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Carrier Script Test


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Is there a way to show expected Launch/Recovery times?

 

No, unfortunately there isn't. The whole system is dynamic, not based on any set time/speed, which makes it pretty impossible to predict a 'schedule.'

You'll be able to recover at minimum 1/2 the time. You can also use manual override if need be.

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Zooker,

 

 

Rough calculating the value to enter for distance into the wind is a simple time/distance problem. Wrench says in one of his videos that the carrier will try to keep 25-30 knots into the wind. Through experimentation with classic Case I weather (8 knots of surface wind), I found that the boat will drive at 20 knots through the water, giving 28 knots of wind across the deck.

 

 

At 20 knots, the boat travels 120,000 feet or 36,363 meters per hour.

 

 

Multiply that by the length of the cycle in hours, then divide by two.

 

 

A 1+15 cycle gives you 37 minutes into the wind for 22,727 meters.

A 1+30 cycle gives you 45 minutes into the wind for 27,272 meters.

A 1+45 cycle gives you 52 minutes into the wind for 31,818 meters.

A 2+00 cycle gives you an hour into the wind for 36,363 meters.

 

 

For experimentation purposes, I've been flying strikes with a 1+30 cycle where the carrier turns into the wind a few seconds after mission start (as Wrench explains in his video), and I launch at 0+10 minutes. The mission flight times have been 1+30, and I've pretty consistently arrived in the marshall stack shortly after the boat comes into the wind for the next launch/recovery cycle. Assuming that the boat steadies up ten minutes before launch (arbitrary, but consistent with my mission start) and launches for 15 minutes, I'm overhead at 1+45 or thereabouts with 20 minutes to go before the carrier wants to head back to its starting posit. If I can't get back aboard by then, the manual override is available.

 

 

It's not perfect, but it works like a champ, and it really makes it seem like the carrier is operating in a CVOA.

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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Upon mission start, the carrier determines wind direction and speed. Turns to appropriate heading and accelerates to reach a desired wind over the deck. A few questions:

 

Is there a way to set the desired wind (wind speed + ground speed) over the deck?

Once on the appropriate launch/recovery heading, how long does it stay oriented for launch/recovery? Is this number customizable?

Once the launch/recovery time has elapsed, does the carrier always try and return to start point?

 

If I missed something that would answer my questions, I apologize.

 

This is a really great idea! Well done Wrench!

VF-111 Sundowners



[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Carrier Group 1 - Battlegroup Delta

 

Beware the lessons of a fighter pilot who would rather fly a slide rule than kick your ass!

-Commander Ron "Mugs" McKeown, USN

Commander, U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School

2 Victories, Vietnam

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I want to use a F10 radio command, only when I complete my mission, to turn the carrier into the wind so:

MISSION START:

DO SCRIPT FILE - mist

DO SCRIPT FILE - Carrier Script 0.6.lua

DO SCRIPT - CarScript = missionCommands.addSubMenu('Carrier Script' ,nil)

 

And with the RADIO ITEM ADD lunch the script: wrench_wind_setup('unit1', distip)

 

Correct?

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Upon mission start, the carrier determines wind direction and speed. Turns to appropriate heading and accelerates to reach a desired wind over the deck. A few questions:

 

Is there a way to set the desired wind (wind speed + ground speed) over the deck?

Once on the appropriate launch/recovery heading, how long does it stay oriented for launch/recovery? Is this number customizable?

Once the launch/recovery time has elapsed, does the carrier always try and return to start point?

 

 

1. Sort of. The carrier tries to achieve 25-30 knots of wind across the deck. I haven't pushed the limits to see what it could do, but it works very well with typical Case I light to moderate winds. With 8 knots of wind, the carrier moves at 20 knots. I imagine that at 1 knot of wind, the carrier moves at 27 knots.

 

2. As explained above, it will travel a distance you set when setting up the script in ME. Since the carrier will try to maintain 25-30 knots of wind across the deck, its speed through the water will vary with the speed of the wind and thus, the length of time it takes to travel the specified distance depends upon how you set up the mission. The amount of time on the launch/recovery leg is not directly determined by time, but by wind speed and your specified distance. It is entirely customizable.

 

3. Yes, unless you tell it not to through the radio F10 menu.


Edited by Yoda967

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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4th of July update!

For my fellow Americans, today is a perfect day for version 0.7!

Added a stop option for the carrier, and a 'Query' option which will tell you what mode the carrier is currently in. I haven't had time to make the update video yet, but that will come "soon."

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Zooker,

 

 

Multiply that by the length of the cycle in hours, then divide by two.

 

 

A 1+15 cycle gives you 37 minutes into the wind for 22,727 meters.

A 1+30 cycle gives you 45 minutes into the wind for 27,272 meters.

A 1+45 cycle gives you 52 minutes into the wind for 31,818 meters.

A 2+00 cycle gives you an hour into the wind for 36,363 meters.

 

 

For experimentation purposes, I've been flying strikes with a 1+30 cycle where the carrier turns into the wind a few seconds after mission start ....

 

 

Thank you for this, Yoda!

 

Can I ask where you are putting the distance parameters? I'd really like longer carrier legs for my missions.

STT Radar issue is leftover code.

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I should add that those numbers are for 8 knots of wind.

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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Thanks for fielding questions for me Yoda, lol.

As for longer distances, it's a bit of a balancing act.

Let's assume wind speed of 15kts, making the carrier steam at 10 knots (easy math, right?)

