T-45A add on

[midhusker]

anyone know where to get a t-45a add on for flight simulator. All I can find online is charlie model stuff and the one on the microsim program is trash--doens't look anything remotely like the alpha cockpit. before anyone chimes in, i know the microsim is nothing like flying the plane,...yadda..yadda...yadda.

I used it alot in primary and it helped me alot with my scan and timing on approaches but without an accurate cockpit setup it is totally useless. thanks.

 

[Spin]

There is one online .. somewhere but honestly .... you won't need it as there are OFT (visual sims) that have a panoramic screen with 270 degrees of view (looks kinda like the epcot center ball).

I am assuming that you haven't started yet (i.e. all the dumbed down explanations) and haven't seen what is available to you.

I was bored before I started so I made an MS Flight Sim add on for the Charlie and I never use it cause I just go to base and get the "real thing" (or so one might think) ... in the visual sim. Also, you won't necessarily have all the Navaids in MS Flight Sim that you have in the OFT. Meridian's TACAN isn't in MS Flight Sim. Don't know about Kingsville.

Peace,

-Spin

 

[Brett327]

There is one online .. somewhere but honestly .... you won't need it as there are OFT (visual sims) that have a panoramic screen with 270 degrees of view (looks kinda like the epcot center ball).

I am assuming that you haven't started yet (i.e. all the dumbed down explanations) and haven't seen what is available to you.

I was bored before I started so I made an MS Flight Sim add on for the Charlie and I never use it cause I just go to base and get the "real thing" (or so one might think) ... in the visual sim. Also, you won't necessarily have all the Navaids in MS Flight Sim that you have in the OFT. Meridian's TACAN isn't in MS Flight Sim. Don't know about Kingsville.

Peace,

-Spin

I've always wondered why MSFS hasn't had the capability to use TACANs. I've heard of 3rd party hacks and such, but with so many military aviation enthusiasts, it would seem like something they would have added by now. Just think of all those MK 1 Mod 0 NAS arcing TACAN approaches we're missing out on. After that, they need to work on a good PAR approach cape.

Brett

 

[handjive]

I've always wondered why MSFS hasn't had the capability to use TACANs.

This is prevalent in most (if not all) flight simulators out there. I use X-Plane and there is zero support for TACANs. There are always workarounds, but I never understood why it's not a standard feature in any simulator. It's not like TACAN information is classified or something...

 

[Gatordev]

I've done my share of flight simming (and one or two real VOR and Tacan approaches), but why does it really matter in a sim? The needles move and the DME ticks down, either way. Just trying to understand why it's an issue.

 

[midhusker]

I am assuming that you haven't started yet (i.e. all the dumbed down explanations) and haven't seen what is available to you.

actually I started about a month ago. the oft's are pretty neat, but they are seldom if ever available for practice sims. there is also one ift that is eerily familiar to our old friend the 2B37 simulators from primary days. Every time I am sitting in it I think the Payne train is going to come around and rip open the canopy and show me how to fly the thing with one finger. The IFT is available for practice time, but signing up for it involves quite a process. A T-45 cockpit for FS2002 would be helpful, but oh well.

 

[Brett327]

That exists. You just need to take a die and roll it. Assign each of the six numbers to a typical PAR correction, i.e., 1= you're slightly below glidescope, 3= right 2 degrees, and so on.... however you want to break it down. Roll it twice in a row and it becomes a 'WELL above/below, right/left' call.

At least I'm under the impression that that is how PAR controllers decide what to tell you.......

That sounds about right...slightly right, that is.

@ Gator: My beef isn't the lack of TACAN per se, but the fact that many of the military fields don't have NAVAIDS or approaches you can do.

Brett

 

[KBayDog]

That exists. You just need to take a die and roll it. Assign each of the six numbers to a typical PAR correction, i.e., 1= you're slightly below glidescope, 3= right 2 degrees, and so on.... however you want to break it down. Roll it twice in a row and it becomes a 'WELL above/below, right/left' call.

At least I'm under the impression that that is how PAR controllers decide what to tell you.......

That's all well and good, but there is one inherent flaw in your system:

How do you simulate the "mushmouth" tongues in which the controllers are taught to speak?

The die may indicate "1" (slightly below glideslope) but it is completely ineffective if you don't hear "you're dfoiwehruyehgaudhgfuhg glideslope...you're wejhruiehajfdskdiy slope and correcting..."

After all, you can't see the controller's die, can you?

 

[Gatordev]

@ Gator: My beef isn't the lack of TACAN per se, but the fact that many of the military fields don't have NAVAIDS or approaches you can do.

Brett

Ahh, okay, that makes sense.

As for controllers, keep in mind these guys are trainees. There really are good ones out there in the fleet. I went up to Army land a few months ago for my instrument check, and comms were crystal clear, concise, and had me exactly on glideslope the whole time. Then we went back down the Whiting and their deepthroating of the microphone and reality was restored.

 

[Fly Navy]

That sounds about right...slightly right, that is.

@ Gator: My beef isn't the lack of TACAN per se, but the fact that many of the military fields don't have NAVAIDS or approaches you can do.

Brett

I believe MSFS2004 has TACAN stations in the scenery, but they are not enabled by default. There is a way to enable them by messing with the .ini files or something or other, I can't remember, it was about a year ago that I read about it. Then, you'd either have to get an aircraft/panel that has a TACAN receiver on it, or the quick-cheat is to know the paired VOR freq.

 

[FlyingBeagle]

the quick-cheat is to know the paired VOR freq.

I always wondered why NPA had (117.2) next to the TACAN on the chart, but I couldn't find a VOR listed anywhere else. I just realized that is the paired freq. I found a formula on the web (Xplane forum) to find the paired freq for a TACAN.

if the VOR freq is above 112.25 then: (VOR - 105.3)X10=TACAN

if VOR is less or = to 112.25 then: (VOR - 106.3)X10= TACAN

Just throw that into the VOR and the bearing/dme should work.

 

[Gatordev]

Another reason why you won't find a VOR freq at NPA or NSE/NDZ is that if it's published, that means anyone can use it, which means people can generate approaches off of it. There's just way too much traffic in the area for that to work safely, so the powers that be let the navaid languish in its unqualed state. The military can use the station for training, but no one can use it for an actual navaid.

 

[MasterBates]

Is there a VOR at NSE? Never remember doing any VOR approaches there, but I only did HTs at Whiting.

 

[Rubiks06]

VOR and Tacan at NSE...though i dont think either are working right now. Rumor has it that the Tacan is up but not "certified"

 

[Gatordev]

Yeah, the VOR is there for training, but no actual useful published anything is associated w/ it so Beuford won't fly over it in his C140. The only published approaches at NSE are Tacan and GPS (and I think technically an ASR, but I can't remember, as they never let us use it).

I heard the Tacan was being certed today. I have no idea if it was Test-Sat.