( DCS HORNET) AOA, on speed , and various other crazy ideas

This is quite old but the concepts are still relevant. Hope it still helps people.
Helping keep the dream alive for young future aviators. Connecting real world concepts to the virtual world.
Questions, please find me on discord.
/ discord

[@DarkFire515]

You should approach ED and offer to create their official F/A-18C training missions for them. There's nothing like having procedures demonstrated by someone who's done it for a living.

[@CJR505]

Cen Blackwell - Good Call

[@redtailpilot]

Just like my real world CFIs over the years, the more I listen to guys like you who know what they're talking about, the harder it is for me to watch all of those other dudes who only think they do, lol. Keep them coming....Thanks man!

[@bobr8766]

As a follower of Tricker, I just found a vid of his that mentions you. This is great stuff for all pilots working the carrier. I noticed this was 5 years ago, and I hope you are doing well. Great stuff...you could make some $$ at KZbin with your knowledge!

[@dougford7568]

Thank you! I watched this at lunch today and suddenly all the terms made sense. I got home from work and nailed my first Carrier landing first try, I wasn't even close prior to this lesson..... awesome! Thanks again and please keep them coming!

[@unwissend83]

Thank you for your effort with your videos. What a great work for us armchair pilots. :) A little hint, if you want to show your audience you stick/throttle/rudder input just hit right ctrl and enter in game, this will open a little control input window in the lower left corner.

[@laminarflow51]

You definitely have the voice and knack for explaining things. My only minor suggestion would be to display the throttle and control surface positions (Right CTRL and ENTER) so we can see exactly how much you're moving the controls.

[@pchappy2.0]

Thanks for starting to do some videos, this one alone has gotten my landings more on track with proper procedures. I'm still practicing on land, nowhere near ready for the boat, but this video has greatly improved my understanding of how to get set up and manage the pattern, turns, and final.

[@co_li7300]

I play DCS for 4 years now and man did I watch some tutorials, yours are the top on my list sir! thank you and keep them coming it is gold.

[@headwarp9683]

Wanted to say, as a guy who will likely never fly a real aircraft and easily becomes distracted with most reading material, I appreciate how you're breaking it down for us. Hope you're having fun making these videos and that they keep coming. It's easier for me to follow than something like "The Art of the Kill" even, which is likely due to the fact that you're covering the things that come before anyone should be concerned with BFM, and able to demonstrate it from the cockpit perspective. Although I do keep checking my discord to disable notification sounds instinctively. :)

[@grogjin1307]

A-Pool stashed SNA here. This was a really helpful guide. Usually I hook skip 90 percent of the time because of my lack of control of my pitch but this actually helped me get the hang of landing. Now instead of hook skipping I either get a perfect trap or I stall and become part of the back of the ship.

[@div871]

Couldn't land on carrier....watched your videos....can land on carrier. You have a very rare and natural gift for instruction.

[@Blablablabla1ify]

Very good instruction! The beauty with the KZbin era is that, as everyone has a unique way of conveying their knowledge, we ‘students’ receive similar information from different angles. I find this to be a superb way of soaking up knowledge.

[@hansangb]

"high speed diagram" LOL I thought "high speed" was limited to us Army-types. I really appreciate the way you teach this stuff. Theory, followed by practical reasons why it matters. Everyone talks about AoA, but no mentions that it's important because the hook catching the wire is a function of the AoA. It makes total sense, but you put it in concrete terms. And I really do appreciate the paper diagrams because it helps visualize what needs to happen, when, and at what angle/speed. Very helpful. I hope you keep making these videos.

[@Lazengogh]

Great stuff. And yeah, please share us if you feel if there is something wrong with the flight model, because that's the best way to get it better eventually. Also telling that something is very spot on, commenting on that is also great to hear. Keep videos coming and thanks!

[@hyp51]

Absolutely brilliant tutorial Lex!!! Thank you soo much for this, has made a massive difference to my pattern flying Your a legend!

[@xordus]

I think DCS models the shallow AOA that causes the hook to bounce. I don't think the model hooking before your Gear hit the deck tho, I watched a video of a guy doing that and it was gnarly. It looked like the F-14 was gonna break apart with all the bouncing. Love the vids man, you're the perfect instructor for this kind of stuff.

[@froggystvkw7603]

Hi Lex. I've just shared your videos if you don't mind in my Facebook dcs French hornet group because what you've done is simply amazing. Merci beaucoup.

[@jisellan]

Great Video, excellent lesson and this is really good for the community ! Thanks for taking the time and you patience on explaining this for people like me who does not do it for living.

[@youmasenchi]

So much precious info I understand now why I struggle so much... Much appreciated, thank you!

