Carrier Ops...

You can use the freeware multiplayer mission, SF Carrier 2 by Orion Lyau. It uses Javier's excellent freeware Nimitz model, and allows you to use not only the wires, but the meatball and catapults as well. If you have the improved HUD by Jivko Rusev, you can also track the carrier using ILS.

You can grab a copy from any of the below links:

AVSIM Library: http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=142250
FlightSim.Com: http://www.flightsim.com/file.php?cm=SEARCH1&fname=sfcarrier2.zip
Simviation: http://www.simviation.com/simviation/?ID=368&page=8&mark=7477
Frosty Software: http://d1.frostysoftware.com/2809/SFCarrier2.zip
Striking Software: http://www.strikingsoftware.com/ccount/click.php?id=9
Vectors Flight Community: http://vectorsflightcommunity.com/downloads.php?id=14
The-Clanless: http://the-clanless.com/SFCarrier2.zip

It took me a while to work out how to get a carrier to work in FSX.

By work, I mean I wanted to actually catch the arrestor wires and catapult from the deck and control where the carrier was placed. You need an AI carrier and to choose the right aircraft to avoid disappointment.

The Nimitz as mentioned above works well, I also have the AI Ark Royal by Flying Stations working too, although there is a terrific difference in deck size.

It is not that simple until know what's going on as you have to do a lot of reading. I have written a 'Tutorial' step by step guide to get a carrier running in either single or multi play.

It explains what you need, why you need it, how to get it, and has some help on what may go wrong with tips on how to land and why you may find it difficult until you know what is happening. I also explain a little about why loading and wind direction can make all the difference between making a landing or achieving a positive climbout after a catapult launch.

Come on you know you want to try, besides more carriers are being built, we need FSX carrier pilots to go on and fly the real thing one day!

My webpage is at:-

http://nikkiwaif.tripod.com/index.html

Let me know if you found it helpful

Nicholette R

nichole wrote:

It took me a while to work out how to get a carrier to work in FSX.

By work, I mean I wanted to actually catch the arrestor wires and catapult from the deck and control where the carrier was placed. You need an AI carrier and to choose the right aircraft to avoid disappointment.

The Nimitz as mentioned above works well, I also have the AI Ark Royal by Flying Stations working too, although there is a terrific difference in deck size.

It is not that simple until know what's going on as you have to do a lot of reading. I have written a 'Tutorial' step by step guide to get a carrier running in either single or multi play.

It explains what you need, why you need it, how to get it, and has some help on what may go wrong with tips on how to land and why you may find it difficult until you know what is happening. I also explain a little about why loading and wind direction can make all the difference between making a landing or achieving a positive climbout after a catapult launch.

Come on you know you want to try, besides more carriers are being built, we need FSX carrier pilots to go on and fly the real thing one day!

My webpage is at:-

http://nikkiwaif.tripod.com/index.html

Let me know if you found it helpful

Nicholette R

A breath of fresh air, keep it up Nikki. Appreciate all the links - saves me doing my own googling 😂
Looking forward to the Gannet... never crossed my mind in context of COPS. I'm somewhat surprised you didn't include Dino's F-14 in your suggestions - maybe later.

FSX has a long way to go if it wants to catch up with FS9 as far as availability and variety of both carriers and carrier a/c are concerned, though the FSX carrier scene is a bit more 'sophisticated'.

I've read your Intolerance chapter, too. As appalling as your account may be, having had plenty of run-ins in the past with Administrators, Moderators and the "Holier than thou" ex-servicemen, many of which it turns out are mere pretenders, nothing surprises me anymore. (I never understood how the rank in the service could be relevant to the knowledge/expertise [or lack thereof] regarding flightsimulation: "THE GAME". Wannabe Gods and megalomaniacs... nuff said.

To a brighter future where hobbyists once again rule the flightsim portals 🍻

Thank you for the comments on my ‘Carrier Flying Tutorial’

Now, why did I not include the F-14 by Dino?

Well, I am not really into fast fighter jets, however I did download it to try after reading your comments above. My tutorial is really for people just starting carriers, so I wanted to maximise carrier success rate by trying to cover all the problems that held me up.

The F-14 by Dino I would say is not for the beginner.

If you like this aircraft and get on fine landing on ground I think you will be disappointed and frustrated when attempting to land it on an AI carrier at least for the first 10 or 12 times..

Ideally when landing any tricycle u/c aircraft, you always want the main wheels to touchdown first, the F-14 seems to want to land with a very, very pronounced nose up attitude, (maybe because weapons free and lighter fuel load change in the c of g), resulting in a poor view of the carrier deck. Contributing factors being the HUD, the double glass, the 'letter box' view and thickness of the 'glazing bars'. Raising the seat up and down did not seem to improve the view either.

The F-14 is a petty heavy airplane so the steep 'hit and grab approach only works if you catch a wire before the resulting bounce or if full realism, scrunching the undercarriage. All in all a bit of an expert level aircraft I would think. I know if I pursued this further I would give myself more of a chance by making sure the I had the carrier headed into wind at speed to decrease the actual touchdown speed. Just in case anyone wants to try the approach speed is 125Knts - 135 Kts (The Nimitz will allow an arrested landing and stopping without going over the edge of the deck up to a speed of 250 Kts catching the first wire, any faster or catching a later wire puts you over the deck edge and into the water).

The real one does much the same thing:-
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=f-14+%22landing%22&hl=en&lr=&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mnR4Tt2wDIy68gOLifXmDA&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1050&bih=997

The real 'Pilots Notes' are available here to download in PDF format:-
http://publicintelligence.info/u-s-navy-natops-f-14-tomcat-flight-manuals/

It could be that with some tweaking, like maybe the hud can be switched off then the view would be improved only that all takes time and knowledge which the beginner probably has not got. (I like visual approach).

I include in my tutorial an ‘Out of the Box’ rating for each aircraft used, as unpacked and installed, to try and make sure that having got someone interested in carriers, they do not just get frustrated and give up when their favourite aircraft will not work. Or maybe has some important feature missing, like a hook being visible, although not working. So far I have not even tried to tweak the F-14 into a more ‘beginner friendly’ configuration.

'Out of The Box' this F-14 by Dino traps and cats from the AI Nimitz filename - uss_nimitz_ike_version2.zip – 121.05 MB by Javier Fernandez.

This aircraft may perform better using the type of ‘carriers’ that act like FSX aircraft. I don’t know, as my tutorial is aimed at the wide variety of AI ships making use of the standard features of ‘FSX Acceleration’, not the ‘built in’ features of the ‘carriers’ you often see actually flying when another players aircraft is substituted because you do not have their actual airplane in your 'aircraft' folder. – Yes, that’s really annoying.

AI ships use your home computer to handles all the maths. So AI ships are always going run faster in a multiplay sim than the carriers which masquerades as an ‘aircraft’, when the positioning and other data for it then has to be handled by the server so slowing everyone down.

Nicholette R. http://nikkiwaif.tripod.com/index.html