navy81
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Expat, The rounddown is the area where the aft portion of the flight deck angles downward about 15 degrees for about 8 feet before it angles down 90 degrees. Carrier designers felt that provided a safer margin than a sharp 90 degree end to the flight deck - and they were right! My first deployment in Nimitz in 84, a former helo pilot had transitioned to Tomcats with the "Jolly's" (VF-84 Jolly Rogers). Nimitz was fresh out of the yards with brand new non skid and paint on the flight deck (and rounddown). After a few screaming power calls from the LSO's followed by frantic wave off calls, his left mainmount tire left a nice black mark on the rounddown (8 feet right of centerline, by the way), which stayed there for months for all to see. He boltered, was sent back to the beach, never to appear again. Without that rounddown, he would have had nothing but a stub of a mainmount... Picture of the rounddown below from Gary's Oriskany (it is the grayish white area just above the ladder lineup lights)

I am certain that none of this is easy! But it is appreciated. I also noted that there are also two near the stern just forward of the rounddown. Looking forward to your update Gary! Thanks much. Deke

Looking great Gary! Thanks for the update. One thing i have noted, and not sure you can change it, but the HF antennas on both port and starboard side adjacent to cats 1 and 2 are always in the down (horizontal) postion for launch and recovery. Most of them are in the down position, but there are two on both sides forward that remain in the up position. Not a big deal, and I know it came from the sketchup that way. Just thought I'd point that out. Deke

Fantastic! Still makes one sweat bringing that beast aboard! Any luck with the Midway? V/R, Deke

Great point Joe, I didnt factor that in. Nice catch!

Sorry about that! It actually should be unit.1

That works Joe - I adjusted the cg_height to -10, and also created a copy of the Patuxent, and renamed everything LARAMIE, which is a sister ship to the Patuxent. Here are my ai carrier config settings to get everything reasonably lined up title=Oriskany UNREP unit.0=USS_Oriskany, 0, 0 unit.11=USNS_LARAMIE_UNREP, 95, 150 Deke

Thanks expat. I followed the thread, and it seemed to me that Midway (and Coral Sea) were CFS2 ships. Downloaded those, and installed into sim objects/boats and configured the ai carriers file to bring them to life - or so i thought. CTD occurred. Is there anything special that needs to be done to make them useable in FSX (A)? Bringing the Whale home on Oriskany - not much room for error, and lots of bolters! I have found that fuel around 30% or less works for me, with an approach speed at half flaps around115 kts and speedbrakes out. Here is my hook setting: tailhook_length = 4 tailhook_position = -15, 0, -1 cable_force_adjust = 1

Hmmm. What is your approach speed? You can try different flap settings, but definitely ensure your speedbrakes are out, At full flaps, the aircraft likes to float, so I rarely try at full. If someone were to modify the air file to ease that out a bit, it would be more realistic. I will test it out and provide details tonight. BTW, where is the "freeware MIDWAY"? I'd love to get it ASAP. Thanks. Deke

Sorry, they are in the warbirds section under FSX skins. Select the "new" link at the top. Should be here - I see them. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links_search.php?action=find&catid=-8

Thanks everyone for the compliments! I have uploaded this morning my Whale repaints (whidbey Whales.zip), the Demon repaint (VF-161.zip), a Skyraider repaint (VA-165.zip) and a VAP-61 RA-3B repaint - many of which will go well with Gary's Oriskany - especially when his next release comes.