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This is not an in depth dissertation (yet) but meant to be an overview of IRL Carrier Ops V DCS Carrier Ops. I've been thinking of giving a workshop over maybe Zoom or Twitch or whatever for those interested in carrier ops, but I'm posting this on here just for your reference.

It has seemed to me that there has been confusion as to how carrier ops work, or how it is being done, and how it is done IRL. Sometimes someone does something in DCS that makes someone question why it was done or it gets pointed out, and I think this will help clear things up a bit.

So, for starters:

1. Carrier ops in DCS are not accurate. Aside from ATC not working consistently, let alone the radios (how many times do we tune the frequency and broadcast either via the radio menus or Voiceattack and the frequency in the displat changes and we get no answer?).

For starters, there are 2 kinds of carrier ops: Carrier qualifications (CarQuals) and Cylic Ops. CarQuals are the way landing s and takeoffs are done for qualifying a naval aviator so they can deploy with the Carrier Battle Group. If you don't qualify, you stay home, and there are probably further bad consequences to that too (reassignment, etc). Cyclic ops are the way takeoffs and landings on the carrier are done while on deployment or more importantly when the carrier is at war.

DCS incorrectly has the sim modeled for CarQuals ALL THE TIME. How can you tell? Well, for one, after you check in inbound and say "See you at 10" they next hand you off to tower who tells you "signal is Charlie." This is a code to tell you that you are cleared to land (the deck is clear, "Charlie"). However, in Cyclic Ops, there is no radio communication beyond "see you at 10." Because you have many wartime aircraft in the pattern, approaching the pattern, leaving the pattern, etc, speaking in comms could result in alot of confusion, stepped on transmissions, and chaos. In Cyclic Ops, the rule is what they call "zip lip." No one talks on the radio unless it is necessary to prevent an accident, or unless you are the LSO--maybe. Why do I say maybe? Because even the LSO will not talk even on the approach unless it is necessary. Naval Aviators are expected and assumed that they know how to fly the ball and to read the signals, and so that is how the LSO communicates with them--the lights on the IFLOS. If the aviator is having a particularly hard time getting down, if it is really stormy and the seas are rough, etc, the LSO may come on SPARINGLY to help the aviator down. But aside from that, they will just monitor the approach and waveoff as necessary. They will still always grade the approach.

The only time people talk on the radio as they do in DCS is in CarQuals. This is why it is not accurate in DCS since DCS will talk on the radio even if you are on deployment.

More in a bit...

v6,
boNes

So what is the way to do carrier ops? Well that depends on again on whether they are Cylic Ops or CarQuals. Let's start with Cyclic Ops since that is what we play the most.

Cyclic Ops are called that because they occur in cycles. Each cycle, or "event" begins with a launch or recovery. So, the first event begins when the first aircraft is launched. When the last aircraft is launched, the next cycle begins usually with recovery. I say usually because there are instances where the cycle may end with a recovery and the begin with a recovery. This will happen is there is what is called a "yo-yo tanker." But more on that later.

Why Cyclic Ops? Well unlike those wussy USAF types (haha), the Navy doesn't have an airbase with a nice long landing strip or a big ramp to house all their aircraft. If their planes are low on fuel and there is no divert, they might be able to field land somewhere if they don't punch out first. Also, although it is best if they takeoff and land in a timely manner, it might not be a big deal if they are delayed in doing so.

With a carrier, the takeoff and landing "runways" are obviously not as long. There is limited space on the flight deck--you can't have the entire squadron of aircraft on the deck with other aircraft. What usually happens instead are a select amount and type of aircraft are parked on the roof for easy set up for the first cycle, and the rest are set up in the hangar deck to be rushed up to the "roof" to get launched next, etc. If planes are low on fuel and can;t hit the tanker and there is no divert (they could be in the middle of the ocean for all you know), they would be forced to ditch. Until then, the carrier cannot continue steaming ahead on such and such heading because it makes them predictable and thus easy prey for enemy submarines, or they could say run aground or otherwise sail into harm's way. So aircraft have to be launched and recovered quickly.

To do this, Cyclic Ops are designed to have one event occur after the other, like clockwork, without delay, until the last cycle finishes and all aircraft are safely aboard. This is where the beauty and finesse of carrier ops comes in. The procedures are such to allow for this to happen.

There are many intricate details involving this, and many of this explain why certain things are done, but I won't get into all those details now, I will just focus on the flight--particularly landing--part. If there is something that doesn't make sense about that, it is most likely better explained by those intricate details which I can explain if anyone has a question.

So let's talk about a recovery cycle. Say you are returning from a mission. Usually at around 50 nm you would call into the outlying ATC controller, which is usually an Aegis missile ship with a good amount of radar to monitor any aircraft in the area. They are there to be the first line of defense against enemy air attack and are complimented by the AWACS. You may have heard of their callsign, "Red Crown." THis is not simulated in DCS, instead they put you through right to Marshall, the carrier ATC itself. Once you call into Red Crown and they IFF you they will clear you to enter the CCZ (Carrier Control Zone) which is a 50 nm radius from the boat with infinite vertical boundary. Depending on if it is Case I, II, or III recovery, you will be directed next to the boat for the Marshall holding pattern over the boat in Case I, or to Marshall for the holding pattern aft the boat in Case II and III.

We'll concentrate on Case I right now since that is the usual case we fly. Once you are cleared in by Marshall, you will fly to the boat and when you hit 10 DME, you call into marshall, "See you at 10." (Provided you do see them at 10 nm!). At that time you are directed to switch to tower where you are now under the control of the Air Boss, the one guy you do NOT want to tick off with bad carrier ops. At this point, you and everyone else who has switched to tower is now ZIP LIP. You are now entering the CCA (Carrier Control Area) and the Case I Marshall pattern.

