Nick Tselepides

NAVY CHIEF: YOUR 4 CD'S AIRMAILED TODAY. SCHEDULED TO DEPART ATHENS TONIGHT BY COD. CREW ARE UNDER SELAED ORDERS NOT TO REVEAL CONTENTS TO ANYONE. COD IS STAGING THROUGH USS NIMITZ/SIGONELLA/ROTA/ PORTSMOUTH/ USS STENNIS/ SAN DIEGO/ NAS MIDWEST/ NAS GEORGIA. THEN SNAIL TRAIN TO YOUR QUARTERS. PLEASE CONFIRM SAFE ARRIVAL THROUGH EMAIL IMMEDIATELY UPON SAFE ARRIVAL OF CLASSIFIED GOODS. FILL IN THE YELLOW FORM AND RETURN TO NAVAIR OPERATIONS CENTER/JINX/ ATHENS/ GREECE.ROGER AND OUT. JINX.

:D Guys: all it takes to get a good RA-5c is a couple of searches at avsim.com flightsim.com or ALPHA SIMULATIONS where they offer lots of ex-paywere a/c for free now. :P Navychief: check your email. :D

Some guy at another forum thought the F-15 was the'great' a/c that was able to fly with wing severed off. Nothing is furthest from the truth, as there have been countless incidents of planes flying with wings shot off from 1920 onwards. However, ignorance is universal, unfortunately, and that was his case. Please read: An indent with recent a/c was when an F/A-18 and an F-14 collided in midair in 1994, due to failure of the pilots to spot each other. It was two sections of Navy a/c ( 4 in all). One converging at a rate 660 knots,one F-14 tried to maneuver up and to the right but the oncoming F/A-18 leader's aircraft slammed into the Tomcat. At impact the Hornet's nose was a little high, wings in a slight left angle of banK. The impact severed two-thirds of the F-14's right wing and the Hornet lost five feet of the starboard wing. In order to maintain flight, the F-14 flew at full afterburner on the right engine, idle on the left, with full left stick and partial left rudder inputs. The Tomcat headed for the nearest field but on final, 17 minutes later, both engines quit due to fuel starvation from the leaking wing. The pilot and RIO ejected, landed in the sea and were rescued uninjured. The Hornet proceeded to the same airfield, landed and began hydroplaning. With no arresting cable in sight, the pilot executed a go-around. On the next try, he noted an arresting cable at the threshold of the runway, landed and engaged the cable, which separated immediately without slowing down the F/A-18. The F/A-18 went round again and landed at the far end at 203 knots, engaging the overrun cable at 90 knots and coming to rest three feet from the end of the runway. The 4 Navy aircraft were in European airspace and had had to deal with foreign accents from the local controllers who wanred them of imminent collision in precautionary transmissions, though the F-14 in the lead had not heard anything. Then they failed to keep their heads and eyes on the swivel. They had bothlaunched from the same carrier in the Med on training missions and the miad-air happened at 26 miles from the ship. It was a close call for all involved.

:D I was referring exactly to this photo above, and the post was at simhq forums. What bothered me was that the guy who wrote the post made it seem as a unique occurrence-which it sure was not. To prove that, I mentioned the other incidents above and started this thread. Jinx

Pete, and all others interested: I am going to try and add a jpg of screenshots of my carrier landings in FS2002 using ArrCab by Rich Hogen. I do not know if it will work, as I have not done it before. Note the two older Fleet Air Arm a/c, Scimitar, and that Gannet. :) Hogen's stuff is great. Nick from Athens

You fellows, for Arrestor Cables,Go (run) to avsim.com and this is where you get it> File Libary> search for: Do it quickly before they withdraw the addon.... "Category: FS2002 Scenery ArrCab Carriers Standalone Upgrade Package File Description: Complete improvement package v3. More persistent scenery, more carriers, fixes, etc. Textures included. 18 carriers across the world. v3 adds a couple of missing textures. (MR) Filename: accvall3.zip License: Check within download Added: 27th April 2002 Downloads: 6445 " Author: Rich Hogen Size: 3189kb Nick from Athens

