LITENING Power On/Off

It would be nice to have the TPOD powered on or off via the ground crew menu. IRL this is how the pod works. Right now the pod is always on by default, I think it would add a tiny bit of immersion if we had to ask the ground crew to switch it on during cold starts.

One of those 'DCS realistic' requests from a rivet counter. :)

IRL the pod defaults to on as well. Power can be cycled on the stores page. The pod will get turned off on deck if the outside air temperature is high to prevent overheating, but otherwise it's on and stowed.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IRL the pod defaults to on as well. Power can be cycled on the stores page. The pod will get turned off on deck if the outside air temperature is high to prevent overheating, but otherwise it's on and stowed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I didn’t know that, I thought it can’t be powered from inside the cockpit. Only put in standby, The switch for the for ground crew is on the connector AFAIK. It’s ok for it too come on but before the INS is aligned?

I didn’t know that, I thought it can’t be powered from inside the cockpit. Only put in standby, The switch for the for ground crew is on the connector AFAIK. It’s ok for it too come on but before the INS is aligned?

I'm not sure what generation Lightning pod is being modeled in DCS, but on the gen 4 pods we have now, the pod defaults to on with aircraft start. The old school way was a switch on the umbilical in the pylon like you mentioned. That's fine if you have it on 2, 5, or 6 but crawling under to get to the station 4 pylon would be a huge pain for the ordies. We pretty much exclusively carry on station 4 to avoid any asymmetry issues, and carry more bombs.

The pod is smart enough to not enter stby mode until the INS is aligned. Until then it does internal checks and alignment.

I'm not sure what generation Lightning pod is being modeled in DCS, but on the gen 4 pods we have now, the pod defaults to on with aircraft start. The old school way was a switch on the umbilical in the pylon like you mentioned. That's fine if you have it on 2, 5, or 6 but crawling under to get to the station 4 pylon would be a huge pain for the ordies. We pretty much exclusively carry on station 4 to avoid any asymmetry issues, and carry more bombs.

 

The pod is smart enough to not enter stby mode until the INS is aligned. Until then it does internal checks and alignment.

I see that makes a lot of sense, I wanna say we have generation 2 but I’m not sure tbh. Very interesting. Yeah 4 seems the most logical place as far as masking goes too.

I’ve always wondered if by having it there they run into problems with the gun installed as well, I would think the vibrations from it firing are bad for the gyros. Is that something they restrict? Having both at the same time?

IIRC the version of the LITENING we have in DCS is the Gen3 AT.

I see that makes a lot of sense, I wanna say we have generation 2 but I’m not sure tbh. Very interesting. Yeah 4 seems the most logical place as far as masking goes too.

 

 

 

I’ve always wondered if by having it there they run into problems with the gun installed as well, I would think the vibrations from it firing are bad for the gyros. Is that something they restrict? Having both at the same time?

No, carrying the gun and TPOD together is not restricted. In fact it is preferred to have a tpod designation to shoot at rather then trying to find it with your eyeball through the HUD and correct at the last second.

I’ve always wondered if by having it there they run into problems with the gun installed as well, I would think the vibrations from it firing are bad for the gyros. Is that something they restrict? Having both at the same time?

TBH, the gun shakes the entire jet, so it would get shaken regardless of which station it is hung on. The bigger concern is the amount of fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluid that leaks on the TPOD, with any smearing on the lens being the biggest concern, followed by getting into the electronics and shorting something out.

I'm sure Fangsout would be able to attest to the fact that 8/10 times the gun is operated it jams... mostly due to not holding the trigger down long enough to get it to spool up properly since it is run off of bleed air. More senior pilots tend to have higher success rates firing the gun since it feels like it takes forever to spool up and fire.

Since we are discussing the LITENING, I just noticed that currently in the game the head always looks forward, even if the pod is on standby. I would think that kicked up debris could damage the lenses during takeoff and landing, especially in the Harrier where the nose gear is very close to the TPOD. Should't the head turn around when in standby to protect the sensors like on the picture?

This one further illustrates the point:

I think if you press "stop" it rotates back to the stored position.

I think if you press "stop" it rotates back to the stored position.

whaaa...? Maybe I'm tired, but... how you press "stop"?, or do you mean return to STBY mode?

Correct, when you put it back in stby it goes to the stowed position.

whaaa...? Maybe I'm tired, but... how you press "stop"?, or do you mean return to STBY mode?

Along the top, right side.

:huh: lol, never noticed before :)

NATOPS says that the PB -- regardless of being in FLIR, CCD, or VCR mode -- exits the TPOD page and goes to the BIT page, and "the TPOD does not write anything in this area", whatever that means. So if it basically turns the TPOD off, I guess that pretty descriptive of STOP :smilewink:

The STOP button indeed puts you on the BIT page but it does not affect the head position, at least in my experience.

I just doubt that irl the default stowed position of the pod would be "sensors forward", like we have it in the game. Even the LLTV pod on the Su-25t has shutters to protect the leses when turned off.

It is a known issue that the sensor head wont stow properly. The model just really like to look at the front gear wheel.

So... the TPODs are really just NYAN cats with lasers :D