Naval aviators in Case I are expected to know how to fly it, especially under zip lip conditions. Generally speaking, each squadron knows at what altitude and what airspeed they should be at, and how to enter the Marshall pattern overhead. Each squadron is assigned a pattern altitude starting at 2000 ft AGL and at every 1000 ft above that. Aircraft that burn fuel the fastest get the lower altitude assigned, whereas larger fuel sipping aircraft get higher altitudes assigned. So a Hornet squadron will get 2000 ft and a Tomcat squadron will get 3000 ft and an S-3 squadron will get 4000 ft and the E-2 will get 5000 ft, for example. These altitudes are assigned when the operations are drafted for the day and briefed to the pilots before their cycle begins. Descent to this altitude should be controlled, say at 2000-4000 ft per minute. There is no diving into it or rolling inverted and doing a split S or another aerobatic maneuver to get there. It's unsafe with other aircraft in the airspace, and poses an unnecessary risk to the aircraft and its section itself. Just a normal descent will do. Now I don't recall that outside the CCA but within the CCZ that there is anything that says you can't do an immelmann or a split S or what have you to get to your assigned altitude. But again it probably is best to keep it simple. A descent from 20,000 ft to 2000 ft only requires a slight dive starting from 50 nm miles away and is much more safe and straightforward.

So let's say now you are in Hornet. You have reached the 2000 ft altitude assigned to you. How do you enter the Marshall? Well, it will take either some navigating or some pilotage. There are 4 positions in the Case I Marshall pattern circle. Think of the center of it 2.5 nm portside of the ship. From there the 3:00 position is position 1, the 12:00 position is position 2, the 9:00 position is position 3, and the 6:00 position is position 4, which happens to be to the starboard side alongside the carrier:
It's not shown here but the center of the circle, 2.5 nm to the portside of the boat, is known as the "post."

When approaching to enter the Marshall, you should navigate and/or use pilotage in such a way that you enter the pattern at either points 1, 2, 3, or 4. Let's say the ship's BRC is 360, or it is heading 360, and you are approaching from the east with a heading of southwest. You may have to make a right hand "u-turn" to be able to head 360 to get you to position 1, or you may extend out aft the ship to turn back to get to position 4 and then enter as the flow of the pattern is counter-clockwise. Either way is valid, it depends on your navigation, pilotage, and safety. While we're at it, when I said "It depends"--you will find that more questions than you think about carrier ops are answered by "it depends." This is where it comes down to pilot finesse.

So let's say you have now entered the pattern at your assigned altitude. It is zip lip, so no one will tell you that you are cleared to land, so how do you know? You know by the procedure of the pattern. When the launch cycle ends, the deck crew will next rush to prepare the deck for recovery--taking their positions, setting the cables, clearing the deck appropriately. The aircraft circling at 2000 ft will keep a close watch on the deck and, with the art of Naval Aviation, time their exit of the Marshall into the pattern so that they arrive in the groove just as the deck is done being readied for recovery. So the pilot will keep the closest eye on the deck at position 1 since it is closest and as close an eye as they can at position 3, and get an idea as to how he should fly the rest of the pattern to arrive in the groove in time. You can see why it is easier for 2 seat aircraft like the Tomcat and Super Hornet to do this.

Keep in mind that per carrier ops, when in the Marshall, any climbs in altitude are only done between points 1 and 3, and any descents are only done between points 3 and 1. So when the pilot decides to make his landing, he will commence at position 3 since he will be descending to get down to 800 ft by the time he is ready to enter the initial. If the pilot is the first to do this, he is "breaking the deck."

This leads to the pattern which I will get into more detail at another time. Suffice to say that he will be about 6 nm astern and going into the initial, hen the break into the downwind ("the 180") at 600 ft, then make his base leg ("the 90") until he turns to final approach (in the groove"). Note that you are officially "in the groove" once you roll wings level on final approach. At this point, ideally you should be 3/4 nm from the stern. Any farther will get you a "LIG" or "long in the groove" grade which lowers your score. That is why naval aviators turn on the 90 so close to the boat (that, and also since the boat is moving away constantly, they have to turn early). To those unfamiliar with this procedure, it may look like the aircraft is turning way sooner and closer than they should, but that is the reason why.

At this time you should acquire the ball. Again, it is zip lip. Contrary to popular belief, there is no "ball call" like in DCS or in the movies. That only occurs in CarQuals or emergencies. When you roll into the groove it is understood that you can see the ball (it is Case I after all), and rather than the LSO saying, "roger ball" they will illuminate the cut lights on the IFLOFS for a moment, then let you fly the ball. If anyone talks at this point it is the LSO if he thinks you need talking down or there is an emergency, or if you make a call because of an emergency.

At this point, the pilot's flight either ends with a trap, or a bolter and he goes around again. When he does, he still is in the pattern, so those still in Marshall should not enter the pattern ahead of him. Those already in the pattern should watch their interval and fly accordingly.`

That is it for now. I only wanted to touch upon the arrival procedure in Cyclic Ops. The pattern is a whole 'nother story and I can explain that in detail later.

If you have any questions feel free to let me know.

v6,
boNes

Thanks for writing all this up, Bones. I will definitely read it in full soon. Read your first entry. Good summary.

No problem. Like I was saying, I would like to have a workshop on this to better explain if people are interested, but we'll see. At least that way questions can be asked on the fly.

Also I will say that I am pulling the above out of my head based on what I've studied and trained on, so I may be off a bit but it's like 99% correct.

More later...

v6,
boNes

Thanks for this Bones... I usually go right in because Im not so sure on all the steps...

I have 2 questions to start...

1 - What's the point of the BRC of 360 (as an ex) and inputting that number when we know the deck offset is 9or10 degrees? I normally just minus 10 and use that as my final bearing for course select on my HSI. so when I go on final Im lined up.... Why do we need to offset? wouldn't it be more efficient to just always use that Final Bearing number vs the BRC?

2 - you mentioned -
"There are 4 positions in the Case I Marshall pattern circle.....From their the 12:00 position is position 1, the 9:00 position is position 2, the 6:00 position is position 3, and the 3:00 position is position 4, which happens to be to the starboard side alongside the carrier:"

Shouldnt it be - based on the snapshot you shared -
12:00 position is point 2, the 9:00 position is position 3, the 6:00 position is position 4, and the 3:00 position is position 1, which happens to be to the starboard side alongside the carrier:

Or is the picture wrong?

