Nellis Approach Lights tied to wind

@ED,

It appears the Nellis Approach Lighting System on Runway 21L and PAPI, long thought to be an outstanding bug, is actually operational. However, turns out that it is presently tied to the wind settings; i.e. set the wind for a profile that makes 21 the preferred runway, and the ALSF turns on.

This is problematic because Nellis is a simultaneous opposite direction operations airfield, 21 is actually the calm wind runway, and 21L has the ILS.

Also, as I understand it, the PAPI should always be operational. It presently switches between 21L or 21R, depending on which runway DCS believes is active. (runways 21 vs runways 3).

Please fix this, ideally by tying the ALSF to time of day and weather visibility.

Truly, it would be better to leave the ALSF always on than to tie it to wind incorrectly. Certainly the ILS is always to 21, so it would be best to just leave it on.

Thanks in advance!

Nellis Approach Lights tied to wind

Not sure if related or not, but noticed AI and ATC will always takeoff 3 and land 21. Is this real or a bug? I set winds to favor 21, but still get instructed to takeoff 3.

Seems like the traffic/airport ops/lighting at Nellis is completely wrong.

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I've only seen the AI utilize 03 for departing and 21 for arrivals.

I have to believe that this was done intentionally. I'm not sure what recoveries look like during Red Flag but I'd imagine the fast jets would attempt to avoid overflying the city of Las Vegas when arriving in droves.

I've only seen the AI utilize 03 for departing and 21 for arrivals.

 

I have to believe that this was done intentionally. I'm not sure what recoveries look like during Red Flag but I'd imagine the fast jets would attempt to avoid overflying the city of Las Vegas when arriving in droves.

I can understand that, but if there is a tailwind of over 5 knots in game to try to force ATC to use a runway, it should use the correct runway. Now it’s just being a nuisance for people who use the wx in missions.

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I can understand that, but if there is a tailwind of over 5 knots in game to try to force ATC to use a runway, it should use the correct runway. Now it’s just being a nuisance for people who use the wx in missions.

 

 

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So I did some testing, AI do not care what the winds are at, or which direction they're facing.

Test 1 - AI F/A-18C - Take off from runway - Winds 210 @ 30kts

Aircraft took off from 03L Landed at 21L

Test 2 - AI F/A-18C - Take off from runway - Winds 030 @ 30 kts

Aircraft took off from 03R Landed at 21R

This is certainly intentionally set for launch and recovery from the Northeast no matter the weather. Definitely unrealistic and something that should be altered.

Back on the topic of this post: On other airfields are the PAPI lights functional 100% of the time no matter wind or departing/arriving runways?

RL there’s a whole set of conditions to determine what runway to use at Nellis AFB (have a look in the 11-250), but take off from 03 and landing on 21 is preferred in a lot of those conditions and specially during LFE’s like Red Flag

DCS uses the 03 take off/21 landing behaviour.

I spent a lot of time at Nellis and know for a fact that all aircraft departing that carry Live ordnance depart via 03R/L and recover 21R/L and mass departures like those seen during Red Flags depart and recover the same way with occasional changes due to winds and weather. They try to limit the amount of air traffic over the highly populated areas. As far as DCS goes, I was not aware the AI would use 03L/21R but Nellis has a lot of other issues that also need addressed beyond just that, but I digress.

I spent a lot of time at Nellis and know for a fact that all aircraft departing that carry Live ordnance depart via 03R/L and recover 21R/L and mass departures like those seen during Red Flags depart and recover the same way with occasional changes due to winds and weather. They try to limit the amount of air traffic over the highly populated areas. As far as DCS goes, I was not aware the AI would use 03L/21R but Nellis has a lot of other issues that also need addressed beyond just that, but I digress.

And how much tailwind are we talking here? I think I set it to about 5 knots and I was able to liftoff with about 2,000 feet left in F-14. I wasn’t even loaded with lots of AG munitions. Just sparrows and winders.

Anyways, the one direction ops make sense, but the problem is we can’t request a change to ATC when needed. Which I’m sure like you said can accommodate when needed IRL.

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