Falcon's HUD Questions

[FroggerQ101 0]

Greetings all,

I've bought a few days ago the great F-16 package, i'm used with the F/A-18's HUD, i had a few problem at first with the complexity of the F-16 HUD, after reading the PDF Manual, lots came crystal clear, but still a few Question Marks are still locked on my Radar .

First, i don't know why, i can't get the NAV Steering Cue nor the Steer Point on my HUD, i've tried with the Flight Planner point A and B flight, no joy, then with manualy enter the Frequency on the ICP for my starting Airport as NAV1 then ending Airport as NAV2, still no joy.

Second, concerns landings, when i get the On Speed AoA (Green Donut on the Indexer) my E Bracket, ILS bars and Path Indicator Marker gets way down and disapear from the bottom of the HUD, whats the trick to keep them in sight, i try to keep the Green Donuts, and i'm used to have a Rate Of Descent or Rate Of Climbing Indicator such as on the Hornet's HUD, but i don't understand the Vertical Speed Indicator on the Falcon's HUD, i presume the E Bracket, ILS Bars and Flight Path Marker gets out of view because my Descent is too Fast? I've even tried a CAT I and CAT III loaded F-16 to see if ti makes a difference, but both seems need a High AoA on Landings.

I'm actualy uploading a Video on Youtube of a ILS Landing on the F-16, VirtualCockpit View and Nearest Tower, if anyone has advices about procedures on F-16 Landings, specialy about speeding down in Flight and on TouchDown, so used with a F/A-18 fast speeding down fast when Throttle about 25% a bit over Idle, but the Falcon doesn't slow down as quickly.

What i try to do is, on Downwind at 600 ft., slowing down to <240 KIAS for Landing Gears Down, Turning Off ST STA Switch to get ILS Bars, since i'm getting use to the Falcon, i for now, i get Landing Gears down while coming out of the 90 and lining-up for the Groove, then Line-up, Intercept GlideSlope, Steady Optimum AoA with Throttle Adjustement back and forth, still need some practice to get these easy on the F-16.

Link to video:

This brings me to a third question, with the moving Pitch Ladders, right and left, the Indicator and Heading readouts, up and down, and such, i presume that's what a Collimated HUD is about, i am not used to that, what does it means when the Pith Ladders, goes right or left from the HUD'S centerline?

[deltaleader71 5]

A couple of things came to mind when reading your post. I am doing this from memory so bare with me. The steer points will show up on the HUD if you have the proper NAV selection. There is a switch on the lower right panel for where you set up all your HUD settings to the right of the flight stick. Steer points will show up based on that switch for NAV1, NAV2, GPS. I have seen may people not set that right and have this problem. Also make sure you have the correct selection on the selector between your legs for NAV, ILS, etc...(Switch is to the left of the HSI between the pilots legs)

With out getting in to detail on the landings. I find that it helps to cage the HUD so it doesnt drift so much. There is a switch below the 0 key on the ICP, flip it up. Generally speaking though I find the donut to not be accurate. I personally place the FPM on my point of landing and set my speed relative to the descent rate I want. I fly the ILS around 180kts and prior to landing I bleed off my speed for a touch down of around 150kts depending on my weight. I rarely pay attention to the donut because when I do, I get a tail strike almost every time. I always fly my approach and landings with speed brake out and use more power to keep my speed up. This particular F-16 model feels like it has a lot less drag in general, so you need plan ahead and give your self plenty of room to slow down and do your approach.

[FroggerQ101 0]

A couple of things came to mind when reading your post. I am doing this from memory so bare with me. The steer points will show up on the HUD if you have the proper NAV selection. There is a switch on the lower right panel for where you set up all your HUD settings to the right of the flight stick. Steer points will show up based on that switch for NAV1, NAV2, GPS. I have seen may people not set that right and have this problem. Also make sure you have the correct selection on the selector between your legs for NAV, ILS, etc...(Switch is to the left of the HSI between the pilots legs)

Thanks for the reply. Well that is mostly what i do, that's why i came to the Forum, i don't get it, i set the HSI Mode Switch ( the selector between your legs for NAV, ILS, etc) to ILS/NAV, then the DEPR RET STB / PRI / OFF Switch (switch on the lower right panel for where you set up all your HUD settings) to the upper position which set it for NAV1, even tried with NAV2, only time i get the Steer Point is when i do set it as GPS, but i cannot set the course selection anywhere for this setting, no matter what it stays on Polar 0 deg., not even using the ICP or the HSI in between your legs with the Bugs does change that, nothing change on the HSI on your MFD when you select this GPS switch and HSI on the MFD, only thing that you can change is the Heading. I can't seem to be able to select NAV 1 or NAV 2 with the blue up and down switch on the ICP, the one underneath the 7 from the ICP Numeric Pad. I Cannot change on the DED panel (the little numerical panel under the right Indexer) it always stays on NAV1, unless i change the Witch on the HUD Console right of the Stick. I've even tried using one of those switch on one position then the other on all position, then switching it to second position etc.. No Steer Point.

Guess i will cage the HUD, i was trying to leave it without that options, but sometimes ain't easy. I do agree about the Donut, i'Ve been doing a few landings, and pretty tough to have the Donut with a decent R.O.D, i can do it, but lots of work, gotta play a bit also with the trim and trim the nose down a bit, so the Throttle doesn't make speed go up too fast, and keeps the R.O.D climbing. Let's say it's a job, but so far, with all the landings i did with Optimum AoA with mostly all realism up, i never crashed, wasn't that bad, just makes it a bit harder to stay on GlideSlope, but i don't plan on doing carrier Landings with the F-16, so a few feet pass the landing zone once in a while, doesn't hurt that much. But i gotta admit it's a pretty much different Flight Dynamic, specialy on turns, F-16 seems to required lots of speed for turns, for ie, i take the less loaded F-16, and on turn for mostly max bank angle, i gotta at least turn with atleast about 200 KIAS if i don't want to have the X on the Flight Patch Marker.

[FroggerQ101 0]

IS it normal that, on the ICP Panel, i cannot select anything with the Waypoint Select button (Up and down arrow under the 7 button) and the RTN/SEQ Swotch only goes up and down, not right and left? I guess my problem with the Steerpoint is the fact that i canno select NAV on the NAV List, it stays on NAV 0 on the top right corner when i go in LIST/4 it doesn't select any of the 2 Waypoint i setup.