Trichome wrote: ↑

17 Apr 2023, 13:45

Thanks for this Bones... I usually go right in because Im not so sure on all the steps...

I have 2 questions to start...

1 - What's the point of the BRC of 360 (as an ex) and inputting that number when we know the deck offset is 9or10 degrees? I normally just minus 10 and use that as my final bearing for course select on my HSI. so when I go on final Im lined up.... Why do we need to offset? wouldn't it be more efficient to just always use that Final Bearing number vs the BRC?

The reason is because the TACAN is not aligned with the landing area where the wires are. The TACAN beacon is actually at the island. So although you may be lined up on BRC per the TACAN, you are actually not lined up on centerline so much as you are on the island. Thus, if you dial in a course that is 10 deg less than the BRC, you are actually going to parallel the landing area by tracking that course.

Will that matter that close in? Maybe not. But the first factor you want to take out of the trap equation should always be the lineup and if you follow a course that has you parallel the course you should be on, that's another correction, albeit small, that has to be made that complicates things.

This is also why final bearing is given in Case III rather than Case I. Following the TACAN will take you to the island not the runway, and it is too dark or what have you to see what correction you have to make as easily, so you just know to follow final bearing once you get close in and visual.

See the back of the napkin sketch I made below:
In the sketch, the TACAN is actually located on or near the island of the carrier. Let's assume the carrier is steaming on a course of 360. So, Case I BRC is 360, so the final bearing is 350. So what happens if you dial 350 as your course heading into the HSI that is tuned to the carrier TACAN? Then you are actually tracking the 350 radial coming out from the ISLAND TACAN and not the centerline of the landing area. The centerline of the landing area is aligned with 350, but not off of the TACAN 350. So, if you have tuned in the carrier TACAN and dialed in the course 350, and the Course Deviation Indicator (CDI) needle is centered it means you are right on the 350 radial that will take you right into the island, not the landing area. The Air Boss will not be happy with you colliding into him. The HSI labeled "B" is what the HSI would look like if you were following the 350 course dialed into the carrier TACAN, but you are actually at the position that is shown in the sketch by the tiny Hornet.

If you look at the HSI labeled "A", you will see what the HSI would look like if you were on centerline to the landing area of the boat. The 350 radial is actually to your right, as shown by the CDI needle, and you are paralleling the course if you are on the heading of 350. Note that the TACAN icon is more at your 1:00 and the CDI needle is off to the right The mighty Tomcat shown in the sketch is where you'd be.

Thing is, when you have a mere few seconds to trap, the last thing you want to be looking at is your HSI. You should be visual and looking at the ball instead, assuming you are already on centerline--which is why you want to solve that lineup problem first and if you follow the TACAN needle centered on the final bearing course, you are making things worse for you because you are now off the centerline of the landing area and will now have to correct that factor when you really need to concentrate on the ball.

Also in DCS this is not much of a factor but keep in mind that the 10 deg angled deck applies to Nimitz class carriers. Other carriers can be different, for instance, I think the Forrestal had a 5 deg angled deck.

2 - you mentioned -
"There are 4 positions in the Case I Marshall pattern circle.....From their the 12:00 position is position 1, the 9:00 position is position 2, the 6:00 position is position 3, and the 3:00 position is position 4, which happens to be to the starboard side alongside the carrier:"

Shouldnt it be - based on the snapshot you shared -
12:00 position is point 2, the 9:00 position is position 3, the 6:00 position is position 4, and the 3:00 position is position 1, which happens to be to the starboard side alongside the carrier:

Or is the picture wrong?

You are correct. I misspoke out of my head and had the wrong positions. The correct positions are in the snapshot. I will edit the post, thanks!

v6,
boNes

OK, let's focus on the Case I Pattern.

So you've spent your time in the Marshall and have been keeping an eye out on the deck and see that they have launched the last aircraft and are now hurrying to ready the deck for recovery. It is the epitome of Naval Aviation professionalism to time your departure from the Marshall to have you arrive on the ball *just* as the deck is ready to receive aircraft. To meet this goal, how do you go about doing it?

First of all, recall that descents can only be done between points 3 and 4 in holding pattern. When you leave the pattern, ideally it will be at the #3 position, but it may be beyond that--it depends on the timing. If you think you need enough time to arrive on the ball when they are ready, you may elect to leave the #3 position with a heading 30 degrees more than your #3 position heading to give yourself time and spacing. If you think you need to hustle, then you may continue flying to point 4 while descending and fly to a point in the groove where you can go into the break and make the trap time. This is part of where the art of Naval Aviation comes in--most of this is done by good pilotage and skill. There isn't really a set way to leave the hold and enter the pattern, as long as it is done safely.

Let's take the instance where you have a lot of time. You can depart from point 3 30 degrees more that your heading to bring you out from the boat for spacing and to kill some time, then turn back to the boat and try to arrive about 3 nm astern the boat ready to go into the groove. During the departure, accelerate to 350 KIAS in the Hornet and drop your hook if you haven't already. If you are in the Tomcat, accelerate to 400 KIAS, drop your hook, and sweep your wings all the way back to 68 degrees. Presumably you have already fulfilled your HAIL-R checklist--it stands for Hook Antiskid/ACL (if applicable) Instruments (Box ICLS and TACAN in the Hornet, select AWL HUD mode in the Tomcat) Landing weight/lights - Radar altimeter set on.

Once you get to 3 nm astern, you are about to enter the initial. Fly portside the boat in preparation of the break. You can either do a standard break or a SHB depending on the situation. Usually it is a standard break.

With a standard break, the aircraft is flown ahead of the boat. The one in the pattern that is presumably landing just before you is what is called you interval. Do not break until your interval is in the downwind at your 7:00. If you are the first/only one in the pattern, you can break at any time at the stern (but not before). Just take care to not exceed 4nm from the bow of the boat or you will be directed to leave the pattern and re-enter. If you must exceed 4nm, advise tower and tell them your intentions before departing and returning.

