Speed brake in F-18

1st Official Post

    Firstly, thank you very much for the F-18 manual. It is very clear and helpful; the F-18 is good to fly.

    But (there is always a but) I am having difficulty turning the Speed Brake (Airbrake) on or off. In the manual it says "Use the mouse wheel over this switch to increase or decrease the airbrake position." I have tried this using the mouse but all I see is the icon for the left mouse button. Nothing in the speed brake (SB) area shows a mouse wheel symbol.

    I have printed out page 5 of the manual to see if I can find the SB button (it is not very easy to spot) but nothing seems to make the SB move. I have made sure the flaps are fully retracted so there should not be any impediment to it extending. Is the fact the mouse shows a left mouse button not a mouse wheel significant?

    Could the colour of the SB button on the throttle be made a lighter shade of grey so it is more visible, please?

    Apart from that, a really good aircraft, Thank You.

    Regards,

    Tregarth

    • Official Post

    Which version are you using? Steam or DVD?

    It's this rocker switch on the throttle...

    From above you kind of need to aim here:

    You can either use the mouse wheel over that area or hold down the left mouse button and drag the switch.

    You need to keep scrolling for a bit to move the switch or keep the switch held in one position for the speedbrake to move.

    Alternatively you can also assign buttons to the airbrake, which comes in handy for many aircraft. I can recommend the # or / key for extension (depending on your keyboard layout) and shift+# or shift+/ for retracting it. But you can chose what ever you want really.

    Jet-Pack,

    Thank you for your reply, I am using Win 10 and downloaded the program from AeroFly.

    I have found the button (it is nearly invisible, a change of colour would be very helpful). The pilot can find the brake button by touch, but simmers cannot so I think a change of colour would be beneficial.

    I have left clicked the button, nothing happens. I held the mouse on the button until the mouse icon faded away, neither the button nor the speed brake moved, I have rotated the mouse wheel on the button, the button "judders" back and fro but the speed brake does not move.

    I can assign a joystick button to speed brake, but if using VR that will not be very realistic and does not seem to work anyway. From what I can see the button is not connected to the speed brake.

    Regards,

    Tregarth.

    • Official Post

    You have to hold down the mouse button to grab it then move the mouse to drag the switch along with it. When you are over the switch it should show you a mouse icon that can do both a left mouse button and a scrollwheel action.

    When you're using vr, do you also have vt hands or do you just use vr and mouse?

    If you keep your head centered and don't move closer, does this improve the situation with the mouse?

    Jan,

    Sorry about the delay in replying. I have put the mouse over the speed brake button (SBB), the cursor changes to a left mouse button. I can drag the SBB and can see it "Judder" but that is all it does. I have used keyboard 3 for an outside look, the speed brake does not move. Similarly, I have moused over the SBB and moved the scroll wheel, again the button "judders" but nothing else happens.

    As I have said before the SBB is very hard to see, could it be made a more visible colour and the "click spot" more accessible?

    When I am using VR I do not use the mouse, I use the blue hands. That is the reason I bought a VR headset. I can understand using the keyboard for "non-flying commands", P is useful when the phone rings, Esc when my meal is ready but the speed brake is very definitely a flying command and so should be operable by the "blue hands". To make the trim wheel in the Cessna work in VR I had to disconnect my Sitek X-52 joystick. I have tried this in the F-18 but it had no improvement.

    I find it strange that the AeroFly blurb says

    "Grab the controls with your virtual hands and you will believe that you are actually flying

    Native support for Oculus Rift und HTC Vive without any additional software". But the picture of the pilot in the advert in PCPilot and website shows him using a stick and throttle!

    Regards,

    Tregarth

    • Official Post

    Hi Tregarth,

    we're trying to make every combination work:

    VR hands and VR headset,

    Mouse + VR headset,

    Stick/Yoke and throttle quadrant with VR or non VR and of course

    Mouse + 2D and also

    Touch Screen + 2D.

    All these combinations should work just fine on their own. If you're using VR hands and a throttle quadrant then make sure that you're throttle quadrant deadzones are set high enough. Otherwise it constantly interferes. The speedbrake in the F-18 only extends when the throttle is at idle for example and only if you don't have a slider assigned for the speedbrake that constantly overwrites your inputs. It should be fine when you set a deadzone on that slider but depending on the device it is better to just unplug it or to disable it in the controller settings.