Carrier Landing

Hi All,

so this is a noob thread, but I wanted to share my limited experience of not exploding on the stern of the carrier... as I have done so many time before, and I look forward to doing so again (albeit with reduced frequency).

First follow the training mission, this is pretty good (thanks Wags), I would the three tips which help me not explode:

I hope this helps others crash with less frequency too :)

TIP.. Remember to dump fuel so your plane is not to heavy when you land.

The lighter your plane is the slower you can fly, the more easy it is to land.

land with less than 3500 fuel.

tip if the ship is sailing in direction 300, then -9 degrees and then you shall land in direction 291.

The last 100m when you are lined up and ready to land, then look at the ball and forget about your instruments.. ( 2-4 seconds before you land ) and add power/lower power so the ball is in the middle. It dont require much adjustment.

Tip.. in general TRIM your plane when you are flying streight and at the landing speed you like to land with.. this make it more easy..

In genereal in all planes/helis in dcs and real world trim trim trim trim.

And once you are trimmed use the power to add/reduce to gain height or loose height.. it require some practice but once you master it your landings will be fantastic ;-)

TIP.. Remember to dump fuel so your plane is not to heavy when you land.

The lighter your plane is the slower you can fly, the more easy it is to land.

land with less than 3500 fuel.

 

tip if the ship is sailing in direction 300, then -9 degrees and then you shall land in direction 291.

 

The last 100m when you are lined up and ready to land, then look at the ball and forget about your instruments.. ( 2-4 seconds before you land ) and add power/lower power so the ball is in the middle. It dont require much adjustment.

 

Tip.. in general TRIM your plane when you are flying streight and at the landing speed you like to land with.. this make it more easy..

In genereal in all planes/helis in dcs and real world trim trim trim trim.

And once you are trimmed use the power to add/reduce to gain height or loose height.. it require some practice but once you master it your landings will be fantastic ;-)

pretty good advice, aside from the trim. You should trim to fly on speed angle of attack... basically you should be able to release the stick and the flight path marker should be in the middle of the E bracket regardless of your speed. Then you use your throttle to adjust your glide slope.

Train with ICLS - ON

way easier, and get yourself used to visual cues.

Also it is not forbidden to fly the pattern at a set altitude for practice :)

rewatch your tracks and You will easily see what you missed :)

I tend to hit the 1-wire everytime, even if I'm perfectly on glideslope, on speed. There is a thread somewhere with an analysis of the carrier geometry that shows Stennis is too small.

I tend to hit the 1-wire everytime, even if I'm perfectly on glideslope, on speed. There is a thread somewhere with an analysis of the carrier geometry that shows Stennis is too small.

Post a track. Hitting 1 wire is a different matter than ship size :)

I tend to hit the 1-wire everytime, even if I'm perfectly on glideslope, on speed. There is a thread somewhere with an analysis of the carrier geometry that shows Stennis is too small.

I land with the W in the middle of the upper right quadrant of the landing deck, works every time. (Not my discovery, someone else noticed)

There is a thread somewhere with an analysis of the carrier geometry that shows Stennis is too small.

Interdasting

I found this MOD for the Stennis, on the Stingers Web Page (thanks JAR for making it public), the paint scheme is changed up on the deck, so that you can see which wire you have caught, if you are flying solo like me, this is really useful!

The MOD download is here and the Stingers home page is here

Post a track. Hitting 1 wire is a different matter than ship size :)

But it is related. If the carrier is smaller in relation to the Hornet, it will cause the hook to strike earlier than it would otherwise, even if you are spot on glideslope.

I will post a track when I get back from Christmas vacation. :)

I found the video I was thinking of by the way:

http://forums.eagle.ru:8080/showthread.php?t=225991

I land with the W in the middle of the upper right quadrant of the landing deck, works every time. (Not my discovery, someone else noticed)

Thanks for the hint! But surely you mean the velocity vector, right? ;)

I tend to hit the 1-wire everytime, even if I'm perfectly on glideslope, on speed. There is a thread somewhere with an analysis of the carrier geometry that shows Stennis is too small.

i know the thread / video you are talking about. This was debunked, Stennis is the correct size.

i know the thread / video you are talking about. This was debunked, Stennis is the correct size.

Oh really? Do tell. I have hard data that says otherwise, but I'm open to possibilities.

Oh really? Do tell. I have hard data that says otherwise, but I'm open to possibilities.

Would have to spend time to find it again. there was a video discussing it also (not the one he posted). Also this was brought up on reddit today and a few recall seeing debunked as well.

Would have to spend time to find it again. there was a video discussing it also (not the one he posted). Also this was brought up on reddit today and a few recall seeing debunked as well.

You appealed to popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation. Let me know when you find whatever other evidence is out there that says its correctly sized. I'd really love to see it.

You appealed to popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation. Let me know when you find whatever other evidence is out there that says its correctly sized. I'd really love to see it.

