I have just got the new HUD up and running and with this, the great models of the F-14, T-45 and the stock F-18, and the fantastic carrier mod have re kindled my interest in the military side of things aviation. ( Before I came to FSX, I was a Falcon 4 fanatic for years) I have also pre ordered the vertical reality F-18. Now, I used to be able to land pretty good on the carrier, but of 30 attempts last night, not one ended without me crashing. Granted there probably good reasons for most of them - too fast, too high, off line etc, but I am finding really really tricky.The biggest problem is my airspeed and approach height. I find it almost impossible to fly the hornet at 130 kts, the recommended speed for landing. It just about falls out of the sky at that speed, and judging engine thrust is very tricky due to the delay in throttle action being translated to airspeed.I also do not know how to best use the ILS symbology to my advantage in setting up the correct approach. So, all in all, I need some help. Where can I find a good carrier landing tutorial, includinh useage of the ILS system?And also, when you land the Hornet on the deck, I often end up with the plane "submerged" partly in the deck. Is this right ? Perhaps its a reason for me crashing all the time. I will post a screeny later to illustrate, but it seems to me that somehow the sim is maybe not picking up the correct position of the plane. I had heard of there being some alterations for the .cfg file for the arrestor hook for the T-45, does using the new Nimitz carrier require anything else? As I said, when I first started using FSX this year, one of the first things I tried was the carrier ops and while not perfect, I was able to land succesfully at least 40% of the time. Since then my piloting skills have improved, but now I dont seem to be able to land at all, which does not seem right !! cheers, Mark

The biggest problem is my airspeed and approach height. I find it almost impossible to fly the hornet at 130 kts, the recommended speed for landing. It just about falls out of the sky at that speed, and judging engine thrust is very tricky due to the delay in throttle action being translated to airspeed.I also do not know how to best use the ILS symbology to my advantage in setting up the correct approach. So, all in all, I need some help. Where can I find a good carrier landing tutorial, includinh useage of the ILS system?

Check your fuel load. You might be too heavy to approach at 130 kts.Re: tutorial - you can watch the series of tuturials made by the FSX Blue Angels which are excellent and pretty comprehensive:http://fsxblueangels.com/tutorials.html

A couple points. First, as pointed out you need to have a realistic fuel load. Typically, less than 5,000 lbs (this gives you enough for at least 8 passes based on my experience). You'll start approach speeds around 138-140 kts with this load and then end up around 129-130 kts. A full fuel load "on AOA and G/S" actually needs 180-185 kts. Secondly, the key to using the ILS is to realize it gets you in the general area. Being perfectly on the ILS needles will put you constantly correcting to the right and low (even close to a ramp strike). Fly the ILS needles until you can make out the meatball clearly (I find around 0.6-0.7 NM). At that point you need to fly the meatball. If you're flying the defaul Hornet, you can use the flightpath marker accurately with the new HUD. On Dino's F-14D and T-45C as well as the Captain Sim F/A-18D the flight path marker is very close. However, not quite accurate and you'll have to use it to trend your adjustments and not as a literal touchdown point.

Fantastic help, thank you guys !! That Blue Angels site in particular seems very good. Will have a read and try and translate into practice later ! Thx again.BTW, has anyone tried the new flight deck 6 add on? Is it as crap as flight deck 5 ? ( which I am currently using as a coaster....) cheers, Mark

Fantastic help, thank you guys !! That Blue Angels site in particular seems very good. Will have a read and try and translate into practice later ! Thx again.BTW, has anyone tried the new flight deck 6 add on? Is it as crap as flight deck 5 ? ( which I am currently using as a coaster....) cheers, Mark

Don't mess with Flight Deck 6...get Javier Fernandez' new Ike and Nimitz class flattops from the library here.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Don't mess with Flight Deck 6...get Javier Fernandez' new Ike and Nimitz class flattops from the library here.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Ditto. Javier's carrier is an absbolute gem.

Thx guys, I have managed to do 2 sucessful landings, one even at night ! So I know its possible.. but still about 30 crashes.... LOL !Ok, back to my training flight!!I have the new Nimitz carrier, I just wondered in FD6 offered anything more... BTW, is there any way to get more lights showing on the carrier? for night landings, all I can see is the ball and 4 white lines on the deck, makes it pretty tricky in the last bit of the approach.....thx, Mark

Thx guys, I have managed to do 2 sucessful landings, one even at night ! So I know its possible.. but still about 30 crashes.... LOL !Ok, back to my training flight!!I have the new Nimitz carrier, I just wondered in FD6 offered anything more... BTW, is there any way to get more lights showing on the carrier? for night landings, all I can see is the ball and 4 white lines on the deck, makes it pretty tricky in the last bit of the approach.....thx, Mark

Well done. In real life the carrier looks like a tiny speck of light as you begin the approach. However you should be able to make out the yellow floodlights on Javier's carrier just before touch down.

