Keyboard shortcuts

Press ← or → to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

Training Lessons

Introduction

Welcome! Since its arrival in DCS in 2019, the F-14 Tomcat has set the standard for double seater aircraft. Now, we are proud to introduce the upgraded F-14B(U). This variant brings essential modernizations to the legendary airframe, enhancing its combat effectiveness in the digital battlespace. Whether you are a seasoned Tomcat pilot or just at the very beginning of your aircraft qualifications, the training lessons introduce you to new features of the B(U) variant. You will work through the new systems, refined avionics, and updated workflows that are required to master this wonderful airplane. We've thoroughly revised the most important lessons in order to improve the quality, stability, clarity, and learning experience for the most important crew members during the course of our long-term Tomcat journey, and that is YOU.

Lesson design

The training lessons for the F-14B(U) have been designed in such a way that, as a beginner, everything important that you need for a successful start is explained, without knowing much about the older A/B variants of the Tomcat, and without reading too much right at the beginning. The lesson design follows the didactic concept of combining multiple information channels (reading, listening, observing/checking, doing) to achieve maximum learning effect, focusing on important things and leaving out unnecessary things whenever possible. The complexity and richness of the F-14B(U) lessons is somewhere in the middle between the original F-14A/B lessons from 2019, and the newer F-4E lessons from 2024. The following slide shows the didactic elements used in the F-14B(U) training lessons:

For beginners

For beginners, it should be easy to follow the instructions, because everything is explained by using on-screen text and audio, together with highlights of the relevant controls & indications in the cockpit. By initially leaving out steps that contain a SYSTEM TEST, the lessons can be accomplished in a brief time. These tests are in fact not necessary for DCS, because in DCS the Tomcat is always spawned in perfect condition, and you can rely on the systems when you enter the cockpit. In real life, things were somewhat different though.

For the pros

Pilots that are interested in details, or pilots approaching the aircraft on a study level, may accomplish steps containing a SYSTEM TEST as written in the books. Therefore, a longer lesson duration must be planned. Pilots with knowledge of the former Tomcat versions will experience no difficulties in going through the additional steps required by the new equipment. Note that not all system tests from the books are currently possible, simply because certain subsystems are not available in DCS.

Goals

The lessons should enable Tomcat pilots to understand the basic functions of the new equipment, and how to use it. As pilot or RIO, you can use the lessons as "initial training", or as "recurrent training" whenever you have not flown for a long time and need a refresher. By the way: We recommend a refresher after 30 days of not flying the bird. Please note that the lessons require a certain level of knowledge about DCS and also basic flying skills. The lessons don't explain flying as such, but rather the aircraft, its systems and their usage and behavior. The lessons may therefore be understood as interactive "type training" / "recurrent training", but not as "basic flying training".

Your way through

Due to the design, systems, and age of the jet, it has peculiarities. Precise application of system knowledge in daily duty is the key to success. With the Tomcat, you will be challenged in so many ways. So be ready! We leave it up to you whether you want to get into the cockpit immediately without studying the manual, or whether you want to read before. Decide for yourself! If you want to hop into the jet immediately, the training lessons will provide you with enough knowledge to successfully complete them. You can even study this manual section or other parts of the manual during your flights; this is an innovation that came with the DCS F-4E Phantom II in 2024 and is now available for all F-14 variants as well. Use keybinding "Manual - Open" (RShift + M) to open up the manual while flying. The lessons can be paused any time by using the PAUSE or ACTIVE PAUSE keys. Of course, you are welcome in practicing multi-tasking by flying at the same time as studying the manual; that is not explicitly forbidden! Generally speaking, learning by doing is the core strategy for being a good crew member, but you should read the manual and carefully study the systems if you want to become a real pro.

