FSX Carrier Landing Event at FS ... 27 Oct

[salt_air]

Hey guys,



We will be hosting an online event that all are invited to attend ... on 27 Oct at 1800 GMT.

Newer member xSilvey has a simple outline for us to do some traps on a carrier in the default MSFS FSX Acc pack F/A - 18 Hornets.



Out of KNPA NAS Pensacola to an AI carrier due south ... should be fun ... figure around a hour or maybe two.

Details here: http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?255325-October-s-FSX-Carrier-Event-will-be-held-on-the-27th-at-1800GMT

Please ask any questions or make any comments on that thread ... I'm not sure he's set up over here yet.



Catch ya later!,

[Willy]

Well, if I had FSX I'd be all over that like white on rice. A flight deck is my favorite landing surface. Preferably a wooden one though.

[salt_air]

Well, if I had FSX I'd be all over that like white on rice. A flight deck is my favorite landing surface. Preferably a wooden one though.



Agreed ... but there have been some requests for a FSX carrier event at all of the websites and xSilivey has stepped right up to the plate on his very first post.

I'll give him any support he needs to see his idea through.



You can look for a Wooden Deck escapade before too long maybe before the RTW or soon afterwards.

You guys will get a post here to it's effect (invite) and I hope to see you and everyone else that can make it there as well.

I appreciate how the door is always open here for all of us in this fine community.



Cheers,

[Moses03]

Thanks for keeping us in the loop Austin.

[Willy]

Thanks Austin. Just for the heck of it I moved an old carrier to Holkum Bay a couple of days ago.

[Dangerousdave26]

I'm in but I have found that Static carriers make better Multiplayer events than AI carriers.

The problem with AI Carriers is once they start moving they can be indifferent placed for each user even if you have the same time set. Also if you have a crash and the sim resets it resets to the earlier time. The end result is you are no where near the other players carrier so you are effectively out.

Static carriers also give you the ability to include both FS9 and FSX in the event.

[salt_air]

Dave, I hadn't given that a thought ... I've been lost in FS9 all year and have never really done too much "exploring" FSX's capabilities as it is ... appreciate your usual no nonsense input.

I'll let xSilvey know ... maybe he'll open it to the FS9 crowd ... replies at FS are nil so far ... any changes will be posted here.



Some interesting possibilities with Willy's carrier placement .... I hope Red is reading this.



Kevin, there's more to do in this world of ours than I will live long enough be able to even start.

I'm here out of choice ... I have always enjoyed the company and have a lot of respect for how things are run around here ... a damn fine crowd!




Best regards All,

[Willy]

Here ya go Austin.. USS Saratoga (CV-3) at Holkum Bay. On the second shot, I should have taken the wave off.

Edit: Just wanted to add to what Dave said. The main problem with static carriers (besides they're static) is wind direction. Crosswinds can be oh so interesting to your approach. Sometimes, I'll go around a few times before I'm satisfied enough with my approach to grab for a wire.

[RedGreen]

Some interesting possibilities with Willy's carrier placement .... I hope Red is reading this.


A carrier landing class in the Holkham Dash? Now that would be interesting! :isadizzy:

[Dangerousdave26]

The easiest way to deal with the weather is to set user defined weather and define the wind speed as 35kts and set the proper runway heading. You can go lower on the wind speed for older aircraft with slower stall speeds but the newer stuff like the hornets must have 35kts over the deck. At least for take off.

I prefer weather themes but those are harder to make if you don't know how. They are nice because you can set the proper weather as mild winds at the starting point and stronger winds over the carrier.

A carrier landing in Holkem Bay why yes could be done rather easily.

[Willy]

I just run Real Wx and take what comes and deal with it. Not very realistic for carrier landings, but makes for a more "interesting" approach.

A good practice for setting down on the wires is trying to set down right on the numbers on a regular runway. If you can hit the numbers, you can hit the wires.

[salt_air]

Ya know ya could take a look at Jeppesen (real wx) just prior to the beginning event .... then rewrite the carriers heading in the bgl file to suit .... put the edited scenery file on TS so folks could grab it up and drop it in there addon scenery for the carrier and let it overwrite ... after any backups of course.