Make the break: Turn hard left and pull enough Gs to decelerate while staying level at 800 ft, popping your speed brakes, and idling the throttle. At 300 KIAS drop your gear. At 225 KIAS drop your flaps to half. In the Tomcat, drop your gear at 300 KIAS and also set your wings back to automatic sweep. Do not drop your flaps until you roll out on BRC (in case there is an asymmetry in your wings or flaps). When you have reached BRC, roll wings level and start your descent down to 600 ft (F-14s drop your flaps now) and instantly trim like a madman to get on AOA. In the Tomcat, after your flaps are down, pop DLC and continue to trim. In the Hornet, drop full flaps at this time and trim if needed.

You should be at 600 ft AGL on AOA and completely dirtied up for landing. The next step is a critical point to time your turn to the 90. Look to your left and see where the boat's stern/fantail/round down is. Ideally when you reach that point, you should start your turn to the 90. How much turn and exactly when to turn depends on your distance abeam the boat. Ideally you want to be 1.0-1.2 nm from the boat, If you are less or more and have time to correct while in the 180/downwind) do whatever pilotage you can to do so. the closer you are to the boat, the sooner and harder you must turn. The farther you are from the boat, the later and looser you must turn. Angle of bank into the 90 should be 27-30 degrees. So if you are wide abeam, lean toward 27 degrees of bank and fly BRC a little longer. If you are 1 nm abeam, turn as soon as you can at 30 deg AOB.

While turning into the 90, you are are technically on instruments. There isn't much of the boat to see while doing so, so keep your eye on the instruments to make sure you are hitting the numbers. A good rule of thumb is to keep your velocity vector aligned with the horizon through the turn--your act of doing so will naturally decelerate the aircraft further and cause you to lose lift and thus altitude to place you at about 450 ft where you want to generally be when turning into groove. Roll out on final bearing and immediately pull some power from the throttle. This is because when you roll upright, all the lift you lost to contribute to your turn will be back, so if you do not remove the power, you will get more lift than you need and will end up climbing above the glideslope. The ILS needles, should you be using them, will indicate you are high initially, but this is an optical illusion because since the boat is steaming away from you, as it moves away, it will usually bring the slope up to you.

At this point, if correctly done, you should arrive on the ball 3/4 nm from the boat. It should take you 15-18 seconds to trap. Any more then you are deemed long in the groove, any less you are short in the groove. The timer starts as soon as you roll wings level, not when you arrive at 3/4 nm.

So now here comes the fun part...

v6,
boNes

Before anything else I will stress what is probably the most important thing in traps:

TRIM TRIM TRIM!

Trimming your aircraft to be on AOA is probably the single best thing next to throttle control there is to making a successful trap. When you trim your aircraft to be on AOA, you are trimming your aircraft to not only be on speed, but to have your nose pitched up in such a way that the hook dangling from the back of your aircraft is poised properly to catch that coveted 3 wire. You can tel if you are properly trimmed if you can take your hands of the controls and the aircraft will fly straight and level with the AOA indicator showing the donut. I wouldn't recommend hanging on the trim button to dump in your trim except at the start. after that, just a few clicks should do it--even better if you keep track of how many clicks you put in in case you need to back off a bit, you can get a feel as to how many clicks in the opposite direction you need to put in. Anyway, by being trimmed on speed you now have released all that back pressure from the stick and have your hook positioned in the best place for landing and can now concentrate on the ball/slope and the lineup.

OK, so back to being in the groove. Solve your lineup first, that will take away a huge part of the trouble of making the trap. WHen making corrections remember that the closer you are the more sensitive to change your approach will be. Make small corrections to the left or right--no, smaller than that. Smaller than THAT, really! Also while turning, just dip the wing a bit to make the connection, don't hang on the turn. Per aerodynamics, everytime you turn you lose lift as the lift vector is now contributing to pull you through the turn rather than keep you in the air. So dip the wing, and back, multiple times as needed, to make your turn.

The throttle is the other huge factor that you must master. IN airplanes on approach, they tend to fly opposite as to what you expect. You don't control your altitude with the joystick, you control it with the throttle. You don't' control your speed with the throttle, you control it with your joystick. So, since you are trimmed, if you see the AOA indexer telling you that your slow, drop the nose a tad until the donut comes back. If the AOA indexer is telling you you are fast, pull the nose up slightly until you get the donut. Throw in some clicks of trim in the needed direction if you need to fine tune it.

Now the ball is the most important landing aid you have, and that is directly related to the throttle. You must be able to anticipate where the ball is going to be as much as where the ball is. If you are high, remove power, if you are low, add power But don't just do it willy nilly. This is a good time to bring up three part power corrections. This naval aviator explains it much better than I can, so I'll let him take it from there:

THREE PART POWER CORRECTIONS
Landing on an aircraft carrier is essentially a matter of managing the aircraft’s rate of descent from the abeam to the carrier deck. To do this, a pilot is actually managing the energy state of the aircraft to achieve that desired rate of descent.
Consider the following example:
An aircraft is descending on a glideslope that would ideally require a 700ft per minute rate of descent. However, the aircraft is descending at 800ft per minute. This aircraft is underpowered and will soon be low on glideslope. To correct this low condition, the pilot must add power. The aircraft’s rate of descent after power correction is now 600ft per minute. This will allow it to climb (actually descend less) back up onto the glideslope. However, if this power is left on the aircraft it will eventually continue to climb above the glideslope, and so most of that power addition must be removed. When all of the added power is removed, this will of course leave the aircraft with its original problem of being underpowered. And so a second, more modest, power addition must be made. Now, ideally, the aircraft is maintaining perhaps 700ft per minute and so should be appropriately powered to maintain the glideslope.

