DCS F-14 Tomcat Automatic carrier landing system and ILS Tutorial

Covering tacan approach, Instrument landing system, ACLS and how to set up them all up in the editor for your own messages.
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Timecodes for sections:
00:00 Intro
00:34 TACAN
03:56 ILS
06:43 ACL
13:34 Editor setup

[@tonk4967]

A few comments from someone who flew the airplane. I flew the "A" model from '84 to '87, and have 68 night traps, with 8 of those coming during carrier quals. The pilots were generally asked to request a mode 1 approach at night (coupled auto land) because there were numerous systems that had to work perfectly ( auto pilot, auto throttles, ACLS, data link, etc) to achieve a successful auto land, and so it was a good test to see if the airplane was being well maintained. Of course, the pilot could always request a mode 2 (manual) if he wanted to. I therefore requested a mode 1 approximately 50 times, and was successful once. After several months being deployed and nobody having any successful auto lands, it was determined that our beacon augmenter (small blade antenna under the TCS camera under the nose) was the wrong size and was replaced with the correct one (bigger). After several more months of no success, we discovered that our force link coupler was installed backwards. It came this way from the factory. The force link coupler is used to provide pitch commands to the horizontal stabs while the auto pilot is engaged. This manifested itself in a very awkward fashion. During the approach, you would level off at 1200 ft, drop the gear and flaps, engage the auto pilot, engage the auto throttles, and engage the DLC. After receiving a data link signal, you would couple up to the data link and the aircraft would give a quick jerk as it started to track the lateral guidance. At this point, you were very hopeful that this might be your lucky day. As you approached the glide slope from below, the airplane should pitch nose down a few degrees to start tracking the glide slope with about a 700 ft/min rate of descent. With the force link coupler installed backwards, the opposite stab inputs were given, and the nose would pitch up and the airplane would start to climb, with the auto throttles adding power to maintain airspeed in the climb. As the deviation from the glide slope increased, the computer would give greater pitch commands to the auto pilot trying to correct back to the glide slope, but of course in the opposite direction, causing an even greater nose pitch up. This all happened in about 2 or 3 seconds. You would then disconnect the auto pilot, which would cause multiple lights to start flashing, very distracting. You then had to reach under the instrument panel above your left knee and press the master reset button to clear all the flashing lights. This all resulted in a crappy start only 3 miles behind the ship and you were killing snakes in the cockpit to get the airplane back to the position it should be. The one time I was successful was awesome. The auto pilot flew a "rails" pass to a 3 wire with no discernible deviations, much better than I could ever do manually. On another note, we always flew with the HUD in the A/A mode, with the declutter switch on to remove as much unnecessary information as possible from the HUD. We thought the pitch lines and heading info was distracting. At night during approach to the ship, we would turn the HUD brightness all the way down (off) because the HUD on the "A" model was useless in the landing mode, and distracting. The flight path marker was not accurate and that would be the only piece of information that could possibly be of any use during a night approach.

[@jefflh9200]

Awesome thanks for sharing

[@jungletroll3844]

thanks for sharing

[@MengLinWu]

This is really eye-opening! Thanks for sharing.

[@Erc888]

Wow, thanks for sharing!

[@CheeseBaller948]

i find it so cool being able to find real pilots in comments of dcs videos, especially those of older models

[@TacticalOni]

"you are now prepared to perform an automatic carrier landing yourself" *CV materializes out of the fog super close* me: "oh holy SHIT"

[@RedKiteRender]

Haha wanted to make a point about how useful acls can be sometimes :)

[@Suyamu]

I was just looking at that information system and saw the "10 seconds" light being on. I thought: "huh... 10 seconds? But the carrier isn't.... whoa! "

[@skywarp2180]

lol

[@Nightdare]

@@RedKiteRender Man, I wish the Spit IX was outfitted with that Nothing more embarrassing than ending a dogfight victorious, diving down through the clouds to head home, then find out it's not clouds ...but fog (Yes I know, there's an altimeter on that thing,)

[@Starrshade]

I can never stress how much I appreciate the timestamps

[@RedKiteRender]

No problem Whinethepoo!

