F/A 18 Hornet adding waypoints on the fly and Using the Autopilot to navigate them

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

Yesterday Gunther showed me how to add waypoints to the Hornet while in the plane, unlike some plane where the waypoints are defined in the mission editor.

 

Assuming that the plane has been started and the INS is set to NAV.

 

Pick an MFD (the right one may be most useful but any will do)

Left click on center bottom row button until you see SUPT on the screen above it (once or twice)

Left click on HSI (left buttons second from the bottom) this will bring up the compass rose

Left click on DATA (Top row of buttons 5th from the left)

 

This will show you details of the currently selected waypoint. Usually if its waypoint 0, it should be showing your initial waypoint.

 

Press f10 for the map and move the cursor to each waypoint you want to input, wherever the cursor is on the map you can see the long and lat in the top right hand corner. Note the ones you want to use. As an example from Batumi I have noted the following coordinates

 

Waypoint 1 N42 09 29  E40 43 54

Waypoint 2 N43 56 59 E42 38 35

Waypoint 3 N44 08 37 E40 25 53

Waypoint 4 N43 26 18 E39 56 23

 

Press F1 to return to the cockpit, use * to zoom into the right MFD and the central NUMPAD

Press the button beside the up arrow on the right hand side second from the top, the number between the up and down arrows should be 1

Press top button Left side of MFD marked UFC this will bring up POSN, ELEV, GRID and O/S between the MFD and the NUMPAD

Press the button to the right of POSN, two small circles will appear in the panel above 123 buttons

Press 2 (for N) then the numbers 420929 then press ENT The numbers should clear from the little panel and appear on the right MFD

Press 6 (for E) hen the numbers 404354 then press ENT. The numbers should clear from the little panel and appear on the right MFD

Press the button beside the up arrow on the right hand side second from the top, the number between the up and down arrows should be 2

Press 2 (for N) then the numbers 435659 then press ENT The numbers should clear from the little panel and appear on the right MFD

Press 6 (for E) hen the numbers 423835 then press ENT. The numbers should clear from the little panel and appear on the right MFD

Press the button beside the up arrow on the right hand side second from the top, the number between the up and down arrows should be 3

Press 2 (for N) then the numbers 432618 then press ENT The numbers should clear from the little panel and appear on the right MFD

Press 6 (for E) hen the numbers 395623 then press ENT. The numbers should clear from the little panel and appear on the right MFD

 

At this point you waypoints have been input into the planes navigating sytem

 

Now lets move to the lower center MFD

Left click on center bottom row button until you see SUPT on the screen above it (once or twice)

Left click on HSI (left buttons second from the bottom) this will bring up the map on the screen

Left click on MODE (left buttons third from the bottom) this will bring up the compass rose

 

Lets take a second to familiarise our selves with this instrument

first look for the heading indicator (2 small squares joined together just outside the numbers)

Also look HSEL bottom left under the time

Above the buttons on the left and right are switches marked HDG and CRS

Using the up and down buttons on the right (2nd and 3rd from the top) change the waypoint till you see 1

On the compass rose a triangle will appear indicatingthe heading needed to get us to waypoint 1 (if you are zoomed in you will see a circle and a dot in the triangle

left or right click on the HDG switch to move the heading indicator to align with the point of the triangle (the HSEL info will now indicate the heading)

Normalise your view out of the canopy with a view of the numpad

Now take off, once in stable flight, press A/P just below the NUMPAD, ATTH, HSEL, BALT and RALT should appear between the numpad and right MFD.

Once you are at an altitude you are happy with press the button to the left of BALT, once the plane has levelled off press HSEL. The plane will now bank to line up with the heading you selected earlier.

 

By changing the waypoint number on the HSI and matching the heading indicator to the waypoint heading you can navigate to you objective.

 

I will edit this for errors, so please point out any mistakes I have made.