**DCS F-14: ACLS Landing!**

Small quote from the Tomcat Bye-Bye, Baby...! book (which is awesome BTW!), pg 042

Jerry 'Jasper' Coleman got the wave-off just as they were about to trap....so punched it to go around. Thing is, they HAD caught a wire...so

"We towed the boat for a split second, then we fell out of the sky. The Grumman-built Tomcat dropped onto the deck nose-first. Stuff in the cockpit was flying everywhere. It felt like an awful crash, but all body parts were accounted for."

"My neck and back were killing me, and I didn't fly for a few days. But the jet was checked over, and it flew the next cycle. Paddles told me if it had been a Hornet they would have parted it out and pushed it overboard, the struts sticking through the engines.

But not the Mighty Tomcat. Strong like train, Baby...!"

So plucked out of the sky full burner and slammed to a halt on the deck - and still good to go! :shocking:

I hope the HB Tomcat will be that tough for landing...I have a feeling I am gonna need it! I am so hyped for the F-14 - been my fav aircraft since I was a kid, so capable in its time and no fighter looks even half as sexy!

the f-14 in the video more or less pancaked the deck after hooking so id say yes.

Small quote from the Tomcat Bye-Bye, Baby...! book (which is awesome BTW!), pg 042

 

Jerry 'Jasper' Coleman got the wave-off just as they were about to trap....so punched it to go around. Thing is, they HAD caught a wire...so

 

"We towed the boat for a split second, then we fell out of the sky. The Grumman-built Tomcat dropped onto the deck nose-first. Stuff in the cockpit was flying everywhere. It felt like an awful crash, but all body parts were accounted for."

"My neck and back were killing me, and I didn't fly for a few days. But the jet was checked over, and it flew the next cycle. Paddles told me if it had been a Hornet they would have parted it out and pushed it overboard, the struts sticking through the engines.

But not the Mighty Tomcat. Strong like train, Baby...!"

 

 

So plucked out of the sky full burner and slammed to a halt on the deck - and still good to go! :shocking:

 

I hope the HB Tomcat will be that tough for landing...I have a feeling I am gonna need it! I am so hyped for the F-14 - been my fav aircraft since I was a kid, so capable in its time and no fighter looks even half as sexy!

I really hope it's that strong in game too. I have to use the autopilot on the Su-33 so that I won't explode on touchdown (and I'm usually pretty nice on the descent too. No idea why I explode). It would be nice to have a carrier based aircraft I can actually do more than just sit and watch the scenery with. :music_whistling:

Great video and landing effect! What it is missing is pilots head being jerked forward when it lands. The guy in the video must have great neck muscles... :megalol:

The real meat of that pdf can be summed up as...

 

Normalized values of 0.0-1.0 because AoA varies based on aircrafts current configuration.

 

0.0->0.6 = Green

0.6->0.8 = Yellow

0.8->1.0 = Red / Your a brick :)

Uh... no. This is one where you just have to read the memo in its entirety, doesn't take long at all and is a sensible read for any and all.

Uh... no. This is one where you just have to read the memo in its entirety, doesn't take long at all and is a sensible read for any and all.

:thumbup:

great video! super excited to do some traps of my own. only complaint is the nose shouldn't bounce into the air after catching the wire. I know WIP but that's my little nitpick.

in every video of 14s trapping, you can clearly see how the nose stays held down by stopping force. it might be a little springy feeling since the nose lands fairly hard but nose wheel should never leave the deck once you're caught

I really hope it's that strong in game too.

Not to mention that 600kn 12.2 G turn at Nellis that the TACTS range recorded.

To quote Hoser "The TACTS range recorded 12.2 g's symmetrical during a Guns 'D' break. The high 'g' hurt Hill Billy's neck and he was was out of the hunt for a few days. We had the brand new Blk 90 Turkey x-rayed, inspected and gone over by a team of Grummanites...... not a lose rivet, zero skin wrinkles, perfect engine mounts, no hyd or fuel leaks; Just a broke RO. NAVAIR kept slapping new 'g' restrictions on the Turkey cause they figured them to last 100yrs. Hell, they would have lasted a hunnert and fifty years with a symmetrical 9.5 'g' guidance doctrine."