[@marianandnorbert]

timestamped videos bug out and make me rewind whole chapters or even to the beginning of the video, instead of rewinding 5 seconds when I double tap

[@jamesc9001]

It's so cool how true they got the arrestment sounds in cockpit. It gives me flashes back to my youth walking around on the 03 level under the deck during recovery ops. That is exactly how it sounds only way louder. It is amazing we got any sleep at all for those of us who had berthings on the 03 level. So amazing in detail this Heatblur module is... Wow! Great video too by the way, good work. Very well done.

[@roymccarty9481]

My berthing space was 03 level. Could hear the A/C engines spool up and wind down. The landings were a loud bang and the arresting gear would spool out. Amazing what you can get used too and sleep. VF-84 (1985-1988)

[@jamesc9001]

@@roymccarty9481 I was an AT in VF-33 88-92, Cheers ship-mate! For most of my deployments on USS America. I slept directly under the water break end of CAT2. Banging all night long.

[@roymccarty9481]

@@jamesc9001 Yes Sir. Started with the Nimitz and took her to the West Coast (Bremerton). Transferred to the Teddy Ruxbin (Teddy Roosevelt). Good times, shipmate.

[@Just-Steve]

Haha, suckers. I slept on the 3rd deck.

[@jamesc9001]

​@@Just-Steve i never went down there. I heard stories about going below deck 2. Horrible stories! kidding. Actually I did some time TAD and had an aft berthing on deck 2 and worked in S6 for a few months as a parts runner. Never made it all the way into snipe territory though, thank goodness. Although, I heard that's where the McDonalds is located. Tempted me a few times.

[@duria0115]

Hi, I have lodged Korean subtitle. Thank you for your superb tutorial.

[@Aeronaut1975]

I don't speak Korean, but it's cool to see the game's audience expanding ever further. See you in the sky :)

[@BitLeg]

Red Kite's vocal style is really clear and calm and he provides thorough explanations. Exactly how I like. One thing to stress is using your Tacan and the compass. Like RK states don't deviate greater than around 10 degrees from your carrier heading else you'll be chasing the localiser all over the place. Amazing video RK.

[@LtRiot]

Great tutorial on the basics. Couple things for more experienced drivers: DLC is engaged when gear comes out. Use Final Bearing (BRC minus 9) not BRC for CASE III ops. Spoilers are not used in carrier ops ever and neither is the landing light. Turn off all lights upon cable capture. Have fun

[@billy2141]

How come I've seen video footage of F-14s landing on carriers with landing lights on and speed breaks deployed?

[@johntack1049]

I really appreciate the timestamps. 0:34 Tacan 3:56 ILS 6:43 ACL 13:34 Editor Setup

[@christianfinn4973]

It is a gift to explain something everybody can understand. Although I admit,I have to listen more than once.You are my favorite coach Redkite

[@arzhangsadeghi]

thank you so much for explaining everything slowly and in order, I watched same tutorial on the other Chanel and I didn't understand much... appreciate your time and effort sir

[@RedKiteRender]

Thanks Arzhang! I'm curious do you remember what channel made the other tutorial you tried?

[@arzhangsadeghi]

Reapers

[@MichaelEastor]

@@arzhangsadeghi those guys are try hard spastics, they actually spend most of their time training to be full time downies

[@RedKiteRender]

I figured it might of been them, i'd hoped they'd improved but i guess not. Yeah avoid their 'tutorials' often not worth your time, especially on complicated topics.

[@RedKiteRender]

@Michael E Easy with the insults, most of the members are alright people, just shoe-horned into tutorials to rush-teach Cap things so he can make a quick buck. Cap's the one causing issues the rest are just kids trying to have fun and falling into the trap of 'look mom i'm on tv' stars in their eyes.

[@derek8676]

13:18 that’s terrifyingly low vis

[@cpeezy3119]

ikr

[@williamcase426]

I wouldn't fly in it

[@GER-Thorgs]

The Cat is so old compared to other Aircrafts but still so advanced. I love it.

[@RedKiteRender]

She's an interesting mix of the old and new, was totally cutting edge when she entered service.

[@erikanderson9705]

This is way better than reading the manual. Thank you !

[@SnazzyLobster45]

Thank you so much for the video! I massively appreciate it and love your tutorials!

