F-15 HUD pitch ladder

[Chonmage]

On the F-15 HUD, what is the pitch- ladder-thing pointing to? Even if I fly concisely between waypoints using straight and level flight, the pitch-ladder-thing wants to slide off to the side. If I fly in some seemingly random direction, I can center it. This is annoying. I tried banging the HUD with my fist, but it doesn`t work.

thx.

[Chonmage]

On the F-15 HUD, what is the pitch- ladder-thing pointing to? Even if I fly concisely between waypoints using straight and level flight, the pitch-ladder-thing wants to slide off to the side. If I fly in some seemingly random direction, I can center it. This is annoying. I tried banging the HUD with my fist, but it doesn`t work.

thx.

[Precog]

Pitch ladder off to one side gives an indication of wind direction. Apparently this is correctly modelled.

Check Six!

The Meatrix - Red or Blue? (http://www.themeatrix.com)

http://gwwalter.customer.netspace.net.au/precog_sig.jpg

[Cobra_169th]

Precog is spot on ... the reason it centers in only two directiosnis when you are flying directly into or away from the wind (ie zero crosswind!)

[Chonmage]

Right on! thx.

[plastic_penguin]

.... or if you have an engine failure.. The IRS will see difference between heading and track and associate that with a drift similar to the eeffect of wind.... until you trim the rudder

[Mauleflyer]

I don't think it has anything really to do with "the wind". It is indicating wether you are flying coordidated or not. For example, the nose of your aircraft can be pointed left or right even though you are moving a straight track across the ground. The pitch ladder would then be off to one side or the other. In other words you are not trimmed properly (rudder). Use your rudder trim to center the pitch ladder while in level flight. Also try to keep the pitch ladder centered in a turn with the rudder. I don't know how the aircraft could be calculating the wind direction without the use of GPS or Doppler Radar and then moving the pitch ladder. Besides what good would that do you?

[olaleier]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mauleflyer:
I don't know how the aircraft could be calculating the wind direction without the use of GPS or Doppler Radar and then moving the pitch ladder. Besides what good would that do you?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The F-15C has a INS, Inertial Navigation System that determines where it's going by the forces acting on it. It is extremely accurate and can easily determine if the plane is drifting in crosswind.

What good does this do you?

Well, it makes compensating for crosswind in navigation a piece of cake, compared to those silly charts and math in civil aviation.

Also on landing, put the velocity vector on the numbers and *yawn*. http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/images/smiley/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

In Falcon 4 there is a switch to turn on/off wind correction on the HUD, which I assume is present on the real aircraft as well.

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