Procedures

We have depicted the important "normal procedures" of the aircraft. These procedures are based as closely as possible on the real procedures, although we were aware that it would not be possible to implement everything in the simulation. Therefore, certain procedures had to be altered, shifted, or omitted entirely. Omitting steps of the original procedures leads to leaving out their numbering during the course of the procedure. Please note that the procedure can therefore continue with step 27 right after step 22. Think, for example, of the ejection seat harness, the oxygen mask and its test, the transponder, or similar items which cannot be set or tested. Furthermore, certain steps were not coded because the respective controls/switches are already set correctly after spawning the aircraft. This was decided in order to help you speed up the lesson tempo and to get you in the air as quickly as possible; of course you may check all these items after entering the cockpit and before pressing SPACEBAR for the first time.

Interaction

For many steps, you will need to press the SPACEBAR to confirm what you have done / checked / heard / found in the cockpit, or to simply progress with the lesson. Therefore, please make sure that the SPACEBAR key is not assigned to any other action, like "Weapon fire" or similar.

Lesson overview

For your training on the F-14B(U) Tomcat, these lessons are currently available:

Difference training

Lesson 01: F-14BU Differences Familiarization

Lesson 04: F-14BU Basic Navigation

Type training

Lesson 02a: F-14BU Cold Start Airfield PILOT

Lesson 02b: F-14BU Cold Start Carrier PILOT

Lesson 03: F-14BU Cold Start Carrier RIO

Weapon training

F-14BU JDAM PP Mode

F-14BU JDAM TOO Mode

General Tips & Tricks

  • Once the lesson was loaded, right before pressing SPACEBAR for the first time, please make sure that the actions (keybindings and HOTAS assignments) are done properly. For this, go to OPTIONS > CONTROLS and assign keys and joystick / throttle buttons to the most important actions. The lessons usually provide a list of actions used in that particular lesson, and a few more that we think you could need. DCS only provides a rough basic setup for most HOTAS controls available on the market, so it is worth looking into this before beginning.

  • Make sure your system is able to keep a suitable frame rate of at least 30 fps throughout the normal game play. For this, adjust your graphic settings in OPTIONS > SYSTEM. You may load one of the INSTANT ACTION MISSIONS, and see how your system performs.

  • The lessons contain a lot of audio material spoken by an instructor, so be prepared to listen a lot. Therefore, adjust the audio settings to a comfortable level in OPTIONS > AUDIO. The lessons are designed in a way, so that no other surrounding noise disturbs the flow of the lesson, with the exception of one lesson, which has a nice surprise right at the beginning (sorry, but we couldn't resist).

Time acceleration

The influence of the time accelerationfunction on the stability of the lessons is not documented properly. The lessons do not contain phases in which nothing happens for a long time, so mostly you will not need it. To be on the safe side, it is most probably better not to use the time acceleration function, especially if you would like to save track files of your lessons.

Lesson got stuck

There might be situations in which you feel the lesson does not continue or no longer works properly for any reason. Fortunately, this happens very rarely! Nevertheless, if you get stuck in a lesson, you should take the following measures:

  • Act like a pilot: Stay calm!

  • Check if everything is actually set up as required and according to the checklist / procedure. If necessary, check each of the previous steps individually and carefully, starting from the top by asking yourself the following questions: "What is written in the procedure / checklist / book?" and "How did I set it up?". An example is the Wing Sweep Handle; it can be moved aft, but if the oversweep locks open, you may then move it further aft. This requires precision and patience, but also knowledge of how the lever and the control and indication system works.

  • You may repeat the step before, and then approach the current step once again.

  • If that does not help and you cannot go further:

  • Quit the mission and SAVE DEBRIEFING (log-file) and SAVE TRACK (trk-file) in the debriefing screen.

  • In such a case, we recommend flying the mission again before posting in the forums.

  • If you then still suspect the same issue, please open a new ticket in the DCS forum: English > Licensed Third Party Projects > Heatblur Simulations > DCS: F-14B(U) > Problems Please add as much information as possible in order to help us finding the issue. Best is to add a track file of your flight. We apologize for that, and also thank you in advance for your efforts reporting a possible bug!