You guys: you take the cake at times. :ph34r: No need to reinstall anything, Search your disk in'explore' -- the installation disk I mean, extract the cab zip to hard disk, copy your King Air or your aircraft that is missing and paste it into your a/c folder and then delete the temporarily extracted cab files or save them CD for a future misfortune of similar type. :o :) Pete, check your King Air folder-- you probably need a new aircraft.cfg and a new King Air. air file-- I can send those by email. If you sound folder and panel folder are full , it must be the a/c.cfg file and the xx.air file that got hurt. Read Grumpy's help files on all this to learn how to manipulate your a/c, at simviation.com. Email me for any help needed. :) In any case, Pete, next week I am airmailing you the CD with the add-ons and I will include the King Air for FS9 and for Fs2002 for you. So be patient. I am also sending you seven of my repaints of John Woodside's great Tiger Moth, 3 of which are in Royal Navy colors. :ph34r:

:) Do not sweat you guys. You can get it Arrestor Cables, known as 'Arrcab",for free, as it was downloadable before it became commercial ( and may still be) at Rich Hogen's site.. CHECK THE SITE!!!!!! You will also need to download FSUIPC at Schiratti's site or flightsim.com, which is what makes the program co-operate and work with FS2002. The FD3 add-on is for FS2004 probably, and has some extra aircraft of which the helo is a disappointment ,as there are many better ones around for free. :P By the way, Pete: I note you mentioned Rey Lopez's A-7 in your email . If you mean the horrid one he made some time ago that has the body of a Crusader and a parody of markings of the Stingers, you are talking about the worst addon he ever made. I told him long ago, and he was willing to revise and paint to my taste, but in the meantime the ALPHA sim Corsairs came out and they are the best. :D Email me if you need any help.

Navy Chief: still waiting for your email regarding VA-15. I have Rich Hogen's Arrestor Cables and its attedant carriers in FS2002 and they look and work great--18 carriers on the planet. I suspect that FD3 is the same thing that was free before, commercialized now for bucks. FD2 was bad--only the planes looked good, and the best A-7E is the payware by ALPHAsim--get that if you can, and you have loads of repaints for free at avsim afterwards. I have completed over 400 traps, with all sorts of a/c ranging from the FS98 Gannett and Scimitar and Hunter (FAA) to the Sea Vixen by Alphasim, and to the all recent S-3s. Prowlers, Horntes, Tomcats etc. Boarding rate now is 89 % for me, which is not bad--it was down to 205 when I started a year ago. :D Cheers, :) Nick Tselepides from Athens.

You can simulate the following incidents pretty well in FS2002 if you have the F-8: From Barrett Tillman's book on the Crusader, here are the stories, verbatim, with acknowledgements: FIRST INCIDENT: "Only one of the F-8 incidents occurred in daylight.That was the first time at Capodichino Airport near Naples, Italy. On 2 August 1960, Lieutenant Jack Barnes of VF-11 took off without checking his wing-lock position. But he climbed to 5,000 feet, feeling out the bird, slowly gaining confidence. He dumped most of his fuel to reduce the Crusader to safe landing weight, then made a 175-knot approach. It was over 50 knots faster than normal low-weight landing speed, but necessary to compensate for the reduced wing area. Barnes plunked the F8U down with only slight damage to the wing and wing-fold mechanisms." The story made 'Time" magazine at the time. 2nd INCIDENT: 'The next Cursader 'wingless' flight occurred three and a half years later. On 31 March 1964. Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Hudner took off from San Clemente, California, and routinely activated the variable-incidence selector to lower his wing after lift-off. Vut the sevn-degree cant remained, and then Hudner discovered why. Tom Hudner was no stranger to adversity. He had been the fourth and last F4U pilot to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, for landing behind Communist lines near the Chosin Reservoir in December of 1950 in a vain attempt to rescue a downed squadronmate. In the dark night sky, he climbed his Crusader to 10,000 feet and began experimenting. Banking to port, he nosed down slightly to impose a half-G negative load on the airplane. Under this mild stress the port wingtip dropped into place and locked. Hudner repeated the sequence to starboard, again successfully. He then lowered the wing manually and landed. His skillful airmanship has been called 'one of aviation's miracles"..." 3rd INCIDENT: "Two Marines have also joined the wings-folded club. Both were members of VMF(AW)-235 operating out of DaNang Air Base in Vietnam. A major in the Squadron, taxiing out for a night strike in August of 1966, folded his wingtips to maneuver around a parked plane. He then took off without extending the wings, loaded with a half-ton of bombs and six Zuni rockets. Once aware of his unenviable predicament, the Marine jettisoned his ordnance offshore and turned gently for home. He descended toward the mobile arresting gear at the end of the runway, and engaed the wires. But it was just one of those days for the hapless major. In addition to taking off with his wings folded, he also neglected to lower his landing gear." 4th INCIDENT: "Another 235 pilot should have stayed in bed one night nearly ten months later. But this flier had better luck than the major. The F-8E packed two tons of bombs besides six Zunis, and they were dumped before the Crusader warily banked around for DaNang. The Marine recovered at base, making 160-plus knots on final." There are 3-4 more incidents in Tillman's book, which makes fascinating reading on F-8, and I will post them for you later. Meanwhile, I hope this post has placed a few ideas for you to play out, and has given you an insight into F-8 history.

