Chuck's DCS: F/A-18C Guide

Fantastic!

Thanks Chuck, you're the man :thumbup:

Thanks Chuck...I printed it out so I could study anywhere. My plan is when you release updates when the new ground attack systems come online I'll just reprint those chapters :smilewink:

Why not just download it to your Ipad?

Thanks Chuck!

Always on top of it Chuck. Great guide/gouge as always!

Great, now I have some light reading material for those downtimes at work.

Why not just download it to your Ipad?

Guess I could but I like a printed manual so I can make notes and highlight stuff...time to admit I'm just old school :book:

The quality and hard work you've put into this is very much appreciated, Chuck.

PART 2 – CONTROLS SETUP

PART 4 – START-UP PROCEDURE

PART 8 – FLIGHT & AERODYNAMICS

PART 9 – RADAR & SENSORS

PART 10 – OFFENCE: WEAPONS & ARMAMENT

PART 11 – DEFENCE: RWR & COUNTERMEASURES

PART 12 – DATALINK & IFF

Thanks Chuck, great work as always. Required reading for all DCS Hornet drivers out there.

Great job as always.. thank you for your support with these wonderful guides

Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

Thank you for all your hard work on these guides Chuck. Very much appreciated.

Thank you very much Chuck !!

Feel Like I'll Read it again soon :)

Thanks Chuck, great to see you back on business! :thumbup:

Updaded Hornet guide on 26/08/2019:

• Updated Sensors Section with LITENING II Targeting Pod
  
• Added AGM-65E Maverick, AGM-84D Harpoon (BOL & R/BL), GPS-Guided Ordnance (Targeting Pod) and GBU-12 (Laser-Guided) Tutorials
  
• Updated IFF & Datalink Section
  
• Added hyperlinks in Table of Contents
  
• Fixed Typos
  

That's absolutly awesome. Thank you so much Chuck.

Thank You Chuck!

Updaded Hornet guide on 26/08/2019:

 

• Updated Sensors Section with LITENING II Targeting Pod
  
• Added AGM-65E Maverick, AGM-84D Harpoon (BOL & R/BL), GPS-Guided Ordnance (Targeting Pod) and GBU-12 (Laser-Guided) Tutorials
  
• Updated IFF & Datalink Section
  
• Added hyperlinks in Table of Contents
  
• Fixed Typos
  

Great Chuck! Could you please tell us what chapters were updated by the first 4 changes (I don't need to reprint the chapters with typo corrections).

Thanks :smilewink:

PART 9 – RADAR & SENSORS

PART 10 – OFFENCE: WEAPONS & ARMAMENT

PART 12 – DATALINK & IFF

Thanks Chuck :thumbup:

Thanks Chuck :thumbup:

I realize this is just a ditto post, but without your guides I would not be the fanatical flight simmer I am now. I have written technical manuals and I know how tough it is to do them right. You need an award for the amount and quality of your work!

• added hyperlinks in Table of Contents
  

Thanks for the excellent guide and especially for this addition. I missed not having that functionality when trying to look up a specific topic. :thumbup:

Thanks Chuck

Hello,

can you please help me?

I'm new in the DCS business.

I want to buy a American fighter, so the F14 or F18.

Is there an carrier included in the F14 product package?

And has the F14 the vapor on the wings like the F18?

And which Flys better and which is easier to learn?

I hope I'm in the right threat, if not, sorry for that.

Thank you very much.

Greetings, Steinbauer.

You are not the first person to ask, don't worry.

First, there is a carrier included in the base game both for the Hornet and the Tomcat; the CVN-74 John C. Stennis. Wing vapor effects are modelled slightly differently in the Tomcat vs the Hornet because the

In terms of flying better, there is no answer for that. Both aircraft have great flight models but fly differently. The Hornet has Fly-by-Wire (pilot input is interpreted by a controller, which translates these commands directly to the flight controls themselves) while the Tomcat has hydraulically powered flight control surfaces without FBW. This means that the Hornet is easier to fly by design, while the Tomcat can easily get you into unrecoverable spins if you are not careful with how you fly the aircraft. The Tomcat will force you to use your rudder, while the Hornet lets you get away with sloppier flying since the FBW will automatically help you to prevent the aircraft from going into these kind flat-spin-of-death of scenarios. Of course, the FBW cannot do everything for you, so you need to be careful as well. In my opinion, both aircraft are a lot of fun to fly because they both require you to develop different skill sets.

Regarding the ease of learn, I would say they are equivalent. The Tomcat has two cockpits, so you can potentially learn two complementary roles in the same aircraft. The F/A-18C, on the other hand, was built for a single pilot with more functionalities available at the tip of your fingers. In practice, the Hornet benefited from technological advances like digital displays while the Tomcat has a more analog cockpit with old school "steam" gauges. The Hornet has more toys to play with but the Tomcat still has a decent ordnance selection available with one of the most powerful radars ever designed.

IMHO there is no "better" plane. They are both fighter jets of their time, with the Tomcat being the pinnacle of the age of high-speed Interceptors and the Hornet being one of the most versatile multirole aircraft of its time.

LCDR Joe “Smokin” Ruzicka, who was the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) who flew the last F-14 Demonstration before the Tomcat’s retirement in 2006, once said:

The better way to understand the differences between the F-14 and the F/A-18E/F is using the analogy of a muscle car to a mini-van, with the Tomcat being the former and the Super Hornet being the latter. The muscle car doesn’t have much to it in the way of fancy technology, just some raw speed and the coolness of a Steve McQueen movie, but it gets the job done. The mini-van on the other hand is a very nice car, complete with DVR’s for the kids, Air Conditioning, power windows, and lots of places to put your sippy cup. It’s a great car… but it’s still a mini-van. […] In the Tomcat, I think you had to be a better aviator because the technology just wasn’t there. It was up to the aircrew to maximize its performance (or minimize it if you sucked).

Thank you so much for your answer and your expertise.

It´s really hard. I think the F18 is possibly the best way to start because of the fly by wire system, but the F14 is soo damn cool.

I know that the F18 has got some great tutorials. Does the F14 got it, too?

Another point is that the F18 has got a german (I´m german, so its a little bit easier for me :D).

And another Question is: Are there (carrer-) missions in both packages? I really like carrier missions and tutorials.

I´m looking forward to your answer.