[@yarra01]

I've watched a few tutorials on this, but as usual, yours is the most thorough. Thank you!

[@kittyhawkdcs]

Because of your excellent tutorial I was finally able to do a case III. Thank you.

[@willm.n2178]

A solid tutorial, as always. thx

[@Agridefense]

About bloody time! Redkite tutorials are best tutorials

[@rakedos9057]

Pretty cool tutorial as always. Thanks for all the procedures (including Jester AND Manual/human RIO).

[@SuperFlyingFireFly]

Beautiful and really well explained! Thank You @RedKite

[@ramberto7785]

No landing light at night sir on the carrier other than that nice vids

[@Fercyful]

Always the best ones! thanks

[@ra803g6]

Fantastic production brother.

[@rickyalexander459]

Best tutorial definitely, thanks.

[@Sonic32084]

Awesome video mate. It’s almost like an official OEM instruction video. Subscribed!!

[@dogtaggamer1]

Terrific job RedKite! Bravo Zulu!

[@MrDann0]

Makes it look so easy very good work 👍🏼

[@e60m53]

Excellent video. Very good explained

[@watermanpc85]

Awesome videos you make man!!, thanks a lot!

[@marklopez936]

Amazing Visuals too.

[@marktravis4697]

Very intuitive thank you for posting this excellent video..

[@SPFLDAngler]

Watching the ACL it does exactly what I did for my first time carrier landing. Aim for the back of the carrier, when close in about to land aim for the front of the carrier. Literally the same as landing on a runway. I was going to practice carrier landing but decided to try out one of the campaigns instead, turns out the first mission is to land 3 times in a row lol. So I ended up practicing landing for the first time anyway. First time, 2 wire. Second and third time, 3 wire. Wasn't nervous or anything like I expected I just flew the plane.

[@louisvrm5557]

I couldn't figure it out and then i saw this video it worked 1st try. Awesome video and well explained! Now hit the sub button and watch more of these beautiful tutorials!

[@RedKiteRender]

Thank you Louis! Hope you find my other videos helpful.

[@marcourban899]

This is so helpful. Thank you very much!!!

[@JoeTheSpaceGuy]

Great video! Thanks! :D

[@MrPhantom453]

Well done Mr Kite. Complete in detail and professionally done as always. Really appreciate the "do's and don'ts" as well. Thanks for your efforts sir. P.S. Only giving you credit for the first Three Wire :-).

[@RedKiteRender]

Haha i wish the tomcat replay files worked, every single external shot was either ai or acls :)

[@shd4618]

Good stuff RK

[@thebgpikester]

The Hawk memorial video! Love it.

[@DOS_Gamer]

Great tutorial, thanks 👌

[@Ked_gaming]

You produce some of the best tutorial videos out there, congrats man ! Can you talk about how to operate the radar next ?

[@RedKiteRender]

For the moment i won't be covering the radar, it's a deep topic i need to learn in depth in order to produce the same quality content. I've mostly been flying as a pilot.

[@Red-Magic]

You make the best tutorials!

[@RedKiteRender]

Cheers Zach!

[@rederos8079]

Really helpful video, thnx! I will need to practice that, just got the cat and trying to understand how does the thing work

[@olddogg60]

Nice tutorial. 👍

[@Wolfkin18]

Thank you, I was struggling with this.

[@RedKiteRender]

No problem Pedro!

[@jexmatex]

brillant explanations thanks a lot

[@eatthisvr6]

This vid has just gained you a sub, good job fella

[@RedKiteRender]

Welcome aboard, glad you liked it :)

[@Aeronaut1975]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@MrSpike2450]

Seriously though who is the sad one who gave a thumbs down.

[@shydncrumph8119]

the guy who can't find the nws-button

[@robertmackay4613]

a Mig-28 pilot

[@wanderlustwasted]

Dick Cheney

It's me. Instructions unclear, ended up with a horse in the bathtub.

[@jamesc9001]

I bet they live in Mom's basement. Mom was probably slow bringing them the demanded hot-pocket and glass of milk again.

[@RedKiteRender]

Took a little longer on this video than i wanted, with other things sadly competing for my time, I hope you enjoy! Just launched, Help dirctly support the channel and future content! www.patreon.com/RedKite

[@andrewchr]

Solid tutorial!! You deserve way more subs.

