Various suggestions to make the Hornet more realistic
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First, I know the BMS Hornet is not intended to be anywhere near 100% accurate. A lot of the stuff I’m gonna post here is just for those who are interested in how the real aircraft operates.
The first category will be small things that I believe could be fixed ““easily.”” (quotations added because I don’t know how the BMS Hornet’s code is structured) The list will trend towards “harder” issues as it goes down, and at the bottom are ones I don’t expect to be addressed due to the amount of time they’d take to solve.
General:
- The steady maneuver tone should sound at 35 degrees AoA with gear up and flaps AUTO (up). Currently, it sounds at a much higher value.
- The HUD symbology (airspeed and alt boxes) should not droop with the velocity vector in landing configuration.
Flight control system:
- In flaps HALF or FULL, the FCS is no longer blended G/AoA command, it is entirely AoA command. The default trim position is roughly equivalent to “on speed” AoA. Changes in airspeed necessitate subsequent changes in trim. Full aft stick should result in a sustained AoA of ~25 degrees.
- The spin recovery mode (equivalent to man. pitch overrride) should engage any time the switch is flipped to “recovery” and airspeed is <120kias. (disengages when switch is set to “norm” or airspeed >240kias) In the real aircraft, there is also an automatic spin recovery mode that engages depending on yaw rate & IAS, but it is far outside the scope of the BMS Hornet.
- The pilot’s rudder surface authority increases with increasing AoA, up to a max of 50% (the other 50% is available to the FCS for rate damping and coordination). Currently, rudder authority drops to zero at very high AoA.
- The FCS adapts to payload automatically by adjusting the G limit based on gross weight. Above 44,000lbs, it is fixed at 5.5G, below 44k, it increases to a maximum of 7.5G. There should be no “CAT I/III” setting, as the FCS has no AoA limiter. It is up to the pilot to respect AoA limits based on loadout and CG, and the G limits of individual stores when gross weight is low.
Auto flap system:
- The ailerons should droop slightly with the TEF’s, but not 1:1 as they do now.
- In the sim, the auto flaps begin to retract above ~17 degrees AoA. I will try to find the actual flap schedule, but I’m fairly certain this isn’t correct.
- The TEF’s deflect upwards significantly as AoA goes negative, which is physically impossible
General flying qualities:
- The aircraft is too unstable in pitch. According to both sources, the aircraft is positively stable in pitch at high AoA, and letting the stick forward should result in an immediate decrease in AoA, even at 50-55 degrees. In the sim, the stabilators show that the aircraft is NEGATIVELY stable at high AoA, resulting in “deep stall” departures that shouldn’t happen. I believe this negative stability also reduces the total induced drag at high AoA, boosting turn performance unrealistically.
I would like to stress that I am not complaining, my only goal is to make it easier for the developers to improve the sim if they choose to do so. Depending on how it is received, I might expand this list later…. I really, really love the F/A-18C. Any feedback from the community (or, better yet, the guys who made the BMS Hornet) would be greatly appreciated.
SOURCES:
F-18 Flying Qualities DevelopmentDevelopment of F/A-18 Spin Departure Demonstration Procedure (discusses the FCS and general departure characteristics, among other things)
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Appreciated sure sure! … constructive and helpful. However, and just to avoid you to “loose time”, do no worry about FLCS anymore (anticipating Jp’s reply )
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… however … may I kindly suggest you to check the documents you’ve posted and read carefully the forum rules again (search for FOUO ) … if you checked and think that you have the right to do it , I advise you to send those document via PM.
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… however … may I kindly suggest you to check the documents you’ve posted and read carefully the forum rules again (search for FOUO ) … if you checked and think that you have the right to do it , I advise you to send those document via PM.
Fixed, thanks for the heads up!