Those of you who use vLSO: What is your GPA and BR?

My average is 2.73, and 78% Boarding ratio at the moment. What is the Navy standard? What is considered acceptable?

 

I found that the Aerosoft Tomcat is extremely difficult to land properly because of the very slow reaction of the engines and also the sluggish low speed handling. (I believe this is very realistic). When I jump in the T-45, I get fair landings without any problems. I tried the acceleration Hornet with its insane stability and immediate engine response and I did my first OK landing.

I believe GPA of 3 is the bare minimum. Ive been using vLSO a lot with different A/C and the F-14 was by far the harderst to land. Just to compare in the VRS F-18 my GPA was 4.1 and in the F-14 3.3 with  boarding rates of approx. 90%. IMHO this reflects real world behavior quite well. I strongly advice to use DLC on approach, this will make things a lot easier

Wow...3.3...i've never ever gotten a 4 in the Tomcat so going above 3 is virtually impossible for me. 

 

How exactly do you use the dlc? You keep the power on the higher side and "cheat" your way down with it?

In the real Aircraft, DLC is not an on/off system. The spoilers used by the DLC can be set to a certain angle by the pilot via a thumbwheel on the stick.

When in the groove, DLC comes in very handy if you either find yourself below or above glidepath. Changing engine power to correct a high/low condition is difficult because the engine are slow to respond and provide a significant lag between applying power and change in Lift. DLC however works almost instantaneous. So instead of changing power setting, you change DLC spoiler angle to adjust your lift and get back on glidepath.

In the F-14X however, DLC has only two positions (retracted and extended). I extend them when rolling into the groove, adjust power to keep AoA and keep them extended until touchdown. If I find myself too low, I switch DLC off for a second or two, this brings me back on glidepath, and put DLC back on. You could also do this the other way around: keep DLC retracted and extend only if you find yourself too high. Since however a too low condition is more dangerous then being too high I prefer the first method.

 

In the next update it should be possible to adjust the angle manually

Quote

   - DLC and Maneuver Flap Thumbwheel [Incr/Decr] (Implemented through INCR/DECR COWL FLAPS)
        * Thumbwheel is spring loaded to return to center, so control input MUST be set to "repeat while held"

 

Thanks for the info! I always used the dlc to correct highs by opening it, but what you described makes a lot more sense. I will give it a try. 

 

I read a little about the dlc in the natops and it seems when you engage it, it pops out at 17 degrees. Then, with a spring loaded thumbweel you can open it to 55 and close it as far as -4 degrees. When you release the thumbwheel it jumps back to 17. Is this correct?

 

if yes, I don't understand how linking it to cowl flap operations can make it work like this. 

 

I would like 1 button to engage it, and 2 more for moving it to each extremity while depressed. We'll see. 

My understanding of it, is that it is linked only in control name and not actual cowl flap operation. Similar to how maneuver flaps are mapped to the Floats Extend option. Which incidentally makes the Tomcat count as a float plane for the purposes of assign float plane hours badges as I found out the other day.

 

It sounds as though it should work as you wish according to the topic in the unreleased products forum.

I took the advice, and now I engage DLC downwind, and I use it to correct low situations (by closing it). It is way more effective like this.

 

As far as I see when you engage them they pop out at 17 degrees (neutral). I can imagine how easy it will be to do OK traps when we can not only close the spoilers, but open the further by pressing buttons on the stick. As a glider pilot it's a very familiar and welcome feature for me  

I still cannot get an OK. I mean how much better than this can it get? Here's my last (OK):

 

 

 

vLSO´s optimum groove times seem to be rather short,resulting in being "Long in the groove" even when calling the ball at 3/4 miles, which messes up rating. Try calling the ball manually a little later say at 0.7 miles

Manual ball helped me with the (LIG) comments, but now I'm getting "NESA" - Not Enough Straight Away. I don't get it. both the glideslope and the lineup are on the dotted line, always on speed, landed in the middle, still getting just (OK)-s. Something has to be wrong, there isn't anything I could get more accurately...

As sLYFa said, vLSO holds you to the optimum grove time of 15-19 seconds. Any longer/shorter and you will get tagged for it. 

Looks like the auto-ball is bugged. I changed it to manual and now i'm getting OK-s even some OK-s. What a difference! Thanks for the advice!:)

OK, I decided to delete all the landings I did before switching to manual ball. After 22 landings my GPA is  3.57 with a 95% boarding ratio. Then again, I'm still using nugget mode, but I think I deserve the positive attitude after all the sweat and tears  

Well it does take lots of practice, but your Goshawk grade above was a good start. I need to research it, but I don't think the Tomcat squadrons got alot of "Top Hook" awards on cruise.

You mean because the Tomcat was more difficult to land?

 

In terms of grading, how is the ratio in real life? I expect 80-90% of the landings should be (OK), some OK-s, and maybe one OK underlined in a hundred landings. 1-2 bolters during a 6 month tour, and definitely not more waveoffs. Would this be a correct assumption? How frequent was it to get waved off, and was it a matter of shame, or part of "business as usual"?

Found a very interesting forum thread with many insightful comments:

 

https://www.airwarriors.com/community/index.php?threads/scoring-carrier-landings-on-cq.40793/

 

Looks like 2.5 is the minimum for quals, then once on the ship a 3.2 - 3.4 might be acceptable for a nugget, but a skipper would be expected to have a 3.8-4, as far as  I understood.

 

According to this presentation:

https://www.movesinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Analysis-of-Navy-Carrier-Landing-Performance_Neil-Rowe.pdf

 

The great average is around 3.4 with a BR of around 92%

 

So my nose is supposed to be on the grind stone, but this is a really interesting discussion, particularly related to DLC.

 

It's worth noting that there were multiple iterations of the DLC logic:

 

- The early version had a neutral deflection angle of 7.5 deg, with incremental adjustments between -4.5 deg and 17.5 deg.

 

- The late DLC was effectively treated as a three position system, where the neutral deflection angle was 17.5 degrees, and thumbwheel inputs toggle between -4.5 deg and 55 deg. See 7:15 in the video below for an example of this system in use. (This is also the DLC version we've implemented in v1.2).

 

 

 

so as long as you hold the thumbwheel down the spoilers start deflecting to 55° and stay there until releasing the thumbwheel (vice versa with negative deflection)?

2 hours ago, sLYFa said:

so as long as you hold the thumbwheel down the spoilers start deflecting to 55° and stay there until releasing the thumbwheel (vice versa with negative deflection)?

 

I guess the deflection changes proportionally to the thumbwheel movement, but yes, as soon as you release it they return to the initial position (17.5)