This multiple stage throttle movement is called a "three part power correction” in naval aviation. In a more practical way of thinking, a carrier aviator controls his power (and thus rate of descent) in the carrier approach by utilizing a near continuous set of discrete three part power corrections each adding to or subtracting from the energy state of the jet. These corrections are generally represented by the following mnemonic:

When low: “A little on. A little off. And half back on” When high: “A little off. A little on. And half back off"

In actuality, this technique is as valid in a Cessna as it is in a F-14. However, rather putting in a power corrections and waiting for something to happen, carrier aviators distill this correction down to a discrete "shot" of power. This is done to avoid over controlling the power and inducing oscillations in the carrier approach, particularly on the ball where the glidelslope is incredible sensitive.
How much is a little? That is entirely subjective (and very dependent in [DCS] on your HOTAS setup), but consider about a half inch of throttle travel to be a good starting point. Most carrier aviators will also use a reference point somewhere on the throttle quadrant as an anchor, placing their wrist, little finger, etc on some portion of the cockpit that doesn’t move to give them a feel for the corrections that they are making.
Remember, these power corrections are meant to be short in duration. You don’t wait to see the effect of the correction before you remove it. Rather, you simply determine that a correction must be made, make it, then scan your instruments (and when appropriate the ball) to determine if and when another correction must be made. In practice, this results in the carrier aviator making almost continuous small corrections of a frequency that would bewilder most conventional pilots.
One last point on power corrections. There may be times, when a large correction to your energy state must be made. In these cases, it is entirely permissible to reduce your throttle as low as idle or advance it as high as mil (or rarely AB)….providing you don’t leave it there! Due to the fact that jet engines, unlike automobile engines, must spool up or down to change thrust; retarding your throttle to idle once for five seconds will net you a far greater loss of energy than reducing the throttle to idle five times for one second each. This particular action, (i.e. reducing your throttle to idle and leaving it there) is referred to as “being back in the bucket”, and the 3 to 5 seconds that it takes for the engines to spool back up to mid range may well be the longest (and if you are particularly unfortunate, the last) of your life if you do it 300ft above the waves.

Many of you have mentioned in the Hornet that once you cross the round down you float or you start to climb. This is most likely adding too much power (and trimmed too much nose high) resulting in this action. Use the three part pwer correction instead, and don;t hit mil or AB until you are just about to hit the deck.

If you should bolter, you should be in mil or AB and take off again immediately, retracting brakes and flaps if possible to give you every bit of lift to get airborne again. Insure that you have a positive rate of climb. WHen you are past the bow of the ship and you have no interval (first to the bow is the interval), only then do you turn 10 degrees to get back on BRC. Climb to 600 ft and when you are clear, turn back into the downwind and start over again.

If you should trap, do not retard the throttles until you are at a complete stop. Raise the tailhook when the deck crew signals you to and taxi via the deck crew. In DCS you don't have this kind of crew so go ahead and do it yourself. But keep in mind that normally you would be taxied to the bow catapults to be parked, to clear the way for other landing aircraft. You may be taxied to the island or another parking spot at that point depending. In the Hornet, unlock the wings but do not fold them until you receive a signal to do so and raise the flaps. In the Tomcat, sweep your wings back and oversweep them if you can and raise the flaps. If your spoiler brakes are up, turn them off--but this should already have been done before trapping. Tradition has it that if you forget and you look silly with your spoiler brakes up after trapping, you owe the air boss a beer.

Obviously there are very subtle and multiple things that are done in the trap, in the groove, and so on. I can't go through them all here but if you have questions I can try to answer them. Some things are procedural. For instance, you all taxi turns on the carrier should be done in idle, while going straight is with just a little bit of power. The reason is if you turn with power on, you are "spraying" and sweeping with a much bigger exposure area anyone behind you with forceful air that threatens to blow crewmen overboard. Another one is to not taxi with your hook down. That signal to the carrier crew that you have a problem with your brakes and they will be coming over to remedy that. If I think of anything more I'll mention it. There are so many procedures and techniques in all of this it's hard to remember them all unless they come up to be addressed., but with time, you just know them all no problem.

More later...

v6,
boNes

SHB

You've probably heard us mention the Sierra Hotel Bravo. That's phonetics for Sh*t Hot Break.

The SHB is a traditional privilege for fast mover naval aviators. It is a moment of glory, but if done incorrectly you will go from the larger than life fighter pilot to the laughing stock of the air wing. It's up to you!

So what is the SHB really? It is a spectacular entrance into the pattern. Rather than enter in into the initial then flying out 1.2 miles then making the break into the downwind, you make the break right over the deck, the more over the LSO's head the better! There really is no downwind, base, or final leg--ideally, the break is one continuous circle that ends in the groove. In the Hornet you do it at 350 KIAS, in the Tomcat you do it at 400 KIAS with the wings swept fully back. BTW, the reason given for the Tomcat always having her wings back in any break is because a delta wing in a hard turn loses energy quickly, thus tightening the turn and results in a slower speed, which is good for landing. But the real reason is because F-14s look friggin' hot in the break with the wings back--no other plane looks that sexy during it.

ANYWAYS...

The reward for a SHB is an automatic upgrade in your landing grade. So let's say you do the SHB and you get an (OK2). In the books it will be logged as an (OK) 3. An (OK) 3 grade would get upgraded to an _OK_ 3. An (OK) 1 will get logged as an (OK) 2...thee are typical examples but you get the idea.

Lo and behold though if you should mess it up, you will be chastised and teased about it. As they say "Don't be John Wayne in the break if you're going to be Jerry Lewis in the groove." Whatever grade you earn won't be downgraded, but they won't let you live it down. It would be like Michael Jordan going for a fast break for one of his incredible slam dunks but tripping over his shoelaces in the process.

So who is allowed to do a SHB? Well for starters, usually the first one to break the deck. This is because if there are people ahead of you in the pattern, it obviously is very dangerous to do so and risk a mid air collision. It can be done with others in the pattern, as long as it is done safely and the interval is minded. Any pilot can do it but should consider their ability to do so beforehand. Are you a nugget, new to the fleet and your aircraft? Your first few traps on the boat is probably not a good time to do it. Are you a seasoned fighter pilot with hundreds of hours of flight time and hundreds of traps but you haven't flown in 3 months? Maybe not. Even people who are pretty current but are doing CarQuals might not attempt it because CarQuals implies that you haven't trapped on the boat in a while, so why risk doing it then?

But those who do it and get it right deserve the full glory. For those on the deck, it is a spectacular, tear jerking scene. Imagine the sound of 60,000 lbs of thrust right over your head as you watch this bird come full circle and plop down on the carrier in less than a minute. It is an art, and when done properly, it is a masterpiece.

