Fighter Jet - IFR & Instrument Landing

An instrument approach flown in a Hawk T2 from RAF Valley.
There are 3 aircraft, all solo (#2 is a solo student). We have just finished an air combat (2v1) sortie. I was the hostile so I am lowest on fuel and will land at base with fumes - fuel is always maximised this way.
Flight lead (#1) organises individual recoveries which he feels is the best way to get us all down for individual Precision Approach Radar (PAR) instrument approaches.
There might be a small lag between audio and the video - it's the way the replay is recorded.
#InstrumentFlying
#FighterJet
#IMCApproach

[@marcosavila8215]

After watching this i need to go to DCS right away!! The aviation passion and addiction is calling, at 48 years old it's something I've never lost, my father was a C-130 pilot and I was an F-16 aircraft mechanic in the Portuguese Air Force for 18 years. you need DCS in your Life Sir, much love and respect for your service, God Bless

[@charlesrocks]

The HUD instruments make a lot more sense to me. It’s so good to have everything you need right in front of you.

[@Andrewausfa]

Excellent video, you have slightly more to think about than I do when I stick my car up the drive after work in the evening.

[@paulwilkinson1539]

lol. So true!

[@abdulmismail]

Only just came across this video. It's superb. I visited RAF Valley when I was in Air Cadets. I currently fly from Liverpool but haven't ventured to Caenarfon yet but some instructors go regularly.

[@JohnSmith-pd1fz]

Intensely absorbing and informative as always. Thanks for posting.

[@seaninherts]

Love these commetariws. Thank you for your service and what great engagement.

[@95in3rd]

"Kick off the drift". Wow! Wish they'd taught me that years ago. Thanks for the film.

[@TutorialsPcTech]

Thanks for sharing this with all of us, Tim. Looking forward to your other videos.

[@Stalzaable]

Thank you so much for this look at the pilot's perspective! I'm currently training in PAR and was just discussing with my instructor that we wished we could experience it from the other side.

[@chrisavann6273]

Brilliant, very interesting to see the RAF procedures. Useful gen to see for all walks of aviation. Thanks again

[@davidwheatcroft2797]

Great video. Thanks! Used to do PAR GCAs at RAF Wharton. Sometimes a Lightning coming in behind me, and ATC asking me to speed up and then to turn clear. I would blast along at low level, then pull up hard left to join downwind in the circuit. RAF instructors superb - they gave us confidence; belief that we were excellent. Best wishes to them!

[@Mike7478F]

Brilliant video, informative and logical sequence. It's brilliant when your talked down and in. Very fast when it starts on decent.

[@NecatiArabaci2256]

I absolutely love this video. Thank you sir.

[@patmcdermott4832]

Thanks for the video. Reminds me of when I stayed on holiday at Rhosneigr in 1968 & could stand on the minor road with a clear view down the Valley runway. My late father was one of the 1st RAF staff at Valley in March 1941 & my late sister was born nearby in that year. Billeted in a farm on the (old) A5! Great & happy memories from your video :-) Enjoy the Hawk flying!

[@Dreamsofwings]

Fantastic channel. Great commentary on what is happening during the approach.

[@Kizron_Kizronson]

Love these videos. So often I look at the subject matter in the title and think that it looks uninteresting, but click on it to clear it from the recommended list. Every time I do that I end up sucked in anyway and watch it all and still want more. Excellent work.

[@hewittstevenson9132]

Kizron Kizronson j

[@mywestsussex5749]

So glad I found this site

[@Alien9828]

Excellent video Tim, I would expect nothing less from the best air force in the world of course :) the comms between your element and ATC was good to hear as well, good effort and thankyou. atb to the squadron.

[@richardweldon2062]

It's like poetry. Excellent vid.

[@TheRhodes76]

Excellent video thanks Tim, I'm really enjoying your channel 🙌

[@flightsim481]

Superb video. It's years since I saw a PAR so thanks for posting :-)

[@K2shadowfax]

"eh? Whad-he-say???" Man, that's some hard-to-hear stuff going off non-stop in the lugs...on top of everything else you have to be on top of! Nicely done!

[@S3NTRY]

great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[@IamNotANumber3929]

I have just come across these videos and would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Davies for some excellent quality video and, thank goodness, narrative in the English language. I never tire of seeing these guys fly over my village in North Yorkshire from RAF Leeming plus some amazing aerial visits from F-15's which I presume are from RAF Lakenheath. Stay safe Mr Davies, keep on flying and posting these videos. Brilliant!