[@andreaskaufmann5822]

Isn´t TopGun looking for new flight instructors? Damn. Great video again! Looking forward for more content. Greetings from Germany.

[@Insanatrix24]

Your videos definitely helped me with my carrier landings. Was able to catch the first wire after 4 go's using your procedures and explanations on how to control pitch with throttle. Keep them coming

[@mari8it]

Thank you !! We need more tutorials, please if you can !! You are very generous to share your knowledge with us , thank you so much

[@DS-hz4ie]

Wow! I can't wait to try this in the sim. Most likely over...and over....and over... So far your videos are BY FAR the most informative and useful on the F/A-18. And that's including Wags' videos too. I'm not saying that his are bad in any way, your's are just that fantastic.

[@Dave_ess]

Dude all three of your vids have been so helpful to wrapping my head around the differences in land based flight, you are the freakin man! Thanks for taking the time, it is well appreciated !

[@JonathanZeidman]

I'm not sure why we aren't seeing a thumbsup for every view, but you gotta be pretty satisfied with a 400:1 ratio. Great work Lex, you're a well-spoken, natural instructor.

[@aggriv8]

Great videos! May I suggest you use the RtControl + Enter key input to display the flight control indicator (red box on the bottom left side of your screen) so that as you are explaining what to do or not do with your HOTAS we can actually have a physical representation on the screen? I would help to also have this displayed and also keep you from having to explain as much what your hands are doing since they are off camera. Thanks again!

[@CJR505]

Thanks for the videos Lex. So awesome hearing this stuff from a legit Naval Aviator, instead of the “flight sim enthusiasts know best” crowd. Thanks for talking about and sharing factual information regarding the Hornet and DCS Carrier Ops. Looking forward to your future videos.

[@macedk]

That corrected me not being able to understand "on speed" Not doing pitch correction with stick is so unnatural for me ;) Many thanks....now turns look like a boss..now i need to get the numbers right :)

[@Wolfkin18]

I'm happy my videos are helping you all out *squeak squeak squeak* hehehehe. Nice vídeo Lex.

[@brandtryan]

These vids were just what I was looking for -- some overview/explanations, and some great ideas for practice, practice, practice. Please keep them coming! Loving the Danger Close Realism :)

[@andyrudeseal6347]

Thank you for your time and effort on this, educating us virtual pilots. I can't decide what I look forward to more.... your next video or the new Game of Thrones season. lol

[@Nufsed007]

Superb, thank you. Once the carrier landing is sorted could you give some tips on air to air refueling?

[@uisce2005]

"Stick-actuator-meat-puppet" I'll have to add that one to my glossary of terms.

[@SBJ696]

Uisce Beatha never heard of that before but it was fucking hilarious

[@hansangb]

Stick-Actuated or Stick Actuator? The former, i think? Either way, hilarious

[@JIMJAMSC]

When I flew I saw more than a few pilot's squawk sheeks with the mechs writing " Stick actuator failure." I have seen both pilots and ground ops guys sent to pick up "flight line" returning with a piece of string and "prop wash" bringing back a bottle of liquid.

[@edcurtis6931]

Great instructional tone and pace Lex :)

[@therobgrady]

Fantastic. Thank you for the time and effort. Without a doubt this is the most helpful videos with regard to flight basics and how to fly. Thanks man!

[@CCusack12]

Thanks for putting the time into these videos. They're really helpful; I appreciate it!

[@echonovember2]

With this video I finally "got it". Learning to trim the aircraft for being on speed. Don't touch pitch on the stick! It's all about power and roll! Thank you!

[@RustyRacingUK]

Really informative video! this one helped me out alot especially the application of the throttle before the turn. i was up and down all over the place before that little jem. Great videos.

[@DavidMucli]

Great videos, thank you for spending so much time on doing these. Everything is starting to make sense now!

[@Hellreign82]

Fantastic demo and explanation bud. Really helpful. Looking forward to the wealth of knowledge and experience you're going to bring to the community Thanks

[@unusualbydefault]

thank you! I know dudes who trim all the way down to the deck which was insane to me. I just trimmed it for on speed and manage the rest via throttle. now I know I was right ^^ when I started, I didnt trim at all and held AOA via stick. works too, just a LOT more work ^^

[@jcbak]

EXCELLENT!!!!!! Thanks for doing these videos.

[@gvkJoris]

Thank you for making such great instructional video's.

[@VitorMoura]

I'd love to see a video confused on the aircraft simulation (aircraft's characteristics), tips and tricks, how to fly it corretly and manage your energy in a BFM. Thanks for the videos, extremely helpful!

[@AntoineThisdale]

great videos mate! Very interesting! I'd love to get your hotas telemetry as well if possible for future vids (the debug info in red).

