Man in the loop and autopilot assistance
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Title says it all really, flying both the bomb and aircraft is tricky, is there an autopilot mode that can handle the sudden trim required when dropping a single bomb?
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Sure! Select steerpoint mode or heading course mode, and altitude hold mode with switches located below master arm switch. The aircraft will steer itself to selected steerpoint or to manually entered course on the HSI.
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Put some trim in before dropping the MITL weapon, no autopilot mode actually adjusts for the uneven load.
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Drop in pairs.
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Post #2 => Very bad (and unrealistic) advice.
Post # 3 & 4 => Correct.
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Drop in pairs.
Seriously?? What’s the point of dropping in pairs if you can manage only 1 bomb? I’d suggest to simply adjust the trim and simply fly the AC with minimum stick adjustments. And yes a LOT of practice is required to manage such weapons, but from experience I can tell that if you practice enough, you start to build yourself a habit to drop and fly the AC to a direction with minimum threat and maximum weapon control (usually keeping aspect of ~110-120 degrees from the weapon, towards the side with less danger is the best choice).
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I-Hawk, thanks to your own efforts - there is no problem to handle two ‘Man in the loop’ weapons…
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If it’s a matter of GBU-15s I’d agree, but if it’s e.g. Delilahs, then yeah, why not drop in pairs if the targets are relatively close? Could even put one in Go Around-mode to be certain.
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Post #2 => Very bad (and unrealistic) advice.
Post # 3 & 4 => Correct.
Wether or not it’s a unrealistic approach, I cannot answer for, and I agree trimming the aircraft would be a better way to do it. But my answer was for giving another possible way, if trimming was to much workload, as I understood the question. Of course when balancing the airframe becomes second nature this is a non-issue
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It’s not that unrealistic, imo. WW2 B-17s used autopilot to drop bombs. One problem with the f16s autopilot is cuts off when reaching a given airspeed. I like using ALT hold and manual roll trim when headsdown.
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I-Hawk, thanks to your own efforts - there is no problem to handle two ‘Man in the loop’ weapons…
Thanx.
Possible yes, but very tricky… And IMHO not so realistic
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Wether or not it’s a unrealistic approach, I cannot answer for, and I agree trimming the aircraft would be a better way to do it. But my answer was for giving another possible way, if trimming was to much workload, as I understood the question. Of course when balancing the airframe becomes second nature this is a non-issue
I’ve missed the “man in the loop” … sorry.
In that case, the most suitable is the HDG + ALT HOLD indeed. (avoid steerpoint (STPT) mode, this could make you a 180° any-time in case of stp accidental or auto increment.) ATT mode might be good also.
Avoid any AP mode in case of GBU (laser guided).
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StPT is not a bad option with the long range stuff (I.e Delilah) you just need to micromanage it and make sure it gets you to where you want (which requires some pre-planning).
However, Delilah is less then 500lbs, imbalance is very easy trimmed.
It’s the GBU15 which gets you, dropping 2.5k off one wing and you have to turn out and start finding the target while fighting the aircraft.