[@catlee8064]

Did my TACP course in RAF Leeming...nice villages around there.

[@zoolkhan]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing, and the audio commentary all the best from finland.

[@jakem1900]

Tim, really enjoyed the video would be great to see some more like this.

[@christopherjones7149]

Very cool! Love the commentary.

[@mxcollin95]

Definitely love to see more instrument approach’s like this if you have the footage!!! 👍

[@Worther12]

Another great video, please show more of these. I'm a keen DCS World (Digital Combat Simulator) & Falcon BMS player and enjoy these on-board videos.

[@aviator_z9188]

Awesome video! Keep up the great work!

[@PlaneOldBen]

Fantastic video Tim, always wanted to see a military instrument recovery! I've got an ILS Approach Video on my channel but it's much different in the Cessna!

[@ceeb2275]

Catching up on all these vids... Great Video... from a Submariner... outstanding narration.

[@JWarren27]

Great video Tim!

[@andy1may]

just come across your clip ...really interesting thanks from New Zealand

[@larrylong4829]

Well done! Professional, informative, well narrated. Kudos from an old E-2C pilot.

[@markchapman5996]

Great vid, very enjoyable, and informative, many thanks , p.s you’re very lucky man,

[@jcbak]

Fantastic....Thanks.

[@12KHECCO34]

Great video!

[@Pixelon_]

love these

[@samarmstrong4160]

Amazing thank you! Hope to start my training soon :)

[@IrishManJT]

Very nice.

[@andycampbell5491]

A far cry from the TMk1a that I remember from the 80’s at Chivenor. Definitely a grown up Hawk.

[@danleadingham8886]

Just came across your channel loving your videos, would be cool to see a video on the east coast of Scotland/Edinburgh

[@marcosavila8215]

i love your channel. Plz come to DCS, you will have a blast in your spare time, you have the harrier there and is pretty close to the real thing, would be so nice to watch you flying DCS,,,plzzzz much love from Portugal

[@Wonkabar007]

If you get a bird strike on approach, do you just carry on as normal to land ?

[@FastJetPerformance]

+Wonkabar007 best leave the throttle where it is in case of engine damage but normally it's safer to carry on the approach. If it's hit the airframe, landing gear or flaps then a visual inspection from another aircraft might be needed or a control check at height (5000 ft ish) at your approach speed to assure yourself that the aircraft isn't going to roll or pitch adversely when close to the ground.

[@webbevents]

thanks for sharing..

[@doddsy2978]

Yes! A little less vocal than I remember. Air Tragic probably have to do that a lot more regularly at Valley than they did at Kinloss, what with the far fewer sorties per day being flown at the more Northern Station (well! That'll be none, now! :-( ). I enjoyed that, nonetheless! Thanks!

[@Looby837]

Excellent videoTim! As an air trafficker, it’s so useful to see it from the other side, and a great aid to training controllers who have not been flying. Many thanks. Hope there may be more in the future, if not from you, maybe someone else will pick up the mantle! Kind regards

[@medb1220]

This is certainly the best military recovery video I've run across on YT. Kudos! And I find the comms fairly clear, although not having flown into Valley I'm a little uncertain of what Director is saying to the Ninjas just prior to ".. decision minimum 200 ft." That plus Tim's cockpit check went kind of rapid fire at the end- "gear travels.. half flap travels.. bam bam bam nosewheel steering, Ninja 3 checks complete." :-)

[@concise707]

It's a brief description of what you are going to do with the track followed by the procedure minima. Therefore: "(radar) vectors for a PAR, runway 31, procedure minima 200". The pilot responds with his Decision Height and intention: 200 feet, land" (as opposed to 'touch and go' or 'overshoot').

[@petejones6030]

Really informative, specially for all those like me who only fly an iPad flight sim. Thanks.

[@kerrydoe9810]

Time to upgrade to DCS ;) no rush though g. Took me 5 years to finally get a computer good enough to play that sim. Just over $2k deep just to pretend to fly military jets, smh

[@petejones6030]

Kerry Doe easy to get addicted though. Must dust off my ancient EF2000 sometime, great sim back in the day.

[@stecrom9661]

I recently took a trip out to valley whilst on holiday in Wales with the family, I noticed there seems to be work going on than runway looks like two big chemical plants either side of the runway??? run way refurb????

