Carrier Landing And Taking off

[walker1200]

Are there certain planes for carriers? and when i take off i go staright down although im pulling all the way back

[Roscoroo]

Dont pull back hard on the stick ..

practice with 50% fuel , the f6f,f4f,seafire , a6m's are good planes to learn in .

the corsair is the animal of the bunch and needs flaps to get off the deck when loaded , some of the other planes need flaps too when loaded heavy .

when landing its best to use flaps and remember the deck is at 50ft above the water and is moving at 50 mph .  shift g is the tail hook .  

i come in normally at 100 ft and around 120 mph sometimes with some throttle applyed when flaps are down .

you can back up on the carrier deck too , but get the basics down as for you cant use auto take off when you do this.

[Reynolds]

Okay, this is one of the VERY few things I am good at. Look me up, ill take you to the TA and teach you carrier landings. First off, NEVER use auto-takeoff.

Heres your pre-flight:

1) engine on

2) Hook up

3)(for begginers) Carrier is straight

4) 2 sets of flaps (it helps, but is not always necessary)

On take-off:

1) throttle full

2) correct with rudder

3) Just before you reach the end of the deck, pull back VERY slightly

4) retract one setting of flaps.

5) gain speed

6) retract last setting of flaps

On landing:

1) Line up directly behind CV

2) Dump FULL flaps

3) Gear down

4) Hook down

5) Drop to 75 ft ASL, or 25 feet above the deck or lower

6) make approach speed no higher than 100mph, no lower than 90mph

7) pull up almost to stall just as you reach the carrier

If you do all of this, you will be making perfect take-offs and landings in no time!

[Blagard]

Originally posted by walker1200
and when i take off i go staright down although im pulling all the way back

Don't pull all the way back, you will stall and go down!

I think you can only select certain aircraft on a CV anyway and they are all suitable. Put a full loadout of fuel and ordinance on any for a very difficult takeoff. Better start with just fuel and then increase the loadout as you get used to it.

Takeoff
I always start engine, with wheel brake on, open throttle full and release brakes, apply WEP. Then depending on the aircraft drop some flap before I get to the end of the deck. I usually have combat trim on as this seems to help me. I raise gear as soon as the deck is cleared, I ease in up elevator just before I leave the deck, none before. I do not try to climb but just try to maintain deck alt until speed builds up so I can raise flap and climb. On a heavy loadout I do not fight the aircraft as it decends to the sea I merely "nurse" it until the stall warning horn shuts up! and continue as normal. Usually just skimming the sea for a short while!

Landing
I slow to 120 with full flap, gear and hook down and approach fairly shallow as though the intent is to fly it into the deck, I then try to maintain an approach at 100 using throttle to maintain my approach as I adjust elevators. In the last few seconds I chop throttle and flare. I always judge my decent onto the arrester wire area and do not attempt to drop short with the intent to flare and glide onto the deck (You will probably drop short into the back of the ship if you try that!)

I have no idea if my method is correct but it works for me!

[Bruv119]

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Carrier planes have a hook built in (Shift G)  make sure you deploy this before you land.

You can land non-carrier planes if you come in real slow, even bombers.


When you get real good you will be able to land with the carrier doing circles.....

[BaldEagl]

Blagard gave you good advice.

I usually fly an F6F off the carriers, 2 1000 lb bombs, full rocket rails and 100% fuel.  

I give it 2 notches of flaps and WEP as soon as it starts to roll.  Once off the deck it will dive for the water.  Gear up immediately and then one notch of flaps up while I nurse it to stay off the water.  Once it's gaining a little speed I raise the second notch of flaps and I'm away.

If I have to turn that direction I have to be careful not to run into the cruiser

I land pretty much the same way I do at any runway.  Flaps down, 120-150 approach, flair and let it settle in.  The only difference is I try to hit the near end of the deck where the tail hook gan grab.  I also make sure the carrier is moving in a straight line before I land.  No biggie on take-off as you can easily correct with rudder once you're used to it.

[Reynolds]

Even with a fully loaded F6F, give it three notches and it will be flying before the end of the deck. I have gotten full fuel, full ord SBDs off 15ft from the end. If you can compensate for torque, just put some extra flaps down and you will be fine.

[Traveler]

Originally posted by walker1200
Are there certain planes for carriers? and when i take off i go staright down although im pulling all the way back

in answer to your questions:

Are there certain planes for carriers?  YES

click on a carrier, bring up the kneeboard, select hanger

select Fighters, select enabled only

you now have a list of the fighters available on a carrier.  

To get started you may wish to fly a carrier based aircraft from an airfield until you have mastered rudder control to counter an aircrafts left turning tendency due to gyroscopic precession and the propellers extremely high angel of attack (AOA) which make a slow moving aircraft 0 – 60 MPH want to make a hard left at full power.

Start out with 50% fuel no ord.  20% flaps, full power, plus WEP, raise the tail ASAP and hold the centerline with rudder.  As soon as the gear comes off the deck, gear up, flaps up one notch, accelerate , second notch of flaps up, accelerate, WEP off, establish normal climb.


Landing is all about airspeed control and aircraft control.  Plan on an approach speed of  125MPH.  if you are not a pilot or have no flying experience.  Trying to land on a moving carrier is fun but a waste of your time.  You need to develop the landing skill set.  It would help to learn what a downwind, base and final approach are.  But depending on how you arrive on final approach, you want to be about 600 ft above the approach end of the runway at the desired approach speed with gear down and locked. And perhaps 20% flaps.   Flaps are not speed breaks, flaps are not designed to slow down an aircraft.  Flaps are not used for speed control.   The sole purpose of flaps is to allow the pilot to increase the angle of decent.  Anyone that tells you that flaps  are used for speed control does not know what they are talking about.  Then you ask yourself am I  HI LO Fast or Slow.  If your HI , another notch of flaps, reduce power, if your low increase power stop the decent, if your Fast, reduce power, raise the nose, if your slow, add power, lower the nose (if you can).  Landing is nothing more then making these corrections over and over until you reach the runway and before you touch down you make a transition from the approach profile, to the landing profile, you do this by raising the nose to a slightly nose high attitude, and waiting for the aircraft to settle.  The approach for landing on a carrier is exactly the same, except that the final transition is not into as nose high an attitude.  You more or less fly the aircraft onto the deck.

The reason that you go straight down is because you have the aircraft controls in a stalled condition.  There is an old joke repeated endlessly by flight instructors to students the world over.  If you want an aircraft to go up, you add power and pull back slightly on the stick, if you want the aircraft to do down, pull the stick back more.

It takes very little stick movement to get an aircraft to respond, that’s true in both real life and AH.  Make small movements with your controls. Until you get a feel for the controls.

I hope I've answered your two questions.