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Thread: Hack function

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    Member Dojo's Avatar
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    Hack function

    Can some knowledgable person tell me how the hack function is used by pilots? I know how the function works in the A-10C. I'm specifically asking for examples of how pilots use it.

    Thanks

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    GOMER 2 Noodle's Avatar
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    As its namesake suggests, it's useful for anything that requires a time hack. For example:

    • JTACS, especially Marines, can give you a Time-To-Target (TTG) in order to coordinate joint fires such as artillery SEAD, and/or other aircraft in the CAS stack. This is different that a Time-On-Target (TOT), which doesn't require a HACK. Inputting a HACK causes the current steerpoint to acquire a DTTG, which in turn displays the Required Airspeed numeric on the HUD.


    • To navigate during low altitude tactical navigation (LATN). While the A-10 is capable of "black line" flying from steerpoint to steerpoint during cruise, its common for A-10 pilots to use "pilotage" when navigating down low, referencing maps and visually acquiring geographic references (GEOREFs) outside the aircraft. However, when you're down really low - and A-10 pilots train down to 100ft AGL - you don't have time to look down at a map because terrain avoidance requires about 90% of your attention. So pilots will revert to "dead reckoning" which is literally flying each leg of the flight plan at a particular heading and airspeed for a known duration. With luck, at the expiration of the HACK, you should be over the GEOREF that defines the turnpoint.


    • When flying instrument approaches, as a backup to the electronic NAVAIDS, the Missed Approach Point (MAP) can be determined by the HACKing the clock as you overfly the Final Approach Fix (FAF). There's a table on the approach chart that shows the time between the FAF and MAP at various ground speeds.


    It should be noted that the HACK function has been bugged in DCS for a very long time. The HACK clock should not start until you press the UFC ENTER key but it starts immediately upon entry of a value, which makes it almost impossible to correctly time anything.
    Last edited by Noodle; 19Nov14 at 07:10.

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    Thanks for the explanation, it's exactly what I was looking for.

    Quote Originally Posted by Noodle View Post
    It should be noted that the HACK function has been bugged in DCS for a very long time. The HACK clock should not start until you press the UFC ENTER key but it starts immediately upon entry of a value, which makes it almost impossible to correctly time anything.
    And THIS is explains why I kept having trouble reconciling it in my head; I had the DCS implementation of it in mind and I kept trying to work out the advantage over the stopwatch (outside of the HUD display feature), given how it worked.

    Thanks again!

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    Senior Member Howie's Avatar
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    Sounds like the required airspeed for the TTG would be really useful. Shame it's borked in DCS.

    How does TOT differ from TTG? Besides TTG requiring a HACK are they similar in function?
    Last edited by Howie; 19Nov14 at 13:49.

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    Senior Member Baxter's Avatar
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    Can you explain the difference between the IFFCC HACK mode and the LASTE HACK modes?

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    GOMER 2 Noodle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Howie View Post
    Sounds like the required airspeed for the TTG would be really useful. Shame it's borked in DCS.

    How does TOT differ from TTG? Besides TTG requiring a HACK are they similar in function?
    The Required Airspeed still works correctly, as does the Delta Timer. It's just easier to use if you directly set a TOT in the CDU.

    TOT and TTG are just different methods of attacking the same problem. You can set a TOT directly, or you can set a TTG which then derives a TOT. The real difference is that setting an absolute TOT for coordination purposes requires that all players' clocks be synchronized. Before GPS this used to be a problem. TTG, on the other hand, is relative and allows all players to coordinate accurately even when heir clocks are not synchronized.

    You can see from the video above that the A-10s were able to coordinate a TTG with someone using a wristwatch as a timing reference. Imagine if they had agreed upon a TOT instead, only to find that the ground party's watch was 69 seconds fast.

    Quote Originally Posted by Baxter View Post
    Can you explain the difference between the IFFCC HACK mode and the LASTE HACK modes?
    I'm not sure without looking at the book. I don't know for sure that these systems are actually separate. For instance, once in HACK mode, the only way to exit it is to clear the DTTG/DTOT from the CDU. I'll look it up tonight if no one else chimes in before then.

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    Bumping this one, as we were talking about it the last couple of days.

