Carrier Ops.

Found an interesting vid about carrier ops on DCS. Flying the Hornet or F14 off the carrier is an amazing experience.
I think I mentioned before that everything is fully mathematically modelled in DCS, even stuff you do not see from the cockpit.
For instance you could fire 1000 rounds from the gun into empty space at 20,000ft and the bullet path of every round is individually calculated for mass, air density, drag and ballistic info available from the manufacturers. Right until the shell hits the ground 20,000ft below. Thats why it takes a monster of a PC to run it.

This vid shows some of the stuff going on on the carrier that you do not see, but nevertheless it is modelled.

The handlers and green shirts also respond to your input. They give you hand signal instructions to follow and if you ignore them or get it badly wrong, you are not going anywhere.
Currently only the Cat crews are modelled, but sometime this year the entire flight deck crew will be modelled.

Enjoy.

Introducing the F4E Phantom.  I am tempted... But not sure yet.

Well I have the F4E downloaded and need to do the lengthy process of setting up all my buttons and switches to work the aircraft systems.
I have briefly run through the before start check tutorial while sat in the jet, checking the various switch and control settings in the company of the virtual instructor.
Man that cockpit is cramped. Far smaller than the A10 cockpit and far more cluttered. Probably about the length of the spit mk9 cockpit, but a teensy bit more shoulder room which is a surprise for such a large aircraft. Main control panel is only about 12" - 18" from my chest.

On the plus side, the phantom cockpit layout is very similar to other US jets, so when the virtual instructor tells me to check something like the stab aug or generator switches are set to off, I instinctively look to the correct area. This means my real physical switch boxes are in the correct area to be used in the correct sense with the F4 without breaking immersion.

I expect to be able to start the jet from cold, taxi, takeoff and land confidently in around a fortnight, depending on the weather outside. DCS is primarily an indoor, poor weather distraction. If it is hot and sunny outside, sitting out on an evening in the garden with a cold beer takes precedence.

A vid on how to start up the jet which also shows how you do the very necessary communications with the ground crew and the AI wizzo sat in the rear cockpit. As with the F14 and F15, you can have a real person sat in the back if you so wish, doing the wizzo stuff instead of the jester AI, but both of you have to own the aircraft and terrain you are using. There are third party speech recognition apps that communicate with ground crews via spoken orders, but I always find they struggle with my very broad yorkshire accent and dont bother.

Animated ground crew walking and carrying out tasks around the jet are a work in progress as is your pilot walking out to the jet, carrying out a walkaround if you so wish, climbing up the ladder, settling down in the seat, picking up and strapping on the helmet, hence ladder and helmet already modelled. At the moment, the only way to have a walk around the jet is to eject on the ground, pick yourself up off the concrete, dust yourself down and then walk around it. No way to get in the aircraft from outside.

The target is for you to get a mission breifing in the ready room, walk outside to the bread van, get driven to the ramp, walk over to your assigned jet and climb in. This is several years in the future though. It is no easy task apparently. Be nice to climb out the jet after a long missiin, get driven to happy hour at the bar, shut down the PC with cool beer already in hand and join the missus for some quality time.

Those that have visited may recognise Nellis AFB on the outskirts of Las Vegas in the vid.