Targeting:  HUD Setup and using the Tactical Display and Padlock

This section gives an overview and some tips on setting up your “office”, and using the targeting tools available to you in order to get more bullets where they need to go!

The Heads-Up Display (HUD) setup

Here's a sample of what my cockpit HUD setup looks like...notice that I have the tactical display overlaying the compass, this allows me to call out the bearing of any bogeys spotted:

Also, notice the gun sight - this is a replacement gun sight that is a LOT more viewable than the stock black one and you can also easily pick it out when pointed at the ground - the little black one gets lost in the ground clutter.  The picture doesn't show it well but there are also little angle marks on it to easily set your bank angle for precision turns.  This add-on gun sight is available for download at sim-outhouse or many of the JG300 pilots have it and can send it to you.

Tactical Display usage:

 -Shift-T enables and disables it, you all probably already know that;

-The "T" key switches from targeting "All" to "Aircraft" to "Vehicles" to "Ships" to "Buildings", you knew that;

-CTRL-SHIFT-T changes the viewing radius....from 8 to 4 to 2 to 1 miles then back to 8.  This is an important tool when you start using the TAB key to target other planes - you'll need to keep aware of their exact position and there's also a very effective head-on tactic we can discuss later that uses the 1-mile range exclusively.

In a treetop-turning dogfight the 1-mile setting is also important to see if you are gaining or loosing ground on your opponent,

Anyway, and this is a no-brainer too... aircraft at a certain range will all appear WHITE.  This means they are unidentified.  As they draw closer (and this is a function of your specific pilot's "Vision" points when you set your pilot up long ago).....they will turn to either RED (bad guy), BLUE (good guy) or PURPLE (AI pilot in a mission).  This may be a stupid question check to see that you are getting all these colors…some people have a bug it seems where not all these colors show up.

Targeting the good vs. the bad guys.

The TAB key will target ANYONE who is WHITE (unidentified bogey) OR RED.  So if you target someone with the TAB key, and they are WHITE, DON'T SHOOT until you UN-Target them (hot the TAB key and to target someone else) and verify they are RED!

You'll also notice that when a bogey has been identified as friendly (BLUE or PURPLE), the TAB key will NOT target them, which is another reason why you wanna make sure you retarget folks when they are within range!

To target a friendly, use CTRL-TAB...this is usually only done to aid formation flight or to find a buddy that is calling for help.

Every time you target someone of course the message text on the screen will tell you who you are targeting (player names if they are close enough) so use that too, and you'll shoot lots less of your buddies!

Tie the Padlock key into all this…

Now once you target them you know which way to turn and all that (this is all assuming the kiddy-cone target helper isn't available, I hate that thing)....but you don't know if they're above or below you,  So you can use the "Padlock" key to change your view to where your eyes are looking right at them - this is the Tilde "~" key right above TAB.  Use it SPARINGLY because you wont see what direction your plane is going in when you use this view (unless you practice using the artificial horizon on the HUD). 

Most folks fly into the ground a few times before they learn to just tap it on and off real quick, use it in conjunction with the tactical display and range setting and you've got something just as good as the silly cone.

Landing Techniques and the Pattern

Frequently we find that new recruits have plenty of skill in the air but when it comes to setting down on the field, things can kinda fall apart.  Because they are, for many reasons including reality, important things to master,  the following info is provided to those who would like to improve their skill at “interfacing with Mother Earth” and with just some practice, pull off consistently excellent landings

Rule 1:  The quality of ANY landing is dictated by the quality of the approach, or setup. Last-minute corrections contribute to last-minute panic which contributes to last-minute crashes. Minimal changes at the final moments means the smoothest landings.

Rule 2:  Despite your instincts, think that: POWER controls ALTITUDE (it really does - try climbing at zero throttle).  By the same token, PITCH controls SPEED. (Nose down, fast. Nose up, not fast, right?)

Next thing is:  Ensure you can stabilize your aircraft at a given altitude and speed. From 5,000 ft, imagine that an 'elevated', infinitely-long pretend runway is at 2,000 ft below you, running due north of your position, and that you are going to “land” on it. You therefore want to turn north, loose altitude, descend slowly at about 500 to 1000 feet per minute, while also loosing airspeed, and level out at 2,000 ft using THROTTLE, at a low airspeed such as 150 kts/mph - then see if you can keep it at 2,000 ft at that airspeed using JUST the right throttle amount and some trim adjustment.

If you are going too fast, pull back a little power AND pull back on the stick little by little to slow down, the airspeed WILL drop,  it HAS to by nature...woops! Loosing or gaining altitude? Adjust power SLOWLY to suit. Trim her for this different speed if you have to, so she flies 'hands off'. Make small corrections and get her straight and level, so the vertical speed indicator is perfectly flat and your speed is on target.

Next, It also helps to find out at which speed your particular plane will stop flying. Once you have stabilized, start pulling the nose up and throttle back to stay at 2,000 ft. When you are 'mushing' along and the plane won't stay at that altitude anymore, and is starting to stall, you've just executed a very slow landing 'flare'. That's your lowest speed to reach, preferably right as you cross over the runway and touch down.

