Daunt
MLG Pro
Knowing your way around the cockpit and flying is just part of Falcon. Being combat ready takes mastery of a lot of different aspects. I'll try to cover everything you need to know in order to be combat ready for a campaign setting. The Krause BMS tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3E09AA94FF0EACEC are great, though not necessarily in any particular order. Also the TE training scenarios are also good to things out but not necessarily the best way to train / learn on your own.
More general topics you need to know:
More specific:
Obviously different mission types require different skills. Most are pretty all-around skills you'll need. But SEAD missions (Suppression of enemy air defense) require either bombing or using the HARM missile to take out SAM sites. While BARCAP (Barrier combat air patrol) require air defense only.
Escort missions are usually just like BARCAP where they're purely anti-air focused, except they obviously are a part of a larger package and are responsible for the other flight(s) safety. Strike missions, which usually require escort, focus on bombing important enemy-held sites, like power plants.
[HR][/HR]
Also for the beginner, I thought I'd run down the concept of Bullseye. It may be tough to understand and even harder to use in general but it works well for everyone.
Bullseye is used in real life because pilots need to reference areas or locations but can not have the enemy, who is likely able to hear their radio calls, know what they're referring to. So rather than using something like a lattitude and longitude, or saying something like 5 miles from Kimpo Airbase... which everyone would know... they use a predesignated bullseye to reference from.
So everyone on the Allies side would know that the bullseye for the week or whatever is actually on Kimpo Airbase for example. Instead of saying 5 miles north of Kimpo, the call would be bullseye 000, 5 miles. Meaning five miles from the bullseye and bearing 000 from bullseye. A fighter that is 20 miles to exactly the east of the bullseye would be bullseye 090, 20 miles. It is those two triplet numbers that are shown in multiple spots on the HUD and FCR, for yourself, the target you're locking (so you can call the location out exactly to a wingman) and your radar curser itself. The first triplet being bearing from bullseye, the second triplet the range in miles. So the above call for the fighters would show: 090 020
Hope that is helpful.
More general topics you need to know:
- How radar works
- Where everything is in the cockpit
- How the MFDs work and the different displays on them like HAD, HSD, FCR (not necessarily exhaustive)
- How to read your RWR (radar warning reciever)
- How to fly
- Navigation & possibly the concept of bullseye
- Brevity Codes
More specific:
- A-G Delivery modes CCIP and CCRP bomb delivery (also Dtoss, but not as important) usually with dumb or semi-smart bombs, but sometimes laser guided.
- A-A Active and Semi-active missiles, including the AIM-120 and the older AIM-7.
- A-A Heatseeking missiles(Rear and All-aspect) like the AIM-9 Sidewinder.
- HARM Attacks, using the AG-88 HARM to lock on and hunt emitting ground radars, especially SAM sites.
- Ramp start, being able to start the jet.
- Taxi, takeoff and landing
- Guns
- A-G AGM-65 Maverick
- Going defensive
- Fragging a package
Obviously different mission types require different skills. Most are pretty all-around skills you'll need. But SEAD missions (Suppression of enemy air defense) require either bombing or using the HARM missile to take out SAM sites. While BARCAP (Barrier combat air patrol) require air defense only.
Escort missions are usually just like BARCAP where they're purely anti-air focused, except they obviously are a part of a larger package and are responsible for the other flight(s) safety. Strike missions, which usually require escort, focus on bombing important enemy-held sites, like power plants.
[HR][/HR]
Also for the beginner, I thought I'd run down the concept of Bullseye. It may be tough to understand and even harder to use in general but it works well for everyone.
Bullseye is used in real life because pilots need to reference areas or locations but can not have the enemy, who is likely able to hear their radio calls, know what they're referring to. So rather than using something like a lattitude and longitude, or saying something like 5 miles from Kimpo Airbase... which everyone would know... they use a predesignated bullseye to reference from.
So everyone on the Allies side would know that the bullseye for the week or whatever is actually on Kimpo Airbase for example. Instead of saying 5 miles north of Kimpo, the call would be bullseye 000, 5 miles. Meaning five miles from the bullseye and bearing 000 from bullseye. A fighter that is 20 miles to exactly the east of the bullseye would be bullseye 090, 20 miles. It is those two triplet numbers that are shown in multiple spots on the HUD and FCR, for yourself, the target you're locking (so you can call the location out exactly to a wingman) and your radar curser itself. The first triplet being bearing from bullseye, the second triplet the range in miles. So the above call for the fighters would show: 090 020
Hope that is helpful.
