CCIP and the steer line?
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When in CCIP I notice if I am flying levelish the steering line is extending through the sides of the HUD, not to the bottom - why does it do this?
What are the release conditions? It seems to require a downward vector…so what is the minimum downward pitch angle for weapons release. And does this angle down keep the steer line vertical instead of wanting to run to the sides or horizontally.
Thanks in advance…
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minimum downward pitch angle for weapons release in CCIP is probably somewhere around 50° nose up…
In fact yes, this angle up will keep the steering line vertical. It does help that the steering ling is always vertical.
CCIP is basically a visual bombing mode. It pretty much assumes that you are doing some form of dive bombing. You can use it quite effectively outside this type of use.
In CCIP the CCIP pipper tracks the point on the ground where the weapon will impact, if it is released right now. Bombing with unguided weapons pretty much requires wings level release for any level of accuracy, so the pipper exaggerates your roll to show you where wings level is.
The CCIP pipper is connected to the FPM by the Bomb Fall Line (BFL). The BFL is what visually slants around from one side of the HUD to the other when you are banked.
Lets walk through a bombing run. We initially are orbiting the target at about 3 - 4 miles distance and 10,000’ AGL. At some point, we overbank the aircraft and make a hard turn, to get the target site in the HUD. Seeing as we will need to fly over the target to release the bombs, we will set the FPM on the far side of the target. The distance between the target and the FPM is called the Aim Off Distance. We set the FPM at the Aim Off Point and in doing so, ideally get the correct dive angle for the bombing profile we planned before we took off.
We are going to be aiming for somewhere between 30° and 60° dive - quite a large boundary - so its quite permissive. Once we have the target in the HUD, the FPM on the far side of the target, we should be able to see the CCIP pipper at the bottom of the HUD, and depending on our speed, altitude, angle of dive, and the drag of the bombs we are carrying, we should be able to release the bombs immediately once the pipper tracks over the target. If you are going fast, you have a steep dive angle, and you are carrying low drag bombs, then you should be able to do so. Press the pickle button, and the bombs will come off!
Lets say instead that you have a 5° dive angle, you are doing 275 KIAS, and you are carrying high drag bombs. You pretty much have to overfly the target to drop them and have them hit the target. Thats a problem - because that means that the target wont be in the HUD anymore.
When you have this kind of situation, CCIP becomes a lot like CCRP. If you track the CCIP pipper over a target and pickle, and nothing happens, or the symbology briefly changes whilst you pickle, then this has happened. The MMC thinks your bombs wont actually hit the target if you release right now.
You can even tell when this will happen. The BFL will have a horizontal bar crossing through it, halfway up. When you can see the horizontal bar on the BFL, it means that you cant pickle and have bombs come off immediately, and have them hit the target.
When this DOES happen, hold the pickle. If you see that horizontal bar, press and hold the pickle. The symbology changes to what is called ‘post-designate CCIP’ mode, and it is exactly like the CCRP you are familiar with. You center the ASL (the vertical steering line) by flying straight ahead, and when the horizontal bar on the ASL reaches the FPM, the weapons will come off, and hit your intended target (or not. you still need to be accurate!).
To use CCIP most effectively, fly fast, and pickle in a dive over the target.
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Good stuff… but did you mean down when you said this “minimum downward pitch angle for weapons release in CCIP is probably somewhere around 50° nose up…”
Also when in A/G mode is there a function/keycommand to cycle a/g hardpoints?
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Im pretty sure I can get a CCIP release with 50° nose UP. Why?
To cycle weapons in AG modes, press the OSB #6 on the SMS page.
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okay I will experiment with nose up then…I thought it would only release with nose down.
I mean cycle hardpoints so you can select and decide to drop similar ordnance from the right or left side of the air frame. the purpose being to balance the the loads on each wing.
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The SMS will release bombs from alternate sides automatically. In BMS you cant allocate which side to drop from. This is actually a problem because if you cycle mastermodes (go to A-A then come back to A-G) it will drop from the left side first, even if the left side is light.
I think if you set the CCIP pipper on a far target, then as you get near it, start to pull up (in the post-designate symbology), and it should loft the weapon. Havent tried it, but it would still technically be a CCIP release. It was more of a joke at the idea of a minimum dive angle.
