 |
Its a What??
Well, if you live long enough it happens.... I turned 40. What's a big kid to
do?
My wife Cath, said we should celebrate the fact anyhow, and we managed to
lodge the children with their grandparents while we took off for a couple of
days, to an unknown (to me) destination. We headed north, up the motorway and
after a time arrived at a hotel in Harrogate. Pleasant enough...
Next morning, after an extremely hearty full English breakfast, we drove out of the town, again to a destination unknown. I knew there was something planned but I had no
idea what it might be. I mulled around what I knew of the depths of Yorkshire.
Moors, hills, wind, scenery - none of which I'm especially fond. We turned off
the A road, onto a smaller road, and headed for a tiny village - it had nothing
much about it on the map, other than a name. I was getting more curious by the
minute. Then, we turned a corner, and I saw a windsock, blowing in the
considerable breeze. This looked more interesting, but I started to wonder
if the hearty breakfast was a good idea at this point. Then I saw a sign
"Yorkshire Flight Centre" and underneath "737 and Phantom
Simulator". This was definitely interesting!
We parked the car, and walked in. I was booked in for an hour's session on the
F-4 Phantom simulator - how cool was that! Phantoms are a little elderly these
days, but still a supersonic twin engined fighter sounded like much fun. We were shown to a small waiting room as we were a little early "The instructor will be with you shortly" the man informed us. I read though some of the literature - all the phantom stuff anyway. I was desperately trying to recall all I knew about the F-4. I'd been flying Rippers excellent Falcon-4 model only a week ago, and suddenly I
wished I'd studied the aircraft a little more closely.
The instructor arrived, and took us both to the briefing room. Normally guests aren't allowed in, but as I had the full hour and the instructor offered the chance, my wife was keen to watch and see how I did. I forgot to ask him his history, but I assume he was ex-RAF as he had the flight suit and badge, and signed himself Wing Commander. The briefing room had a large colour picture of the F-4 cockpit mounted on a panel so you could sort of sit at it and see all the controls. The instructor was aware that I was a private pilot, which he said made things easier. He
didn't have to explain about sticks and rudders and stuff, and could skip
straight to the important differences. We went over the basic controls. This
included the centre stick which had a trim hat on top, the twin throttles which had the air brakes button on, and also the position of the relight buttons on the back of the throttles (he told me there was a good chance we might have a flame out.)
There were lots of other switches and dials - some I recognized, some I didn't.
I could have spent a couple of hours soaking all that stuff up, but we were on a
schedule. The simulator was built from a real F-4 that had seen many flight
hours, before either getting too old, or sustaining too heavy a landing. Then, rather than scrapping it, the US (Navy in this case) sometimes chopped off the front bit, and turned it into a simulator. That's what had happened to this one.
Next he warned me about the controls. Pitch on the F-4 is VERY sensitive, a
little goes a long way. Roll was ok, but he warned me that to turn you didn't
need backpressure, roll first, and pull if necessary. Rudders, well like most
aircraft you rest your feet on them most of the time. It had toe brakes and a
drag chute to slow you down. The airbrakes were also an option, they worked on a
small hat switch on the side of the throttle. When you deploy the airbrakes, a
light comes on to tell you they are out, but doesn't tell you how far they are
out. Also, they stop moving as soon as you release the switch, so you need to
hold down the button to get full extension.
Next the gear lever and the gear lights were explained - up for gear up, down
for gear down! This was followed by the flap switch - a tricky little thing
tucked away under the left hand canopy in a place you couldn't really see, you
had to feel for it, especially when landing (which he went through next). He told me to concentrate on the Attitude and Direction Indicator (ADI).
Now I've spent a lot of time looking at ADI's and even programmed them a bit in Falcon, and the nice -W- feature in the middle I often thought was a bit weird. I mean, if your going to draw a symbolic airplane on an instrument, at least make it
look a bit more real. As he was talking me through this, I had a sudden epiphany. There was reason in the madness. He explained it as Wings & Wheels. The sticky out bits on the end were the wings, and when that wad lined up with the horizon bar of the ADI, you were on level flight - ok - I had that bit. The lowest bits of the W were the wheels, and that is they should be sitting on the horizontal bar of the ADI when landing. This would give you the 3-degree approach slope that you need for landing. Click - a huge light went on over my head. That's why they have that funny picture. He told me also to forget about flaring - phantoms have tough gear, designed for carrier landings, and flaring just wasn't worth it!
