Op Deep Strike 21-06-22

[Luis]

By the way, awesome briefing.

[Flyco]

Just to confirm, I do expect to fly on this mission. My Helios, is still not entirely sorted, but I should be able to manage with what I’ve got so far. I see I am tail-end-Charlie, which is probably the safest place for me.

P.S. I note we are carrying lay down bombs and unguided rockets. No problem with the bombs, but have you considered how long it is going to take for 4 A-10s to fire 28 rockets. Even at 4 rockets a pass, for 4 ac that will be 28 passes in total, with 30 secs between passes to avoid fratricide that will take 15 minutes!

[Flyco]

Sorry, have re-read mission plan and see that the proposal is to launch all rockets on a single run.

I will spend some time looking at the plan, before I shoot my mouth off again. But my first thought is that it is going to be very exciting when we all converge on the target from two opposite directions and fire our rockets together.

Have I misunderstood the plan?

[Luis]

I just tested the mission.
The mission started at 0130Z, so I had 30 minutes to prepare the aircraft.
At 0240Z I arrived in time for Rendezvous, made 1 orbit and went down to the river path (amazing view)
At first I was a little confused about QNH 28.56, but later I understood that it is ideal for the target area. I can change in the air because for the tank I had an altitude of 12900 at 28.56 and the ARCO instructions are for 15000.
Arriving at the target I made some late adjustments but my 12 MK-82Air only hit 7/8 trucks I was at 400 feet in the QNH, maybe the correct thing is to go at 500 to have a better view as the approach has a shallow hill on the way .
With Rockets (and weapon) I got a little better and in the end I had 21 targets destroyed.
On the way out I had about 4200 fuel and went into the tank with no problems. Coming to the tanker I was about 3000lbs and the tanker was on a turn so I took 8000lbs in a turn and only disconnected when the tanker realigned, and that's my new record.
Parked in Hatay at 0355Z, the total mission time was 2h25m.

I also share Alan excitement about firing the rockets.

Great mission and plan.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to do this.

[0405 Andrew]

Luis,
There is no main briefing or FRAG at the moment. I put that in the brief as I expect Andrew to post both before Tuesday.

Gaziantep is just on the doorstep. It's neutral, and I did consider it as a diversion.

We just do 2 attack runs. No patrolling or searching for targets. I expect to log under 2 hours for the flight. Once the mission commander has said we take off from Hatay, that's written in stone. The only reason for change would be if it led to mission failure.

Thanks for reading and checking the brief. Much appreciated.

I'm afraid there won't be a FRAG more than what has already been issued, using an old mission was meant to free up some time on the next one. I will make Gaziantep blue.

[309 Geoff]

Have I misunderstood the plan?

Flyco,

No, your understanding of the plan is correct. Happy you have sorted most of your issues now.

Hopefully, it won't be too exciting. Myself and Luis will have dropped our stick of bombs, and be heading East to IP2:East, before Paul drops his bombs.
Our leg to IP2 is 0.4nm shorter than your leg to IP3:West. My plan is that Flt 1 should be clear before Flt 2 rifle their rockets.

I just hope I can capture a video of our attacks. That could be exciting.

Luis,
Thanks for flight testing.
I set QNH before take off.
I dropped my bombs at 500ft using the rad alt.
Arco is 18000ft, and I have no intention of going anywhere near it. I'm surprised you found it at 15000ft.
Paul will lead the tanking element and recovery. Maybe I should have put you in charge.

I need to get to grips with tanking. You seem to have it sorted. I need to try tanking, every day. That's the only way I'll master it.

[Flyco]

OK Geoff. I am gradually working through the sortie - in between trying to get my Helios on line. I have two initial observations.

Firstly, we are going to have to either backtrack on the runway or take off from the entry point. If the former, we may need to taxy early, so as to give us time to manoeuvre at the turning point at the start of the runway.

Secondly. The turns after the initial weapons delivery are not planned/plotted on the main chart. I have not yet checked the timings but I presume you have built in time for the turns. We will also be transiting outbound for our second run about 1-2 nm displaced from our second run in - Do we know how obvious the IPs are from the air? It would also be best if the lead of each pair positions on the appropriate side so as not to cross his No-2's nose as he turns outbound. .

I suspect I will have a number of other nags before the day.

[309 Geoff]

Flyco,
I start moving at 0201Z, and we do back taxi. It could be tricky in the dark. First time I tested, I very nearly went onto the grass at the apron. I will be using my goggles to help. Maybe I'll call for taxi early, if we're ready.

It's important during the low level that we try to remain in visual contact. That will help with the second attack, and separation. I will be watching Flt 2 on my TAD, to help decide when to turn back for my rockets. You will be turning right after bombs to IP 3. Again turn right, back for rockets, and then left to WP26. For all WPs and IPs, I just used them as SPI, with my helmet. No significant features on the ground for the IPs.

For it to work, we all need to stick to the plan, turn in the direction briefed, and stay in visual range.

It will be interesting.

[Flyco]

Geoff, I am looking improbable for tomorrow. Tried to fly the mission earlier, and after about 40 minutes I had several major failures, all within the space of a couple of milli-seconds.

The surprising thing was that they were all aircraft system failures. I lost: Pitch and Yaw SAS, CICU, EAC, all fuel pumps, and several Weapons panel switches switched themselves off! However, the aircraft kept flying - so it was clearly not Windows, nor DCS, that had failed. The obvious suspicion was that one of my controllers had a glitch and various hard-wire switches went to "off" as a result.

My system uses over a dozen controllers, in addition to the normal stick, rudder and throttle. I have made a copy of the crash log and will now try and identify any common theme. I think it would be easier if the (very extensive) crash logs had been written in Sanskrit, rather than the gibberish they do use.

If I do make any progress, and think I may have fixed it, I will try and fly with you tomorrow evening - I can't see that this sort of crash will affect anyone else in the mission - it will just look like I had a technical failure (which of course it was!). However, don't hold your breath.

[Flyco]

I think I know the problem - a bell has rung at the back of my brain. I suspect it is ‘Aunty Microsoft’ switching off my USB ports when it thinks they have not ben used for a couple of milli-seconds. All I have to do is remember how to switch this off.

I might be there tomorrow!