Carrier Landings

[xtyger]

Just made my second "successful" carrier landing. The first one was more of a ditch, I suppose, cause my gear seemed to collapse and I slid over the deck stopping with the nose of the plane sticking off the deck.

Anyway, after I mentioned over VOX I actually landed, someone asked me if I used my tailhook. I was under the impression that the tailhook automatically deploys when you press the G key that normally deploys landing gear on non carrier planes. Vox was working weird so I couldn't make out their answers but I thought they said you had to press some other key for the tailhook. If you need to press some other key, which one is it?

Also, any other tips on carrier landings would be appreciated. Most of the time I try carrier landings I never get far enough to worry about tailhooks as I end up crashing into the stern of the carrier cause I slow down too much and when I realize I'm too low, it's too late to recover.

[Gryffin]

Shift-G is the tailhook. On planes with a hook, there will be a separate indicator light in the cockpit to tell you when it is extended.

[TequilaChaser]

Originally posted by xtyger

Also, any other tips on carrier landings would be appreciated. Most of the time I try carrier landings I never get far enough to worry about tailhooks as I end up crashing into the stern of the carrier cause I slow down too much and when I realize I'm too low, it's too late to recover.

xtyger, do a bbs search for "cv landing"  or "Carrier Landing"  there are some great tips/articles in the archives on this subject.

Ren if I recall correctly had the best post on this subject.

Controlling your glide path and decent and doing a properly executed FLARE  ( touch down of all three wheels at same time on the flight deck) then chopping throttle.. are your basics........do the search you'll find alot of information regarding cv landings.

good luck

[xtyger]

Ok. Thanks all. So it's SHIFT G. Never saw that in the instrucrions.  I  thought it was just G.

Thanks, and I'll check out your tip link.

[Roscoroo]

remember the cv deck is at 50 ft alt ... use flaps and some throttle , the "page up" key moves your head up too and helps in certian planes .

[Schatzi]

And beware of the slingshot effect.

If you damage your gear while landing with hook deployed you get catapulted back off the carrier.

Sooo... either dont damage your gear or land without hook (works for most planes, if you dont want to rearm and reup).


You could also try to get Rolex to give you a CV landing lesson. He did that once for squad night, never had any trouble with CV since then (except when my own stupidity reared its ugly head)

[mechanic]

one of the most important things in my flying for cv landings is throttle. if you can learn to use speed as you decent tool instead of elevators you can almost float onto the deck at the carriers speed give or take 40mph.


believe it or not few months back i got in a low furball in a seafire, and a mossie got both my elevators. now a seafire has no trouble flying with no elevators so i made i back to the cv and managed to ease it down for a normal landing hook down just using the engine to control altitude.

pratice in a corsair or a D3A as they both can fly vey low and smooth full flaps.

ill try and post a film if i find a good one.

[xtyger]

Thanks for all the tips, all.

[Soda]

My advice for CV landings has been to always consider your approach to be as if you were deadstick.  You need to line up as if you are aiming to land where the CV will be so ensure your aim point is infront of the CV to start with and gradually the CV will catch up to that point.  Also, make sure you get a good approach angle, too many people come in too shallow and fall short (or hit the back-end of the CV).  That's usually because you come in too shallow and can't see well, a higher angle approach gives a much better view.  Another tell-tale sign you are too shallow is if you have to apply a lot of power to land, a good approach shouldn't require that, you should just settle down the glide-slope onto the deck.  It also means you won't get caught with the dreaded sling-shot when you catch the wire.  And be smooth, too many people rush/force a landing, when you are low and slow to land you want to make sure you remain as smooth as you can so you don't stall and crash.

[Aubrey]

for a printable readout of the default keyborad commands go to

netaces.org

Hammer and his crew have the best resource for AH. I have been only playing 10 months but if it had not been for that site I would be still completly lost.

[Kweassa]

Basically, all CV landings is "crash land to the flight deck and hope your gear doesn't fail".

 Approach as slow as possible, use full flaps to help stabilize the plane at extreme slow speeds, change your head position so you can at least get a glimpse of some part of the ship. And then, when you are pretty sure you are over a flight deck.. stall and 'crash down' to the deck.

 If your angle and speed in the approach was right, the gear will hold and you will land. If not, start calling the medics.

[xtyger]

Thanks again, all. The tips helped although I'll admit I'm not sure exactly how I applied each one. I finally landed and stopped with the tailhook.

Had a rough time of it as I was using a new joystick that was REAL stiff which made controlling the plane more of a challenge than usual. Had a good run on an airfield with three kills and some assists. Wanted to land all my points so first looked for a friendly land airfield but there weren't any I could have flown to because of fuel limitations.

So, made it back to the fleet and swung around behind the carrier and, of course, the carrier starts turning. Made another try at it and frantically tried to get everything set up right. Finally managed to get into what I thought was the final position and kind of controlled crashed onto the landing mat. I made it although I didn't land quite right and my propellers were all twisted up. Successful landing, though, with three kills recorded. Looking forward to trying again.

[Schatzi]

xtyger, my recommendation would be to hop in TA for half an hour. Grab a Seafire, half fuel and make a few takeoffs/landings. Once you feel more comfortable, get a F4U light at first, later heavy.

Might sound boring, but is really helpful.



PS: I usually practice landing my main ride on carrier as well (even if its not a CV plane). You never know when you might need to make an emergency-touchdown on Carrier. And i believe theres no plane which cant be landed on a CV deck.