Some thoughts of DCS F/A 18C

[Owl]

Long time user of DCS, and a lot of different aircraft flown. Especially the A-10C, which I have always love most. I have the last month or so, begun to learn the F/A-18C, and to now, I like the module very much as well. I have some questions, which for many surely isn't importent, and for me it isn't importent as well, but it has catched some thoughts for me.

 

Is it realistic in real world, that you have to have at least one engine running, to turn on the DDI's? Even with the APU running, or with ground power, it isn't possible to turn on the DDI's.

 

With engines running, the DDI's turned on, the waypoints and weapon loads are already loaded. How do they get in there? In the A-10C, you load it all in, under your startup procedure, and if you change the weapon load out, you have to change it in the weapon page. How do the aircraft know, if I change my weapon load?

 

I have seen a lot of video tutorials on Youtube, with the F/A-18C, and thanks for that. But It seems for me that the the moving map in the centre DDI is much easier to read in the videos, as it is on my screen. Especially the text around the border. It is too light green, and difficult to read. I have of course tried to play with contrast/brightness, but haven't found the perfect solution yet. I have the newest Geforce driver installed, use an Geforce 1080TI grafikcard, and a 27" 166MHz monitor, so I don't think it is there, the problem is.

 

Best regards

 

Henrik

[Etirion]

The DDI's are powered by the generators, so the APU or battery will not power them, I'm not sure whether they should work or not with ground power, but you might need to use the ground power switches on the left console, above the light switches and next to the Fire Test switch. Above them, below the emergency dispense button is a list of what those switches do in what position.

 

Waypoints and such are loaded with the data-cartridge, that should be implemented at some point, but isnt yet. However data is usually loaded automatically, looking at NATOPS this should be possible to be done manually eventually as well through the MUMI display.

 

Personally I always use the bottom left rocker to turn down the map brightness, have a play with the in-game gamma setting as well.

[CBStu]

2 hours ago, Owl said:

With engines running, the DDI's turned on, the waypoints and weapon loads are already loaded. How do they get in there? In the A-10C, you load it all in, under your startup procedure, and if you change the weapon load out, you have to change it in the weapon page. How do the aircraft know, if I change my weapon load?...

 

Best regards

 

Henrik

In the provided missions the weapons and waypoints are already loaded. If it's a ground or boat start you can hit 'R' for 'rearm and refuel' and it will bring up a window. You can change fuel level and armament there. It takes maybe a minute and he will announce 'rearm completed' or something similar. It's kind of fun to look back over your shoulder and see one of the missiles disappear and a different one take it's place. I understand it is possible to change waypoints using the clickable UFC etc but have not tried it yet myself. Chuck's Guide has the process.

[Bunny Clark]

The cockpit displays are only powered by the two AMADs (Airframe Mounted Accessory Drives, or generators). Generally it's highly unlikely that you'd loose both AMADs without also loosing both engines, so it's not like you'll be flying back to base and navigating or trying or fight with two dead AMADs. If both AMADs are gone, you're pretty much in an eject or emergency landing situation. The APU will power the FCS channels 1 and 2, and control actuators, so you can still fly the plane effectively using standby instruments, assuming whatever caused the loss of both AMADs didn't do any other damage.   

 

The ground power system in the Hornet is primarily intended for use by ground mechanics who need to work on or test systems without starting the aircraft engines. It's not generally used as a part of flight operations. 

[Owl]

4 hours ago, CBStu said:

In the provided missions the weapons and waypoints are already loaded. If it's a ground or boat start you can hit 'R' for 'rearm and refuel' and it will bring up a window. You can change fuel level and armament there. It takes maybe a minute and he will announce 'rearm completed' or something similar. It's kind of fun to look back over your shoulder and see one of the missiles disappear and a different one take it's place. I understand it is possible to change waypoints using the clickable UFC etc but have not tried it yet myself. Chuck's Guide has the process.

Thanks CBStu for your explanation. It is not because I don’t know how to change weapons in the DCS F/A-18C, it is more the miss of realism. If you change weapons, by F8 rearming, how does the aircraft know you have done it? In DCS A-10C, you have to reconfigure the aircrafts computer, so it know what weapon there are on each pylon.  It is more realistic, I think. 
 

I know how to edit waypoints, but my point is, that you have to have at least one engine running, to have the DDI’s turned on, so you can edit them, or other things on the DDI’s. It can’t be good for the environment, or the engines life cyclus. 
 

regards

Henrik

[F4ttyRider]

8 minutes ago, Owl said:

Thanks CBStu for your explanation. It is not because I don’t know how to change weapons in the DCS F/A-18C, it is more the miss of realism. If you change weapons, by F8 rearming, how does the aircraft know you have done it? In DCS A-10C, you have to reconfigure the aircrafts computer, so it know what weapon there are on each pylon.  It is more realistic, I think. 

I think that I did read from somewhere, can't remeber where, that the ground crew upload the new configuration data to the Hornet. Can someone confirm this?

[Wizard_03]

1 hour ago, Owl said:

I know how to edit waypoints, but my point is, that you have to have at least one engine running, to have the DDI’s turned on, so you can edit them, or other things on the DDI’s. It can’t be good for the environment, or the engines life cyclus. 
 

regards

Henrik

So it has a data card just like the A-10 and there is a page on the DDIs where you load it all up just like the A-10 (its not available in DCS yet), But IRL you not really going to be editing a bunch of things on the ramp while waiting around on alert or whatever and if you need to, then you can hook up ground power and use the power panel to power up the systems you need to mess with.

