Hi all, Ive been in the mood...a rare one at most, to depart and landing on a carrier in FS9.  I know about the default one near SF, but does anyone have any recommendations on other freeware or payware options out there.

 

Happy flying,

 

Bill

I was under the distinct impression there were no landable aircraft carriers in FS2004, so I loaded up at SFO and took a look.  Sure enough, there is one due west of the Golden Gate and you can land on it although there are no arresting gear.

 

There are three scenery addon carriers that I know of in the AVSIM Library.  One is located off Roosevelt Roads NAS in Puerto Rico, one installs near Thailand I believe and I can't recall where the third installs.  I believe one is the JFK and the second is the Nimitz.  Again, not sure what the third one is.

 

To my knowledge none of these is actually "under sail" or have the ability to "turn into the wind" so real weather can play havoc with your landings.

 

There is also an addon arresting gear download, I believe it was called 3Wire or 3rdWire...something like that.

 

Alas, the Library is not working for me right now so I cannot verify any of this.

 

Randy

You might search for this on google:

 

FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Scenery FS2004 Scenery--Aircraft Carriers 2006 [ Download | View ]

Name: carr2006.zip
Size: 6,136,998 Date: 01-12-2006 Downloads: 22,933

FS2004 Scenery--Aircraft Carriers 2006. This package is an update of the 18 arrestor cable equipped Nimitz Class aircraft carriers by Javier Fernandez and Richard Hogan, with all new AFCAD2 runways and navaids as well as AI aircraft traffic files, plus, the "Sinking Carrier Deck Fix". By R. A. Baum.

Thanks guys!

I recommend the payware CVN65 Enterprise. Used to be sold by Virtavia but is now sold by Team SDB. But whichever carrier you use, you need to do some other stuff. At one point it was available in a single location and without ai as freeware on AVSIM - but not sure if it still is.

 

In addition to downloading and installing carriers, you also have to do two other things:

1. You need to download and install a program entitled 3Wire - it's freeware. Follow the instructions and make sure the carrier you want to land on is listed.... Installing 3Wire will create a folder in FS9 called Arrestor Cable Files. Your chosen carrier must be entered correctly in the dsd_arrestor_zones and dsd_catapult_zones config files.

 

2. You have to make sure the aircraft you are going to use is configured. This involves adding three entries to your panel cfg file: (substitute the correct number for xx)

gaugexx=dsd_arrester!arrester,1847,486,46,40

gaugexx=dsd_carrier_zones!dsd_carrie_zones,0,0,20,20

gaugexx=COP_Sound!dsd_xml_sound3, 0,0,20,20

 

Make sure the tailhook is activated in the aircraft.cfg file - if it's a naval aircraft it probably already is.

 

Last of all you need two other things:

a. lots of patience. Launches are easy but catching a wire can be difficult until you get the hang of it. Be prepared to go around - and around - and around.... But when you catch a wire, you will feel like you really accomplished something!!!

b. lots of food and coffee close by your computer because this can be incredibly addictive and it might be a long time before you are able to get up and get food/drink or check to see if your wife is still around....

 

It takes some time and effort, but it really is worth it...

Cheers

Ian

p.s. I wrote a tutorial on FS9 carrier ops a while ago. It's in MS Word format and I'd be glad to email it to you or anyone else who wants it. Send me a PM with an email address and I'll get it to you