It was literally one of the ED guys who said it was the correct size months and months ago....

When I feel like it warrants my efforts to find it for you, I will do that. Until then, the search bar is in the upper right of the forum's page. I suggest you give it spin if you would really love to see it.

Edit: did a quick search as I should be nice and not a cranky prick. Cant seem to find the old post from the summer, but see your thread. Ill keep digging and see if I can find it. If what you are saying is true then who the hell knows. Ed: its fine, Us: no its not....

You appealed to popularity or the fact that many people do something as an attempted form of validation. Let me know when you find whatever other evidence is out there that says its correctly sized. I'd really love to see it.

watching your stuff, damn, seems like I am wrong and the devs. sorry about that. This is annoying, why is this evening a thing?

Also, why are you using the FSX F/A-18? it is not proportional.

I found this MOD for the Stennis, on the Stingers Web Page (thanks JAR for making it public), the paint scheme is changed up on the deck, so that you can see which wire you have caught, if you are flying solo like me, this is really useful!

 

The MOD download is here and the Stingers home page is here

Cheers Stuart glad you like it! :)

Cheers Stuart glad you like it! :)

thanks Jar, yep very useful saves me swopping to an external view to work out which wire I caught...

thanks Jar, yep very useful saves me swopping to an external view to work out which wire I caught...

what does the deck repaint do?

It does a couple of things to make the landing spots more obvious, but, it also on the lhs of the deck numbers 1-4 positioned to show you which wire has been caught, it's also slightly darker, a few other things as well. As a DCS noob to carrier landing I found it really helps me.

It does a couple of things to make the landing spots more obvious, but, it also on the lhs of the deck numbers 1-4 positioned to show you which wire has been caught, it's also slightly darker, a few other things as well. As a DCS noob to carrier landing I found it really helps me.

oh interesting. might help with some of my guys, will pass it along.

thanks.

Two things I use which really helped me grease my CV landings (which I've done about 20 now without fail):

1. Use the course (re the point above ie. find carrier heading, -9 deg and enter that on the course setting once you select the CV as your TCN point). This gives you a good ref point for when to do your final turn to line up; and (most importantly)

2. Place your landing spot (not sure what that little circle is called) AFTER the wires. Most people (incl me) screw up a CV landing when we assume we have to land at the end of the ship - no, the wires are about 1/3rd down the rwy so you have to aim for about 1/2 way to land. Also don't forget, your hornet is already in a nose up attitude so you don't have to dive to the deck. Just place the spot 1/2 to 2/3rds down the rwy and keep it there by managing your throttle and voila!! every time!

there's no sweeter reward than landing back on a CV.

It is very important to watch your angle of attack (AoA). Once your gear is lowered you should see a symbol on your HUD, which looks like a stretched letter "E". To get the optimal AoA your velocity vector (the small circle on the HUD) should be between the markers of the "E" on your HUD. Then your AoA will be optimal.

An optimal AoA allows you to stay up in the air while flying at a low speed around 130-140 knots. The slower your speed, the easier your landing will be. So adjust your throttle and your trim to get the optimal AoA at around 130-140 knots for your final landing speed. For beginners this will take some time, so it is best to approach the carrier from a distance of about 10nm, which will give you enough time to adjust your aircraft. 10nm miles sound like a lot, but noobs will have enough things to do during that time until all thing are set up properly.

If you have done it correctly your velocity vector should point roughly on the carrier while being between the markers of the "E". Your pitch trim should allow you to make almost no pitch corrections by yourself with your joystick. At this time flying your Hornet should be as easy as steering a truck on an aerial highway. :happy:

Also watch your altitude. The carrier deck is on an altitude of around 70 feet above the ground. So when your are very close to the carrier you should not be much higher than 300 feet. Again your velocity vector can help you to find the right sink rate, when it points on the carrier (or maybe a little bit above the carrier to make sure you do not get dangerously low).

Once you are close enough to the carrier your approach should be stable enough so you do not have to make any throttle adjustments or big adjustments of your altitude/heading. So in the last few 10 seconds before landing you should just concentrate on moving your joystick to get your Hornet on the deck (even if your speed gets higher during that process). I personally only concentrate on my velocity vector and try to point it on the middle of the carrier deck, to make sure I do not hit the dangerous front edge of the carrier or overshoot the deck.

Last but not least when you touch down on the deck you should put your nose up a little bit to make sure your hook catches one of those wires of the carrier. Otherwise you might simply roll on the deck while missing all the wires. Actually if you have managed to keep your optimal AoA even on touch down, then your nose should be high enough to catch a wire.

Maybe this procedure is not exactly what Hornet pilots do, but for me it works without big problems. At least this should help you to learn the most important things for carrier landings. Later on you can start learning how to do it like a pro like you can see in Wags tutorial video on youtube.

for me the most difficult part is that when I pull 1% of speed in Gs, I find myself too close to the ship: 1NM or less when I am abeam. So in the final turn, I overshoot.