Next he went over the missions we would try. He explained that the F-4 is a
two seater, the back seater does a lot of the hard work, and even has a pilot to
drive for him! He would be fulfilling that role today. First mission, a simple
takeoff, climb to 10,000ft through cloud, head into enemy territory to
photograph an enemy airbase. We should fly in at about 1500ft across the
airbase, take the pictures and then head out of Dodge at low level. Do a bit of
terrain following back to home, and perform an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach in clear conditions - which would get me ready for the next one.
The next mission would be to fly out to a power station and try and bomb two
control buildings. Then fly back, but turn around, and fly under a bridge just
for fun, and then home, beat up the airbase a bit at low level and land. This
time the cloud would have come down, and the ILS approach would be for
real.
Final mission, a low-low-low attack on a carrier. Fly out low using terrain
masking, pop up over some mountains, down to low level to hit the carrier then
back home.
I could already feel myself forgetting the first things he told me, but he
assured me he'd remind me of any things I missed. So off to the main room. Power was applied to the simulator, and a large cutoff phantom shape was there. In the room was a series of monitors and a joystick where the instructor would sit and watch my every move. My wife sat beside him, so she could watch my every mistake too! He could also take control and fly me through a maneuver if required, and also feed in others events for my entertainment.
Well, nothing else for it, we climbed the steps into the cockpit. I sat down
and he showed me around the cockpit again, but this time I could grab the levers and
things, and feel the steel. I found the flap switch, that took a bit of
ferreting out, but the gear lever was a large lever just in front of my throttle
hand. The trim switch on the joystick was kind of fun because as you pushed the small
button, the stick actually moved in that direction and stopped there. So you
moved it where you wanted, pushed the trim until it caught up, and there you
were. He showed me the relight buttons on the throttles, and we went around the
main instruments again. I put on headphones and mike, and he closed the lid.
After he got to his station, we checked out the mike, and then he applied
power to the motion system. With a few jerks and twists it sorted itself out. A
little disconcerting as you can't see anything outside the cockpit at that
point.
Then, there I was sitting on the runway, the engines already started and all
preflight checks done. Of course I'd have liked to start the whole thing up from
the hangar and taxied around, but time was at a premium - you only get an hours
cockpit time! The virtual graphics weren't great, they were certainly not as
good as Falcon 4 or any of the other modern flight simulators. But hey, here I
was in the cockpit of a (once) real jet, which certainly added to the realism,
and not a keyboard or mouse in sight!
Rotate speed was 150knots, we'd set the flaps to the 50% position earlier
when he showed me the switch, so I was good to go. I was trying to remember what
the mission was supposed to be at this stage, but thought I'd try and get off the
ground first. Throttles to full (but no afterburner in this SIM) and after a
hesitant start, it rolled down the runway. 150 knots came up faster than I could
work out how to read the Air Speed Indicator (ASI), so I was prompted to rotate and up it went. Gear up straight away to reduce drag, followed quickly by flaps and I was climbing out. I remembered the tip about pitch, and made small movements, and it behaved itself really well. Soon entered cloud and as it was a gradual climb, I played
with the trim to make things easier. Eventually, daylight reappeared and I leveled
off at 9,500ft, then a few moments later I leveled off at 10,000ft, that pitch is
sensitive.
Then the first turn, and I pushed over gently and then with a bit more force to get about 80deg of bank. As the whole simulator moved to the side, I found myself falling to the left, and it felt wrong. Normally in a turn in an aircraft, you're pushed down in your seat, and it feels almost like sitting normally, as the forces balance out. Here it just felt wrong, and I instinctively (I like to think anyway) pulled back on
the stick. A swift chide from the 'backseater' quickly reminded me I was wrong,
and I got things back in control. I rolled out on the right heading more or less
and started to descend to approach the airbase.
I was beginning to get the feel of the controls now, and working out how much
pressure gave what sort of response. We broke out of cloud and came up on the
enemy airbase. I remember from the briefing him saying 1500ft, and wings level.
The camera on the phantom points straight down, and you need a reasonable height
to get a good picture. So I kept it straight, and managed to cross over the base
where the runways crossed, more by luck than judgment, but hey.
Then onto the egress, down low at about 250ft, and 600knots, heading towards
some distant hills. He warned me I would probably crash at this point, as it was
difficult to judge distances low down with no features. If there were telegraph
poles or roads, it really helped with perspective, but this was featureless
green. However, I kept my eye on the altimeter, and although occasionally
I strayed below 100ft, I don't think I came into contact.
