I can not get the F18 to hook up to carriers catapult. When I use the command control to lower the thingy it doesn't come down. Also when I land the aircraft on the carrier, the aircraft is stopped by the arrestor cables, but then my nose gear drops hard and collapses and casues a crash. What am I doing wrong?

Ctrl-Q will lower your arresting hook.If your nose is slamming the deck, this indicates an angle of attack on contact with the deck that's too high.Carrier landings are best described as controlled crashes. You're trying to connect with all 3 gear almost simultaneously.It's not the same as a ground landing where you're going to bleed off the last bit of airspeed with a flare and then settle onto the deck. You basically want to slam onto the deck (at less than 700 feet per second) with all 3 landing gear. It's quite violent, as evidenced by the number of YouTube videos of actual carrier landings.At 3/4 mile, you should be about 135 knots and 600-700 feet. That should put you on the correct glide slope with an angle of attack that should give you better results.Also, keep in mind that you're attempting one of the hardest things to do in Flight Simulator (or in real life)!Practice. Practice. Practice.Cheers,

Ctrl-Q will lower your arresting hook.If your nose is slamming the deck, this indicates an angle of attack on contact with the deck that's too high.Carrier landings are best described as controlled crashes. You're trying to connect with all 3 gear almost simultaneously.It's not the same as a ground landing where you're going to bleed off the last bit of airspeed with a flare and then settle onto the deck. You basically want to slam onto the deck (at less than 700 feet per second) with all 3 landing gear. It's quite violent, as evidenced by the number of YouTube videos of actual carrier landings.At 3/4 mile, you should be about 135 knots and 600-700 feet. That should put you on the correct glide slope with an angle of attack that should give you better results.Also, keep in mind that you're attempting one of the hardest things to do in Flight Simulator (or in real life)!Practice. Practice. Practice.Cheers,

Thanks for the help. but I have a hard time attaching the plane to the catapult for launch. Have never been able to do it.

In spot view, are you able to lower the launch bar using CTRL-Q? Are you saying that the bar does not lower or that it doesn't attach?If it doesn't lower, check your keyboard assignments to be sure they are properly enabled.If it doesn't attach - usually means you are not close enough - get the nose wheel in the little box just ahead of the cat and lower the bar.takes a bit of practice.Vic

Use LOTS of up pitch trim (+4 to +5) to keep nose high on approach. Proceed aproach to do just THAT (aproach carrier). #1 is to keep your speed WAU ABOVE 120 kts, as at 120 kts you have landed already (or were supposed to land). Check speed every second.Point is you 'time' your touchdown to 'happen' at 120 kts (or at 100 kts AT THE MINIMUM). So you must constantly monitor and adjust your throttle to stay at the 'optimal' speed, all the way to cables as there is NO flare. Only way. Nose high will allow you to do this. Nose down (ie: use of elevator) is a terminal error. So, 'Fly' the pitch trim (not done in real life) for FltSim take offs and landings-especially carrier landings-only way. 120 kts. No elevator, just throttle. Practice.What I do. In LOCKED spot view (with hook down and 2 of flaps) I slew back until nose wheel is 'on deck' from 1000 ft of elevation (or a little less), hit 'Y', cut throttle (F1), use spoiler to slow, add up pitch trim (4.4?) and then just work throttle (NEVER CUT THROTTLE to land!!!) and (hopefully) land at 120 kts (or less). Practice.Chuck BNapamule

In spot view, are you able to lower the launch bar using CTRL-Q? Are you saying that the bar does not lower or that it doesn't attach?If it doesn't lower, check your keyboard assignments to be sure they are properly enabled.If it doesn't attach - usually means you are not close enough - get the nose wheel in the little box just ahead of the cat and lower the bar.takes a bit of practice.Vic

Also, check to make sure the key combinations for these actions have been set. Acceleration had a bug in its installation, and did not properly set these key combinations (even though it presented a dialogue box saying that it did).Cheers,

In spot view, are you able to lower the launch bar using CTRL-Q? Are you saying that the bar does not lower or that it doesn't attach?If it doesn't lower, check your keyboard assignments to be sure they are properly enabled.If it doesn't attach - usually means you are not close enough - get the nose wheel in the little box just ahead of the cat and lower the bar.takes a bit of practice.Vic

Shift+U, Shift+I, Shift+q...none of them work. The bar does not lower, the hook does not lower, nodda.

Shift+U, Shift+I, Shift+q...none of them work. The bar does not lower, the hook does not lower, nodda.

Also, check to make sure the key combinations for these actions have been set. Acceleration had a bug in its installation, and did not properly set these key combinations (even though it presented a dialogue box saying that it did).