Pilots Co Pilots Navigators 130 sim game

[Gary Davidson]

Ok I have a C130 simulator game. It starts with a cold bird you have to put the lights on start the GTC flip all kinds of battery switches etc etc. My knowledge of the 130 is Ive grown up in the Air Force and been around them all my life and thought this game would be fun . Little to my knowledge its been more of a challenge and still been fun. I have questions about the instruments like how does the directional indicator work to find out where in the world is the A/C going how or what do the pilots set the auto pilot on? The auto pilot I have has a few selections depending on what you want. My radio has several different options as well I know im vague on this discussion but if I wasnt so confused Id know more about what to ask lol. Ive taken off about 300 times and only landed on the runway 4 times cross landed the runway twice hard landed all the times lol and crashed all the rest. Any advice besides dont fly em at all would be really greatful. How long did it usually take to go from a cold 130 to being on the runway ready for takeoff anyways? Fastest Ive ever done it has been an hour and a half im worn out even before I start Once again thanks for any advice

[Gary Davidson]

Like I said Im more confussed whats the the 2 dials on the Horizontal Situation Indicators one says course set the othe is heading set .. whats the difference in the 2? Also Automatic direction finder controls what did you mainly set those on ugh so many knobs can get me in trouble thanks again for any help

[tusker]

Hello!! That's good. I ain't a Herk pilot but!!!.....When you land, check your rate of descent and speed. But you know, there's a lot of Herc pilots on this forum that could maybe give you a hand. The Herc is a beast!!!...........................John Boy

[NATOPS1]

HSI (course knob) Think of a bike tire with the spokes going out from the center to the wheel ("radial" straight line from hub to wheel...not crossed like your bike) 360 degrees in a circle and 360 "courses you can "dial" in.

So if you placed the hub of the wheel on the center of the airport (navigational radio) and you dial in (select a course on the HSI) you would fly that spoke into the airport.

So if the runway was say 360 if you dial in 360 and fly it straight in (course bar centered) you would fly right down the runway... then just set up a little descent (500-700 feet per minute) and touch down...

HSI (heading set) is a compass reading only. Select say 360 and turn the airplane to 360 and the airplane will be going (heading) in that direction...

With that said (360 heading) the course will be different if there is any wind from the left or right.

You will have to fly a (heading) other than 360 to maintain the 360 course....This heading will compensate for the push from the wind....

What simulator program are you using?

[Gary Davidson]

NATOPSI Im using Microsoft Flight Simulator X (10) Gold Edition and have C-130 Hercules as an add on by Just Flight can chk it out at www.captainsim.com. Its really cool it gives you several 130's some from CCK one from Little Rock even has Fat Albert of the Blue Angels with it being an English deal has a few from The Royal Air Force. An AC 130 gunship that you can fire guns shoot flares even JATO with Fat Albert. But since I cant land yet lol I better try and stick with just the basic stuff and try your ideas thanks for the help and even more advice will be greatly appreciated. Every time I see a 130 flying I tell myself they make it look easier then what it is my hats off to all who have ever crewed these planes Ive had more Fin stalls then I know what to do on final approach that made me crash guess I need more time itll come when things start clicking for my "pea brain" :)

[Gary Davidson]

Well landed at Tinker and didnt have the control tower tell me I wasnt cleared to land on that runway (which has happened to me before) so something must have clicked . I do have several questions though... when you guys fly these things whats a good cruise alt and cruise speed I havent set it up on any payload amount and also have it set for non useable fuel so I can fly anywhwere with out stopping lol What I did tonight was set my throttles just aboveflight idle condition levers on run. Next thing is when using the auto pilot do you use the heading set knob i guess the heading bug to turn the A/C or do you use the bank knob on the auto pilot? Do you guys turn your auto pilot on before taxiing or turn it in flight?

Not sure if this is right but on my auto pilot it has a power button a engage button a height button a track button and a glide button I do know that if I turn it on and engage it I set my height button and track button I cant do anything with the glide button if a real 130 has anything like that what does that glide button do? .. is for making landings simpler cos man the tower tells me to descend and turn turn to this heaDING im like stressin just to keep the thing level lol.

Also Radar Altitude what does it do besides mess with me on the controlability of the A/C did it unstabalize the control of a real 130 if so how do you fix it lol.

