View for Easier Carrier Landing

[ShrikeHawk]

I love doing carrier landings, but without the advantage of angled decks in ww2 props, I've been struggling a bit. 90% of the problem is being able to "see" the carrier during final approach. I realized that a slight edit to viewlist.ini can eliminate the problem of not seeing the carrier during landing. I don't know if anyone else has tried this, but here goes.

 

In the viewlist, there's an entry for CockpitUp. A view that I don't use even before I started using TrackIR. Find this entry: [View005]

 

Change this value: AngleOffsets=0.0,30.0,0.0

 

To this: AngleOffsets=0.0,-20.0,0.0

 

And add this entry: PositionOffsets=0.0,-0.08,0.148

 

What this does is effectively move the pilot seat up and back slightly, and change the view to looking down a bit, just like a real carrier pilot in ww2 could do. Here's what happens...(the next three images are all taken at the same instant while the game is paused)

 

Here's me below, seconds away from landing (e.g., "missing the mark entirely").

 

 

Here's the problem. Below, I can't see the carrier at all. I don't know if my glide slope is correct or if I've drifted to port or starboard.

 

 

With this new view below, I can now see the carrier. I know exactly where the carrier is and where I'm going. Carrier landings are now a breeze with any prop aircraft!

 

[Foxbat1966]

? Why No Permission on Pics.

[ShrikeHawk]

Sorry about that. They should be visible now.

[amariani]

Nicely done. I have always used the british method of coming from the side then turning into the ship at the last moment, keeping the carrier in sight the whole time.

[ShrikeHawk]

Nicely done. I have always used the british method of coming from the side then turning into the ship at the last moment, keeping the carrier in sight the whole time.

 

Yup. That's what I was doing too. The F4U didn't fly off US carriers until the Brits invented that approach with their own RN Corsairs. I took a page from them and that was the best approach I could use.

[+CrazyhorseB34]

If you use the F4U-4 you must for the sake of accuracy use the RN method of landing. But the Corsairs had adjustable seats to allow the pilot to get a better view over the big long nose when the canopy was slid back during landing. Even so, the MF Corsair is really difficult to land on a straight deck in SF2 unless one adds about a meter to the hook length. The hook is actually attached to the tail wheel mount. The added length simulates the very low hanging hook on the Corsair. Watch old vids of Corsairs landing during Korea. The hook hangs real low and touches first.

Edited July 28, 2013 by CrazyhorseB34

[amariani]

I have always landed the plane myself, never following the waypoints (even on land runways). I've never liked the game's airliner-like approach.

[ShrikeHawk]

Even with this new view, that enormous Corsair schnaz still gets in the way.

 

 

So the RN approach with the Corsair is still recommended. That's my final approach below, and my view above.