Here is some cool footage of an F/A-18 doing the SHB. What's really unusually great about this was he did the break at friggin' 600+ KIAS! This is also a good indication for you Hornet drivers out there what your HUD and sight picture should look like in the landing.



v6,
boNes

Case II Recoveries

Case II recoveries are a hybrid of Case I and III.

In Case II recoveries, the weather is marginal VFR. There is no Marshall stack above the carrier. Rather, you Marshall around a holding fix near the carrier, usually astern. The altitude you are given to hold at also determines your DME from the carrier, which is +15. So if they tell you to hold at angels 8, you would add15 to that to get 23 and that is how far away in nm you would hold from the carrier. But in DCS, I have never seen them not tell you what the DME is so you have it a little bit easy.

So you check in as before and are told Case II recoveries (BTW, they use the carrier callsign so when they say "Courage" that is USS Stennis, when they say "Warfighter" that is Truman etc). They will tell you to Marshall on Mother's XXX radial at XX DME, a push time, and the current time. To be able to successfully fly this, you will have to know something about TACAN/VOR navigation. So I will attempt to explain the basics.

Of one of the most basic ways to aerial navigate over land is with the use of a VOR (VHF Omni Directional Radio) or TACAN (the military version of VOR). Picture a radio station on a map with a line emanating from it for every degree of the compass rose. So there are 360 lines or "radials" with the tail of that arrow starting at the station and the had going out to infinity in the direction of that bearing. If you were told to hold on the 225 radial from the VOR/TACAN, you would be on the line emanating from that station directly southwest from the station.

Since I said "from" I will point out here that in VOR/TACAN navigation there is also a "TO" and "FROM" indication. In civilian OBI (omni-direction bearing indicators) and HSI instruments there will usually be a "TO" or "FROM" indicating in a window on the instrument face. Or, there will be an up arrow meaning "TO" or down arrow meaning "FROM." What this indication does is "qualify" your position on the radial. "TO" generally means you are in front of the station and "FROM" means you are behind it. Take special note that this has nothing to do with your heading, only your position in relation to the station, and in terms of the radial you are tracking. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT and causes alot of confusion even to people used to navigation from time to time. For instance say you are told to hold on that 225 radial. Say your aircraft is directly on that 225 radial and southwest of the station. Your OBI or HSI, if tuned to radial 225, will say that you are FROM the station. Think of the 225 radial as it would appear on a map. it is emanating FROM the station, in the 225 direction. You are SW of the station, right on it, so you too are FROM the station. If you were NE of the station on the 45 deg radial (the reciprocal of the 225 deg radial) your OBI/HSI would indicate TO because if you are on the other side of the station. Assuming you are heading in the same direction as that radial and are on it, once you pass over the station. the indicator will switch over to FROM. This is helpful in letting you know where the station is and when you have passed it.

Now here is the tricky part. The carrier has a TACAN station on it. But the carrier moves. The carrier can steam in any heading it needs to. But the TACN radials on it remain unchanged. So if the boat is steaming 360 degrees, its TACAN 360 deg radial happens to be along the boat's course. however, if the boat is steaming 090, its 360 deg radial is still pointing toward north even though the boat is heading east.

Armed with this info in mind, let's proceed.

You call inbound to Mother and get "401, Courage Marshall, Case II recovery, CV-1 approach, expected final bearing 360, altimeter 29.95, Marshall on Mother's 225 21 DME, angels 8, expected approach time is 10." This means you are being answered by Stennis, it is a Case II recovery, the final bearing is 360, hold on the 225 radial FROM the boat, 21 nm away at 6000 MSL. You must be ready to leave Marshall directly to the boat at 10 minutes past the hour (give or take 30 seconds).

So you would fly to an altitude of 8000 , and take up a position 21 nm southwest of the boat. Once there you would tell Marshall that you are "Established" and fly the hold.

There is no established way to enter the fix like there are in the civilian world. Just make sure you get there on altitude plus or minus 100 ft. This is the most important part because depending on how many other flights are marshaled with you, there will be a flight 1000 ft below you, and 1000 ft above you, 1 nm mile away. So hold your altitude. The hold is done on a six minute cycle at 250 KIAS for fuel conservation and helping in the timing of the hold. (2) two minute straightaway legs and (2) one minute 10 degree turns. The turns are usually left hand. So if you are heading 045 and you are directly on the 225 radial at 21 nm from the boat, you should start your left hand turn immediately and ideally you should roll wings level heading 225 exactly 1 minute after you started the turn. Then you would fly that heading for 2 minutes, then begin another 1 minute left hand 180 deg turn to get back on the 225 radial heading directly NW to the boat, then start over when you get to 21 DME. You will be timing this holding pattern so that once you get to 21 DME on the 225 radial and heading 045, it should be 10 minutes past the hour. Then you may call Marshall and say "Commencing."

This will let them know you are leaving Marshall and heading to the boat. Being your descent immediately at 4000 fpm. You will be called to check in with tower, so do so. When you hit 5000 MSL radio tower "platform" to let them know your altitude and descend at 2000 fpm. Ideally when you get to 2000 MSL you should use the "minute to live" rule which is whatever your altitude is below 2000 ft, make that your FPM descent rate. ie, when at 1900 ft, make your descent 1900 fpm, 1800 MSL 1800 FPM and so on until you get to 1200 AGL

At 1200 AGL continue descending until you get to 800 ft AGL and hold that altitude. Maintain 250 KIAS. At 10 nm you should see the boat so you can call "see you at 10." Unless it is CQ, ZIPLIP begins at 5 nm. At 3nm consider yourself to be in the groove as in Case I and fly the break on speed and on altitude as you normally would.

That will conclude a Case II recovery.

v6,
boNes

Cyclic Ops

It's been a year, so let me continue on with a little more discussion of carrier ops. In carrier ops, you have two kinds of ops: Carrier Qualifications (CarQuals) and Cylic Ops.

CarQuals are basically Case I departures and recoveries that are done with the carrier near port to qualify naval aviators for takeoffs and landings so that they can deploy for a cruise. If you don't pass CarQuals, you stay home and get cycled elsewhere.