The following article describes a real experience with an EA-6B Prowler. The reason I bring it to you attention is that you can simulate this experience in FS2002 if you have Rich Hogen's Arrestor Cables Add-On and his Carriers and if you arrange your settings in the Failures Options, your Time as Night, etc. I did this in my game and I had the andrenalin flowing, boltered a couple of times, trapped on the 3rd-it was a hair-raising experience, to say the least. The article follows: "Just Another Night At The Boat" By Lt Kenneth M. Masson It was my first night CQ in two and a half years. All in all, I was feeling pretty good taxiing up to the cat. The deck was pretty steady except for some dutch roll, and proof of the almighty, there was a full moon with scattered cloud cover. You would be hard pressed to find better conditions for a few night traps. I had two PXOs flying with me for some "uneventful" night traps in the Prowler. I was as close to happy about night traps as you can get, that is until the cat stroke. "Good shot, good shot……S-t!" Just after rotating at 145 knots, the jet got extremely mushy as if I had lost a motor. Immediately, I raised my gear and scanned the tapes. I hadn’t lost a motor but my IPI (integrated position indicator) had completely barberpoled. My flaps were blowing back and my stabilizer was shifting clean at 145 knots (40 knots less than minimum flap retraction speed!) Silence… "I got it, I got it" as we laboriously climbed away from Neptune’s grasp. On climbout, we tried to take stock of our predicament. No trim caused extremely heavy stick loads. There were over fifteen popped circuit breakers ranging from AOA to slats. With the help of the commander in the back seat, we identified all popped c/b’s and read through all the checklists that had any possible relevance to our situation. Since the NATOPS didn’t cover this emergency precisely, we used our best assets; common sense and aircraft systems knowledge. In order to regain control of our flaps and stabilizer, we selected emergency flaps and slats. This shifted our flight controls back to full throws establishing much needed control at slower airspeeds. With no certain means of confirming our configuration, we elected to do a fly by. In accordance with NATOPS our minimum controllable airspeed plus 10 knots was 136. At 126 knots, the jet would roll off to the left as the nose fell through. Although 136 knots seemed like a good compromise, the jet was still prone to roll off in response to lateral stick inputs but it was controllable without the more extreme stick forces at 150 knots. We got three important pieces of information from the low approach: line-up was going to be very tough with the dutch roll and the jet’s tendency to roll off, our gear was indeed down, and my arm was getting tired. After talking over our options, we decided to give the boat a shot until reaching our dirty bingo of 6200#s. With no AOA, limited lateral control, a higher than normal approach speed, our approach was going to be difficult. The first approach: I got to a good start at 136 knots on and on. It wasn’t enough! As I fought line-up and stick forces, I started to drop the tough inside/outside airspeed scan. As a result I was way overpowered at the ramp at 145-150 knots. "Bolter, Bolter." Time to regroup. The second approach: We split up the scan duties to better allocate our cockpit resources. ECMO1, CDR Ott, was to call out airspeeds all the way down. I was going to concentrate on line-up and glideslope exclusively. We hoped the new strategy would pay off because I was tired and we were trick or treat. "665 Prowler ball, 6.3" "Roger ball, 27 knots, you’re on glideslope and a little overpowered." The LSO’s response was golden! It was AIRPAC Paddles and he was going to lip lock my glideslope. Meanwhile ECMO1 was holding a perfect cadence, faster for greater than 136 knots and more urgent for slower speeds. I struggled with line-up but forced my scan to keep moving while taking in the aural cues. Crossing the ramp, "You’re a little overpowered…attitude!" We were aboard on the three wire. What a relief! Taxiing out of the landing area, the two constant speed drives overheated as a result of more popped circuit breakers. We shut down where we were and egressed from "Christine". Over the next two hours with help from our maintainers and NATOPS, we pieced the puzzle together. Going down the CAT stroke we had an electrical fire that burnt through our top deck relay wire bundle creating our strange assortment of failures. In the end, although a little luck can go a long way, a through and methodical approach to the situation enabled a happy ending. We used the assets at our disposal; experience, NATOPS, the ship, LSOs and solid crew coordination. While the new XOs did get meaningful boat experience, it was anything but uneventful. Oh well, just another night trap! --------------- Article taken with all due acknoweledgemts from http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/app...ticles/0250.htm