Ok, I am managing to get it on the deck pretty well now, but what seems to happen nearly everytime is I hook the cable then as it slows me, the plane tips over to one side and crashes.Is this because you have to be absolutely perfectly aligned and level? And if you are not, as you trap, the small deviation in alignment means you veer that way as you are trapped?If so, the degree of accuracy you need is truly frightening!!cheers, Mark

Ok, I am managing to get it on the deck pretty well now, but what seems to happen nearly everytime is I hook the cable then as it slows me, the plane tips over to one side and crashes.Is this because you have to be absolutely perfectly aligned and level? And if you are not, as you trap, the small deviation in alignment means you veer that way as you are trapped?If so, the degree of accuracy you need is truly frightening!!cheers, Mark

You've pretty much answered your own question. The alignment is as important as following the ball and having the correct AoA. Dino's F-14 and T-45 seem more forgiving in this respect but if you watch this clip you can appreciate the danger of not being aligned properly.

Perhaps a more expert person here can tell us if the F-18s behaviour on landing in FSX is accurate.

Mark, do yourself a favor and look into Ubisoft IL-2. Ocala

You've pretty much answered your own question. The alignment is as important as following the ball and having the correct AoA. Dino's F-14 and T-45 seem more forgiving in this respect but if you watch this clip you can appreciate the danger of not being aligned properly.

Perhaps a more expert person here can tell us if the F-18s behaviour on landing in FSX is accurate.

Hmmm, oh well, I keep trying, but I sure don't remember it being this difficult before !!!

Hi Markmay be I can provide you with some additional info/help on carrier operations. It is one of my favored usage in the FS Sim. But first my environment set up:1: XP_SP3, FSX SP 22: I de-installed FS ACC, so I am not using it any more. Did not what I expected.3: I developed and using my own Carrier scenery. The carrier is defined as a AP in FSX with full SLI approach support. The Scenery can be downloaded from AVSIM ( DL_CVN75_V2.zip). The Scenery has been published in the PC PILOT magazine issue 58 also.4: I was unhappy about the MS F18 model in FSX ACC mainly the cockpit and the overall operations ( Autopilot, Nav, etc) So, I decided to use the freeware model from the

Re tipping on landing, a thing you have to remember with navalised aircraft, is that they are generally designed with the old adage of 'a carrier landing being a controlled crash', i.e, their undercarriage is generally designed to be able to compress and withstand a very high rate of descent (way more than a typical land-based aircraft), in order to absorb much of the energy of the flight. So if you are used to 'greasing it' onto a runway, don't be afraid to slam it down a bit harder when coming in on a carrier.You might also like to try a slightly curving approach to the deck, so you can keep things in sight. Although that means the landing aids on the carrier are less useful, if you have a good 'eye' it can certainly help matters. Worth bearing in mind too, is that modern carriers, with their offset landing decks mean that a bit of deflection on your approach is often necessary so that you arrive 'where the carrier is going to be', rather than tail chasing it, so it's often not a bad idea to be slightly to the right of what looks to be the correct approach when at some distance.Other than that, keep practicing. If it was easy to land on a carrier, anyone could be a navy aviator. Remember that the real navy flyers tend to practice on land-based dummy carrier decks with a big run off area for a good while, before they are let loose on a real ship, which you can try too by being inventive with a small airfield in FS. Don't get discouraged if it is taking a while to get it perfect, that's why navy flyers don't call themselves pilots, but rather aviators, since as they will all delight in telling you, an aviator is better than a pilot.Al

Ok, I am managing to get it on the deck pretty well now, but what seems to happen nearly everytime is I hook the cable then as it slows me, the plane tips over to one side and crashes.Is this because you have to be absolutely perfectly aligned and level? And if you are not, as you trap, the small deviation in alignment means you veer that way as you are trapped?

Mark,I've noticed that any last second corrections (say ... in the last 2 seconds of landing) will result a lot of times in the "tip over." If you're correcting at the last moment, then you were out of shape and you probably should have gone around.Once you start to feel really good about your skill, go fly the Carrier IMC mission by Brandon Seitz. What a great mission that is to test your skillz!I'll sure put the pucker back into your butt!(I also liked the Carrier series on Hulu to learn more about Carrier Ops in general and the amazing pilot skills required to do this type of work).Cheers,