It is usually Case I, and there is no zip lip, though you keep comms to a minimum. You basically talk to the tower/airboss to carry out their instruction and when in the groove, you go ahead and make that ball call and get coaching from the LSO. Basically, Supercarrier as DCS has it now is all CarQual even if deployed for combat which isn't realistic until they fix things.

Cyclic Ops, on the other hand, is the real life out to sea maybe even combat way of conducting flight ops. A cycle is a period that the carrier conducts operations. Each cycle lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes but some could go to 1.5 hours or be 1 hour. A typical cycle of 1 hour and 15 minutes is known as a 1+15 cycle. Each cycle is more commonly known as an "event." So you will hear things like the fighters will depart in event 2 while the tankers from event 1 will return at event 2.

If say we have a three 1+0 cycle day and we start event 1 at 0700, we typically would launch the aircraft at around 0715 (after checks, setup, etc) and by 0800, that event would end (1+0 cycle). Then event 2 starts, which would run from 0800-0900. In this cycle, new aircraft would launch and the aircraft from event 1 will be overhead in the marshall stack waiting for the deck to be clear of launching aircraft and deck personnel and start to recover. The last aircraft should be aboard by 0900. Then event 3 starts, and if there are no aircraft left to launch for the day, then event 3 is purely recovery of event 2's aircraft. All aircraft aboard by 1000, flight ops are done.

One of the things that factor heavily into this is the fuel ladder. This is next to discuss.

v6,
boNes

The Fuel Ladder

The fuel ladder is a very important tool that helps naval aviators recover aboard safely. The fuel ladder is a diagram usually drawn on the kneeboard, or sometimes even on the canopy glass by RIOs/WSOs. It depicts what fuel state the aircraft should be at at a given time during the mission. If at any of those times the fuel state is below what is calculated on the fuel ladder diagram, the aircraft must go to maximum airspeed for fuel endurance for the rest of the flight except for the break and bolters.

The fuel states are calculated based on the mission and the mission conditions, but in general, the CAG determines the basis of calculation. CAG sets what tank state is in the groove, that is, what fuel state you should not be below in the groove before you are required to go get fuel from the tanker. If for instance, CAG determines that a Hornet has a tank state of 3.0, then the Hornet whilst in the CCA has to go to the tanker once they hit 3000 lbs of remaining fuel. CAG may increase or decrease this base on the hop and the conditions--weather, battle damage, etc. If CAG says tank state is 3.0+X then you can add on some additional fuel and that is the new tank state--the X is how many additional passes that can be done before reaching tank state.

The additional fuel is added as follows:

Case I & II recoveries: add 500 lbs
Case III: Add 1000 lbs

So for example, let's say CAG says tank state is 2000 lbs. Let's also say that the minimum fuel CAG says you can show up in the groove with is T+3 ("Tank plus 3"). Then that means for a Hornet and Tomcat, they would need to show up in the groove with a minimum of 3000lbs + 1500 lbs=4500 lbs in case I and II and 6000 lbs in Case III.

After the first pass, they would be considered T+2, the next pass T+1 (and at this time the tanker would be instructed to hawk you to make it easier for you to find them and get gas), the next pass would be tank on the ball. If you miss this pass, you are now required to go to the tanker, and your state is "trick or treat."

A Hornet has been calculated to burn 1200 lbs every 15 minutes when at max endurance which is generally at 250 KCAS. Incidentally, it is basically the same for an F-14, whether it is an F-14A or F-14B (this info I got from a veteran RIO) and should be for the F-14D (which is irrelevant in DCS).

So let's say that you are in a legacy Hornet, CAG says tank state is 3.0, and he wants you in the groove with T+3. It is Case I. You launch in event 2 which starts at 1100. You will be on a a 1+15 cycle.

So first you must determine when you are landing. A 1+15 cycle means a one hour and 15 minute cycle, so you might say that since the cycle begins at 1100, you will land at 1215. But that is not right, because your time for fuel ladder purposes is when you launch, not when the cycle begins. You can estimate that you will launch about 15 minutes after the cycle starts once the jet is prepped, spotted, and hooked up to the catapult. So you will land at 1230.

So, working backwards from 1230 every 15 minutes, we know we have to be at this fuel state: 3000 (tank state) + 1500 (500 lbs x 3 since it's T+3)= 4500 lbs or state 4.5 on the ball at 1230.

So at 1215 you should be at 5.7

1200 6.9
1145 8.1
1130 9.3
1115 10.5
1100 11.7

So after startup and getting hooked up to the cat at 1115 you have say 9.5 and we have calculated that you should have 4.5 on the ball, then 9.5-4.5 means you have 5.0 to play with after launch. That's not a lot considering flying to the target, doing combat or training, coming back etc, so you can see why you'd have to keep a big eye on your fuel, or go to the tanker after launch (which is typically done) or on the way back from the mission.

If at any time you are below the fuel ladder (say at 1145 you are 7.0) you are now required to fly at max endurance fuel of 250 KCAS to conserve fuel enough for recovery for the rest of the flight except for the break and pattern. That is why naval aviators are so obsessed with fuel state.

Next we'll talk about the max fuel for trap.

v6,
boNes

Max Fuel For Trap

Many of you may have noticed with the latest DCS updates that it is harder to land on the boat or even ashore without breaking your landing gear. Well, as you know, the flight model has been improved to take into consideration landing speed and weight. This is certainly a realistic concern and adds to the realism of the sim.

It's not as a big deal ashore as it is on the boat, so I will talk about the boat first. Each aircraft has a rating limit not just on speed (which in carrier ops you index from your AOA indicator, not the airspeed indicator) but on weight. If you are too heavy landing on the boat, you will have so much momentum that you can break your landing gear or worse, rip off your tailhook eliminating any chance to recover on the boat until ED gets off their butts and gives us the promised barricade.

Aside from the AOA indexer, how do you make sure you are not exceeding these limitations? By knowing your aircraft weight at time of landing. Fuel is important here not just to insure that you have the fuel to make landing attempts if you miss, but also because it also weighs something (6 lbs per gallon for regular 100LL avgas for instance) and has to be taken into consideration when landing.