Anyone know of a TCAS radar system or is just part of the game

Ok my NAV1 makes beeping noises I have a tower like radio it has 5 stages 1 is NAV1 it was set on 113.70another is NAV2 set on 110.65... 2 VHFs one is 132.500 the other is 130.800

128.250 127.900

then I have an ADF that has a loop turn knob a sharp and broad toggle switch a BFO and off toggle switch the a selector switch that has off ADF and loop my ADF numbers are 0284.0 with 3 rotating knobs under that really confussing but if someone could try and put it in plain english it might make a little more sense to me .

On my flaps with 0 load should it be ok to to land that way or what % would you recomened.

what do you look at upon final approach all instruments only or at the runway itsself theings happen so fast for me it makes my plane look like its going in and out of a valley .

When the tower says expect vectors ILS runway 35 approach is he speaking english whats he telling me?

One last thing about my auto pilot it has a selector knob one for GPS I know that one VOR/ ILS1 VOR / ILS2 and HDG what did or do you guys put it on or does it make a difference?

I know its a long post but man im confussed on alot of things and try to come to where I know someone could help me I would have loved to be a pilot but some can and some can not I was one of the can nots

[A Squared]

When the tower says expect vectors ILS runway 35 approach is he speaking english whats he telling me?

One last thing about my auto pilot it has a selector knob one for GPS I know that one VOR/ ILS1 VOR / ILS2 and HDG what did or do you guys put it on or does it make a difference?

The selector selects between navigation with the GPS and Navigation with a VOR or ILS. In other words, it selects where the CDI (Course deviation indicator, the vertical bar in the center of your HSI) gets it's information.

NATOPS describes what the VOR is, but be aware that you don't always find them at the center of the airport. Tinker, being an AFB, doesn't have one.

There are a couple of VORs in the area of Tinker:

The Wiley Post VOR is located 14 miles North West of Tinker. t's frequency is 113.4. If you dial that frequency into your NAV1 radio and select VOR/ILS 1, you should be able to track the radials, or "spokes" of that VOR.

There is another VOR about 11 miles west-southwest of Tinker, the Will Rogers VOR, Frequency 114.1

ILS is the Instrument Landing System. This is a NAVaid which will help you line up on a runway. Unlike the VOR, there is only one possible "spoke" to follow (the LOCalizer), and it is aligned with the runway centerline. The ILS also has a "glideslope" which is a radio beam which will lead you down to the runway in sloping path, usually around 3 degrees. The Glideslope causes another bar to show up on your HSI which will tell you if you're above or below the glide slope.

If you keep the left/right bar (Localizer) and the up down bar (Glideslope) centered, the ILS will lead you right down to the runway threshold.

Not all runways have ILS's.

At Tinker, there is an ILS for runway 35. The frequency is 109.5. Here is a chart or "approach plate" for the ILS approach to Runway 35 ILS RWY 35

There is also a ILS for Runway 17 (the same runway, opposite direction) That frequency is 111.3. ILS RWY 17

When the controller ells you "expect vectors to ILS 35" It meas that he wil give you a series of compass headings to fly, which if you follow, will position you to intercept the LOCalizer for the ILS RWY 35 approach. His "vectors" will place you on the localizer approximately 7 miles South of the airport, and at an altitude which will place you below the glideslope (generally 1500 ft higher then the airport, or about 2800 ft MSL for Tinker) so that as you fly inbound on the localizer the glideslope will come town to you (the GS bar will start to come down from the top of the HSI)

The heading knob on the HSI sets the "heading bug", a little tab, which can be set on any heading around the HSI. This can be used as a quick reference for maintaining a desired compass heading when flying by hand (Keep the "bug" centered on the top of the HSI) or when using the autopilot, if heading mode is selected on the autopilot, it will maintain the airplane on whatever compass heading the "bug" is set to.

[Gary Davidson]

Thank you so much for all the advice . Ihave used it all and am still in the process of trying to learn more about the side of aligning myself on the runwa and also maintaing the altitude with out alot of jarring on the A/C controls. In about 2 months I will be setting it up to start using fuel so I will be watchful of that so I can set a flight plan from Dyess to somewhere in Maine to Mildenhall England and hopefully land in both places on the correct runways. I know this sim isnt the real deal but for someone who has never flown but has been around the C-130 it really puts what I would think would be some realism into the life of those who have crewed these airplanes.