First let me make this clear: the MS sims mentioned here are not combat sims (excepting CFS2). CFS3 is not even considered here, as it is, in my view, a dismal failure in all respects. Immersion in sim is the controling idea behind these comparisons, as well as ease and precision of play/flight/ features/add-on placement in sim/ sim possibilities--not the shoot-and-hear-a-bang experience, or bombing or strafing. Civil sims like FS2002 are not combat ones and therefore no comparison in this sector is possible. BUT comparison in all other aspects is possible. :D After having played SFP1 for the past 2 months, I think I can finally compare with some other sims I am familiar with and would like to offer these thoughts for comment: 1.In play, SFP1 is generally-speaking easy. The flight models are approximate and you cannot achieve the 1-meter, 1-knot differences you can with sims like MS FS2000/02/04. Precision flying is out of the question, in other words. Launching missiles and getting hits is also easier than many other sims. 2.There is clearly a need for more objects, buildings,trucks, convoys of vehicles, bridges, trains, ships, carriers etc down on the ground and at sea. Major Lee was right in putting out a plea in these forums to this effect. EAW is richer in this respect. 3.SFP1's greatest advantage seems to be two-fold: (a)the ease of its open architecture (less complex than MS FS2002, with fewer things to add to get a new plane), and (B) the fact that the aircraft themselves look better than a/c in most sims, esp. those that have metal surfaces or are colourful. A look at Mike Stone's USAF C-130 Hercules recent creation for FS2004 will convince you--it looks pathetic and a sad sight next to the average SFP1 plane, and Mr Stone is supposed to be a revered plane designer in the FSim community and one of the best.If you want more convincing, compare it to Bunyap's F-100s. 4.Add-Ons like in_flight refueling, Carriers with arrestor cables that work, flight-planners, navigation planners,airport facilities, radars, airport data, player-controllable Autopilot, HUD displays, gauge-adding and removal at will and panel-making in general seem to lack in SFP1, possibly because of glitches in its architecture or in the way the game has been modularly conceived. Here the MS sims score best, as they offer an infinite number of possibilities to makers of all sorts of things (including balloons and paper aeroplanes and other oddities), and therfore that ratio of 1 add-on for SFP1 to each 350 or so for MS FS2002 that exists around today, though that may be because of the fact that few people know of SFP1 round the world. 5.To me, SFP1 has a peculiar feel to it: it seems to be the type of sim that is best described by the term "start game, quick, fly to target, enjoy the great looks of your plane en route, shoot, bomb etc and complete mission,and get out and exit game". This is the kind of impression it gives to one who is used to CFS2 and FS2002. Not having the inner structure for certain things (mentione in # 4 above), it does not invite you to land, do navigation, look at the map ( a sore sight by most standards),loiter and play with the technical aspects of the aircraft, etc etc.No weather to change or even fog to get lost in-- even of you manage to get lost, it does not seem to matter in this game, as long as you've clobbered at least one enemy with a Sparrow, you feel done. That was not the case even with EAW, for me at least. :D These are some random thoughts, and are not meant of lead us into fights or tirades-- look at them as a pleasant reading, and please communicate your thoughts, as they are valuable as always. Teaser: if only CFS4 would come out at Xmas with an F-100 and a Carrier (USS Hancock) and a MiG-21 on its mainscreen and box cover...... Nick from Athens

for Digital Overlord: Yes, D.O., I did. But I also posted it here too so that some more guys can see it.

Stiker01: You can always rename the files to suit your taste and needs, though I see your point. Getting everyone to name things in one way is practically impossible and will prove a battle lost before you get half-way into convincing them to do that. Even getting them to read what you want will not succeed in getting to everyone involved in making planes, as you cannot be sure they will visit all forums at all times--another impossibility here. I rename my files when I deem it necessary and have no problems at all. :D