If you can do this, you've just 'landed'. Next thing is, doing it on real ground, at a real airfield, and bringing her to a stop.

Here is where quality of approach and setup pay off. The diagram below illustrates a typical two-runway airport. We'll concentrate on the southbound runway. Since this runway heading is 180 degrees (due south), we call it 'Runway 18' (chop of the trailing digit).     

The yellow path is the takeoff and landing pattern, it's a simple racetrack pattern with right turns at each corner. Since the turns are to the right this is called…a right-hand pattern.

Your next goal is to find the airfield and identify which runway you want to land on. Let's say you are south of the airport in the below diagram. You fly north to approach the airfield. You know you're landing so hopefully you've started to slow your bird down some. You want to execute a right-hand pattern, so you aim a little LEFT of the airport and fly parallel to the runway. Once you enter the airspace around the airfield, you are pretty much on the DOWNWIND leg of the pattern, point "2" in the picture (you want to land upwind naturally, in CFS3 we don't know which way the wind is blowing but we call this the downwind leg anyway). Patterns can be flown comfortably from 1,500 ft to 800 ft, try no more or less than that.

If you wanna be a full-on realism guy, this is where you'd say "HoseBag (or whatever your call sign is) entering right downwind, runway One-Eight". Well, if you're flying with anyone else. Please don't do this when alone OK?

On this downwind leg, you definitely should get the bird stabilized at a low airspeed (say 140 or thereabouts) and on a stable altitude. Do this NOW and you will have less work coming up in the next coupla minutes. Let yourself fly past the airport for a ways...how much is up to you. Go for a mile or so, why not?

Next, call out "HoseBag entering right base, runway One-Eight" if ya want (this sounds great when flying with buddies using voice comm- they'll think you're a real pro!). Take a look at the compass...if you're heading due north, a heading of 90 is what ya want for the next turn, so turn right 90 degrees to start the BASE leg - perpendicular to the runway. Complete the turn and look to the right for the airfield...You are now at point "3" on the diagram....when you see the runway is starting to aim toward you, it's time for the last turn to final....

"HoseBag on final, runway One-Eight"

After turning right another 90 degrees (heading now 180, point "4" on the diagram) you should be:

- more or less lined up on the runway,
- at a fair distance away to do some last-minute setup work,
- at a workable airspeed,
- at enough altitude to see the runway and make power corrections to keep your descent on target.
- and hopefully, pretty well trimmed for straight-and-level at this speed so you're not fighting the aircraft...it has to WANT to land.

Lower your gear and unlock your tail wheel (if so equipped). Okay...now with the added drag, you might have to make some power and trim corrections.....can't emphasize enough to use the trim controls, so the plane will do more of the flying for you.

At this point you want to visually set up so you’re looking about 10 to 20 degrees down at the runway...try to keep this angle constant as you fly her in...straight 'down the pipe'.

Now....flaps or not? Well, nothing wrong with landing without 'em if ya got plenty of runway, but you'll land faster, hotter and probably float a ways without touching the ground, or go a long way between bounces if you hit too hard. The answer here is...if your approach is shallow (5 to 10 degrees) you might just creep her in without 'em. If it's steep, and/or you're too fast, ya need flaps to slow her down and loose altitude at the same time. Flaps add two things; lift and drag, so the plane will initially float up a little bit, but will slow down....which drops your descent rate...so here is where more power adjustments may be necessary to keep the bird on the desired glide path to the runway. I find that just one or two notches of flap is all that is needed for final, I dump 'em to full if need be at the last minute.

The next bit is all you: Stay Calm! as the runway comes up to meet you, bring the power down, and the nose sloooowly up, to level out and get that magic airspeed number you found earlier at 2,000 ft when the plane quit flying. The sooner you can do this the better! Imagine the wheels 5 to 10 ft below you gently kissin' the pavement, and grease her on.

If you bounce, when you come down from the bounce, try to coordinate some FORWARD (DOWN) stick with the next 'impact', to keep the bird from lifting off too high again....once the wheels stay stuck on the ground and as she slows, feed in more forward stick to keep the tail up if ya wanna look cool....fly the plane down to a crawl that way.

Last-minute panic-yanks on the stick blow more landings than anything else. For that reason, do this: once on final, force yourself to use TWO or THREE FINGERS ONLY on the stick, making nice, easy, small corrections....finesse her on down. Don't wrestle her down with a white-knuckled fist.

Oh yeah one more thing - make sure you don't slow down TOO much, too high, and just 'pancake' the plane on the runway, maybe this could be happening, from your description of the problem?

Before you stand on the brakes, try it again! Power up slowly, keep her straight down the runway, take off, clean the plane up (raise gear and flaps)...turn right 90 degrees (heading 270, point "1" on the diagram) and repeat! Nothing better than shootin' touch'n'goes in a hot little warbird on a nice sunny mornin'. Favorite thing to do when hosting and the room is new and empty for a few minutes...

Good luck. When ya get this down pat, start up a CHEAPSHOT game where you get to do all this under pressure, bullets flying all around you, planes bouncin' on the ground and blowing up...WoooHooo!

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD HUNTING!!!