[@andreyzhavoronkov6746]

You must have been doing instructing quite a bit before this :) The teaching style and clarity of the material is just amazing. Thumbs up!

[@Theodore042]

I would love a lecture on physics or aerodynamics or anything you've studied and how it applies to flight! Make it a long as you want :) But thanks for this vid, it's great!

[@Crashtruk2]

Thanks for the lesson. These are great.

[@antagonist99]

"front seat stick actuator meat puppet" Chortling soda has never been this funny before.

[@soma8882]

Thanks for taking your time to do these, appreciate it!

[@tejay511]

Great tips, techniques and practice ideas! Thanks for taking the time to help all of us "sim" pilots. Would love to see you demo this flying the jet right down to landing on the carrier. This would give us a solid instructional guide to imitate. Great work, keep the videos coming. Hey Matt Wagner, are you seeing this?

[@JIMJAMSC]

I concur that the throttle response is slow/laggy. Even with 1/2 internal fuel and no ext stores I have had to enter burner to obtain a desired speed sometimes just a small tweak doing pattern work. I use the TM Warthog and it may be as simple as a stick setting adjustment but I have read numerous others with the same observation.

[@wurger13]

Thanks so much for your vids... I’ve been flying this thing all wrong as far as pitch with the stick vs power. Looking forward to more videos!

[@stuartspeirs2892]

Thanks for taking the time to make these videos, thoroughly appreciate the time you spend explaining every step but I'm now worried that you ship out for a 6 month tour and we have a long wait for the next video.

[@azizk1110]

Appreciate your lessons very much. Please post a video explaining weight & balance of Hornet. What's the weight on T/O from carrier fuel etc. Thanks !

[@chrisschmieder1609]

would you make a video showing you stick, throttle and button layout? It would be nice to see the preferences that an actual F-18 pilot uses, and maybe give us more insight what the most critical flight controls are. SUBSCRIBED!

[@Longbow7771]

This video has corrected several of my mistakes. Thanks!

[@Tordan69]

Very good instructionals Sir. Looking at Natops I´d be interested to see/hear about doing carrier landings with engaged ATC. If/when this was done. It must be very hard to use that technique since it runs contrary to your muscle memory of using throttle for VS and pitch for speed.

[@boilermaker7754]

Outstanding!!! Many thanks...now get to get on the sim and practice!

[@Relax2437]

Great instructions, thanx!

[@hughesja1975]

Great videos thanks...Could you show your controls windows or put your camera on your controls for the next videos so we can see your throttle movements??

[@dopebogey]

Why can't I add more thumbs ups!! haha! :) Just excellent! Thanks for doing this!!

[@HPTOperator]

Do a video where you try all of the prohibited maneuvers in the NFM!

[@bryonmiller4326]

I like your videos, they're very interesting

[@sinan325]

Very informative and easy to understand, thank you.

[@advgroo]

Pure Gold, Thank you Lex

[@cliffordgreen8349]

Yes we want to hear it...

[@dogtaggamer1]

Good stuff, and thanks for the Trim session!

[@Crainshaw83]

the discord notification noise got me paranoid af , lol

[@garycooper4512]

*This* is the video I needed - thanks!

[@garycooper4512]

Just a followup: Thanks to this video, I went from maybe hitting down at -1000fpm somewhere down around the middle of the runway length, to landing on-speed with a good descent rate and just about where I wanted to put it. A few hundred more of those, and I'll give the carrier a try. Any tips on getting it trimmed up and on-speed quickly? It seems like my downwind is about 30 miles long what with me trying to get it ready.

[@redtailpilot]

Hey Lex, are you still around? Hope all is well. I'd like to ask you a few questions in ref to the Hornet/Super Hornet and the Blue Angels.

[@chappy5evc]

Awesome vidéos, sir! 👍 Thanks !

[@BManx2000]

PSA: The first two videos are available on the channel "Citizen Gamer"

[@ugluwuglu]

Again: Thanks for your very informative videos!

[@xxfltcom]

These are great vids. Thank you so much for the help

[@RomeoJulietWhiskey]

Thanks Lex...keep them coming!

[@MrTacticalShooter]

just wanted to say great job i enjoy these videos.

[@SDsc0rch]

i was wondering what he's got on the shelf behind him (bannister? what's that called? railing?) beside his helmet.... its the end of the tailhook - the part that engages the wire couldn't figure it out in the other videos - it just hit me though just now nice!

[@JonathanZeidman]

That's a wall cap, on a pony wall. I suppose it could also be called a ledge. There might be other names for it, but a bannister or railing only refers to the graspable part of a stair handrail.

