JR...
I haven't been able to respond in-depth to your email cause I get back from working out late (its HOT in the days, so I have to run at night), then Im up late night, doing what I can. I think you are have a point and I may have jumped the gun about "all future Sludge Hornets will have AUTO FLAPS", but Ill continue testing 'cause I'm still not getting why ALL the VIDEOS show Hornets landing in the low 140s. If they are all at max trap and the G/S is at 3.5, then thats probly part of the answer.
Yeah, had a big discussion with JJ the last few nights about everything from KCAS on the HUD, to landing speeds of Hornets, Tomcats, and everything in-between. Now Im still tweaking/modding. I did some preliminaries with the Sludge Alpha and the CS Delta (with stores) and so far, the best fit FOR ME, seems to be taking a touch of lift off the flaps in the FA18.AIR, setting the flaps to AUTO on the LEADING EDGE and MANUAL on the TRAILING EDGE flaps. I may be mistaken, and Virtuali can correct this, but I thought the FSX Hornet's LEFs at AUTO are AoA-based, just like the real bird.
I see what youre saying about the landing speed charts, and how you are working from airspeed backwards to A/C Weight. FOR ME... I see all these vids and something is not the same. Whether that something is FSX 4.0 glideslope/higher WoD keeping us consistent with the chart and real-world using 3.5/nominal WoD and higher ? Just something doesnt sit right, and Im trying to figure it out. Look at 0:20 and how the HUD AoA bracket is ON-SPEED at 141. Some more tests with the DELTA Hornet will make or break this mental block for me. IF I do a max a/c weight trap in a DELTA Hornet, and the speeds are still low 30s, I'll look for more answers.
Spaz...
I dont know the weights, so the best I can assume is that they are at max trap weight. Otherwise, if they are less, say 31k, this issue gets even more confusing for me. In those pictures, you can see from the newly-modded Carrier Trap Gauge "A/C Weight", that Im at 31k. So in my latest tests, everything is at max trap weight (unrestricted) = 33k, according to Legacy NATOPS. I can even go up to 34k (restricted; NATOPS), once I start to get a handle on this issue.
I know those previous pics were at 31k, but my latest test pics are at 33k. Some decent results but have to test with the DELTA Hornet and MAX TRAP, then we will see how much closer we get to the landing vids.
CAPT...
Thanks buddy. Damn good idea, I may try it. Give me a few days and Ill start working on it.
Fellas...
Have you guys gone to the official Blue Angels site lately? Its really well done. You gotta have Silverlight installed, but the site is really well done now.
Later
Sludge