Basic Tacan/Divert training

Posted By Naldo at www.globalfalcon.org 22/03/2007 This is an old post I found by a guy called RODION. Its old but fits the job ok If everything is set, then you first need to load the default TRAINING MISSION wherein you find an F-16D about to land on Kunsan airbase. Ok, when you load the training mission, your screen should look more or less like this:

You are about to land at Kunsan. But for this tutorial, we are NOT going to land at Kunsan...let's pretend we need to do a emergency divert at Seoul International, which is about 100 miles away to the north-northeast. So the question is, how do I get to Seoul from here?

Well first, you have to bring up your kneeboard map, and see what are the closest airports/NAV points you can use to trace a route to Seoul...here you see that I chose airports R110 and Osan as my waypoints to Seoul.

However, a quick glance at my airkase list on my steerpoint page tells me there are no NAV/TACAN frequencies for R110, because this is an emergency highway airstrip. So what do I do now? Well, at least Osan has an entry, 094X and the radio range is quite good, so...

...obviously, you just have to keep flying north-northwest until you can pick out an alternate route, such as this...flying directly to Osan. So the next step is setting up your NAV radios to follow a radial to Osan via the "steam gauge" HSI.

So the first step is to enter Osan's TACAN channel on PanelB (left)... 094X (careful not to change the X to a Y because were after a ground location)

Next step is to go to your ICP and press T-ILS (you can see a more detailed procedure of this in the sp4_korean_volume.pdf document found in the docs folder, under "TACAN SELECTION - NORMAL MODE"). Input the TACAN channel (that you entered on the panel earlier) on the scratchpad and then press ENTR (press 9, 4, then ENTR).

You should see CHAN change from 75 (075X, TACAN for Kunsan) to 94 (094X, TACAN for Osan), and naturally, the ILS frequency also changes from 110.30 to 111.30.

(note, you may notice that I have the DED displayed on my HUD...it's just a matter of preference...some people might like their HUDs with less clutter but I prefer to have the DED there so that I won't have to glance at the right from time to time while trying to concentrate on other HUD values. Next step is to make sure the MODE dial on the INSTR panel (down center) is set to TCN, and note the distance to Osan (59 miles) on the HSI, as well as what radial you are currently on. Take a close look at the HSI...it's telling me that if I wait for a bit, I can intercept the 030 radial "TO" Osan, and then turn my aircraft to fly a heading of 030 to Osan. So just cruise at a nominal speed until the radial looks like...

...this...just intercepted 030 and now I need to turn and bank to a heading of 030 so that I can head to Osan, which is now only 52 miles away as indicated in the HSI.

Ok, turn completed, and now tracking the 030 radial enroute to Osan, straight ahead at 50 miles.

After a few minutes, we can see Osan dead ahead! Just 20 more miles. You may notice I've drifted a bit to the left and now actually flying a heading of 035 to overfly Osan. If drifting occurs, try to fiddle with the CRS dial on the HSI to fine tune the radial/course your are flying.

Time to change the TACAN channel on PanelB, change it to the SEOUL TACAN (046X).

You immediately see the results on the DED (Channel 46(X), with ILS freq 110.9)

Now it's time to steer the plane so that you ride the 016 radial to SEOUL...

(NOTE: Since Seoul TACAN seems to be weak/out of range at this point, there could be some time before your TCN and HSI can "see" it, so just fly a heading of around 020 until your HSI shows no red flags and you can see the radial. ...ok now we're flying directly to SEOUL International. It's only 28 miles to go. Again, if drifting occurs, try to fiddle with the CRS dial to fine tune the radial/course your are flying.

At a distance of about 20 miles, radio the tower, and make SURE you hear ("...good morning, this is SEOUL Tower...") otherwise, you know you totally messed up the TACAN values somewhere hehe. It's now time to go over your approach/landing checklist.

"...descend to 2000, maintain 220, turn left to final approach course 010..."...I extend the speedbrakes.

I fiddle around with the CRS button more to make sure I'm headed the right way, and of course, now setting the MODE knob on the INSTR panel to ILS! Remember your prelanding and final approach checklist!!!

...master arm off, landing lights, driftc/o...gear down...check AOA, check airspeed, check ILS beam align...so far so good!

...yikes...drifted to the left on approach, I need to correct to the right bit. Airspeed and AOA nominal...Rate of descent is a bit high...will try to compensate by dipping nose as I go.

Trying to nail the AOA, the airspeed and ROD. Nearly there!

And...Rodski has landed...well not exactly on the centerline, but hey, I'm on terra firma, safe and sound, and it was a greaser ...wheelbrakes...85 kts..NWS active...retract speedbrakes.

Welcome to Seoul International!

Park, A-L checklist...THE END!

I hope you found this guide useful. For me, knowing that the good ol' NAV radios in the Viper actually work somehow creates a "connection" between my civvie flightsimming and my combat flightsimming. It's actually very refreshing and

rewarding just to play around with some of the Viper's systems in non-combat situations, because sometimes you never know when you might need it in a real combat scenario. -RODION