[@RedKiteRender]

Thanks Andreas!

[@gambler1298]

Thank you

[@Antonio-Morisco]

Nice video! I still have doubts on when to switch from Tacan to AWL steering mode to align the needles. Also when setting the course in ehsd, do you take into account that the ship heading is not the same as runway? There are like 6-9 degree of different .

[@FinsaneLorist]

Thanks!

[@Angus_Gibson]

You can be my wingman anytime.

[@Alien9828]

Excellent tutorial mate, if Carlsberg did tutorials :)

[@swagger897]

For ILS, if for instance I'm in a lobby online and there is no channel, is it not possible then to manually tune to the localizer?

[@Wingman77tws]

very good! is the hornet going to get ACLS?

[@JoJo-vm8vk]

Great tutorial. 👍🏻 For more realism you should: - not use landing light on aircraft carrier - try to follow Case 3 pattern, with level off at 1200ft and ALT HOLD use. - not mandatory but advised in the NATOPS: set the the HUD to ILS and VDI to ACL, so if ACL fails (yes I know, unlikely in DCS) the pilot could go on manually with ILS (ILS being carrier ILS, different from ground airfield ILS)

[@slpkntmggt06]

I second the Case III procedure point. That's the only complaint I have about this video. Good for casual gamers, but not so good for realism lovers, like myself, who might not know how to fly a proper Case III pattern, but want to learn. FYI, personally, I do know how to, and have been doing it for quite a while in the DCS Hornet. But others may not know.

[@RedKiteRender]

Generally speaking i don't cover the case procedures as they're mostly just following the pattern instructions. Better suited to a diagram than a fly through video demonstration. I prefer to cover the systems and let the user decide how to do it.

[@eatthisvr6]

Is the icls buggy? Its rare mine actually works. I rarely get the horizonal bar and sometes dont get the vertical bar either. Tonight i got nothing at all

[@warthunderman2379]

Does this only work on the super carrier?

[@D00kerT]

I second the mission editor symbology. Is that toggled on or something?

[@RedKiteRender]

Options, Gameplay, Editor icon style - Russian

[@wurzzzz]

@redkite How do you get the weather so foggy? When I set up similar stuff in the ME it still gives me about 1000' ceilings and unlimited visibility.

[@RedKiteRender]

Bottom of the weather panel in the editor you've got fog and dust options, tick and select the visibility distance you desire.

[@wurzzzz]

@@RedKiteRender yeah, that's what I did, but for some reason the visibility doesn't change. I was doing it at night, so I wonder if that is bugged.

[@badenbr1]

Brilliant video as usual Red however I am having problems regarding the instruction you gave about using the TACAN and ILS together and steering to "both" sets of needles and using the TACAN fr reference. When I swap to AWL/PCD from TACAN in the Steering CMD I lose TACAN course and distance information and see only the ILS horizontal and vertical needles. What am I missing here?

[@RedKiteRender]

The little tacan compass to the right of the vdi which i highlighted a couple times :)

[@badenbr1]

@@RedKiteRender Thanks Buddy I knew it would be me... DOH!!!!

[@ontherampflightsim]

He's right though.. The HSD is almost useless when in AWL/PCD mode if you mainly have to go off the Tacan indicator and HUD. I spent hours shooting night ils approaches trying to get used to this! XD

[@smudent2010]

how do you get the options wheel UI up?

[@BlueMax109]

I followed this tutorial to the letter and still cannot get those needles to display the glide scope. No idea what I could be doing wrong.

[@ivo5581]

great, with ILS or Tacan I'm adle to center the cross line instead with ACL for me is very hard, I dont understand...the vertical line is centered with carrier emit and orizontal line is linked with altitude or speed ?

[@ra803g6]

I. C. Horizontal line indicates weather you are above or below the glide slope. If the horizontal line is above your aircraft icon, you're too low. If it's below, you're to high. If you stay right on the horizontal line, you should be following the glide slope to the ship. The vertical line lines you up with the proper radial for landing

[@ivo5581]

@@ra803g6 Thank for your explain, hovewer when I'm on sight to carrier the line vertical is always on the right instead in the same condition with ILS the vertical line is perfectly centered...mahh

[@vladimirlenin2582]

Not sure if I am going to get a response but I cant seem to figure out the auto throttle. Can it be used without using the full ACLS? Does the Rio need to configure something??

