How do I land the F/A-18 on a carrier in MSFS?
To land the F/A-18 on an aircraft carrier in Microsoft Flight Simulator, lower the gear, select full flaps and drop the arresting hook, then trim to on-speed angle of attack. Fly the carrier’s glidepath without flaring, touch down under power, and select full military power until an arresting wire stops the aircraft.
Does the MSFS carrier have working arresting cables?
Only a carrier with working arresting-cable logic can trap the F/A-18. In both MSFS 2020 and 2024, a visible carrier may be static scenery with no functional wires, or it may require a specific activity, aircraft or add-on procedure.
Lower the hook and confirm visually that it has deployed. If every correctly positioned touchdown runs off the bow, check the carrier’s instructions before changing your flying technique; some packages use their own cable trigger zones or commands. Our downloadable F/A-18 package for carrier-approach practice provides another aircraft option, but its compatibility notes should still be checked against the carrier being used.
F/A-18 carrier landing setup
Set up the Hornet well before reaching the carrier so that final approach requires only small corrections.
- Map the essential controls. Assign landing gear, flaps, pitch trim, throttle and the tail-hook or arresting-hook command. The exact labels and buttons vary with simulator version, platform and control profile.
- Use a sensible training load. Start with moderate fuel and no unnecessary heavy stores. Greater landing weight raises the required approach speed and leaves less margin for correcting a poor approach.
- Choose easy conditions. Practise in daylight with clear visibility and little turbulence. If the carrier can be controlled, point it into wind; otherwise account for the wind across its moving deck.
- Establish a straight-in final. Begin about three to five nautical miles astern and aim for a glidepath close to 3.5 degrees. Align with the painted centreline of the angled landing area, not the ship’s bow or longitudinal centreline.
- Complete the landing configuration. Select gear down, full flaps and hook down, with the speed brake stowed. Confirm each indication rather than relying solely on the external appearance.
If runway approaches are not yet stable, work first on the speed, alignment and sink-rate control behind consistent landings. Those skills transfer directly to the carrier, although a carrier touchdown must not be flared like a normal runway landing.
What speed should the F/A-18 fly on approach?
There is no single correct F/A-18 carrier approach speed because it changes with aircraft weight. Fly on-speed angle of attack instead: approximately 8.1 degrees AoA in the Hornet, shown by the amber AoA doughnut and by the velocity vector sitting in the HUD’s E-bracket.
A lightly or moderately loaded aircraft will often be somewhere around 125–145 KIAS, but that is only a reasonableness check. If the AoA display and indicated speed disagree, use the AoA cue once the aircraft is correctly configured and stabilised.
Trim until the aircraft naturally holds on-speed AoA. Being too fast produces a flat attitude, excessive deck travel and touchdowns beyond the wires; being too slow raises the sink rate and risks striking the ramp.
How do I fly the final approach and catch a wire?
Fly an on-speed, no-flare approach while scanning three things: the optical landing aid, deck alignment and angle of attack.
- Stabilise before the groove. Set on-speed AoA early rather than arriving fast and trying to lose energy over the stern.
- Follow the ball. Where the carrier models an optical landing system, keep the orange ball level with the horizontal datum lights. Add power when low and reduce it when high, using small, frequent movements rather than large throttle swings.
- Hold the angled-deck centreline. Use gentle lateral stick and rudder corrections. A moving carrier continually changes the picture, so do not simply point at the ship’s centre and freeze the controls.
- Aim for the wire area. The conventional target is around the third wire. If no optical landing aid is available, hold roughly the correct glidepath and place the HUD velocity vector near the intended touchdown zone.
- Do not flare or close the throttle. Maintain the approach attitude and power across the ramp. A flare can float the aircraft over every wire and makes the hook less likely to engage where expected.
- Select full military power at touchdown. Use full dry power, not afterburner, and keep the aircraft straight. If a wire catches, reduce to idle after the aircraft has stopped; if it does not, the power is already set for a bolter.
A mistake we see constantly is trying to fix a low ball with back-pressure alone. That increases AoA and may still leave the aircraft sinking. Add power promptly, preserve the trimmed attitude and wave off if the approach cannot be stabilised before the ramp.
When should I fly a Case I pattern?
Practise the full Case I pattern after straight-in recoveries have become repeatable. A conventional daylight pattern crosses the ship near 800 feet, breaks into downwind, descends to about 600 feet and uses a continuous 180-degree turn to enter a short final groove.
Exact spacing depends on speed, wind and turn performance. Chasing memorised geometry is less useful than arriving in the groove on-speed, lined up and able to follow the ball.
Why does the arresting hook miss the cable?
Most missed wires come from a non-functional carrier, an undeployed hook or a touchdown that is too fast, too high or too far forward.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| No deceleration on any pass | The carrier is decorative, its cable logic is inactive, or the aircraft is incompatible | Use a supported carrier activity and follow its aircraft and activation requirements |
| Hook appears to remain up | The command is unassigned, incorrectly mapped or unsupported by that aircraft | Search the control assignments for the hook function and verify deployment externally |
| Aircraft floats beyond the wires | Excess speed, a high approach or an attempted flare | Trim to on-speed AoA, follow the ball and hold the landing attitude through touchdown |
| Ramp strike or very hard touchdown | The aircraft was low, slow or corrected too late | Add power earlier and wave off rather than trying to rescue an unsafe approach |
| Touchdown looks correct but the hook skips | The touchdown was outside the scripted cable zone, or the carrier and aircraft use different arresting logic | Touch down around the middle wires and confirm add-on compatibility |
Wheel braking is not a substitute for an arrestment. If the jet stops only because the brakes were held, the cable did not catch and most carrier decks do not provide enough safe stopping distance for that technique.
What should I do after a bolter?
If the F/A-18 does not stop immediately, treat it as a bolter and continue straight ahead at full military power. Keep the wings level, maintain the on-speed attitude and climb away without braking or abruptly pulling the nose up.
Leave the gear, full flaps and hook down while establishing a positive climb and clearing the ship, especially if returning directly for another circuit. Once safely airborne, re-enter the pattern and correct the cause of the missed wire rather than rushing into another unstable approach.