Auto-flaps.

[alexis99 124]

I really can't get along with the auto-flaps in the Superhornet. The left and right inner and outer flaps don't kick in until you're below 150 Kts, and by then you're sinking fast, so no good for landings.

I think the figures are a little low, so I changed them to come in around 200 Kts. Then I thought, what the hell, I'll make them manual with blowback like the old F-18 does.

Now I can put the pipper on the deck and land at around 160 Kts. A bit high, but there's no fuel dump facility in SF.

Can anyone tell me how they fare when landing with auto-flaps as supplied?

[+EricJ 4,254]

I come in around 250 knots or so (or realistically 200 or so) and trap fine. A bit way fast but I don't sink and it seems that I can keep the bird from sinking like you describe when I did carrier landings, everything else I managed to keep from sinking. I can see about recording a video if it'll help

Edited January 31, 2021 by EricJ

[rlwicker1967 32]

The Auto flap thing got me too but, I had to remember the boat has turned into the wind and we're getting 30-35 knots headwind on approach. With the F-14, I come in at about 140-160 knots and nail it every time. I know with the F-14, you come in with the airbrakes deployed to help regulate the airspeed. I don't worry about the 3rd wire. I just want to get A wire.

[+Cliff7600 1,148]

On 31/01/2021 at 2:48 PM, alexis99 said:

 you're below 150 Kts, and by then you're sinking fast, so no good for landings.

Just a thought from my own test flights : the quantity of fuel left in the tanks.

If you want to check if the plane is set up the right way, don't attempt to land with full tanks because the real plane is not supposed to react the same way compared to a minimal fuel quantity.
Check the real Max Landing Weight value, if available, or do the landing approach around 30% of the fuel or less (not too less though xD)

Just a thought, maybe it was what you were doing already 

[alexis99 124]

Thank you for your replies.

I trap pretty good just about every time, even when the damned admiral decides to change course at the last minute. I just don't believe some of the quoted figures, or the indexer. And I don't trust auto-flaps. Although they work quite well  on the F-117, which glides well at low speed.

It's true that if you can't dump fuel and you're still carrying AA, then your landing speed must be much higher, so auto flaps not kicking in until 150 kts is highly dangerous.

I have a book on the Canadian Hornet and the chapter on flying says the Hornet lands at 120 Kts plus 3 Kts per 1000 lb fuel left. That's a clean aircraft, I believe, so if you factor in the AA you're still carrying, you're talking about a 160 Kt landing speed. And it works.

It also says that you can override the auto-flaps. SF won't allow you to do that, so the best solution is to make them manual in the data file.

I assume the Superhornet has an auto-flap override and as I said, that's what I've given it.

Incidentally, I lowered the E landing marker on the HUD in the Canadian Hornet, and I can actually land by the book. E marker on your touchdown point, pipper in centre, 160 kts. (Funny, but I always come back with just under 10,000lbs fuel. Maybe I shouldn't fill her up on the field).

[alexis99 124]

I was just checking out the TW Tomcat77, and I can keep the fpm pipper positioned just beyond the wires at about 132 Kts, with a little buffet and a red down V on the indexer.

At 130 Kts, I can get the yellow circle, but I don't like the buffet because it means I've got a stall coming, doesn't it?

Real manual says be at 275 ft, 180 Kts at 1 mile. No way the TW indexer will agree with that. From there, approach speed should be 130-150 Kts

I can get it down to 136 Kts, pipper beyond wires, no buffet, but the indexer is off. So you're doing it just about by the book Mr rlwicker. I'm going to come in a bit faster now.

Incidentally, I slightly rearranged the cockpit size and position, and adjusted the HUD display accordingly to keep the pipper in frame right down to 130 Kts, so it's comfortably IN at 136 Kts.

The Superpack Tomcat82 has that damned camera at the bottom of the HUD, so you have to come in faster on that one to keep the pipper in view. Indexer is useless.

 

 

[+EricJ 4,254]

8 hours ago, alexis99 said:

Thank you for your replies.

I trap pretty good just about every time, even when the damned admiral decides to change course at the last minute. I just don't believe some of the quoted figures, or the indexer. And I don't trust auto-flaps. Although they work quite well  on the F-117, which glides well at low speed.

It also says that you can override the auto-flaps. SF won't allow you to do that, so the best solution is to make them manual in the data file.

I assume the Superhornet has an auto-flap override and as I said, that's what I've given it.

 

Yes there is (if the cockpit was done right on the VRS SuperBug) that you can have manual flaps on the real jet. Don't know if they're used of course but I'm sure the option exists.

As for auto-flaps I tend to stick with it and ride out the region (last trap I had full fuel, just simply moved the waypoint up to the landing cycle. But I tend to leave the auto flaps on and just do what I gotta do when I fly (rarely now).