 

If you set a distance of 74080 meters (40 Nautical) it will take the carrier 4 hours to reach max distance.

 

However, the carrier's maximum speed in the sim is 25 knots, which means it will take over an hour and a half for it to return.

 

Meaning you get 4 hours of recovery, 1.5 hours non-recovery time.

 

If your missions last less than 4 hours, job done.

 

However, if your missions tend to run longer, the other option is to go with something like 10 Nautical. That will give you an hour of recovery time, but only ~25 minutes non-recovery time.

 

I would guess the latter is more accurate to IRL operations.

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You're welcome. I certainly don't mean to horn in.

 

You're right about the max 10NM leg. IRL, when a carrier is operating in restricted waters like the Persian Gulf (the Navy calls it "The Arabian Gulf" for some reason), they can't stay on course into the wind for long periods. There are simply too many obstacles: other shipping, oil platforms, territorial waters and airspace, etc. They often do pretty much exactly what your script does: drive into the wind for launch and recovery, then reset downwind and do it again.

 

Still, time is more of a consideration than distance. If you're flying an F/A-18 off a carrier, you're generally going to launch at a specific time a few minutes into one upwind leg, fly your mission while the carrier completes the upwind leg and resets, then be back in the marshall stack around the time that the carrier is turning back into the wind. If your mission is longer than that, it'll be planned out for you to return to the marshall stack as the carrier turns into the wind for a third or fourth time. (Some of the missions over Afghanistan have been as long as seven or eight hours in duration.)

 

In any case, the carrier flight cycle begins with the launch of all the aircraft heading outbound, and finishes with a prior cycle's aircraft recovering. The cycle length is determined by (among other things) the endurance of the F/A-18C, since it's got the shortest legs in the air wing and the available airborne tanking. With one external tank, Hornets can fly for about an hour and a half and still have enough fuel for a safe recovery without refueling, so the carrier launch cycle would be an hour and fifteen minutes, because you launch in the front half of the upwind leg and recover at the back half.

 

With two tanks, the Hornet's unrefueled endurance goes up to about an hour and forty-five minutes with a safe reserve, and the launch/recovery cycle can extend to 90 minutes.

 

Cycle times can go longer, but they're heavily dependent on the availability of tanking. The air wing itself might have enough tankers to launch two in a particular cycle, but one of those will be a mission tanker assigned to a specific package. Each S-3B tanker will have about 10 or 11 thousand pounds to give, so if there's only one tanker airborne, he'll likely be a "recovery tanker" whose job it is to give a small amount of gas to aircraft returning low on fuel. It's possible to have an alert tanker on deck for emergencies, as well.

 

You can see why the question was asked about setting the carrier to turn into the wind at a certain time and remain on BRC for a specific period of time rather than a distance.

 

It's possible to make it look like the carrier is maneuvering for cycling flight operations, but as I posted earlier, it takes some forethought. Your script is the best thing available to make it happen.

 

Hope that wasn't too long-winded.


Edited by Yoda967

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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No worries Yoda, I really do appreciate the answers.

As to your point, I say "Touche."

Perhaps I'll make a time-based version as opposed to a distance based version. That hard part was getting the carrier to bahave as I wanted (and the math.)

I could change the current functions name to something like "carrier_distance" and create a new one called "carrier_time" in which you'd specify the recovery cycle time.

Hm..

This requires investigation...

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:thumbup: Definitely glad I can help. I kinda had a hunch you'd see my post as a challenge.:book:

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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So I've made some progress.

I'm not really 'hip' to the naval terminology, so what's the radio shorthand for when the carrier is able to recover, and when they aren't'?

 

I'm thinking about adding a single message to say when the carrier turns and getting rid of the repeating message as I've seen a few people ask if that's possible.

 

I might even have someone record a voice (radio) message for me, but the files would need to be copied to any mission using the script.

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The landing signal proword is CHARLIE. CHARLIE [time] is the scheduled recovery time. CHARLIE [minutes] is a delay in recovery time.

 

Launch and recovery times are scheduled and briefed, and a hard-copy air plan gets published every day (this is a spread sheet that tells the launch and recovery time for every aircraft in the air wing for the entire flying day. (There's a lot more to it, and you can find the requirements in the CV NATOPS.)

 

When a returning aircraft gets within 50 NM of the carrier, they check in with Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (CATCC) which will tell them the BRC, altimeter, and give them a Charlie time.

 

It's possible to do a Case I recovery Zip Lip (radio silent), as long as the carrier is maneuvering as briefed.

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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Hey, Wrench...

 

One of the cooler details I've noticed in using your script (at least for THIS old sailor) is that when I place a planeguard ship three quarters of a mile astern of the carrier, it maneuvers exactly how it should when the carrier turns--by turning opposite the carrier's turn and then coming around to resume station as the carrier completes her turn.

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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Yeah, I knew you didn't have anything to do with it directly...it's just cool to see it working right.

 

 

The time feature is fantastic, and I can't wait to play with the tanker feature. Brilliant!

Very Respectfully,

Kurt "Yoda" Kalbfleisch

London

"In my private manual I firmly believed the only time there was too much fuel aboard any aircraft was if it was fire." --Ernest K. Gann

 

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Is it possible to bring the AAR tanker to the on a circular orbit (2500 ft., 250 knots) on the starboard side of the carrier?

And if, how? :music_whistling:

 

Will the tanker also respawn (after fuel is empty) on the side of the carrier?

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