How to Take Off on an Aircraft Carrier in FSX
Aircraft carriers use a steam catapult to accelerate aircraft from a standstill to over 100 nautical miles per hour. If you want to try this exhilarating means of taking off without enlisting, Microsoft's Flight Simulator X, when played with the "Acceleration" expansion pack, includes a number of scenarios designed to let you experience it from the comfort of your home computer.
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Instructions
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Start Microsoft Flight Simulator from the "Games" section of the start menu, and navigate to "Missions." Center your joystick, with the throttle set to idle, and then choose the mission "Rocket Launch Air Cover." You'll find yourself on an aircraft carrier, ready for takeoff.
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Move your throttle lever all the way forward. If you don't have a throttle built into your joystick, press the "F4" key to turn both engines to full power. Press "s" to cycle to an outside view to verify the afterburners are on --- they'll be visible as large flames shooting out of the engine's exhaust nozzles.
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Press "F8" to lower the flaps, and use the outside view to confirm the flaps were fully lowered. This will give you increased lift, the force that draws your airplane up against gravity. Because you have such a short length of time to gain airspeed, you'll need as much lift as you can get.
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Cycle back to the cockpit view by pressing "s" until you see the aircraft from the inside once more. Now press the "shift" key and the spacebar simultaneously to fire the catapult. The F/A-18 will now hurtle forward, and will probably sink a little once it has left the deck of the carrier. As soon as you start to feel the aircraft sink, press "g" to retract the landing gear.
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Pull gently back on your joystick to raise the nose of the aircraft. If you pull back too quickly, you can cause a stall where the airflow over the wings is disrupted and the aircraft crashes before you have a chance to recover. Build up speed and altitude, retracting the flaps when you've reached a comfortable speed.
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References
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