Eurofighter Typhoon: Flight Manual

This document is a work in progress. We aim to produce a concise guide to flying the Eurofighter Typhoon and operating its systems. Keep checking back - as things are added to the aircraft, so they'll be documented here - we hope to make these updates in a timely manner, ideally when new versions of the aircraft are released.

Please note that some versions of the aircraft are not currently undergoing development, owing to limitations within earlier versions of FlightGear, and functions described in this document may not exist or work as described. To make the most use of the aircraft's newest features, please use the latest versions of both FlightGear and the Typhoon

Introduction

The Eurofighter Typhoon is an agile, multirole combat aircraft designed upon relaxed stability principles.

Acknowledgements

Eurofighter Typhoon for FlightGear was developed by Maverick Alex, DFaber, Almursi, Algernon, Aster and other contributors. This document initialised by --Algernon 16:28, 28 June 2011 (EDT)

Develop & Customise

See Eurofighter Typhoon: Development Documentation

Flight Controls

The aircraft is controlled via stick, throttle and rudder pedals, whose motions are processed by the Flight Control System and appropriate signals are passed to the flight control surfaces, the canards, flaperons and rudder.

Flight Control System

The FCS can be bypassed, but this is not recommended under normal flight conditions.

Ground Controls

On the ground, the Typhoon is steered by a castering nosewheel whose maximum angle and steering ratio decreases as ground speed increases. The main gear is equipped with speed brakes and parking brakes, and ground braking is assisted at ground speeds above 50kts by the canard, which rotates fully forward to act as an air brake.

Avionics

Manual Data Entry Facility

The MDEF is located on the left glareshield, above and left of the left-hand MFHDD. It consists of a bank of Autopilot Keys (diagonal and top-right, and SubSystem Keys. The 12 keys on the left select the desired page to be displayed on the 12 softkeys on the right, through which the navigation, defensive and communications equipment is programmed and controlled. Available pages are:

• MIDS: Multi-function Information Display System - select MIDS page
• NAV: Navgiation Subsystem - Access Route Manager (RTE MGR), adjust route, lock altitude hold to Route Manager altitude instructions (NAV ALT)
• AIDS: Navigation Aids - Select steering bug to heading, Nav (Route Manager) Mode (NAV MODE) or Tacan Mode (TACN MODE); switch Tacan power.
• NIS: NATO Identification Systems - not yet functional
• INT: Interrogator - select interrogator on or standby (INT SBY/ON), select interrogation mode (available modes are Modes 1, 2, 3A, 4A and S, plus Mode C.
• XPDR: Transponder - select transponder on or standby (XPDR SBY/ON), select modes to on or standby, enter codes for Modes 1 & 3A (1/3A CODE)
• XMIT: Transmitters - switch aircraft radio systems between normal and silent modes for stealth operations.
• RAD1: Radio 1 - Channel and function select; select Radio 1 as active radio (RAD1 ACTV/MON)
• RAD2: Radio 2 - Channel and function select; select Radio 2 as active radio (RAD2 ACTV/MON)
• DAS: Defensive Aids Subsystem
• MISC: Miscellaneous Functions

Navigation

Nav Aids

Navigational assistance is provided by the Navigation Computer, guiding the pilot along a heading, route or beam using information from the two primary navigation systems, Route Manager (NAV) and TACAN. Course information is displayed on the HUD, ASI and MFHDDs, as well as commanding the autopilot when engaged in track mode. The course to steer is indicated by the steering bug, an incomplete circle located on the HUD heading ribbon. If the required course is beyond the scope of the ribbon, the bug will park indicating the direction in which to steer. The bug can be hidden by pressing the BUG OFF softkey in the AIDS subsystem; it will reappear when either navigation system is selected.

Control of navigational aids is through the AIDS subsystem page on the MDEF. Switching between NAV and TACAN modes is controlled by pressing NAV MODE or TACN MODE; the selected system is indicated by a lit button.

NAV Mode directs the flight along a route of waypoints, which can be created, saved and loaded in Route Manager. Waypoints can contain altitude instructions as well as lateral fix information. NAV Mode functions are controlled through the NAV subsystem softkeys. When a route is active in Route Manager, next waypoint information (Waypoint ID, bearing, rang and time-to-target) is displayed in the lower left section of the HUD.

TACN Mode directs the flight towards a TACAN or VORTAC station, or another aircraft equipped to transmit TACAN. TACAN functions are controlled through the AIDS subsystem softkeys. When the TACAN transceiver is active, the TACAN channel is displayed on the lower right section of the HUD; additional information (TACAN station ID, bearing and distance) is displayed when the selected TACAN station is in range.

Autopilot

Autopilot modes are selected using the keys located at the top of the MDEF. There are two lateral and two vertical modes, three advanced modes and an autothrottle. Any active autopilot mode is indicated by a lit AP button; clicking this button cancels the lateral and vertical modes. The autothrottle is activated and deactivated using the AT button, which is lit when the autothrottle is operating.

Lateral Modes

There are two principal lateral modes, Heading (HDG) and Track (TRK), selectable on the MDEF. Heading mode directs the aircraft on a set magnetic heading. Track Mode directs the aircraft according to the instructions of the navigation computer.

Advanced Modes

Autoclimb (CLM) automatically gains altitude at the most efficient climb rate to the set altitude. Auto Attack (ATK) flies automatically in pursuit of another aircraft, selected by the targeting computer. These modes are not yet functional

Communications

The Typhoon has two VHF radios, Radio 1 and Radio 2, which are managed by the Communications and Audio Management Unit (CAMU) and operated via the MDEF and MIDS panels. There are ten channels available: Ch1 and Ch2 are preset to the two FGCom global frequencies, Ch 3 - Ch 8 can be user preset (data is stored in the Data/channels.xml file), and there are two manual frequency channels, M1 and M2, settable in the Typhoon RadioComms dialog. The radio controls support the optional dual FGCom configuration, where two channels can be monitored and one selected as active for transmission. If not installed, only RAD1 is available for use.

Channel information is displayed on the COMM page of the MIDS display, and the pilot can scroll through channels and select the active radio using the MIDS softkeys. Direct channel selection can be made using the RAD1 and RAD2 pages of the MDEF. The channel list can be viewed on any HDD on the FREQ page, and selected channels are also shown on the MIDS HOME page.