Landing on an airfield without radio at night
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I recently had the problem of having to land on an airfield with radio failure. My aircraft was hit by a missile in a fight over the Adriatic Sea, so I noticed failures of various systems, such as both MFDs, gyro, radio, heading indication in the HUD, RADAR altimeter… The engine was working and I also had a speed and barometric altitude indication.
It was night and although I could see the ground and the clouds well (as on a moonlit night) but there was no moon to orientate myself by. I had the feeling I was flying west (towards Italy), reaching the coast and looking for an airfield. I tried to recognise an airfield from 15000 ft, but this was not possible due to the cloud cover of about 4/8. I then descended below the cloud base and after about 10 minutes of intensive searching I recognised a very faintly visible approach strobe, which I used for orientation. Apart from that, there was nothing to be seen from about 1500 ft, no Papi, no threshold fire, nothing. I then flew a circuit and estimated the height above ground. Only at an altitude of about 300 ft could I guess the runway and on touchdown I also saw the side lights, these were heavily dimmed.My question to the community: Is there a way to animate the tower to turn on the lights?
My question to the developers: could something like this be implemented?
BTW: I did not land in Italy, but in Albania, which is neutral in this TE.
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@Prot said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
I recently had the problem of having to land on an airfield with radio failure. My aircraft was hit by a missile in a fight over the Adriatic Sea, so I noticed failures of various systems, such as both MFDs, gyro, radio, heading indication in the HUD, RADAR altimeter… The engine was working and I also had a speed and barometric altitude indication.
It was night and although I could see the ground and the clouds well (as on a moonlit night) but there was no moon to orientate myself by. I had the feeling I was flying west (towards Italy), reaching the coast and looking for an airfield. I tried to recognise an airfield from 15000 ft, but this was not possible due to the cloud cover of about 4/8. I then descended below the cloud base and after about 10 minutes of intensive searching I recognised a very faintly visible approach strobe, which I used for orientation. Apart from that, there was nothing to be seen from about 1500 ft, no Papi, no threshold fire, nothing. I then flew a circuit and estimated the height above ground. Only at an altitude of about 300 ft could I guess the runway and on touchdown I also saw the side lights, these were heavily dimmed.My question to the community: Is there a way to animate the tower to turn on the lights?
My question to the developers: could something like this be implemented?
BTW: I did not land in Italy, but in Albania, which is neutral in this TE.
Without a working radio? No.
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@LorikEolmin said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
Without a working radio? No.
Thats bad.
In real life there are procedures established to bring down an a/c without radio. -
I know, this was not the question… but have you checked if your backup radio was still working?
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@Prot said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
@LorikEolmin said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
Without a working radio? No.
Thats bad.
In real life there are procedures established to bring down an a/c without radio.Yes, but not sure you’ll make it a dev priority. There are a ton of things real life does and AI don’t. Being able to hear from their escort that they shouldn’t go suicide bomb their target and rather wait a little bit is probably way more priority, for example.
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Great story and well done on landing.
Maybe we could buzz the tower! Just kidding. -
@Amadeus75 said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
I know, this was not the question… but have you checked if your backup radio was still working?
What kind of backup radio do you mean? I know at the Block 50, which I flew, only 2 radios, one for VHF and one for UHF.
There are two ways to operate these radios, either via the ICP or via the radio panel.
But what use is another control panel if the radios do not transmit/receive? I have tried to reach someone via guard, no success.
I also tried to animate my AI-Wingman to take over the lead and bring me home. But he just flew in formation next to me and didn’t react. -
@Prot said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
It was night and although I could see the ground and the clouds well (as on a moonlit night) but there was no moon to orientate myself by. I had the feeling I was flying west (towards Italy)
Hi Prot, great recount of a challenging mission. Did you lose the old-school compass on the right side panel too?
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@Prot said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
@Amadeus75 said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
I know, this was not the question… but have you checked if your backup radio was still working?
What kind of backup radio do you mean? I know at the Block 50, which I flew, only 2 radios, one for VHF and one for UHF.
There are two ways to operate these radios, either via the ICP or via the radio panel.
But what use is another control panel if the radios do not transmit/receive? I have tried to reach someone via guard, no success.
I also tried to animate my AI-Wingman to take over the lead and bring me home. But he just flew in formation next to me and didn’t react.BMS training manual in your docs folder, through the rampstart you’ll hit the backup radio. And that will probably answer a lot of your next questions.
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IRL
Without going too deep into it. Fly past the tower at 500’ on last known runway in use heading to ‘get their attention’ (If even manned)When downwind expect a green flare/lamp from the Tower to ack presence.
On finals look for green flare/lamp from Tower or Runway Controller for landing clearance.
Getting a red means no…Total electrics fail at night is even more fun.
If I missed anything apologies, it’s been a while…
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@UKRaider said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
IRL
Without going too deep into it. Fly past the tower at 500’ on last known runway in use heading to ‘get their attention’ (If even manned)
(…)
If I missed anything apologies, it’s been a while…“In real life”, have you said, right mate?
Well, if I were you, I would expressly avoid to do just that… with doing so you would have caught that base’s SAM and AAA attention since - let’s say - a 10 miles at least ago, because they have their ROEs too, you know…
In conclusion: better (and healthier) to learn doing it from the manual, then.
The procedure described there may have been conceived to make you “recognizable” precisely to avoid misunderstandings and unpleasant accidents. What do you think?With best regards.
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@Jackal said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
@UKRaider said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
IRL
Without going too deep into it. Fly past the tower at 500’ on last known runway in use heading to ‘get their attention’ (If even manned)
(…)
If I missed anything apologies, it’s been a while…“In real life”, have you said, right mate?
He is right.
Passing in front of the tower at 500ft/AAL, performing “wing flash” by day, and switching on/off/on the nav lights is the (peace time) RL procedure.War time, there are different proc , I won’t say more, but in game, this RL procedure would ne perfectly suitable (if it was possible to implement it).
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@Dee-Jay said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
@Jackal said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
@UKRaider said in Landing on an airfield without radio at night:
IRL
Without going too deep into it. Fly past the tower at 500’ on last known runway in use heading to ‘get their attention’ (If even manned)
(…)
If I missed anything apologies, it’s been a while…“In real life”, have you said, right mate?
He is right.
Passing in front of the tower at 500ft/AAL, performing “wing flash” by day, and switching on/off/on the nav lights is the (peace time) RL procedure.War time, there are different proc , I won’t say more, but in game, this RL procedure would ne perfectly suitable (if it was possible to implement it).
Got it, thanks a lot for your attention.
Merry Christmas and with best regards.
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Yay!
I got something right after all these years!So glad I don’t have to suffer multiple examinations any more!
Happy Christmas!
(War Procedure? Nope. Can’t say nuffin still…)
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although BMS is never in peace time