[@WildBillHabiki]

one of the best aviation videos i've seen. thanks, Mr. Davies. Any relation or Ray Davies? :)

[@FastJetPerformance]

+WildBillHabiki Negative :)

[@TriadAgone]

Did a PAR at CYTR (Trenton) in Canada once as a civilian. Sadly they do not provide the service anymore :(

[@FastJetPerformance]

Yes, seems only at military fields nowadays.

[@doddsy2978]

Hey Tim, Love the vids. Have you ever made one demonstrating Air Tragic Talk Downs? I used to love listening to them recovering to Kinloss when I served there on the Nimrod Fleet in the Late 70s/Early 80s before I went all fightery on the awesome Tombs! I was a Groundy, BTW, and loved the Flight Line! Keep the great work, you are bringing back some happy times.

[@FastJetPerformance]

Yes, a few Ian - look for the Hawk Instrument Approach one on KZbin on my channel, full ATC talk down.

[@doddsy2978]

Fast Jet Performance Thanks Tim. I shall!

[@terryteed1903]

NOICE. Looks like you've done that once or twice lol. That ATC bloke at the start sounds very similar to Tactical Pascale.

[@The_Unintelligent_Speculator]

I was fortunate to fly in a hawk, Tornado F3 and Typhoon as pax trips. The decent reminds me of popping my eardrum in the hawk since I couldnt equilise the pressure. Otherwise great experience.

[@harshlens]

Would be great if there was an hud on the module.

[@Ventura60kts]

Just shows how important ATC is.

[@emmaferme2002]

love your videos hope to be a RAF pilot when I'm older

[@Quantiad]

+Emma Ferme Aim higher - Go ATC :-D

[@emmaferme2002]

+iSquared I do and I love it

[@ytdlder]

Was that a "APU on fire" warning from Betty at the end? That's hilarious; like a bug in a DCS module :D Anyway, as always, extremely good video! Love the cockpit and radio vids! Cheers!

[@FastJetPerformance]

The jet has a built in test that the pilot checks on landing with some audio scripts that it runs through.

[@ytdlder]

@@FastJetPerformance Really? That is awesome! Checklists coming directly from the Jet!

[@MyTROLLEYBUS]

Fast speech, much to remember how do they do it?

[@Novacngood185]

Great video. DCS flier here. The whole communicating while aviating is a bit scary. Question. I see what looks like an E bracket to the left of the fpm. On a visual approach would you centre the fpm in the E bracket? Or am I totally wrong, its not an E bracket as in the F/A-18. When you flared for landing everything lined up.

[@FastJetPerformance]

Yes, the E bar needs to have the velocity vector in the middle when you land for the aircraft to be at the correct approach angle (alpha). Same as in the F18, the Hawk is a lot lighter so the E bar will move around alot more than the F18 on approach.

[@Acreyman]

This is much easier than landing at a civilian airport. Military comes in all nice and organized, where civilian airports are dealing with aircraft from all sorts of directions

[@concise707]

Actually its the other way around - the civilian world is more like a sausage-machine with the tracks all coming from pre-determined points, whereas the military traffic - by the nature of their task - come at you from all sorts of random directions, levels and ranges.

[@walterlowedp8291]

Great videos man. Question, while you're leveling before you configure for landing, you mentioned you're running 80% throttle with the air brake extended. Just curious what the benefit of having power on with the brakes out, instead of bringing the throttle back and keeping it clean / well clean-ER because you already have some flaps out?

[@RDWGstudios]

Turbine engines take longer to spool up to full power in case of a go around when operated a idle power. Operating at 80% ensures go around thrust is immediately available when required.

[@FastJetPerformance]

Walter, it just means that when I reach the right speed to put the gear and flaps down which is

[@cmdrriotz5283]

When you say landing configuration, do you mean going through a check list? If so, what does that usually look like?

[@jackconroy1212]

Hi, I'm wanting to become a pilot in the raf, would you know if there is any way that I could access some of the theory material that the raf use, for example the checks in each stage throughout the flight, if anyone can find anything like this it would be a much appreciated resource.

[@FastJetPerformance]

Best you can do is familiarise yourself with aviation theory at PPL level, that's all you need whilst joining and for EFT. You wouldn't want to try and understand BFT and AFT before you are fully conversant with PPL theory.

[@jackconroy1212]

@@FastJetPerformance thanks, alot, ive done abit of aviation studies with my cadets, but it's hard to put it into practice when your not actually in an aircraft, but your videos help alot with actually showing the environment of the cockpit and the speed at which these decisions are made , so thank you alot for those :)

[@simonjhampton]

Do the military have longer squalk codes than civilian?

