Mishap in my F/A-18A+

[MAKO69]

Out in my Hornet, practicing rolling in on targets of the coast. Pulled some Gs little blackout came to and there was a lot, A LOT ! of yellow and red infront of me, which is cool if it's a plate of hotdogs with ketchup and mustard. All the bad stuff was lit up, the Xs were just the icing on the cake. I leveled the plane it wasn't flying right, looked over my shoulders " AH !", and the plane was several hundred pounds lighter. I was missing some critical parts that would help me land. Well it took about 30 minutes to figure out what inputs into the controls would work. I could use my rudders as long as I didn't bank more than 20 degrees, and slight elevators up. For roll (after all they are elevons) I could input slightly, I mean slightly. Kept my speed up above 400 kts for flight, after I got slow got the wheels down landed at about 250 kts. It was not easy (meaning the flight model was on hard), couple tail slides that reduced my speed into almost loss of control/ approching wing stall. To correct I would release pressure on the stick and rudders and she would right herself in whatever attitude she came back, then I would have to work to get it level.

Edited February 4, 2010 by MAKO69

[xclusiv8]

Is this really strike fighters? I have never seen that kind of damage model in SF. Usually i just get blown out of the sky.

[MAKO69]

Is this really strike fighters? I have never seen that kind of damage model in SF. Usually i just get blown out of the sky.

 

 

Yes it is TW and this was a first for me, I was surprised as w(H)ell.

Edited February 4, 2010 by MAKO69

[Capitaine Vengeur]

Bad day. It seems that even in Strike fighters, you can now fly Chinese counterfeits.

[+FastCargo]

There is a parameter within the data.ini that allows you to assign cumulative Over-G damage to parts of the aircraft. In other words you can set the aircraft so that at some point, if you continue to pull too hard, you'll start breaking things off.

 

Not too many folks have exploited this parameter though...I'm not smart enough on how it works to try it in my models.

 

FC

[xclusiv8]

There is a parameter within the data.ini that allows you to assign cumulative Over-G damage to parts of the aircraft. In other words you can set the aircraft so that at some point, if you continue to pull too hard, you'll start breaking things off.

 

Not too many folks have exploited this parameter though...I'm not smart enough on how it works to try it in my models.

 

FC

 

I did not know this feature was in the game engine. Oh man, it would be great if used more often!

[MAKO69]

I have come back with damage before from whipping the poney hard. I was pulling between 4-7 Gs for about 10 passes and I pulled about 10 before I blacked out not wanting to wack the ground I pulled a little harder, must have been little to much.

Edited February 4, 2010 by MAKO69

[+DWCAce]

I've had plenty of instances where the a/c has lost some parts, and still made it home.

[Derk]

You 'll find the "structural factor" in the data.ini here and there, more about it in the "test pilot mod" posted here lately.

Destroyed quiet some aircraft by overstressing (FA-18, Mirage 2000, Draken)

It is an interesting item to do some experiments with....

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

[+MigBuster]

Yeah - have done that coming out of a dive in an F-18 over Baghdad - has been the only jet ive over stressed though

[Caesar]

I don't remember when that was implemented, or if it had always been, but I have yanked the wings off of my Bug before; I think it was in a 16G turn. It was more than a year ago, though. Exact same thing; black out, followed by both wings off.

 

EDIT: OK, I took by Bug up again for the specific purpose of test-to-destruction. Had to take care of a few Foxbats first, that was easy. Sent the flight home and started to do some hard turns. I got the plane into about five 14-17G turns, but was unable to pull the wings off. It seems like they came off sooner in an older patch, and before I saw your post, MAKO, I thought it had been deactivated. Well, I couldn't get them to come off, so I hit escape, and lo and behold, "Maj Pilot was wounded and hospitalized. Maj Pilot is awarded the Purple Heart!" Just above that line: One F/A-18A was damaged. I guess I would have had to put on a few more turns, or a single, VERY high G turn and they'd have probably come off.

 

I went into the aircraft's data.ini and found the StructuralFactor line. The reason it seems that the outter wings get yanked off is that their StructuralFactor is 1.2, whereas the Fuselage and Inner Wing is 1.5. I am guessing (nothing solid here) that that means sustained flight above 1.2x7.5G (9G) will eventually rip the wings off, and sustained flight above 1.5x7.5G (11.25G) will eventually cause the fuselage to fail, but that the outter wings *should* tear away before the fuselage breaks.

 

I'm starting to throw that factor into some of my other planes, because I like the fact that you can take account for overstress and breaking the jet.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Caesar

[MAKO69]

This is realistic, but the F-18s along with some other tactical planes have a G limiter which can be deactivated by the pilot if needed. Also G loads change with payload. I know the ground crews don't like it when you bring back their plane all bent to s**t. Real life example I was reading Air and Space or Air Power or some mag like that a few years ago. One German pilot was saying they grounded his primary aircraft for airframe hours and they would not be doing any overhaul because it is to old, and he said that there are severel other aircraft approaching that same problem. Just trying to nurse them along to 2012/2013 for the Typhoon to replace them. Example the Blue angles use older F/A-18A the 1-4 planes last a lot longer than the 5+6 cause their job is to push the plane for that great opposing demo. One of the oppsing solo guys said their job was the best they get to fly hard and break them.

[Slartibartfast]

Have also been there with this most of mine though have been with the F/A-18 when I am running Ground attack roll in drop a pair of CBU's and pull back hard and scream for height... never managed it yet with just air to air but I am working on it...