Single Player Navigation Exercise

[AG-51_Razor]

This is a single player navigation exercise for the F/A-18C. You will need the AG-51_Ships, FA-18C_Test and the RAAF mods plus you will have to have the FC3 module.

You will spawn in the cockpit on deck with engines running and loaded with 4xMk-82's and 2xMk-83's. I recommend you keep them on throughout the flight as it makes the plane act more realistic, according to a RL hornet pilot in the 113th. Some of them even fly around with the speed brake out as well!!

If you look at your fuel gauge you will notice that you are not full. There is plenty of fuel for the exercise but you would be losing a good training opportunity if you did not go find a tanker and hook up for a few minutes.

Nav waypoint 1 is over your left shoulder at 3000 feet and is used for the rest of your flight to have a place for y'all to rendezvous if you weren't in a single player mission, that is. Nav 2 is further on towards the beach up at 15K. Nav 3 is a 90 degree turn to the left at 15K and nav 4 is another 90 to the left, pointing you back at the boat. This is your last waypoint. When you fly through this, it will automatically switch to an ILSN nav waypoint. When that happens, hit the "NAV" key once (default is the number 1 key) and you will see ILSN again with a slightly larger distance at the bottom - about 8 miles difference. This is now giving you heading and distance information right to the carrier deck.

Bring up the radio menu and hit the F10 key for "Other" and then the F1 key for "Carrier Operations". At this point, the bird farm's ATC will assign you to a Marshall point that is described by a bearing from the boat i.e. 070, a distance from the boat i.e. 21 miles and an altitude like "06" for 6000 feet. He will also give you a commence time, which is the time you are expected to depart from the marshal point and begin your descent to 1200 feet. At 10 miles he will tell you to "dirty up" and at 6 miles he will ask you for what you're seeing on your iLS indicator - "300, six miles, say needles". At about a mile he'll ask you to call the ball. Your response should be, your side number, type a/c, if you see the ball, say "ball" and if not, say "Clara", then give your fuel state in thousands and hundreds separated by a decimal. So, your response should be something like, "three zero zero Hornet, ball, six point 4" at which point he would normally respond with a "Roger ball". Someone else that has read the NATOPS manual will have to fill in what to do if you bolter 

[AG-51_Thud]

Excellent, thank you   

[AG-51_Thud]

Nice.  Gonna take some time getting used to taking orders.

After landing, I sat right about where you would launch from.  With wings folded and engines running I noticed that I was taking on fuel.  Did not rearm though.

[AG-51_Razor]

I'm not certain but it could be that you can't rearm with the wings folded???

[AG-51_Sabot]

Thanks.

So what you described to me were CASE 3 Approaches for Tuesday rather than CASE 1 is that correct?

[AG-51_Thud]

I didn't think you could refuel without shutting down and  having then canopy open. Sorry for poorly written original comment. 

[AG-51_Fireball]

...Someone else that has read the NATOPS manual will have to fill in what to do if you bolter 

Here's a slightly simplified version of what's in the NATOPS...If you bolter on a Case III approach, increase your speed to 150, raise your gear to save fuel but leave your flaps down. Continue on the final bearing (straight out from the angled deck) and climb to 1200 ft. When you reach 4 nm ahead of the ship turn left to downwind staying at 1200 ft. When you're established on downwind, lower your gear again and stay on speed (green donut) til you reach 4 nm behind the ship, then turn left again and intercept the ILS. Fly the remainder of the pattern as a normal Case III.

Note that when you're on downwind you should be parallel to the angled deck, not the Base Recovery Course of the carrier.

The VFA-113 guys have some really good Case III training info on their website at vfa-113.com. Try to visit their website before we try this on Tuesday to get a basic idea of the procedures. They've also got about 10 minutes of real-world audio of Case III operations that's really interesting.

And to expand a little on what Razor said...make sure you know how to interpret your marshal instructions, and be ready to write them down.