It almost took me longer to write all of that than it would to make the "fix" on event day .... 8~ /


Dave has a good idea too ... event the FShost server could be set that way as well .... eliminates the need for the "rookies" ... if any ... to have to do anything .... and a luxury for the guys that do know how.

Puts everybody on an even keel .... psssft ... :icon_lol: ... oh my gosh ... and except for wind direction the rest could be as random as real wx or set to almost the same values.



We could use the YE-ZB gauge that Dave Bitzer put out earlier this year .... for both sims ... so is the Saratoga BTW.

Have pilots find the carrier amongst all of the fjords and hidden coves that are a major characteristic of all of Glacier Bay and Tongass .... Holkham is near the border I think.

Show a "trap" on the Sara on our duennas ... then take back off to Holkham from there.

I have the full compliment of aircraft types that were stationed onboard the ol' gal around 1942 with the receivers all ready installed and working from an attempt at an earlier event.

The transmitter is a piece of cake to install on the carrier and I could put the aircraft up on TS for pilots to download..

You can place the carrier the day of the event with the same "fix" for wind direction .... carrier landings with surrounding terrain? .... yep, pretty sure that's new.




But this is Red's Kitchen ... I'll just get out and wait till I'm called ... :mixedsmi:

[Willy]

The way I have Saratoga set up is with a NDB (MH, 37.5nm range on 303.0) to home in on. All you need is a ADF radio and get close to find her. I've been setting up all the carriers I've been moving around with one.

[salt_air]

The way I have Saratoga set up is with a NDB (MH, 37.5nm range on 303.0) to home in on. All you need is a ADF radio and get close to find her. I've been setting up all the carriers I've been moving around with one.


Yeah, that will work just fine Willy ... clear cut and simple you would look for the ship while being mindful and staying on track with visual indications from the Radio Compass.




The YE-ZB is modeled from the real thing that was in use by the USN carriers and their assigned aircraft all throughout the WW II era ... before and after ... I'll try to keep this short.

A navigational radio in every respect with the typical transmitter and receiver set up only instead of a visual indication of the the needle on the Radio Compass ... it would transmit an audible signal in Morse Code.

It had been released from being classified (old enough) and Dave found an article and enough technical info to write it up for both FSX and FS9 ... I was very fortunate to have been a small part of that build.



The ship will transmit radial signals like an NDB, but instead of having each degree indicated there were only indications at every 30 degrees

Like the numbers on the face of a clock ... they had alpha values that were changed each day ... the sim model have fixed values for each radial or Dave may still be writing the codes for it.



So you still are flying along looking for the carrier, but instead of looking also at the instrument panel you are listening for a Morse code signal.

Not just any signal but the signal that is assigned to the radial you want to use for approach as per assumed wind direction and carrier heading.

A little bit of math in that once you have established on your chosen signal ... all of which are outbound ... you will need to turn to the reciprocal heading (+ or - 180 degrees) to follow in.

[Willy]

The only problem I'd have with that is that I never could get my head around Morse code. (That's another reason I was a knuckle dragging engineer in the Navy :icon_lol:) . I've set up the NDBs on the carriers to use the same frequency for the same carrier in different locations. 301.0 for Langley CV-1, 302.0 for Lexington CV-2, 303.0 for Saratoga CV-3, 316.0 for the second Lexington CV-16, etc. I've got carriers in a few areas "operating together" and it just made sense to me to set up separate frequencies for each carrier. Using the 300 series and the hull numbers just seemed like an elegant way to do it that would be easy to remember the radio frequency for the carrier I want to find.

[PRB]

It's actually not too hard Willy. First off, you have a "general idea" which direction the carrier is in to begin with, so you're looking for an expected morse code signal. And with that card printed out and available to stare at while flying, it makes it pretty easy. Heck, in the real navy they changed the morse code letters every day, just to confuse the pilots, hehe!

- Paul

[salt_air]

The transmitter on each ship will have it's own channel you can switch to from the aircraft panel.


74254


And I've copied my official Morse Code cheat sheet for you to keep in your shirt pocket should you ever get in a situation where you might need it ... like when the panel lights blow a fuse :icon_eek: