Distance displays in the F-18 HUD

  • I am trying to understand the HUD in the F-19. If I am at KLAX with the ILS tuned to 109.90 I see ILAX and a distance in the HUD. But when I fly a circuit I suddenly see this change to IMKZ and a different distance. Also, there is a green arrow which seems to have a mind of its own, it seems to point to anything but I cannot find which radio nav aid seems to control it.

    I have a Saitek radio panel which tunes the NAV1 very nicely but the NAV2 switch has no effect on the green arrow. At one point I thought it could be used as a VOR but that didn't work.

    Also, I have tried to land at KLAS and KLSV but although I have the ILS tuned (the ILS bars show in the HUD) the distance to the airfield does not show. Is there a way to make the distance show, please? The distances do not show in the C-172 display either.

    The detail in the scenery is truly marvellous and the display in the HUD of the ILS bars and E caret is really good, can the lack of distance display be corrected?

    Thank you

    • Official Post

    The distance display works correctly it's the real world data that is the issue here. Airports like KLAX have the same ILS frequency for both runway directions. IRL they turn on just one of them, in the sim we turn in the one that is the most relevant at the time. That means if you are at the approach end of one runway you'll get the ILS for that runway and if you fly a pattern you are suddenly on the other side and thus the received station is the other approach end and the ILS station switches. That is only an issue where in they didn't bother to give each runway a different ILS frequency in real life.

    There are currently three green arrows in the HUD of the F18... Which one do you mean?

    The one in the center that is attached to the flight path vector is a small HSI. That arrow represents the tuned TACAN station (tactical air navigation, similar to a VOR).

    The one at the top points to the direction of the next waypoint. And the huge pull up arrow points towards the sky if you are about to crash into terrain.

    https://www.aerofly.com/dokuwiki/doku.php/aircraft:f18

    If I remember correctly I set it up so that NAV1 controls the ILS receiver of the F18 and NAV2 controls the TACAN receiver frequency.

    Not all ILSes have a DME. Can you confirm that you see a DME inside the cockpit but not inside your Saitek panel?

  • Thank you for your reply. Please see the attached screen grab:

    For info, I am on approach to LAX RWY 06R with the TCN set to 113.60 the LAX VOR

    My questions are:

    1. What is the small arrow?

    2. What is the big arrow?

    3. 8 / Number, this changes but I cannot understand why.

    4. What is the diamond for?

    5. What does TGT mean?

    Finally I can see that to make a screen grab I should use F12 which I did, but I cannot find it in my hard drive so I have used FRAPS, Snipping Tool and Paint.

    This plane is very enjoyable to fly and the HUD is very clear and easy to read, Thank you.

    Tregarth

    • Official Post

    I see the wiki link I posted was broken. Please check the wiki it explains most of your questions...

    https://www.aerofly.com/dokuwiki/doku.php/aircraft:f18

    Short:

    1.small arrow is HSI to current TACAN station. Arrow points to the station (VOR from/to)

    2. big arrow points to target (4.)... as of right now the target is always the next waypoint in your flight plan. You can turn this off by pressing the waypoint target designator as shown in the wiki

    3. "8" is the number of degrees that you need to turn to fly towards target. Can point down or up too. So it's the angle between your current flight vector and the one you're need to fly to get to the target

    4. selected target (next waypoint). The one at the top is indeed the required track that you need to fly.

    5. TGT = target. The number 2.0 is the distance in nautical miles to the target (next wpt)

    LAX is the TACAN station that is received. In this case the "LAX" VOR, 2.5 nautical miles away

  • Thank you for this. Your F-18 is a lot better and more "user friendly" than DCS's.

    It is a shame such a good HUD is only used in the F-18, it would be really good in another aircraft as well (such as a T-45 Goshawk). If it were used elsewhere then the hard work and time used would be well worth it. Just a thought.

    Regards,

    Tregarth

  • Thank you for this. Your F-18 is a lot better and more "user friendly" than DCS's.

    Thats no comparision. DCS does feature an in depth F/A-18 simulator, rather than a toy to fly around. Having flown the F18 simulators in Payerne, I prefer systems depth and flying by the book. Each aircraft has its own HUD. Neither the F16, F15 HUD nor anyone else is identical IRL, it should not be in the sim. That why it is called simulator after all. Take Warthunder, there you can fly hundreds of planes with the same HUD, same HOATS settings and same features ...

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