[@zackbenson7658]

another great video ... Thanks!

[@ComdrStew]

Lex have you tried DCS in VR yet?

[@JBirdDrmmr]

Ok great video! Earlier I was practicing what you were demonstrating with trimming out the airplane and it works great!!! But is there a way to calculate what my trim should be prior to entering the pattern? Obviously there is not much time to fool around with adjusting the trim while in the pattern.

[@AntoineThisdale]

Question: How much of a speed/altitude adjustment must you do to adjust for a slower or faster boat? (lets say the boat is going at 35nm (for whatever reason)? on your 180 do you still aim for the same values or is there another procedure? (maybe that's more of a Case II ?)

[@Hanfkrokette]

Good stuff,makes me wanna fire up dcs again and practice at 5am Q_Q . Looking for more content soon ! I assume you operated the Hornet IRL? Or still do?

[@luichek1858]

Amazing Stuff!

[@RogueSpecterGamingOfficial]

Would love to hear all that stuff about aero and what the trim is for and everything in between

[@mirtaet123]

Little correction. "Fresnel lens" sounds like "Frenel lens".

[@tread140]

Cause that is the proper pronunciation. Apparently its a French word, so...there ya go.

[@hba8103]

Hmmm. I started with the A-10c. Always had trouble landing....especially ILS in IMC. Could never seem to get the aircraft stable. Then I saw a video about trim and power. Pitch for speed /power for altitude. I thought this was the only way to fly ANY plane once in a landing configuration. With the influx of F-18 videos for carrier operations and proper on speed approach it makes me ask.....if this isn’t the standard way to land a plane...what is? I thought everybody was doing this method already. With the A-10 you don’t have an E-bracket, but you have AOA indexer and velocity vector. What am I missing?

[@LordMcMPA]

What happened to the other two DCS-Hornet-clips you created? :(

[@basti9745]

what you say about at 23:00 its a module or flight module bug and its known. have the same problem or feeling

[@hba8103]

The main problem I have is getting the aircraft trimmed up in a short amount of time. The transition that happens when the flaps and wheels are lowered causes oscillations in my altitude around the same time I am attempting to trim the aircraft. I assume I may be waiting too long to get the gear and flaps down possibly??

[@galturgman818]

I'm pretty new to dcs how do u move the mouse with head movement is it for specific headset or through dcs setting?

[@bizzy423]

awesome!

[@rudelchw]

Hello ... I cant find your other videos anymore :( .. can you please re-upload them? Thanks a lot, and you'v got a new subscriber :)

[@WillsB3]

Me too - they seem to have been deleted 😞

[@DR-wj6pc]

Out of interest, have you flown DCS in VR and if so what you think of the realism.

[@Asgar1205]

what happend to the other two videos?

[@DS-hz4ie]

So when I am coming in and am centered on the AOA I shouldn't really care about my speed because the 'ideal' AOA is calculated by the plane taking my weight into account? Or should I pitch for my velocity indicator (VI) to be at a particular pitch (I keep hearing ~5deg nose up) and then trim to center my AOA indicator on the VI?

[@frederf3227]

The speed is to cross reference if your AOA sensor still works correctly. The goal is a specific AOA at whatever speed makes that happen. You don't want to be flying fat dumb and happy at 100 knots with a green doughnut when your inner aerodynamics instructor should be yelling that something's wrong. Everything in good order you can chuck the IAS gauge over the side and reference AOA only. But it does help if AOA is bouncing around or otherwise transient you can reference on speed confident that if you just hold the right speed AOA will settle back. Manage your state in the following order: position, path, posture (posture = AOA). Nothing good will come from going the right direction from the wrong position. There's no point in being in landing posture if you aren't on a good path from a good position. Transition to and from that landing AOA regime should be a pitch change with a constant flight path angle. So TVV on the horizon when fast, bring power back and apply aft stick to pitch up while maintaining level flight until you achieve your desired AOA. You should be able to go from 3° to 10° to 3° without changing altitude. If you yank the flight path up and then slow to add AOA you will depart your altitude. Generally you want to adopt your flight parameters with the controls first and then trim the pressure away. Pretend the airplane has no trim at all and make it do what you want. Then when everything's good run the trim in the desired direction while simultaneously relaxing the exact opposite pressure. Watching the HUD tape no one should spot when you're trimming because the airplane isn't doing anything different.

[@philipphellmich7644]

Why are the first videos missing?

[@rivestj]

Hi Lex! Like so many other people, I found your videos so great and so instructional that I made a special thread on the DCS forum to group them there, because there are SO many DCS F-18 would be pilots like me who crave for that sort of instructional material, thanks so much! You can see it here: forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3542484&postcount=1