You need to have the Top Gun addon installed

Carrier Locations

•  Florida Keys (Southern tip of Florida). Heading: 245
•  Gulf of California (Mexican west coast). Heading: 135
•  Gulf of Mexico (Open Sea). Heading: 090
•  Long Island (New York). Heading: 080
•  Lisbon. Heading: 180
•  Persian Gulf. Heading: 135
•  San Francisco. Heading: 190
•  South Carolina. Heading: 060
•  Yokosuka (Japan). Heading: 200

Static carriers
•  Bremerton (Washington, US). Heading: 250
•  Norfolk (Virginia, US). Heading: 045

First flght checklist

1. Make sure the Top Gun update is installed.

2. Download the addon and extract the .zip to your community folder.

Optional:

3. Under Assistance Options > POI, turn off Landmark Markers.

4. Install the Super Warrior (Touching Cloud) and the animated Catapult Crew (Photosbykev).

5. Below, read about all the functions of the carrier.

Starting a flight

1. On the world map, find a carrier spawn point (star landmarks) at any of the carrier locations. Or use the search bar (below the aircraft selection) and search for 'carrier'.

2. Set the point as departure and start the flight.

3. You'll spawn in the air, near the carrier. From the toolbar, open the 'Jayshrike Carriers' panel. See the next section for instructions on how to use the panel.

Jayshrike Carriers Panel

You can use our toolbar panel to control all the functions of the carrier, and to make approaching and landing at the carrier easier.
To start, open the panel from the toolbar: Select the button with the Jayshrike logo.
The panel has four sections you can select: Landing, Catapult, Teleport, and Settings.

Landing Tab

The landing tab has two parts; visual guidance and scoring

Visual guidance
You can use the visual of the FLOLS and LRLS to guide your approach alignment. For more information about how these instruments work, see the top gun 'carrier landing challenge'.

Scoring
Just like in the landing challenge, you can get a score for your landing. With the panel, you have to start a landing attempt. Then, the scoring will automatically start when you get close enough to the carrier. When you've succesfully landed, the score will be displayed.

Catapult Tab

With the panel, you can use the catapult for any plane. (If you use the Super Warrior F-18, you can also use its animated catapult crew, instead of the Catapult Tab). For maximum realism, taxi to to one of the catapults before activating the catapult.

1. The catapult can be activated when the plane is on the deck. In the panel, click Activate Catapult.

2. You can activate the holdback bar if the plane is stationary. Click Activate Holdback Bar.

3. Now you can perform takeoff checks and increase the throttle.

4. Click the Ready For Launch button. You will be launched after 5 seconds. The plane will get accelerated to 150 knots. When you leave the deck, the catapult will automatically reset.

Teleport Tab

With the panel, you can teleport the plane to different flight stages. There are three teleports:

Carrier Parking: The plane is shut down, with the wings retracted. Follow the checklists to get the plane ready.

Carrier Runway: The plane is ready to take off, just release the parking brake and taxi to a catapult.

Carrier Approach: The plane is in the landing configuration, with the tail hook extended. Use the approach guidance to land on the carrier deck.

Settings Tab

You can disable/enable:
•  The guidance from the LSO (Landing Signal Officer).
•  The POI marker above the carrier.

Tips

1. If you're not familiar with the workings of carrier landings, see the 'carrier landing challenge' from the Top Gun update.

2. To easily find the carrier during flight, use the smart camera. It will point to the carrier if it's nearby.

3. To land at the carrier, extend the tailhook (CTRL + H).

4. With the F/A 18E Super Hornet, you may have to unlock nosewheel steering after landing. Use 'Set Nose Wheel Steering To Limit' in your control settings or press the appropriate button in the virtual cockpit (on the left of the center stick).

5. To release the cable after landing, retract the tailhook.

 

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For developers

If you want to add the carrier to a scenery project, as Object type, choose WorldScript. Select the package: jayshrike-world-carriers. You can select the standard version, 'Jayshrike-WorldCarriers.spb'; or the static version 'Jayshrike-WorldCarriers-static.spb'.

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World Carriers

Now you can finally use the Top Gun aircraft carrier in freeflight! You can Approach with instructions from the LSO. Land with help of the arresting cables. And Take Off with the onboard catapults. Try flying in challenging weather or even at night!

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