Most aircraft have a rated Maximum Fuel for Trap--the most gas you can bring aboard with you to safely trap. It is based on the aircraft's maximum weight at trap. At time of takeoff, for instance, you take the maximum trap weight, subtract the aircraft's basic empty weight (the weight of the aircraft empty but with accessories) and subtract ordnance and stores. What's left is the max fuel for trap.

For example, an F-14 Tomcat has a max trap weight of 52000 lbs. Her basic empty weight is 42000 lbs--that includes the aircraft, the pylons, the external fuel tanks,etc but not ordnance. That gives you 10000 lbs to play with before you are over weight. Now let's consider at takeoff you are loaded with 4 Phoenix missiles, 2 Sparrows, 2 Sidewinders, and a full gun (675 rounds). Each Phoenix weighs 1000 kbs, each Sparrow weighs 500 lbs, each Sidewinder weighs 250 lbs. For simplicity I will not take into account the Phoenix pallets and pylons.

Your weight at takeoff/launch is 42000 lbs (basic empty weight) + 4000 lbs (Phoenixes) + 1000 lbs (Sparrows) + 500 lbs (Sidewinders) + 250 lbs (M61A1 full gun)=47750. Max trap wieght is 52000, so 52000 -47750=4250. So the most fuel you can carry if coming back with unexpended ordnance is 4250 lbs. If you have more fuel than that, you need to dump some, or jettison some stores.

Speaking of stores, say you did fire ordnance. Let's assume you launched all 4 Phoenix missiles, but kept everything else. Since part of the max trap fuel limitation was ordnance that is no longer there, you can add this to the max fuel for trap to compensate. So in the example above, we can now come back with 4250 lbs + 4000 lbs= 8250 lbs of gas. Which is good news because since we are able to carry more fuel, if we miss our trap we can come around several times more to try again because we have enough gas--at least until we hit CAG's tank state requirements (remember our lesson from yesterday?).

In the Hornet it is a bit easier to calculate this. Why? Because your FPAS and Checklist page will show your current weight and endurance, constantly calculated. So if you know what max trap weight for a Hornet is, and you see what your current weight is (constantly calculated by your checklist page), you can tell if you need to dump fuel or ordnance (or your pesky WSO nagging you about being overweight if you feel like it).

So those are the basics and the importance of max fuel for trap. Keep in mind that this can also affect your tanking. You may be tempted to take 14000 of gas from the big USAF KC-135 MPRS but you can't bring that all back aboard with you, so you will have to spend time dumping or burning the fuel and if say Case I recoveries are deteriorating quickly to Case III, you might not have the luxury of time to do that if you want to easily get aboard. So you might only take on 2000 lbs or enough to get you to tank state on the ball and leave it at that.

Looking back at tank states, the fuel ladder, and max fuel at trap, it's amazing how important fuel factors into everything. Keep that in mind and you will and with some comfort zone and without risking breaking your gear off or ripping off a tailhook, making your recovery much ,more traumatic than it should be.

v6,
boNes

Pattern Nuances

So in the past year I have given the details of the procedures fro carrier ops. Now I will hit on some of the nuances, the little details that seem minor but still do count for things.

In the pattern it is generally known that there can be no more than 6 aircraft in the pattern at one time. Otherwise, as made famous in "Top Gun," "Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full." When there are 6 aircraft in the pattern, any other aircraft at the fantail will have to go into the spin pattern. This is basically a move designed to delay entry into the pattern when it is full in hopes that the pattern will open up again to let you in. When the aircraft have to spin it, they will pass the fantail and when they reach the bow, ascend to 1200 ft AGL, then turn left and stay within 3 nm and at 350 KIAS. It is a pretty hard high g turn! After passing abeam the boat, descend back down again to 800 AGL and continue the turn back into the initial (remember the initial is 3 miles astern at 800 AGL). Aircraft entering into the break from the spin have priority over those commencing departure from the Marshall, but must proceed with caution to avoid conflict with other aircraft inbound for the break.

Depart and re-enter is a directive you may get from the airboss for different reasons. Aside from the fact if you break 4 nm from the boat, you MUST depart and re-enter, the airboss can direct you to as well. In a depart and re-enter, you can come back into the pattern respecting your interval per the airboss' instructions. If you do not receive instructions, you may come back in any safe fashion--even right hand turns--but notify tower of your intentions first.

Delta

If the deck becomes fouled or their are too many bolters, aircraft in the air may receive a global "Delta" call from the airboss in Case I/II landings and from Marshall/approach in Case III. Delta means a delay, by an even number of minutes no less than 4. If the Delta is issued for all aircraft at once, it is preceded by "99." So a 6 minute delay for all aircraft in Case I would come from the airboss as "99 delta 6 clean" or "99 delta 6 easy." 99 means EVERYBODY 6 means 6 minute estimated delay, clean means fly delta procedures with gear and flaps up for max fuel conservation and hold as directed and easy means fly the delta in landing configuration and retracted speedbrake on speed.

When this happens, if you are in the pattern, continue to fly that pattern in the Easy configuration.

If you have just left the marshall to make your approach to the initial when Delta is given, climb or descend as necessary to enter the spin pattern as in the above.

When the Delta is cancelled, you will receive "charlie." This is not the same charlie as you would get in CarQuals to signal you can leave the Marshall. it just means that Deltais cancelled for ALL aircraft ALL at once. Some aircraft may still have Delta assigned to them in some cases such as if they develop a problem and need to troubleshoot. These aircraft will be given an individual charlie or charlie time.

Deck Nuances

Some behavior on the deck is observed at all times. For instance, during the day and before taxi, do not lower the tailhook--it signals to deck crew that you have a loss of wheelbrakes. Having your lights on in the day signals the same. Lights on at night means you are ready to be cat shot (they can't see you salute in the dark). Because of the danger of blowing crew overboard, all engines will be in idle in turns, and minimally as needed on straight paths. Max RPM is 75%.

There are many more nuances that should be known, we'll go over those later...

v6,
boNes