 

Unlike the A-10 The APU was not designed to provide electrical power/ECS cooling to the avionics its just meant to start the engines. This has to do with the intended role of the hornet. It is not meant to operate at a FOB or do quick turn around battlefield CAS missions. Its primarily a strike fighter. With the A-10 and Harrier they want the jet to be usable in areas where they may not have access to a bunch of airfield equipment, so they specifically made it that way.

 

The idea of landing and re-arming and immediately taking off again for another mission is the part that's not really realistic for the hornet. I'm sure they could make that happen if they needed but its not really done nor was it an operational design requirement like it was for the Hog and Harrier.

 

Also to your OP the Map on the MPCD is hard to read in the real jet too. Often USN pilots won't bother with it. But the gain rocker on the lower left of the screen is your best friend if you want to use the map.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Wizard_03

[Bunny Clark]

In real life all mission planning elements: waypoints, offset points, target points, radio channels, maps, threat locations, IFF codes, bomb release programs, countermeasures programs, datalink frequencies, and so on are set up ahead of time on a computer by the mission planners and pilots. The info is then saved from the computer onto the data card and loaded into the jet at startup. In real life you would not sit in the cockpit entering waypoints and data, there's no reason to do so unless there was a very last-minute change. Someday we'll get this functionality in DCS. 

 

From what I understand weapon loadout isn't actually a thing that's stored on the Hornet's data card in real life. What weapons are loaded onto what stations is a thing that the ground crew programs directly into the jet through a computer interface behind an access panel and isn't something the pilot needs to be involved in at all. So in that sense the Hornet simply knowing what loaded weapons have changed after a rearm is realistic, except that it happens 20 times faster than is realistic. 

[Brun]

6 hours ago, Owl said:

I know how to edit waypoints, but my point is, that you have to have at least one engine running, to have the DDI’s turned on, so you can edit them, or other things on the DDI’s. It can’t be good for the environment, or the engines life cyclus. 

 

The DDIs operate on ground power.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Brun

[Shiroka]

This mod revolutionized how I fly with the Hornet:

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3311626/

 

With my version I edited the lua files so it was just the AMPCD change and not the other two displays. Not sure how realistic but gamechanging  quality of life improvement (I think editing also helped as from looking at the comments it looks like it messed up the LMAV on the most recent updates, but I didn’t see that as I just used the AMPCD change) - makes the overlay a bit lighter and adds a thin black border around the all the shapes/text. I can now read the overlay on the map in VR without even zooming in (at least on a G2).

 

Full credit to @Elphaba!

 

edited to add: definitely check the screenshots on the mod page and you will see what I mean.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Shiroka

[mongo52]

5 hours ago, Bunny Clark said:

From what I understand weapon loadout isn't actually a thing that's stored on the Hornet's data card in real life. What weapons are loaded onto what stations is a thing that the ground crew programs directly into the jet through a computer interface behind an access panel and isn't something the pilot needs to be involved in at all. So in that sense the Hornet simply knowing what loaded weapons have changed after a rearm is realistic, except that it happens 20 times faster than is realistic. 

The SMP is the main computer for the weapon system. It is located in 14R. Weapon and Fusing codes are entered there (Super Hornets starting with H10 software have the ability for the aircrew to change the data in the cockpit via the UFCD).

[Elphaba]

7 hours ago, Shiroka said:

This mod revolutionized how I fly with the Hornet:

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3311626/

 

With my version I edited the lua files so it was just the AMPCD change and not the other two displays. Not sure how realistic but gamechanging  quality of life improvement (I think editing also helped as from looking at the comments it looks like it messed up the LMAV on the most recent updates, but I didn’t see that as I just used the AMPCD change) - makes the overlay a bit lighter and adds a thin black border around the all the shapes/text. I can now read the overlay on the map in VR without even zooming in (at least on a G2).

 

Full credit to @Elphaba!

 

edited to add: definitely check the screenshots on the mod page and you will see what I mean.

 

I'm so glad you got something from it. I know when I forget to re-enable after DCS updates, just how much I miss it too!

[Hypersteff]

On 12/27/2020 at 1:40 PM, Owl said:

Is it realistic in real world, that you have to have at least one engine running, to turn on the DDI's? Even with the APU running, or with ground power, it isn't possible to turn on the DDI's.

As already said above, the DDIs do run on ground power. After it is connected you must enable the according ground power channels. There are four channels, each enabled with a switch in the front part of the left side panel forward of the throttle. Each channel has a switch with positions A/Auto/B. Basically position B means "everything on". Don't remember by heart which channel powers which systems. There is a sign on the left cockpit wall where the exact mapping is written.

 

Cheers

[Brass2-1]

The Fighter Pilot Podcast has a great episode (very early) on air to ground weapons and how the Hornet “knows” what it’s carrying. 
 

As best I can recall, the ground crew enter a short code on each pylon itself, the jet then correlates the codes to weapons and thus knows weights, drop/fire parameters, etc. The pilot is not a part of entering that information, though I would assume that verifying the assigned load out and data entry would be a responsibility of the pilot. 
 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Brass2-1

[Owl]

Dear all

 

It is so wonderful to see and read all your replies to my post. So nice to hear all your knowledge. Can only be thankful

 

I will wish you all a happy new year. 
 

best regards

henrik