Jump to content

Carrier approach technique using DLC?


Flamin_Squirrel

Recommended Posts

I've read the NATOPS and it talks about DLC, direct lift control, and how you can use it to adjust flight path, along with throttle.

 

But there's not really anything that describes what the technique is for using both at the same time (if that's indeed what you do). Does anyone have any insight?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are plenty of articles on the interwebs about DLC as it was all the rage back in the day, even on airliners (eg L-1011 Tristar).

On the Tristar it was fully automatic and pretty much greatly reduced the pitching of the aircraft to alter the rate of descent during landing. So if you want to increase rate of descent you pushed fwd on control yoke, but aircraft stayed in its current angle and the spoilers deployed a bit to increase rate of descent, and to decrease rate of descent it stowed the spoilers slightly, both proportional to yoke deflection. Pretty neat, was intended for safety and helped with better passenger comfort.

 

On the F-14 it is more manual with a spring loaded wheel on the stick and is mainly used to correct for larger deviations in the descent path like wind or carrier burble, without upsetting the AOA of the aircraft to any large degree.

 

The general DLC section of the F-14B FM. Plenty more in there about different approach techniques etc.

DLC.jpg.17d7a2d601212e31dfbe44ac925f92f7.jpg

DLC2.thumb.jpg.22c5c63bb8ab09465d146d19b09da3b7.jpg


Edited by VampireNZ

Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha| i7-6700K @ 4.60GHz | nVidia GTX 1080ti Strix OC 11GB @ 2075MHz| 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200Mhz DDR4 CL14 |

Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2 SSD | Corsair Force LE 480GB SSD | Windows 10 64-Bit | TM Warthog with FSSB R3 Lighting Base | VKB Gunfighter Pro + MCG | TM MFD's | Oculus Rift S | Jetseat FSE

 

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The write-ups in the manual are pretty clear on it's use, and once you start flying the aircraft and attempting carrier approaches, DLC's use will become clearer - i.e the ability to adjust glideslope deviations without large attitude/power changes.

Just spend a bit of time with google search - you will find heaps..

 

First used on the F-14A the DLC allows pilots to alter their approach path without changing their attitude. Before it was installed a change in the approach path did require a change in aircraft attitude, which in turn needed a throttle adjustment to return the aircraft to the correct attitude. By installing a DLC the F-14 made these sort of corrections unnecessary and eased the pilots workload on carrier approach. The DLC works by using the upper wing spoil lers of the F-14, engaging it means the spoilers pop up. Once in the extended position the spoilers become neutral. This means that when they are dropped back into their flush position they generate lift instantaneously, without the need for an attitude change. On the F-14A only the outboard spoilers were used, which was found to be giving insufficient lift to enable large corrections on approach. The A Plus uses both inboard and outboard spoilers, enabling much more lift to be generated and thus larger, more effective corrections to be made.

 

In Naval aviation, the rules are: POWER controls glideslope and STICK controls AOA. Period! DLC is only a tool we S-3 guys (and all F-14 guys) use to augment power and stick corrections. Now, realistically, since the Tomcat DLC is variable, some F-14 guys do use DLC for glideslope corrections but usually it is when everything else goes to hell in a hand basket (a substitute for poor skills). With this said, I have heard a few stories of F-14 guys using DLC by itself but most were during case 3 straight in‘s in perfect weather.

DLC is used to make the finer adjustments to glideslope. It's not uncommon for the DLC to be inop, so it is not a big deal to land without.


Edited by VampireNZ

Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha| i7-6700K @ 4.60GHz | nVidia GTX 1080ti Strix OC 11GB @ 2075MHz| 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200Mhz DDR4 CL14 |

Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2 SSD | Corsair Force LE 480GB SSD | Windows 10 64-Bit | TM Warthog with FSSB R3 Lighting Base | VKB Gunfighter Pro + MCG | TM MFD's | Oculus Rift S | Jetseat FSE

 

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In other words DLC should not be used alone to correct a low or a high position. It's a great tool to compensate for the spool-up/down time of the engine, though:

 

Let's say you're below glide path. You apply power, but it takes forever for the engines to spool, and in the meantime you're getting even lower. If you retract the DLC a bit, you can instantly stop the sinking, and help the engine too. Now let's say you applied too much power to correct, you reached the glideslope, decreased power, but the plane keeps rising. You extend the DLC fully, so that it stops the unwanted climb before the plane loses momentum due to power decrease. This being said, if you're too low, closing the DLC alone won't be enough to correct your approach, eventually you'll need more power. I hope it made sense the way I described it.

 

Then again, I'm not a real F-14 pilot, so all this may be nonsense ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...