Here was I, coming in to land at Athens airport, in virtual cockpit view in Kirk Olsson's wonderful F-16 VIPER, all dirtied up and with dive brakes open to boot,as my approach was steep and I had to cut down speed fast. Lined up on center line nicely,I noticed at the moment of touchdown sparks flying off from under the nose of the aircraft into the air.. :o :( .Had I let the gear down? Of course, I had! B) But then again I thought I had repressed G again, but wasn't sure. Unwilling to change to outside view for the moment of truth, and half-curious to see what would happen if indeed I had made a belly landing, I let the aircraft roll, sparks and all, until it started to do jumps and cartwheel-like tricks, when, Lord O Lord, I finally decided to press G and see if the gear would come out. I was stunned : the gear came out, the plane rose slightly, and the roll was normal--me still in virtual cockpit view, all within seconds and no time to look at the speeds on the HUD.Like all expert pilots, this was my 75th belly landing, I thought...Swtiching to outside view, I saw my F-16 still rolling nicely on its wheels, so I veered off the runway and pulled the parking break. I then used the Instant replay option for 80 seconds, to see what I had done properly. Belly-landed of course, BUT when I pressed for gear out during the roll, the gear did come out and the plane went back on its legs nicely, as if nothing had happened.None the worse for wearand not a dent anywhere.. :D Only my simmer's wings had been trampled a bit and somewhere in my mind a voice told me that this was not the first time, must be more careful next time round. But I had through this experience discovered a feature of FS2002 I did not know. Now I wonder if it happens to other aircraft as well, like the default ones, for example.I can try and see what happens, unless some of you fearless pilots out there have tested things and know better. Nick Tselepides from Athens, Greece.

:D SpaceHogg, What sim is the one you flew and Voodoo in and escorted the Tu-95 as well? Can you please name it? I would love to do an escort mission, as I have not done any anywhere but in CFS2? Nick from Athens

:D Mike, I can send you what I have, both the default CFS planes and stuff I have collected over the net. Email me your home address at jinx@e-free.gr and I will send a CD by regular airmail. I enjoy your aircraft for FS2002 and have almost all. Nick Tselepides from Athens, Greece :D :D

For those of you like twins, and esp. STOL aircraft, try reading this and then downoad the aircraft at fsimcom, or avsim. :D :D ;) :) 2 parts from an article that appeared in "Air Enthusiast" (Quarterly at that time) Magazine. issue 51. Aug-Oct.1993, by Nick Hemming,pilot of Air Atlantique, concerning Twin Pioneer G-BCWF of Flight One Ltd at Gloucester-Staverton being ferried to Coventry. First Section: :D ------------------------------------------ 'Six-and-a-half-ton, 1,280hp Piper Cub' ======================================== Whisky Foxtrot had been rolled-out of the hangar and an engineer gave us a stack of paperwork, the keys, and assured us it was full of fuel, and he then sat back tο watch the fun. ΑΙΙ the paperwork was ίn order, so all that was needed was a thorough pre-flight and we could be off. This was not as easy as it sounded as little things like checking the fuel are not that easy when the fillers are 16ft (5m) up to the top of the wing and there were no passing window cleaners with ladders that big. The only way round this was to climb through the emergency hatch ίn the roof and crawl halfway along the wing to the filler caps. Owing to the steep camber of the wing when the aircraft is on the ground, a tight grip on the leading edge is required if an Eddie the Eagle off the trailing edge is to be avoided. ============================================= Second Section (from further down the article): :D :D ------------------------- If the engine objects tο the sequence and νigour with which these controls are used, it indicates its displeasure by a series of bangs, flames from the exhaust, and in the case of the Leonides, blowing the air filter off the engine (in flames if it's been ονerprimed). It is a tradition within the company that any pilot or flight engineer who obtains a good bang during a start is escorted to the bar at the end of the day and inνited tο buy 'bang beers' for anyone who heard it. As the starting of the Twin Pin was tο be νery much educated guesswork and our arriνal at Coνentry would co-incide with opening time, my co-pilot was getting thirsty and looking forward tο a 21 gun salute. There were nο bangs but the smoke produced would haνe done credit tο an artillery regiment. All the needles pointed at the green bits οn the gauges and when the smoke cleared a bit of taxying about seemed ίn order. The tailwheel is non-steerable and fully castοring and therefore nοt a great help with directional control and although there are three rudders, a reasonable amount of power or forward speed is needed , for them tο be effectiνe. As one would expect for a STOL aircraft, the brakes are νery effectiνe due tο the 1,500psi proνided tο them by reduction from the main hydraulic system pressure of 2,500psi. =================================================== :D By Nick Tselepides from Athens, Greece with due respect to the English Language and its beauty... :D

:P The word is Trainer, not Trainor. A little more respect to the language that serves all of us so well is needed.... :D

;) :ph34r: :D Can anyone tell me where I can download the A-10 for SFP1? I tried one link for an zip called 'A-10.zip" twice, and the zip proved invalid, void or corrupted--it had nothing in it, in other words. Thanks Nick Tselepides from Athens, Greece.