F-18 C/D, USS Vinson, Yellow Sea
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Look at the image below looking at the F-18 pilot. The seat is not wider than the pilot’s head/helmet.
Again, that is an illusion created by the head/helmet some distance in front of the seat and the fisheye lens. If the pilot had his head all the way back into the seat headrest, you would see that it is a bit wider than head/helmet.
As you stated, trackIR is a solution, however, you can do something similar holding the mouse-wheel button and panning with the mouse to look around the seat. Yes, it is awkward, but it works.
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Yes, Ok, The seat is slightly wider than the pilot’s head/helmet. The point I’m trying to make (and perhaps doing a poor job of it) is that if you’d be sitting in the real jet and look behind you, the seat wouldn’t be blocking your view like it does in the screenshots. In BMS I can’t see the rear of the jet at all in the F-18. The F-16 pit in BMS is much closer to what I would expect to see when I look behind me (apart from it being slightly rotated that you mentioned yesterday). And in the F-16 I don’t need trackIR or the mouse wheel to look around the seat. So in the F-18 I would expect a similar view to the rear as the F-16. I don’t mean to sound too negative, because I know that a lot of hard work goes into all of this and I respect all the developers who put in their time and effort to create these wonderful models for all of us to fly. I just think that this is one small area that could be improved in the F-18 cockpit which overall I think is quite good.
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Visibility is also a small problem, negated only by the lower G-loadings that allow a pilot to maneuver in the cockpit to get a better view without risking a severe neck injury. The seat sits high and is mostly in the way, which can limit the pilot’s view while looking back in a defensive setup or after merging in high aspect dogfighting (neutral).
http://fightersweep.com/2378/hornet-vs-viper-part-four/
Look for some cockpit footage of the Hornet performing ACM, the pilot does a lot of twisting around to see behind.
Regards
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Just a little question without link, but it’s possible to increase the visibility on the UFC ? If not, what’s the problem for that ?
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Yes, I know the pilot does a lot of twisting around and that the rear view in an F-18 is not as good as an F-16. But it’s not this bad either. Just look at the pictures in the article of your link. You can see quite a lot to the back of the aircraft. Yes, I realise the camera is mounted on the canopy frame and it’s not at pilot eye level and that you’re looking through a camera lens. But the view to the back is not as bad as it is in the BMS cockpit. This is the view when you look in the direction of your wingtip:
This is the same view in the F-16:
In the F-18 I can’t even see the wing! No way that when you turn your head in the direction of the wingtip that the ejection seat blocks 3/4 of your view. While I have not sat in a real F-18 or F-16 cockpit, I have sat in real ejection seats. And I sat in the F-14 simulator they have at Pax River museum. Granted that was an F-14 cockpit and simulator, but the cockpit and seats were real. And the view to the rear is simply not this bad.
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If you have a Track IR or other 6 DOF headtracking, I advise to check the settings - I personally see the wing just fine with default panning (TIR not activated) :
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Ah ok, that’s a big difference! That’s the view I would expect when I look around. I don’t have trackIR and mouse wheel is a bit awkward like PumpyHead said to do in flight while maneuvering etc. Is there a way to change the normal panning views to that position?
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glad to see you unleash the potential of Vinson in 4.33…the.future will kickyour ass
I hope I’m alive to see that…
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Where can we get the CV model from the OP?
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glad to see you unleash the potential of Vinson in 4.33…the.future will kickyour ass
What does this mean brother?
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360° video of a F-18 cat. … For ppl who do not really know what is particular in a cat shot, note the position of pilot’s hands during the launch.
https://www.facebook.com/360fly/videos/vb.438737556252084/833531760105993/?type=2&theater
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…it should be noted that while a RL Hornet shot is in fact performed with left hand on the throttles (to hold them forward/max under accel) and right hand off the stick, this is not necessarily the case for all jets the go down the stroke.
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…it should be noted that while a RL Hornet shot is in fact performed with left hand on the throttles (to hold them forward/max under accel) and right hand off the stick, this is not necessarily the case for all jets the go down the stroke.
Dunno…I have seen Rhino strokes where the pilot has both hands on the canopy handles.
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Dunno…I have seen Rhino strokes where the pilot has both hands on the canopy handles.
One can run the throttle friction down to keep the handles forward, but personally I would think having to relax it on the way to cancelling burner would just be another PITA during fly away. Not saying some pilots don’t do that, just that I wouldn’t.
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…it should be noted that while a RL Hornet shot is in fact performed with left hand on the throttles (to hold them forward/max under accel) and right hand off the stick, this is not necessarily the case for all jets the go down the stroke.
In France (I do not know what is SOP in USN?) … AFAIK, hand is kept closed (closed fist) and behind the throttle pushing it forward to avoid to retard it accidental due to the kick in the ass. … for the stick, it doesn’t really matter since it is side stick and arm can just rest on the armrest.
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In France (I do not know what is SOP in USN?) … hand is kept closed (closed fist) and behind the throttle pushing it forward to avoid to retard it accidental due to the kick in the ass.
That certainly makes tons of sense…though I’ve also heard some Hornet guys say they go down the stroke with both palms on their thighs, which while maintaining hands-off also keeps hands closer to the controls…
…but I had another thought, and I suspect what guys do may also depend on the jet itself. The T-45 has a grip that folds down ahead of the throttle at max, and you go down the cat with palm on the throttle and fingers hooked over the cat grip…then once away you fold the cat grip back against the sidewall and fly. So I could conjecture that if you polled younger Hornet drivers that they may be more prone to put a hand on the throttles because they trained that way in the T-45. I have no idea what the drill was in the T-2 or TA-4…but they probably/may have did something different.
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