Then into the hills, and attempt a bit of terrain following. Not terribly
successful, I kept getting a bit high. Crossed over a stream and into friendly
territory. I chopped the throttles and slowed up from around 500 knots to 200 or
so, and down with the gear and the flaps. Then, to save time, the SIM is jumped
to about 10 miles out, lined up on the runway. This obviously saves time trying
to find an unfamiliar airfield when you only have half a clue what you are
doing.
The SIM was frozen, so I moved around until I was in the right attitude, I
got the W wheels on the bar, and the ILS bars had kicked in and off I went. A
few little tweaks here and there, and an enormous amount of concentration eyes
jumping from the ADI to the runway, to the altimeter, the ASI and mostly on
the ADI, to keep the wheels on the bar. I got off track a little but corrected
it slowly with small movements and before I knew it, I was on the runway, with
no sign of a flare. Power off and roll. "Get the nose down"
I heard... oops - too much F-16 aero braking. Finally I stood on the toe brakes
to come to a stop, the whole cockpit tilted forward rather alarmingly, but
I was down.
I won't say the sweat was streaming down my face, or anything dramatic like
that, but I was feeling pretty drained. A few seconds later though, I was
suddenly at the start of the runway, and mission 2 was up.
Takeoff again, and this time I was more in control. I watched the speed rise,
and rotated at the right time, snapped up the gear and the flaps, and was
feeling a lot more confident. Stopped off at about 1500ft and flew towards some
mountains. The power station target was just other side, and the plan was to nip
through a gap and hit it suddenly. I got through the gap ok, but didn't really
get a good visual on the first target. I think a bomb was released but it
probably missed. Then out over the sea, saw a carrier and flew over it low,
pulled round into a hard turn and went back for the second target. This time it
was easier to spot, and I lined up on it pretty well. Bombs away.
Now - what was the next thing to do. The instructor had said something about
flying under a bridge, and he was telling me to line up on it now. Suddenly I
saw it and dived down low and managed to wriggle under it somehow - gee that was
pretty hard! The instructor shouted "No no no, you're supposed to fly under
it the other way - well, no one's ever done it that way before!" Anyway, we
turned around and did it the right way this time, and then back home. Again the sim
is reset, and I'm 10 miles out, but this time in cloud. He has kindly set the
cloud base to 400 feet, which is as low as it will go. That will teach me to go
the wrong way around the course. Again, I set the W on the line, and watch the
ILS bars intently, height is pretty good, but I track off course, and have to
pull back in again. I manage to reintercept the slope and continue in. It feels
like you're going nowhere, with all that white around you and focusing on the
instruments, but then eventually the runway pops out, and yes - I'm lined up on
it. Another landing and not a bad one I have to say, I could get well use to
this "no flare" idea!
A minute or so pause, while the instructor prints out the ILS track for me,
then we're off again. This time it's night, but there is a good moon, so its not
difficult to pick out features.
Gear and flaps is becoming second nature to me now. Again off to the
mountains, and I'm listening to the instructor simulate a mission "target
approved, carrier". A stream of other technical stuff comes in, only half
of which I hear as I'm still trying to aim for a point, keep heading, and keep
the altitude low. He warns me there will only be a few seconds to acquire the
target after we pass the mountains, and they are sure to be looking out. I pull
through the mountain pass, and the sea appears, and the carrier close in shore.
I start to pull round to line up on it, but its not turning fast enough and I'm
going to miss it. I pull harder and hear more details "Search radars
detected, jamming, launch, launch, chaff, chaff, flares" I fly past
probably 100 feet away from the carrier at my closest approach, and then
suddenly things go bad.
The planes jumps around all over the sky, I can no longer see the horizon and
I'm not entirely sure I know which way is up. My wife tells me the instructor
grabbed the joystick and waved it around a bit at this point. He shouts to me
"Have you still got control, have you still got control?". I'm
thinking as fast as I can, and nothing outside the cockpit is helping, so I
latch onto the ADI. I can see a horizon line there nearly out of view. So I push
and pull to get it back to where it should be. I answer in the vaguest possible
terms that I think I have control now. Altitude is reasonable, about 3000ft,
which is always a good thing! There is a master caution light on the panel, and
one of the RPM gauges is reading zero. Hum - I lost an engine. The
instructor tells me it was a near miss from a missile and that this thing will
fly just fine on one engine, so we head for home being well clear of the carrier
by this point. I pull back the right throttle to zero, and continue. Now things
are a bit straighter, the instructor tells me he thinks we lost an engine there,
and that I should set the throttle to idle for that engine, and check to make
sure its the dead engine I throttle back! I answer in the affirmative, being
rather pleased I spotted the condition before being prompted. After
crossing into friendly territory, he tells me to try relighting the engine now
things are calmer, so I feel down the back side of the throttle lever, for the
relight button. The RPM begins to spool up on the engine again and we approach
the airfield. The SIM is reset, this time at about 3 miles out, and 500 knots,
and he tells me we'll slow down quickly.
