Please explain me the Harrier in English. Total Frustration.

So as am reading it, You want a easy mode?

Nope, at least me never used Easy Comm, still Ground Crew was always grey, but could push it. So a bit weirdo...

I feel sorry for the well explained INS alignment part of the manual that is sitting on your hard drive. Why is this the last place people look?

Blacked out channels are one of two things. no battery or easy comms and on wrong station tuned.

Nope, at least me never used Easy Comm, still Ground Crew was always grey, but could push it. So a bit weirdo...

I feel sorry for the well explained INS alignment part of the manual that is sitting on your hard drive. Why is this the last place people look?

No, no... i have readed it. Even so another unofficial short manual that I have found in some other post.

The manual says:

INS Alignment Procedure

All modes

1. Make sure that the INS mode selector is in the OFF position.

2. Select EHSD o the MPCD (either left or right).

3. Select DATA on the MPCD.

4. Select AC (aircraft data) on the MPCD.

a. Aircraft present position will be shown.

b. UFC/ODU will enter Aircraft Position mode.

c. The following ODU options are available:

i. Option 1: POS (Lat/Lon position coordinates).

ii. Option 2: MVAR (Local magnetic variation).

iii. Option 3: WIND (Wind Direction and Speed).

iv. Option 4: SHIP (Carrier heading and speed).

v. Option 5: THDG (Aircraft true heading).

5. Enter AC initial present position (IPP) latitude and longitude.

6. Enter local magnetic variation (MVAR) if the value shown is 0.

7. Place the INS mode selector knob in the selected alignment mode: SEA< GND, IFA or GYRO. The

alignment process will start immediately if the required data has been entered.

8. When the alignment is finished place the INS mode selector knob either in NAV (for degraded

mode navigation) or IFA (for GPS coupled navigation).

It is in the step 5 were I having problems. When I type the AC latitude and longuitude the system do weird things. As far as I know, and the manual seems to said the same, you can enter the AC lat, long, MVAR, wind manually. But in the case of lat and long the harrier just ignore your imputs. I have found many videos from time ago, where people input the data without problem, but in my case you can see my issue here (go to min 1:55 and before):

And this is other video is one example as it seems to work months ago:

:(

Ok I see what’s happening. I think the unaligned IPP mode has been broken or not implemented. Right after getting the Harrier I read or saw a video or something about that. Since then I have had the pre alignment box checked under the aircraft options. This only gives the IPP when you spawn the aircraft. You still have to do the rest of the alignment starting at the point after entering the IPP lat/long. I have never checked after that, if I can manually enter the IPP coordinates manually.

Ok I see what’s happening. I think the unaligned IPP mode has been broken or not implemented. Right after getting the Harrier I read or saw a video or something about that. Since then I have had the pre alignment box checked under the aircraft options. This only gives the IPP when you spawn the aircraft. You still have to do the rest of the alignment starting at the point after entering the IPP lat/long. I have never checked after that, if I can manually enter the IPP coordinates manually.

Yes, that's it. The IPP step seems to be "broken". And I quoted broken because you can set the coordinates manually anyway (although it tricks you, not displaying them in the first stage, but storing them somehow).

Then, the system ignores the coordinates and align the aircraft to the real position... but who wants to type wrong coordinates on purpose?

So you already can "simulate" that you are aligning the aircraft, if you type the righ coordinates and ignore that they don't appear in the MFD until you start the GND alignment... as in the video ^_^

Yes, that's it. The IPP step seems to be "broken". And I quoted broken because you can set the coordinates manually anyway (although it tricks you, not displaying them in the first stage, but storing them somehow).

Then, the system ignores the coordinates and align the aircraft to the real position... but who wants to type wrong coordinates on purpose?

 

So you already can "simulate" that you are aligning the aircraft, if you type the righ coordinates and ignore that they don't appear in the MFD until you start the GND alignment... as in the video ^_^

As I understand it, IRL these aircraft have a battery that is dedicated to storing the last known position of the aircraft. So realistically if you are landing on a shore base the last known position will already be in the INS as the IPP. So setting it to pre aligned is a realistic representation of real life. If you are on the boat then you are getting that info through the cable. At least that’s the way a real hornet pilot explained it in a different thread on the hornet INS.

It makes sense. Nowadays all electronics can store basic configurations (as the BIOS of a CPU)

almost indefinitely.

Then, I think the only reason to reset the IPP is if the aircraft has been transported to another base as a cargo, a system failure, or if it is in the aircarrier and for any reason the cable is not available.

Aaaaaand.... Now it works again.

Don't ask me why, but now I can type the coordinates in the harrier keyboard and they appear in the MFD without problems. Same steps as a week ago, so I guess they have fix it ^_^