ICLS & ACLS

Hi, what is the difference between those two systems and will we have ACLS?

Thanks!

ICLS = manual. The pilot steers the aircraft according to the localizer and glide path (slope) bars. Basically comparable to regular ILS.

ACLS = fully automatic. Input for the aircraft's autopilot is provided via datalink from the carrier. A tracking radar on the carrier tracks the aircraft, the ACLS determines the necessary course corrections, and transmits the steering commands to the aircraft. So it's not like a regular CAT III ILS automatic landing where the onboard avionics do all the work, it's basically a remote control.

Pretty close.

ICLS, also known as Bullseye, is comparable to a ground ILS. It just shoots fixed (relative to the carrier) localizer and glideslope information off the back of the ship. That's all well and good if the ship in stable in the water. When the boat starts pitching and rolling around in the water a lot, you can imagine how much those needles would move around, causing the aircraft to chase them all around the sky.

ACLS is often referred to as Needles. The difference between ACLS and Bullseye is that ACLS is gyro stabilized and also requires the ship to lock the aircraft up. When you get to about 5 miles, the ship will lock your aircraft up on the ACLS radar and you'll get the symbology in the cockpit. Approach will then say "(Side Number) ACLS lock on, call your needles" to which you would reply where they are, most commonly replying "Fly up, fly right" to which approach will reply "Concur, fly your needles." This means that everyone is in agreement that the correct aircraft is locked up and the correct information is being passed to the aircraft. Being that the information transmitted to the aircraft is gyro stabilized, the needles you would receive with ACLS would be much more stable, especially if the boat is moving around a lot.

The fully automatic landing mode is called a Mode 1 approach. This requires ACLS lock on and the aircraft will fly itself onto the deck. Different airwings have different policies, but Mode 1 approaches tend to be reserved for more experienced aviators. Why? Mode 1 can become very dangerous very quickly if the radar ever drops lock, especially at the in-close position which will happen on occasion. Not to mention that Mode 1 approaches don't count towards your GPA and as we all know, everyone wants to be top hook!

I read an article somewhere ('Navy World' or something) they already are changing the name and the system of autoland ICLS / ACLS

Something like 'pilot's fly by wire input is taken over and restricted such that by a computer algorithms the stick to just have lateral effect on the craft guided down'.

To keep the middle somewhat manually I would guess. Would be 'just a software update to the present system',

thus the toilet seats that come with the upgrade will only be 99.50 US :)

Oh, and somebody here mentioned 'we don't want ACLS because that's not historically correct with our FA-18C',

which is a horrible suggestion,

of course we want ACLS + the latest upgrades, because we love mucking around with knobs and systems.

The name of that upgrade is 'magic carpet', should you want more info.

The name of that upgrade is 'magic carpet', should you want more info.

I asked earlier in this forum about that and was told that Magic Carpet is not available on the legacy Hornets, only the Super Hornets and F-35's. By the way, Magic Carpet is a totally self contained system within the a/c flight control software and not dependant on anything from the carrier or ground station other than a visual glide slope (IFOLS or VASI) for the pilot to fly.

Gotcha. I'm not sure if that's what majapahit had in mind of course.

Yes must have been MC

"Then, MAGIC CARPET allows for more intuitive and much less cumbersome adjustments to that flight path by decoupling roll from yaw from pitch, and instead creating a single input that affects the ultimate goal – the airplane’s flight path. The pilot can make a little correction to the flight path using the stick and then simply let go of the stick to stay on that new path."

"And because the services’s Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers have digital flight controls, MAGIC CARPET remaps those controls to do just that."

Indeed no F/A-18C, so our DCS FA-18C is cabled? If an ACLS was added that must have been quite the upgrade (or maybe not, coming to think of it, most jetliners had one).

Magic Carpet, colloquially called PLM (Precision Landing Mode), is a software update to the flight control computer. The C has digital flight controls, but since the legacy hornets have different software and flight control computers and the last Charlie squadrons are being transitioned to the E/F or F-35, they didn't bother writing software updates for those aircraft. So indeed, it won't be simulated in DCS

But ACLS could?

Yes, it should be added at some point.

Yes, I think the same, ACLS should be added to DCS FA-18C. And I dont agree that real FA-18C dont have ACLS. Last night I saw the video of Heatblur's F-14 and there is ACLS system integrated into F-14A, which is much older aircraft than Hornet. And when F-14 has ACLS system, why FA-18 will not have? Hornet is way more advanced and modern aircraft...Thats why I think that FA-18C should have ACLS too.

Yes, I think the same, ACLS should be added to DCS FA-18C. And I dont agree that real FA-18C dont have ACLS. Last night I saw the video of Heatblur's F-14 and there is ACLS system integrated into F-14A, which is much older aircraft than Hornet. And when F-14 has ACLS system, why FA-18 will not have? Hornet is way more advanced and modern aircraft...Thats why I think that FA-18C should have ACLS too.

That is not the argument that was made. Posters were discussing "Magic Carpet" which is a newer version of an ACLS. ACLS has already been announced as a planned feature.

Magic carpet is not a new version of ACLS, it's still manual flying just made easier.