SHB Thread

[micro]

Fellas,

I'm slowly starting to get back into FSX after a very long break, and I thought we needed a little more interactivity on this forum. So, I figured I'd start a "Sh!t Hot Break" thread where we can have a bit of fun and post vids of our best breaks. To kick it off, he's my attempt at the "triple nickle" break.

[GOONIE]

Micro,
Nice work man! start with the triple 5, then you have to try the devils break 

I made this video awhile back using FSX and TacView

Any luck with vLSO grading the $HB? I mean a specific comment in the log?

[Victory103]

Nice work, I'm still practicing the SHB in the Tomcat.

[micro]

Goonie, no luck getting some love from the vLSO for the break. I've attached my debriefs for that pass.

Victory, I'd LOVE to see some breaks done in the Turkey. Post em when you can.

[PhantomTweak]

Interesting, the two video's, that is...
HOWEVER!!
The way I read the NATOPS, a "break" starts out as you pass abeam the carrier, hook down, naturally, to the starboard of the boat and on the BRC. The plane stays level at 800'MSL (which happens to be AGL too ) and as it slows through 270Kts, the flaps and gear come down, and the speedbrake retracts. the plane levels out at the inverse of the BRC, and descends to 600' as it travels twords the aft. When the LSO platform becomes  visible, the turn to final starts, and the plane descends to about 450' during the turn. Should level out about 3/4 Mi aft of the boat and on the angle deck's heading. The VV approximately on the "crotch" of the boat, then the angle is corrected in close, permitting the boat to travel forward without needing a constant adjustment to starboard by the bird to compensate.
Maybe I'm wrong. Those breaks were tight, no question, but they started abaft the boat and were just a tight circle, really. Were they correct? If so, I really need to adjust my breaks in the future...
Still, great video's! Thanks
Pat☺

[micro]

Phantom, you are indeed correct on the natops break. But, remember, occasionally guys stray from natops in order to break the monotony. This type of break is case in point. It's usually done by the first guy back to the boat when no other planes are in the pattern yet. It speeds up the recovery and gives everyone watching a "hell yeah" type feeling. It's referred to as a "Sh!t Hot Break" (SHB), and the version I did is called the "Triple Nickle". You fly at 500ft, 500kts, and break at 0.5 miles prior to the boat. Here are a couple of real life vids:

[GOONIE]

Phantom,

Here is some more details on the $HB.

http://fightersweep.com/837/the-ultimate-carrier-break/

Give it a shot.

[PhantomTweak]

Thank you guys! NOW I understand. I knew about the SHB, having spent 10 years in Marine Aviation, I'd just never seen one.
The one guy I knew of (personally) that liked to do stuff like that, was a Phantom Phlyer in VMFAT-333 just before I got there. He had a habit of flying under a bridge in Beaufort. At least until his RIO got fed up and threatened to eject them both if he tried it again, so he did it inverted. The RIO went to the CO, and was going to turn in his wings, but the CO got the pilot's wings first...
And then there was the Hornet driver in Yuma that decided to pop up off a bombing target by turning the wrong way. His wingtip went through his lead's canopy, helmet, etc. It was ugly. Apparently this guy had a bad habit of hot-dogging a lot. The SAR chopper was in such a hurry, I thought the blades were going to take my head off as I was watching them from the VMFAT-401 flight-line. We could actually see pieces of helmet (and other...things) in the remains of his wingtip when he got back and was taxiing past on the way to parking. The other plane, obviously never came back...And the hot-dog never flew in the Corps again.
I am sorry, memories strike at certain times...Come to think of it, I have known a few
Thank you for the vids, and explanations. I understand, but untill I get a lot better, I'll stick the NATOPS version
Pat☺

[Paddles]

micro,
That was a perfect sample of a SHB pass! Beautiful!

...no luck getting some love from the vLSO for the break.

Yes, this vLSO feature is still 'under construction'. One good thing is that the program does determine a SHB attempt (the 'Very nice' call means your SHB pass is perfect), The other, and bad, thing is that the program does not grade it as intended (there should be the only comment 'SHB' with a solid Ok). By the way, what grade was recorded in your logbook for that pass?

Definitely I have to rewrite SHB grading part of the code.

[Johan]

You fly at 500ft, 500kts, and break at 0.5 miles prior to the boat.

Hi Micro,

Impressive precision on your demo! Is there a particular radius value that the plane should fly on that circle? It looks like the farthest away you are from the AC is about 1.3kt?

Johan

[GOONIE]

Micro,

I noticed the WOD at 12 knots which may have resulted in the LUL marks following the SHB. I think if you increase the ship speed or wind to get a WOD value > 22 knots it may help with the compression following the break.

GOONIE

[micro]

Paddles, a got a "Fair" on that pass. If you're able to work the SHB into your code that be pretty sweet, but your program is already unbelievably good. That's why I didn't even bring it up.

Johan, no particular radius is used. As a general rule of thumb, Naval aviators pull 10% of their indicated airspeed in G's. So, to do it perfectly, at 500kts I should initially pull 5g. Then, as speed decreases so should the G's until you're on-speed. But, you just have to practice it a gauge it for yourself.

Goonie, yeah I had the ship moving a little slow because I had been working the normal pattern. I've found that 12kts wod usually gives me a good groove time. Then I came in for the SHB and it did end up putting me in a bit tight.

[micro]

I stepped it up a notch, kicked the break speed up, and threw in a pitching deck. This time, I used the new FSXBA. Oddly, I got calls from the vLSO, but it didn't actually grade the pass. Not sure why.

[SpazSinbad]

'micro' You had me laughing at that last SHB. I'm enjoying your videos but I think 'why you were not graded' by vLSO was the 'red ball' over the ramp? Anyway that is all by the by eh. 

For me would you mind outlining the sort of equipment you have for your videos please. The quality is excellent - thanks for posting them.

[Orion]

Nice to see the pitching deck in use.   How did you find flying with the FSXBA Hornet fly-by-wire FCS?