Running in, throttles back to idle, air brakes out fully, and as we drop
below 250 knots, the gear down and the flaps to full. There we are, back at
about 150 knots on the approach. He warns me there will be a 20 knot crosswind,
which won't affect the approach much, but be ready on touch down. I move my feet
around ready to catch this, and my third landing is pretty good too. I don't
feel the crosswind much, but counter it anyway. Feeling pretty happy about the
whole thing. The instructor says I've done very well, and so I have a little
time left, we can do a quick circuit.
Well I've done a few circuits in my time, a PPL has quite a few of them in
all! Takeoff, gear up, but leave the flap this time. Turn in a semi circle to
get onto the downwind leg. It should be a 45 degree bank, but I'm a little over
enthusiastic. Still I roll out heading in the right direction, and PPL stuff
comes flooding back as he reminds me with a 20 knot cross wind, you need to be
edging away from the runway slightly on the downwind leg, so you don't drift in
too close. I turn onto final, but this time am rather too cautious and overshoot
by a way, and have to waggle about rather undignified to try and get back on the
centerline. He tells me to use air brakes to slow down, and I thumb the button,
but forget to hold it in. I sort of make it, but my descent is going to pot now, so a little more power to compensate, and then drift again - basically I'm all over the
show. I touch down on the runway, but that's where the good bit ends, I'm at
about 45 degrees to it, and quickly onto the grass by the side, and in a
complete mess. He tells me I only had 10 degrees of airbrakes, so they weren't
really helping me much.
The instructor takes pity on me and says to have another go, to end on a good
note, and resets to a mile or so from the runway, and this time I make a much
better landing. I roll to a stop with feet on brakes and relax. I realize now my right arm is aching rather. The stick is not heavy, but its not light either. You can feel yourself pushing against something when you move it and that coupled with the attempt to keep small and accurate movements is pretty tiring. I'm also feeling somewhat drained. Playing falcon can be pretty tiring on some missions, as the immersion hits, but trying to live up to an instructor's wishes, and knowing your wife is watching also adds to the pressure somewhat!
He switches off the motion control system, and the cockpit settles down, and
he helps me out, after a couple of photos. We go next door, and he points out a
few of my mistakes, but shows me the ILS trace and comments its very good. He
also says I'm the best person he's had on the simulator in a long time, which
makes me feel good - but I bet he says that to all the clients! I get a nice
certificate, and we shoot a couple more photos and its time to leave. As we are
about to leave, their next client arrives. I guess as they cater for the public,
some of their customers really have no idea about flying a jet fighter. I
wouldn't claim to be anything like an expert, but I think having some real
flying experience, plus all the time and energy I put into Falcon4 learning the
systems and such certainly helped me along.
What was missing?
The terrain system was nothing special, in these days of pentium power. It
was a lot of triangles and basic greens and blues with some brown for the
mountains. It worked fine, was smooth and certainly no pauses or stutter, but a
little disappointing compared to modern day simulation games.
There was no HUD, and while I'm not 100% sure the F-4 has one, I thought it
probably should have. There was what looked like a piece of appropriately shaped
glass where it should be, but I'm no expert on this aircraft.
No afterburner either, that was a shame. I think the radar screen had been removed too - but it might have been something else as there was a large round shaped panel blocked off. I guess you have to keep the MOD/USN happy.
G-force - nothing much you can do about that one, but I had no real feel for
how much G I was pulling in those tight turns.
What was good.
The motion control was quite effective at times, although I didn't notice it too
much, but I think that's a good thing, as it was sort of natural. You roll left,
you expect to feel that, and it quickly becomes second nature.
The cockpit was great. You couldn't see out of the side windows, but it was
all lit up appropriately, all the instruments moved as they should, and the
resolution was great! The immersion was great too.
Summary
A great experience all round. Obviously what you can fit into an hour is
quite limited, especially when you are catering for the man in the street, and
"no prior knowledge is needed". I was impressed that modern day
computer simulations come very close to the real simulator, and indeed surpass
them in some areas. If only they came with a full cockpit too!
Julian "Codec" Onions
Please comment on this article in the Article Feedback Forum
|
 |
 |
|
 |