[@acdcnut7193]

Gear needs to be down

[@racingsfun]

Okay i must say it! Your voice! You sound just like Sean Harris. In the mission impossible movies you play the character Solomon Lane. Watch it and see if you sound like the guy. He's the bad guy in the movie.

[@Mailman_NOB]

How to get that ships icon?

[@sunkxsi5437]

how come my glideslope indicator wont move at all so even when i should be on the right slope? Its acting like a fixed bar

[@shydncrumph8119]

2:48 how did you get the map display of the carrier and all the placed objects on it? thx. great vid, btw!

[@RedKiteRender]

The f-10 map, then just zoomed in on the fleet. Of course this wont work if you've enabled the realism settings to hide objects on the map.

[@shydncrumph8119]

@@RedKiteRender hm. doesnt work for me. neither in game nor editor. i only get the tactical symbols. i thought this view might be helpful in editor to populate a carrier deck without the finicky trial and error method i currently use (not sure if there's an easy way, tbh)

[@RedKiteRender]

@@shydncrumph8119 I'm using the russian style editor icons. If you're looking to populate a deck, turn on the unit views in the editor. Bottom centre you'l see the various map types and then an icon to show units (a tank i think) that'l let you see the ship and where to place unit directly.

[@shydncrumph8119]

@@RedKiteRender awesome. works like a charm :-)

[@EanBezemer]

Where did you get those T-45s from?

[@RedKiteRender]

They're Hawks with a Goshawk livery :)

[@WNrHuot]

You can get BRC (heading of carrier) by inbound radio call.

[@RedKiteRender]

This video pre-dates DCS Supercarrier and the additions to the radio, where that feature was added.

[@neo2264]

Dude you are a fucking pro content creator. The skill and end result of what you do should be a 6 figure income job in my opinion

[@RedKiteRender]

I wish that were the reality! sadly youtube's pretty awful.

[@sandgar1001]

4:10 that was roughhhh

[@schylertkatchew2659]

Can you ACLS in a case 1 or 2 recovery as announced by the tower, I haven't managed to get ACLS too work is there a kneeboard available? Thanks!!

[@RedKiteRender]

ACLS is not used for Case 1 or 2, only auto throttle is occasionally.

[@schylertkatchew2659]

@@RedKiteRender Thanks Red!!! is the system active though or is it a system only turned active and able to be captured durring case 3?

[@RedKiteRender]

@@schylertkatchew2659 ACLS is controlled by a combination of the carrier and aircraft, it is not capable of making turns, just correcting for glide slope and drift.

[@coard123]

Another request too get that map symbology. Shiftie mover uses this aswell!!

[@RedKiteRender]

Options, Gameplay, Editor icon style - Russian :)

[@coard123]

Awesome thankyou!

[@hawkeyeguy123]

Does anyone know why when I activate the ACLS, I get the cmd control message but the airplane goes full fast and basically tops itself out at gear speed...

[@slammerf16]

Autothrottle?

[@ExileLuciola]

That's 900 likes. yay.

[@SteveSurgenor]

Does ILS work in the F-14 for land based airports ?

[@RedKiteRender]

Only available for naval ils

[@Globule127]

how do you do to have this symbologie on the mission editor?? i want the same!

[@RedKiteRender]

Options, Gameplay, Editor icon style - Russian

[@Globule127]

@@RedKiteRender big thanks guy :)

[@FREEMAN....]

I've never tried any flight simulator and what I'm seing here is very impressive. Forgive me if my question sounds stupid but I'm not at all into this thing : can an expert at the game do the same in real life?

[@StragTacGaming]

Depends.. systems-wise? Yes. But we are in no way trained like the professionals are.. that includes withstanding G-forces. I'm sure I could start up the real thing and take off, maybe even land. But combat or BFM? Hell no

[@RedKiteRender]

From what i've heard flying in sims can give you bad habits if you try to transition to real, undoubtedly i could fly a real aircraft, if the situation arose, though you'd certainly need training to do it with any grace. Flying is a very physical experience, all of which is missing in our comfy chairs and undoubtedly would throw you off, even scare you. Beyond that you'd need the education and training in all the equipment associated like g-suits, parachutes and harnesses. DCS aims for somewhere in the region of 90% accuracy if i recall correctly, although they often model older aircraft or variants, not the same as those in service currently.

