Asobo, I hope you’re reading this because it’s breaking the experience for me!
I love jets and I love MSFS20
Under the Legacy model, the FA-18 can hit mach 1 at sea level (just like real life) and hit its top speed of mach 1.6 when really high.
However, things change when you switch to the Modern model which I believe is more accurate as far as the aircraft’s banking, pitch and roll is concerned. But there’s a major problem: it won’t hit mach 1 even at 1000-3000 feet! It takes forever to reach mach 0.98 at sea level which isn’t true for the real Super Hornet - it can hit mach 1-1.1 at the deck.
Also, with the Modern model, it takes TOO long for the aircraft to even hit mach 1.5 at, say, 25000 feet or even 35000-40000 feet. It barely hits mach 1.6! The real jet is very fast and can easily break the sound barrier at sea level and hit mach 1.8+ at height with relative ease.
Can the parameters please be adjusted under the Modern model? The speeds and acceleration are not accurate and it’s really breaking the game for me.
LOL, I wouldn’t be able to hit mach 1.4-1.5 without it, now would I?
Which flight model are you using and how long does it take to hit mach 1.6+? What altitude?
Are you able to achieve a sonic boom at sea level?
Did you read my full post? I mentioned I can hit sonic boom at sea level using the Legacy model and achieve mach 1.6 at height easily with the same model.
Why is the AB implementation so bad for you? Just hold the A button down - at 80% let go and hold it again to engage ABs. You need a toggle on the real aircraft too to engage ABs.
Back on topic. Any settings in the game or the aircraft to make it go faster and hit it’s top speed like the real thing? Love the modern model but don’t like how you can’t achieve sonic booms at low heights.
Absolutely not with ease. You may get there with a clean airplane (which you obviously have in the sim) but it will empty your tanks until you‘re that fast. Typical max mach with external load, the tank(s) already dropped and the wish to RTB is 1.1 maybe 1.2 on a good day. Clean you wouldn‘t go MUCH faster. 1.8 is hilarious at best, that‘s not a cold war interceptor aircraft. If you get to 1.4 or 5 between 30-40000 feet you‘re already pushing it.
Check the drag and engine model with supercruise. It requires nozzle management but 1.1 with AB off is possible.
It’s completely unrealistic and breaks the experience for me in the same way that performance does for you. Afterburner should be selected and controlled by throttle position alone, why is that so difficult for Asobo?
There’s no ‘button’ on the real aircraft, at least the legacy ones. It has finger-lifts but they’re only effective with weight on wheels.
I haven‘t touched the MSFS hornet even once but the hornet (the real one) can supercruise (fly faster than Mach 1 without afterburner). The engine nozzle is key, you push it over Mach1 with AB on, turn it off and manage your engine so that the ram air keeps the nozzle open, over 85-90%. Mil power with nozzle open will keep you over M 1.0. if the MSFS hornet can‘t do that I wouldn‘t expect the rest of it to be simulated correctly.
In that case, your comments do not help one bit, sorry. I could have googled all that. The post is for those playing the game and finding the aircraft’s speeds to be inaccurate at various altitudes.
Please play the game’s Hornet before posting anything as that would help.
Also you keep assuming that I’m a fighter pilot or well versed in all these terms…
Can you explain in layman terms what nozzle management is? What am I doing wrong I’m the game that’s preventing the hornet from reaching supersonic speeds at low altitudes? Like I said, legacy flight model fixes the issue but I don’t like how the jet behaves.
You‘re not doing anything wrong when the plane isn‘t simulated correctly. If it is, it will work. Your statements about what the airplane has to do or not let me assume that you know a bit about it. Sorry if I got that wrong.
I have of course never flown the real airplane and only know it from DCS, a lot of reading and what a friend told me who flew it for two years on an exchange program with the US Navy.
According to all that the engine nozzle (the round thing behind the engines that opens and closes) is controlled by aur pressure that streams through the engines. With high dynamic pressure (at high speeds) this air keeps the nozzle wide open even if the AB is off and the normal mil power setting would close the nozzles. Open nozzles provide more thrust. You can‘t break the sound barrier like that in level flight but once you are there you can remain a certain speed. It requires carefull play with the throttles and an eye on the IFEI.
Back to the MSFS hornet it‘s a very simplified model to suit the wish of going supersonic and to prepare the sim for the background requirements for this Maverick addon. Afterburner, sonic boom, etc. If the Hornet can‘t do what the real plane can do then it‘s pointless to try it. I deleted the plane as I didn‘t care about it so I won‘t try it out. But if you want to, accelerate to Mach 1.2 or so around 30000ft and cut the AB. Check the nozzle position below the fuel indicator. If it stays at 100% monitor your Mach. If the nozzle remains open and the speed drops below M1.0 you know it‘s probably not right. If the nozzle closes slowly, add a bit of thrust. Maybe try 1.3. In DCS this is done correctly and quite free of bugs atm and can be done correctly.
Just a heads up - in real life, the Super Hornet has a very difficult time even breaking Mach 1 from sea level to around 10,000 feet even with afterburner. If there are any stores on the aircraft (if it has any weapons, tanks or pylons hanging off it), it is a subsonic aircraft only down low, and may be able to break Mach 1 at high altitudes and only in full A/B. Compared to the legacy hornets, it is indeed a slower and more draggy aircraft.
The in-game implemntation does feel underpowered compared to what we expect of something called a “Super” Hornet, but the real world counterpart behaves similarly. In some ways (low speed acceleration, mid-range thrust, etc), the in-game version has too much thrust, if you can believe that.
The density of the air is higher at low altitudes. Concorde could also beat Mach 2 only above 60.000ft and under specific weather conditions for a limited part of the trip for instance.
Just map the afterburner to your throttle position in the option menu. That’s what I did, and now the afterburner kick in when the throttle is past 80%. No need to press any other buttons.
what are FSX conversion planes? the last time I played FS was on the Macintosh back in the 90s! So care to explain? I read somewhere that Asobo recommends using the Legacy model with the Hornet. The speeds seem accurate with that model, but not so sure about the low speed maneuvering and slow roll and pitch after 560+ TAS or so.