Grumman flight tested the F-14 to 13 G's without any problems, so yeah, the turkey better be strong.

Anyone know of any cockpit videos out there of the F14 making the trap? I've tried some youtube searches but so far no luck in finding anything Tomcat related. I'm interested in making a comparison with this video.

Anyone know of any cockpit videos out there of the F14 making the trap? I've tried some youtube searches but so far no luck in finding anything Tomcat related. I'm interested in making a comparison with this video.

There are some shots here:

Not to mention that 600kn 12.2 G turn at Nellis that the TACTS range recorded.

 

To quote Hoser "The TACTS range recorded 12.2 g's symmetrical during a Guns 'D' break. The high 'g' hurt Hill Billy's neck and he was was out of the hunt for a few days. We had the brand new Blk 90 Turkey x-rayed, inspected and gone over by a team of Grummanites...... not a lose rivet, zero skin wrinkles, perfect engine mounts, no hyd or fuel leaks; Just a broke RO. NAVAIR kept slapping new 'g' restrictions on the Turkey cause they figured them to last 100yrs. Hell, they would have lasted a hunnert and fifty years with a symmetrical 9.5 'g' guidance doctrine."

 

Grumman flight tested the F-14 to 13 G's without any problems, so yeah, the turkey better be strong.

That is awesome. :thumbup: I can't wait to try this out on DCS. :D

There are some shots here:

 

7:31 "...you can’t see it, but when the landing gear hits, the whole fuselage bends momentarily under the impact..."

I worked at NASA for 21 years as an engineer on the shuttles, and management of Atlantis post Columbia. Your landing screen from the 1st page is spot on team, as we used a combination of HUD technology and landing profiles from the B1 and F-14 (Do to her size and weight, she landed like a shuttle) when we installed the first HUD in the shuttles. The first few Commanders that flew the shuttle were bad ass, as they didn't have a HUD on landing, but went off looking down at instruments and gut feel. It's been a long time, but I know we had the HUD pre built into Challenger, and I think Columbia had hers added before or at STS-7.

There are some shots here:

 

Will you guys replicate the sound of that really distinctive Tomcat engine whine?

Will you guys replicate the sound of that really distinctive Tomcat engine whine?

We will!

We will!

Just gets better & better.

We will!

One thing to keep in mind. The Tomcat's ECS was loud, and drowned out all of the engine noise substitutes while wearing a helmet. Some guys turned it off during the last part of an approach so they could hear the engines for more feedback. The good news is that the ECS worked well, and kept the crew comfortable, and the canopy wasn't prone to fogging issues.

Externally, as you all know, the F14 engines had a distinctive sound that still brings back fond memories. I'm sure that you will nail that magnificently.

One thing to keep in mind. The Tomcat's ECS was loud, and drowned out all of the engine noise substitutes while wearing a helmet. Some guys turned it off during the last part of an approach so they could hear the engines for more feedback. The good news is that the ECS worked well, and kept the crew comfortable, and the canopy wasn't prone to fogging issues.

 

Externally, as you all know, the F14 engines had a distinctive sound that still brings back fond memories. I'm sure that you will nail that magnificently.

This is something that is difficult to achieve in computer games due to limited dynamic range. We only have so much 'volume' to work with, and adding another, louder layer on top of the engines might prove difficult.

That said, we'll do our best of course to strike a good balance. In real life, you have more feedback than in a sim, and that is why we e.g. artificially increase the volume of levers, switches and other sounds. To replace the haptic feedback.

This is something that is difficult to achieve in computer games due to limited dynamic range. We only have so much 'volume' to work with, and adding another, louder layer on top of the engines might prove difficult.

