After Hours – F-117 & Jetfighter II

Individually, these products are hard to find in shops as they have been replaced with newer offerings. Now, these two simulations, plus Gunship 2000, are offered as a package for about $90 which is usually the price of a single simulation. If you do not have these simulations and are interested in developing your skills, purchase of this product is highly recommended, as despite the “age” of the simulations, each still has a considerable amount to offer.

Velocity’s Jetfighter II

This is the first simulation to tackle, as it provides a really smooth set of controls and the aircraft is consequently quite easy to fly. The frame rate and the number of images presented per second is quite high as the game has fewer features to support -more of that later.

To my mind, Jetfighter II also has one of the best of the cockpit viewing systems. To look around the aircraft, you “pan” using presses on the “7” and “9” keys, with the “5” returning you to the forward view.

Conversion on type is done with a combination of a fairly comprehensive manual and a “free flight” option that allows you to select the time of day, the location from which to depart or land, and the number of “bandit” aircraft that will try to claim you if you don’t get them first. There is no “reality” mode and the aircraft is always simply modelled without difficult characteristics such as inverse drag at slow speeds. Despite its simplicity, this conversion method is surprisingly effective. If you set the number of bandits to zero so you don’t get harassed on short finals, you can practice at your leisure.

Choose one of the longer airfields such as Vandenberg AFB. Note the runway direction, then light up the engines by pressing the “+”key. Release the brakes, press the “0” key for 100% power, rotate to plus 10 degrees at 150kts and you will soon be airborne. Lift the gear below 300kts, put on 60 degrees of left bank and keep the nose up about plus 10 degrees. Cut the power to 50% with the “5” key on the main keyboard, then roll out on downwind anticipating the reciprocal of the runway heading by about 25 degrees. Level the wings and the pitch attitude and pan left to find the runway. Press the “R” key to cycle the radar range to 15 miles and see the purple dot of home base. Select 40% power and bring the speed below 350kts, and dangle the Dunlops. Proceed downwind to about 7 miles, then turn base using 45 degrees of bank -you are slower than the upwind turn and therefore can make the same turn radius at a lower bank angle. Use the pan controls before reaching the runway heading to seethe runway and adjust the rollout onto finals.

Fine tune the approach speed to below 250kts with the “+ and -” keys, bleeding back to a threshold speed of 180kts. About 37% is a good setting for an F-23. Flare slightly before touchdown, then after the bird is firmly settled, use the air brake to slow below 70kts, then the wheel brakes. Keep straight with rudders, and come to a stop. Whew! With this simulation, you can practice circuits until you are an overconfident expert. Then try carrier landings, which many people tell me are impossible. All it takes is skill and perseverance. Jetfighter II makes it possible by giving you an option to place your aircraft on mid finals and letting you try from there, which saves a lot of time and agony positioning with circuits. The secret of carrier landings is precision control of the approach path and speed. If you find using ailerons to change the direction difficult, cheat by using the rudders – it works every time, but is less “professional”.

On short finals make sure you are headed for the wires. Don’t try to correct minor faults or to flare, but “wave off” if you are on a collision course with the ramp or the superstructure.

When you are getting about 50% of successful “traps”, try flying circuits from the catapult. Immediately after launch, lift the nose positively to avoid the water. Then fly a normal circuit. Use the ILS facility to position, but be aware that its reading regarding the centreline is reversed until you are heading towards the ship. Persevere-it can be done and done consistently if you use standard circuit techniques to set up a precision approach.

Air-to-air simulation is quite good. Use the Freeflight mode to practice, selecting two bandits to start with- they become progressively more skilled and aggressive and if you wish to practice an approach and landing, avoid the third as it takes time and skill to defeat this ace.

Finding the bandits is difficult without the map function. Press “M” to show the map. Since the aircraft continues to fly while you are working out how to make an interception, you need to ensure the aircraft is under control before selecting this option. Bandits are shown as red aircraft, and using the 360 degree heading system, you can determine an approximate intercept path. In the first instance, try for a head to head using an AIM-120 as the weapon.

