homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Falcon 4.0 Ramp Start

I have a few quick questions for how to correctly start a mission from the ramp. First off, in the manual, it says power on the EWS and set THREAT WARN AUX and all those to ON. Now it doesn't say anywhere in panel C "EWS" but I figured it out because I saw the threat warn aux key. So I powered the EWS on and tried to push the THREAT WARN AUX key on but I can't because all that does is open the canopy? Is it not necessary to push that button?

Also, when you do a ramp start how do you know when to start taxiing? Because when I first tried the mission I immediately started taxiing but my flight did not follow and I was way ahead of the carot.

And finally, after I rotated, my gear would not go up. This has happened before on a previous ramp start but only once before. THe first time I tried doing the mission from ramp the gear went up fine. So I cut the throttle back so my gear wouldn't fly off and I tried pushing the cockpit lever but all I got was a clunk sound and still the gear stayed down.

Some help would be appreciated

Hi Radooh

Been there and reckon I've pretty much got the ramp start down.

First, don't worry about Threat Warn AUX. The button seems to interfere with the canopy handle. Pressing Power on the bottom-right of that group seems to fire up the EWS. Then set the other switchs as you described - just stay away from Threat Warn AUX. (I'll probably find later that when I start some combat missions, I will have needed to do something with that switch )

To get clearance to taxi, contact the tower and request taxi. They'll grant you clearance and ask that you hold short of the runway. Once there, request permission for takeoff. If the runway is clear, you'll get permission to proceed to the runway. Once you're aligned and at a full stop, you'll get departure clearance.

On the gear issue, I found that I had a similar problem the first time that I tried the ramp start. I did the same thing as you and opened the canopy whilst trying to select Threat Warn AUX. I also couldn't get my gear up after takeoff and once airborne, was greeted by the sound of the canopy and the gear being torn off! Doh! I haven't had the problem since I stopped messing with the canopy handle. I think there is also a right eyebrow warning light for the canopy being open.

Give it another go. I love the ramp start. It adds a nice touch and give you a feeling of superiority over the arcade simmers!

Ah thanks Tox but you misunderstood my second question.

What I meant was how do you know when your takeoff time is so you don't take off too early and miss your TOT?

Check in your briefing for TOT on steerpoint 1 (Takeoff). It's also on your kneeboard page that has your steerpoint info.

oops sorry... missed that! Embarassment!

Just looking in my ancient copy of the Prima Strategy guide and it talks about Timing. It looks to me like it more importand to get to the target on time than to takeoff on time. Get in the air once you're fired up and good to go, then use the TOS for each steerpoint to either slow-down or speed up as required.

or alternatively... do what Scott said... which sounds like a much better idea!

Stick to your Take off time in your kneeboard but give yourself 2minutes to arrive at the hold short position. 20minutes is more than enough time to ramp start and taxi to takeoff position. If you're on a long distance mission it pays to wait and take off on time that way you don't waste fuel which might be critical in the mission. My advice is get the engine started ASAP and begin alignment straight away, then worry about the rest.

Alright, thanks for the help!

About your gear being stuck down. It's happened to me before when I first started trying ramp starts. I was clicking everywhere I could to find the lever to arm the ejection seat. Well, little did I know that one of the things I clicked was the Alternate Gear Release. After you click this, your gear will not come back up until you reset it. Here is an actual picture of what I'm talking about:
http://www.meriweather.com/16/auxl/alt-gear.html

And for you first question, for the Threat Warn Aux, you need only press the button that says System Power in the lower right.

Hope this helps....and stay away from the Alt Gear Release!!