Your marshal instructions will always be given to you in this form:

 Example:  "701...Marshal 080...21...angels 6...expected approach time 55...expected final bearing 262"

701 is your tail number. Think of your marshal point as a point in space defined by a radial FROM the ship (080), a certain number of nautical miles from the carrier (21), at a certain altitude (angels 6).

You're expected to arrive at that point at a certain time (55 minutes after the hour) to begin your descent. When you're on final approach to the carrier you can expect your heading to be 262.

If you arrive at your assigned marshal point before your expected approach time, you go into a left orbit and time it so that you're back at your marshal at your expected approach time.

Here are links to some good US Navy references about carrier ops procedures, including Case III.

https://info.publicintelligence.net/CV-NATOPS-JUL09.pdf

https://info.publicintelligence.net/F18-ABCD-000.pdf

https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/local/docs/pat-pubs/P-816.pdf

https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/local/docs/pat-pubs/P-1211.pdf

[AG-51_Sabot]

Rgr Fireball.

Case III Approaches to the boat are based on the Final Bearing, rather than the BRC (Bearing Recovery Course).

On Case III Approach you receive the Final Bearing and add 8 or 9 degrees to it for the BRC (Depending on the Ship)  The Marshal Stack is  based on the BRC.  Once you are cleared to commence to decrease altitude and turn right 30 degrees until you intercept the FB.

I don't think we can set the HSI so it's going to be guesstimated

[AG-51_Razor]

After passing the last nav waypoint, your nav system will automatically switch to the ILSN waypoint. At that time, hit the nav key once, which will switch your nav system to the actual ILS for the boat and it will be giving you guidance to the ramp with course and distance based on the final bearing to the ramp.

[AG-51_Fireball]

We've talked some about Case III approaches, but haven't said much about how to do a Case III departure. Here's what the CV NATOPS says about Case III departures:

=========================================================================
5.13.3.4.1 Jet Aircraft

Climb straight ahead accelerating at 300 knots crossing 5 nm at 1,500 feet or above. At 7 nm, execute turn to fly the
10-nm arc until intercepting the departure radial.
=========================================================================

And while we're on the subject, here's what the CV NATOPS says about Case I departures, which we also haven't talked about much:

=========================================================================
5.13.3.1.1 Jet/Turboprop Aircraft

After a clearing turn, proceed straight ahead paralleling the BRC at 500 feet until 7 nm. Aircraft are then cleared to
climb unrestricted in visual conditions.
=========================================================================

[AG-51_Razor]

You know that you make me wet when you talk like that Fireball!! 

In the absence of a TACAN that we can tune into for the boat, how about if we just decide on a speed (300Kts?) and a time say, 2 minutes? 300 Kts = 5 nm/minute. However, since we aren't going 300 kts as soon as we clear the deck, could we agree to always accelerate to 300 kts and then fly out on the BRC at 700 feet for 2 minutes before turning on course? Another option would be to cycle through all of our waypoints until the ILSN shows up, which should be showing about 8, and then hit the Nav key, which should then show 0. That would then give us a pretty good approximation of a TACAN (giving us a distance and radial) for the boat. I'll try that and let y'all know how it works out.

EDIT: That worked like a charm!! The only deviation is, when you get to the last waypoint, if you hit it again, it just goes to the first one, not the ILSN. So, unless you know exactly how many waypoints there are, this might take you a few seconds. Anyway, for the training mission we'll be flying tomorrow night, there are only 4 until the Landing waypoint so, at waypoint 4, hit the Nav key (default #1 key) and you will see the ILSN showing with 0.0 underneath that and "CSET" flashing - I have no earthly idea what that means. Anyway, after launch the distance starts winding up until you see 7.0 and then you're on your way.

[AG-51_Thud]

One thing for sure....we fly in the nastiest pea-soup weather and when you can successfully take on a full load of fuel and bring her down in one piece ya just want strut your stuff like a barnyard pimp.     

[AG-51_Fireball]

Good job Thud!

It does feel good doesn't it. It's not easy to do.