[@chrisbenson2430]

Does this work for ILS on land runways as well?

[@RedKiteRender]

No, the system is more advanced than ILS, requires the datalink and radars from a carrier to guide it onto the deck.

[@Rafey.Mughal00]

Make video on jf-17 thunder ⚡

[@andrewwilkey6195]

A zero zero 3 wire... noice

[@Saucebrunette]

Nice T-45 Goshawk!! Is that a mod?

[@RedKiteRender]

It's actually a bae hawk, with a goshawk livery :)

[@Vograx]

I have no panel to set the frequency in datalink. There is only an AN/ARA-63 with 19 preset channels on it. No option to scroll to enter digits.

[@RedKiteRender]

That's the communication radio, what you're looking for is in the rio pit, as shown in the video. Ask jester to set it or, go back and set it manually yourself.

[@DD-sw1dd]

Wonder how bad a pilot would get chewed out in real life for accidentally turning on their taxi light on the carrier deck at night? I've heard a story of a crewman getting horribly reprimanded the Captain bc the flash of his camera was seen outside during night time. The fact that the issue was so serious that the ass chewing/punishment was dealt out by the Captain and not his station's CO says a lot. Imagine that walk up to the command room was horrifying.

[@ExileLuciola]

Now if only they had AAR - Automatic Aerial Refueling

[@AggrarFarmer]

Does it work on Stennis ?

[@RedKiteRender]

Yes, this video was recorded with the Stennis, just needs the ICLS frequency set and transmitting.

[@dunbar555]

how do you still get the hawk in there ?

[@jimmy5004]

The Hawk is still around as an AI aircraft, complete with whatever skins you may have downloaded for it. I use the Hawk exclusively as a target drone now.

[@RedKiteRender]

You can place it as ai, in this example they're using t-45 goshawk liveries to play pretend, that they're navy trainers.

[@dunbar555]

RedKite ô know about the goshawk. I have a friend from Meridian MS. I didn't know it was still in as AI

[@0EvilLemons0]

in a case 1 recovery what speed do you normally land at? i keep having this problem where at the end of my downwind leg when my gear and flaps are down that i keep sinking very fast, before dlc is engaged

[@0EvilLemons0]

@@LightfeatherxX Thanks for the reply, I did a few landings with more liberal use of the throttle and those have been a lot better, guess I was just letting my ias get too low

[@wannaloginnow]

Does this still work? It worked for me in version 2.5.5 Stable, but now in 2.5.6 Stable I cant get the glide slope to work. Anybody else having problems?

[@RedKiteRender]

Should work with the Stennis, Supercarrier it's not fully supported yet.

[@butterfliege885]

i doesnt work for me at all. i dont know what im doing

[@XerxesPlayZ]

Wait.. do you need a human RIO to do this? :(

[@RedKiteRender]

No, I showed how to do it with either Jester or as a RIO yourself, just reference the section you need.

[@XerxesPlayZ]

@@RedKiteRenderoh I misunderstood. thanks! Love the vids keep up the great work they are super helpful.

[@jamesc9001]

Do a video on ACM energy management and maneuvering.

[@jokergamesimieigiochiesimu6976]

In my F 14 there are no lights

[@new_comment]

thumbs up if you want RedKite to read you bedtime stories every night too. I don't know what it is but his voice makes me feel like a superhero, I think I can save the world from liberal millennials!

[@yobb89]

it sounds too good to be true.

[@stalhuth]

how the tomcat older than a hornet has auto landing and the hornet hasn't ?

[@trevorbodnar5495]

The Hornet does have it. It's just not implemented yet in DCS

[@stalhuth]

@@trevorbodnar5495 :(

[@RedKiteRender]

We don't even have a proper approach auto-throttle control for the hornet yet! Their focus has been on weapons.

[@stalhuth]

@@RedKiteRender too bad :(