With the radar on 30 mile range press “T” to target the radar returns. When an identification is received, fly to about the same altitude, keeping a couple of thousand feet lower if possible. Head directly towards the target and when the diamond is shown inside the HUD target identification box and “IN RNG is shown, fire! The main use for Jetfighter II is for training, so the battle scenario will not be described. Airto ground simulation is quite weak by comparison with the other products, but try it as an introduction to better-modelled simulations. Forget high angle bombing-fly in a 20 degree dive towards the target box and pickle the bombs at point blank range- it works every time. Toconclude, Jetfighter II is an excellent introductory trainer for circuits, carrier approaches and landings and air-to-air combat. Air-to-ground is too simple, but other simulations such as F-117 Nighthawk, cover this function.

Microprose’s F-117 Nighthawk

This simulation is actually a second generation rewrite of the earlier F-19 Stealth Fighter simulator that was based on information coming from the scant descriptions of the F-117. This aircraft, often called the “Wobbly Goblin”, emerged from its veil of secrecy to be a star of the Gulf War.

F-117 Nighthawk offers two versions of the aircraft. The “real” aircraft is not equipped with air-to-air weapons, but to deny a simulation of the opportunity of enemy aircraft becoming mushrooming fireballs as yet another MiG bites the dust would be commercial suicide. If you have a bent towards reality, this option is available, but the missions are also curtailed.

The real strength of this simulation is its ability to communicate the tension and excitement of a single stealth mission into hostile territory with an adversary of varying competence. Opposite (1) Almost all modem aircraft simulators have full mission “briefings” where the player selects the theatre, threat level and type of operation. F-117 is particularly comprehensive in this area as can be seen in this pic.

(2) in F-117 Nighthawk, while the computer will select a recommended weapons mix, it is up to the player to optimise the payload for the mission. Quite often certain weapons will not be available, just to make life that little bit more interesting.

(3) Once airborne, low and slow is the order of the day, in this case the pilot files at 210 feet whilst tracking a Libyan MIG-25.

(4) Lock On! Turning onto the target for a firing run, the pilot prepares to launch a Maverick at the secondary target.

(5) in common with other flight simulators, the F-117 Nighthawk has been endowed with a few hitherto unknown qualities, such as the ability to make arrested carrier landings! Here, the aircraft is just about to take the wire on USS America, somewhere in the Mediterranean. Notice the “Trackcam’ on the right CRT, providing an enlarged and more accurate view of the carrier, which greatly improves definition for a more accurate landing.

(6) Jetfighter’s F-23 lined up on the threshold. Jetfighter provides a very good introduction to computer aircraft simulators and is a good training platform. (7) A major flaw in computer simulations is the ability to project only a small field of vision. Jetfighter Il combats this by panning the screen to the left or right, in this case enabling the runway to be kept in view while on base leg. (8) On finals after a successful training mission. Jetfighter is an excellent simulation on which to practice circuits and carrier approaches.

Unlike the newer games, the results of each mission do not form part of the fabric of the grand battle, but you do get rewarded by increasing your rank as you successfully return from each flight.

The simulation is set some time in the future, and has some nicely crafted elements as a result. One of the significant difficulties in simulations is portraying on a screen cues for the human eye and mind to find a target and position for an attack. In the case of a carrier or a runway, the orientation, while geometrically correct, is usually too coarse to allow a correction to be made until it is too late – very frustrating.

F-117 overcomes this problem by providing a “Track Cam” that when selected gives a magnified picture of the target and its orientation. Use this to line up on a target, runway or carrier. This facility is very useful when approaching a carrier on a random heading. Until I discovered this method I was often driven to utter rude words when attempting to land on the carrier, desperately short of fuel, only to find I was approaching towards the sharp end. Believe me, there are no wire traps to be made from this direction and you have to go round or eject. If Jetfighter II is disappointing in the weapons simulation area, F-117 makes up for it by coming comprehensively equipped. Bundling simulations where one makes up for a weakness of the other is a brilliant marketing ploy. Train on Jetfighter II, then fight on F-117.

