttles to idle before touchdown, or they won't reduce to ground idle (if that happens just pump the throttles once you're on the ground and they should drop to ground idle).

It takes practice I know but it will come to you. I normally do gear down and flaps at basically same time - often in turn- but I am straight onto trim to get the AOA correct and moving throttle to keep speed good.

The are many posts here and a number of videos as well. Search through here for more info.

Just practice the AOA flight. Fly straight, drop speed to 250, Flaps to full, Gear down. Now trim the aircraft out, so you get the orange Donut in the AOA Indexer. You are fully trimmed out, when you don't need any joystick inputs and control your ascent/descent rate with your throttle.

This would be the state you would fly downwind before you start your turn for base.

I cannot stress enough how much trim is your friend!

v6,

boNes

It's also important to understand how the trim works with the F/A-18 in landing configuration. The aircraft automatically attempts to hold its AOA in landing configuration. Trimming while in landing config changes the set AOA. So when you go gear down and flaps down, the aircraft is suddenly going to stop holding 1G and instead hold AOA, which means you need to slow down and trim to the correct AOA right away or you'll struggle to control it.

I drop gear any speed under 250. (Or you can hit the switch at any speed but it will not drop until you are <250) Flaps not til 170 or so. This way the flaps bring huge drag so you will need to be ready on the throttle but much less, if any, lift. As I reread that sentence I realize it's not technically correct but it is how it feels. Do you have your trim on a hat on the stick? It needs to be very easily used. The end result is you will fly at about 135, w/ the orange AOA light lit or I prefer to use the E bracket in the hud. To me that is a more useful way to see the info.

Hi,

If you say that you go crazy up on full flaps it means you are not at the correct speed despite what you say. As stated above. I drop gear at 240 and half flaps at 180 and full flaps at 160, no issue whatsoever.

I drop gear and flaps at 250.

Then I apply fwd pressure on the stick to prevent the jet from ballooning. As the speed comes down, I release the fwd pressure slowly, and also begin to trim of AOA.

On my TM FA-18 stick, I've found that AOA can be trimmed with 5-7 downward clicks of the hat button that controls pitch trim.

I watch the speed continue to come down and around 140 knots I add throttle to "catch" the AOA. It's all throttle for pitch from there on out.

It took an untold number of straight-in approaches to sort all of that out. Now I can get it all done on a short downwind for a Case I approach.

I drop gear and flaps at 250.

 

Then I apply fwd pressure on the stick to prevent the jet from ballooning. As the speed comes down, I release the fwd pressure slowly, and also begin to trim of AOA.

 

On my TM FA-18 stick, I've found that AOA can be trimmed with 5-7 downward clicks of the hat button that controls pitch trim.

 

I watch the speed continue to come down and around 140 knots I add throttle to "catch" the AOA. It's all throttle for pitch from there on out.

 

It took an untold number of straight-in approaches to sort all of that out. Now I can get it all done on a short downwind for a Case I approach.

Sorry for OT question?

Tusker when you say 5-7 downward clicks of the trim on your FA-18 stick are they actual tactile clicks? I have the WH stick so no clicks but having actual clicks you can feel and count would be really nice.

Sorry, not actually "clicks", just successive stabs at the hat switch on the top of the FA-18 stick. That puts me in the ballpark for the trim I want for AOA. After that, it might be a stab up or down to dial it in.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm going to go back and make sure my speed is under 200 knts before I go full flaps and work the trim as suggested.

I'm a life long gamer and I must say this is by far the best gaming community out there. Someone always willing to lend a hand and offer up some good friendly advice. Really makes the game that much more enjoyable. Once i get a bit more experience under my belt on single player, I'm hoping to get recruited by a good squadron on here and get some good multiplayer flight time logged. Thanks again!

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm going to go back and make sure my speed is under 200 knts before I go full flaps and work the trim as suggested.

I'm a life long gamer and I must say this is by far the best gaming community out there. Someone always willing to lend a hand and offer up some good friendly advice. Really makes the game that much more enjoyable. Once i get a bit more experience under my belt on single player, I'm hoping to get recruited by a good squadron on here and get some good multiplayer flight time logged. Thanks again!

Indeed waiting to go full flaps makes the ballooning effect much less noticeable and easier to handle. However, you did say you were going for full realism. Thus correct technique, whether on field landings or around the boat, is to go straight from auto to full flaps as soon as you hit 250 kcas, which should happen theoretically during a level break. And on DCS at least that means really pushing the stick forward to compensate while speed drops to your Vapp. Apparently it's not that bad on the real bird according to those who did it for a living - they just did some of that pilot sh&*%#t and dealt with it. My two cents: start doing it the way you described above to take a gradual approach but aim towards developing the actual technique