[@FastJetPerformance]

Just four figures, same as civvies but many different modes for tactical considerations.

[@Michael-4]

Sad trivia question. Does anyone know who does the nagging nora voice on the Hawk?

[@FastJetPerformance]

Michael Orme I was told it was an office employee from BAES, I doubt I'd ever get the full story but I'll ask the Q as I'm interested too!

[@Michael-4]

I know Sue Milne is the voice on Typhoon but I thought the lady on the Hawk was the perfect balance for calm attention. (There was rumours they were going to get Joanna Lumely for Typhoon). Thank you.

[@Letshaveafewbeers]

When are you going to go on Aircraft Interview?

[@FastJetPerformance]

Probably not, I don't really have anything useful to add to it :/

[@ArcherAC3]

5:00 how do you move the carot on the compass at the top of the HUD to the heading the controller gave you (350 in this case)? Is that simply though the heading bug or is it through the Up Front Controls itself?

[@FastJetPerformance]

It's done through the Data Entry Panel below the HUD, in this case I'm steering direct to Valley and Valley bears 350 degrees.

[@devinmckee5768]

1.5 G on landing, a good “positive” landing

[@theresamay4201]

This comment has weight. 😅

[@tonyg3160]

Nice video! Have you had a chance to try the Just Flight T1 Hawk on MSFS? It’s keeping me away from DCS, really cool practicing the Mach Loop and IFR at Valley!! Be interested to know how you think it compares to the real thing.

[@FastJetPerformance]

I can't face the MSFS download at the moment - some of my DCS students have flown it and say it looks pretty - some say it feels a bit like it's on rails but I will try it soon

[@californiadreamin8423]

@@FastJetPerformance From your video title I expected an ILS approach rather than an SRA. The cloud base was well above minima. I take it you would fly an ILS if weather was at minima ? What is your alternate ?

[@FastJetPerformance]

@@californiadreamin8423 yes, an ILS is a precision approach allowing me down to 200 feet above the ground, an SRA is non-precision with a higher height of around 350 feet if I remember correctly.

[@californiadreamin8423]

@@FastJetPerformance I’ll have watch your video again. I was focussed on interpreting the HUD , but don’t recall any “ at 3 miles, your height should be 900ft “ and so on patter.

[@FastJetPerformance]

@@californiadreamin8423 I'm flying a PAR which has a similar Decision Height as an ILS because they are both Precision Approaches (radar monitored). The weather doesn't have to be at these limits - if the weather was higher then I could fly an SRA and then I would get 'passing 5 miles, should be 1500 feet' calls from ATC but you don't get them on a PAR because they just say that you are 'on glidepath' or 'below glidepath correcting etc'.

[@incargeek]

What does “toes clear” mean?

[@HerbertTowers]

Err, heading accuracy? What were the parameters for a green, how about for an IRE or for an IRET?

[@FastJetPerformance]

You sound a little confused - I was an IRE, what is the issue exactly?

[@sterlingarcher4989]

Some of the radio brevity is so quick at times - it’s either because it’s irrelevant (in which case why bother) or the speaker is deliberately trying to be quick because he thinks it’s cool or he’s rushing, but either way it must put a lot of stress on the listener.

[@flayling7221]

Is that guy in the end like a LSO?

[@jacklangsdale8302]

Sort of yeah. Called a talkdown controller.

[@GaryDoctor1]

Thought you'd left the raf Tim?

[@FastJetPerformance]

Still in Gary, trying to leave ;)

[@thelmaviaduct]

Why do they make their communication over the radio so difficult to understand? Seem to talk way too fast and muffled, some worse than others.

[@andyvan5692]

why do you say you have zero fuel, because obviously your engines are still running, ( you would be stalled or crashing by now!!), so how much have you realy got?

[@FastJetPerformance]

It's a phrase we use, like 'on fumes' so I would have to land with 200 kgs at the airfield so here I would probably have about 240 to 250 and I'm burning about 10 to 15 kgs a minute. Hope that explains it.

[@peckelhaze6934]

... and so many people cannot drive and use a cell phone/sat nav safely.

[@johnmunro4952]

I've done some mental calculations....aaaaaand that's what put me off even trying to be a pilot.... crap at maths. Also the sound of alarmed women make my butt twitch!

[@ryanjin7250]

Bad landing too short touch