Where most games are designed to be “shoot-em-up”, F-117 is something of an “open misere” of flying wargames. The objective is to slide undetected into the target, shoot from out of nowhere, then disappear. After considerable conditioning to shoot everything that moves, this is a difficult approach to accept. Often, as you detect an enemy aircraft approaching directly towards you, you need to slow down and hug the ground, when every instinct says fight or run like hell. If you keep your nerve, it works. If you break and manage to scrape through, you will find the target area swarming with pestilent enemy aircraft. Every radar in the area will be alight, looking to warm up your life. When that happens, you have to be triply smart to survive, or swallow your pride and slink home to the barbed remarks of your peers as you reveal a “no score” mission.

This simulation was one of the first to introduce comprehensive mission briefings. The introduction shows the now familiar crew quarters, mission briefing, armament hangars, even a detailed taxi sequence. All the missions are random selections of targets, and all the ground forces, radar systems, missile boats and so forth are modelled. To be successful, you need to pay close attention to the location and type of radars. Pulse radars you approach directly, doppler radars are bypassed radially.

Careful selection of weapons and fuel is required. While you will be offered a suggested configuration, you can often improve on the mix, making trade offs between weapons and fuel. I like to use terrain screening by sneaking in through valleys at 200 feet. This tactic uses more fuel, which can be a scarce commodity if you try to cut and run to survive. There is no afterburner, but non-linear fuel consumption is modelled so slower speed is rewarded by longer range.

During mission planning, you can route out your waypoints, positioning them to avoid the worst of the defences. Once airborne, one of the Multi Function Displays (MFDs) is used to show either a tactical map or a geographic map with overlaid threats. By selective zooming, the worst of the threats can be bypassed.

As mentioned before, the other MFD is used for navigation and target advice, the latter using the Tack Cam facility. Intelligence from an AWACS is assumed, and there is a constant stream of incoming data, shown as a banner line of text. Toggling between targets is possible, and if your rules of engagement allow, you can select additional targets for additional scores.

Training is quite well catered for. Allow some time to read the comprehensive manual, especially in weapons use as it is very frustrating to select a weapon, then reach a rapid panic on the final approach to the target, release and miss because you did not understand the aiming and release cues. There is a plethora of weapon types, and maximum effectiveness will be achieved only if the weapon is matched to the target.

You can fly a training mission by pressing “ALTT. You then have immunity from interception and crashes, and you can get unlimited resupply of fuel and weapons while airborne, but the mission will not count towards your promotion scores.

The other way of training is to select an easy theatre of operations. Libya is quite tame, while East Germany is horrendous. The documentation describes each area so that you can work out what grading to use to advance at the same or slower rate as the improvement of your skills.

Flight controls are quite smooth, considering the complexity of the simulation. There are three grades of difficulty, which when mixed with the battle theatres, yield a set of selections that provide a wide range of challenge. One of the interesting quirks is that “Easy Landings”, the middle selection, also provides a mode that allows automatic flight at 200 feet.

Be warned though, it is not terrain following and will not overcome a dive into the ground or flight into a mountain. This mode does allow you to concentrate on the interaction between the enemy weapons systems and your aircraft without you having to spend all your time on hand flying, so it is useful, especially in the earlier phases of the conversion process.

Over a period of a couple of months, this simulation became my favourite pastime, and I eventually managed to successfully penetrate the East German defences and take out my assigned targets. Rarely did I manage to come home unscathed though, and often I limped home on one engine, or had to eject. You only get to lose three aircraft before all you are allowed to fly is a desk. You then have to requalify, stating as a new Second Lieutenant pilot.

Overall, F-117 is an exciting and well crafted simulation. In recent months, it has been overtaken by more complex simulations. Notwithstanding, it has the capability to capture your imagination and make you concentrate for hours on end while you seek the elusive goal of making a surgical strike, undetected and unmarked.

Conclusion

I have not tested Gunship 2000, as I purchased Jetfighter II and F-117 Nighthawk as separate simulations. Comanche Maximum Overkill, another helicopter simulation will be reviewed in the near future.