 

That said, we'll do our best of course to strike a good balance. In real life, you have more feedback than in a sim, and that is why we e.g. artificially increase the volume of levers, switches and other sounds. To replace the haptic feedback.

I think the major part are also vibrations. I do not know how much you can feel in a modern jet cockpit but they may help with identifying a lot of "what is happening at the moment".

I know there are seat products from Gametrix, but they have still a long way ahead of them to make it truly realistic experience.

great video! super excited to do some traps of my own. only complaint is the nose shouldn't bounce into the air after catching the wire. I know WIP but that's my little nitpick.

 

in every video of 14s trapping, you can clearly see how the nose stays held down by stopping force. it might be a little springy feeling since the nose lands fairly hard but nose wheel should never leave the deck once you're caught

 

I don't think that the nose does bounce up into the air. I believe that what we're seeing, from inside the cockpit, is just the nose strut fully extending after the trap and then compressing again. You can see that happen on many of those videos of RL F-14's.

I don't think that the nose does bounce up into the air. I believe that what we're seeing, from inside the cockpit, is just the nose strut fully extending after the trap and then compressing again. You can see that happen on many of those videos of RL F-14's.

I thought that too at first but you can hear the wheel meet the deck a second time. also the 14's strut even fully extended would not put the nose at 10 degrees (watch the hud in slower playback. its all of 1 frame but its there). plus once again why I posted the video for reference. the nose doesn't bounce up in any noticeable way until fully stopped. so shouldn't be any major strut extension at that stage of the trap even if that's what it was.

oddly enough one of the planes in the video you can notice the MAIN gear bounce up a little. but again nose stays firmly planted on deck.

again don't get me wrong super excited for this! just hoping to get the best experience possible as Im sure we all are.

it was a really good sounding and "feeling" trap making me wish the video was recorded in 360 so us vr users could have a ride. but not the most realistic yet

Well, maybe we need to take into account the virtual pilot at the controls during the making of that little video. :megalol:

Well, maybe we need to take into account the virtual pilot at the controls during the making of that little video. :megalol:

except the acls was the one landing the plane ;) cant pin this one on a pilot.

side note: it would be really cool to hear audio feedback from the lso when on frequency for carrier traffic. like which wire did we catch and correction callouts in the groove and or the ability to call clara/ball to control how many of the corrections we have to hear

The ACLS disengages x seconds before touchdown (I can't recall the exact amount). The pilot is in control after that.

The ACLS disengages x seconds before touchdown (I can't recall the exact amount). The pilot is in control after that.

from the manual for the D at least dont know about earlier since I dont have those (so may not be the same on all models. I get that):

ACLS approaches apply to properly configured

aircraft utilizing carrier or shore−based AN/SPN−10 or

AN/SPN−42 ACLS radar facilities. Three primary modes of

operation and two submodes are available.

1. Mode I approach automatically controlled to

touchdown

2. Mode IA approach automatically controlled to a

minimum of 200 feet and one−half mile; manual

control remainder of approach

3. Mode II approach manually controlled using AN/

SPN−41 or AN/SPN−42 vertical display indicator

and/or heads−up display presentation for glideslope

and lineup information

4. Mode III approach manually controlled using only

CCA−controller−supplied information

5. Flight director approach manually controlled using

HUD flight director presentation derived from AN/

SPN−42/46 information and navigation system data

for glidepath intercept and following.

sounds like your'e modelling mode 1A then and not the others?

However, watching the video back, the ACLS does NOT disengage until less than a second before the wheels meet the deck. guessing it was on until the hook hits the deck. (see the CMD CONTROL annunciator indicating ACLS is active and the audible click at the same time it comes off probably the auto throttle switch releasing immediately followed by the thud of wheels on deck) effectively means this is a mode I landing and the bounce still can not be pinned on the pilot

Im not trying to argue with you but what you say does not appear to match the video