    @Noodle, Tex

    Since we didn't know what time it would be on the DS, and I did not want to make TOT for every flight's complete FPM, here's what I did:
    Let everybody take off and fly to a holding point.
    With everybody in the hold, we established a "start time".
    Everybody had received TTG's from the hold point towards each WP until the target.
    With that information, we adjusted our WPs in the CDU to have the TOT based on the start time + the TTG for that WP.

    So for my flight, I had this information for each leg (T = 07:55:00).
    MSN007 : T+8'
    MSN008 : T+13'30"
    MSN009 : T+17'30"
    IP : T+20'
    TGT : T+22'

    WP6 was the hold point.
    Start time was set to 07:55:00. So for my WP7, I set TOT of 08:03:00. WP8 was getting a TOT of 08:08:30. and so on for the other WPs.
    It's a bit of math and work to deal with in the hold, but it worked.

    Is this the most ideal way of dealing with this particular scenario? Or could we have done things in a better/different way?

    Providing CAS when you're all out of HUA!

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  13. #9
    Retired Pilot Tex's Avatar
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    It sounds like what you did worked Stuka. A few points that may make it closer to how we use TOTs. I'm basing this off my experience with TOTs so if Noodle or anyone else has some specific A-10 info to add, that would be great.

    - Desired Time-on-target (TOT) generally drives every other time. So rather than have a start time and working forward to your TOT, you would start with your TOT and work back to a start time. Same math, just subtract each leg's Time-To-Go (TTG).
    - You also need to know if TOT is weapons impact or release. If it is weapon impact, you'll also need to know the Time-of-Fall (TOF)
    - Who sets TOT? Well as usual it depends. It could be the Airborne Mission Commander (AMC) during a Large Force Exercise (LFE). Generally if the mission involves multiple flights that need to be synchronized (Strikers, SEAD, etc), the AMC will pick and coordinate the TOT. For CAS it could be the Ground Force Commander (GFC) and/or JTAC based on what he needs for support. Easiest case is its pre-planned and provided in the ATO.


    So for example....(times in minutes+seconds)

    Here is what we know prior to takeoff
    Holding at WP1
    TTG WP1 to WP2 = 5+25
    TTG WP2 to WP3 = 4+20
    TTG WP3 to IP4 = 4+15
    TTG IP4 to TGT5 = 3+00
    Total time from WP1 to TGT5 = 17+00
    Time-of-Fall for Planned Delivery = 0+15

    In-flight, holding at WP1...setting a TOT
    For case 1 (pre-planned), you know your TOT and can press on time to make it. Easy, no in-flight math required.

    For case 2, GFC/JTAC calls for weapon effects and needs to know your TOT. Start with what time is it? Lets say its 0704:42. Add your total time from WP1 to TGT5 (17+00) and your time of fall (0+15) to the current time and you get 0721:57...rounded to the next minute is a 0722:00 TOT. But, we have to look at where we are in the hold and any other coordination requirements prior to departing the hold. So if we just turned outbound from WP1 and we have to call range control to get clearance (or in combat get clearance from the JTAC/Warden to depart the hold) we need to add a couple minutes. Lets say we can talk and the radio and turn the plane at the same time (a challenge for Gunny I'm sure ) so we call a 0724:00 TOT to the JTAC/GFC.

    For case 3, we now have to coordinate a TOT with multiple aircraft/flights. So we'll start with the same initial steps from case 2...Again lets say its 0704:42. Add your total time from WP1 to TGT5 (17+00) and your time of fall (0+15) to the current time and you get 0721:57...rounded to the next minute is a 0722:00 TOT. Now, instead of just worrying about what I have to do in my aircraft, I have to coordinate. I know I can't make a 0722:00 TOT. Hopefully you have thought about this ahead of time and set up a contract with all flights to remain within 5 min (or what ever time is reasonable based on aircraft type, holding location, etc) of their holding point. Add a minute for the comms to coordinate plus the 5 minutes contract to hit the hold WP1 and you have a 0728:00 TOT. As the AMC I will make a radio call asking folks if they can make that TOT. If someone can't, it is on the aircraft/flight that can't make it to pass their earliest TOT at which point I ensure everyone has that new TOT.

    In-flight, after setting the TOT
    Stuka's way of plugging in a TOT for each waypoint based on the math works. I'm hoping Noodle can jump in here with some better techniques. In my aircraft, we plug in one TOT at the target and the mission computer calculates times for the waypoints leading into it so we don't have to do all the math in-flight. A few techniques that should work regardless...
    - Once you have your TOT set, start pressing to target then work the CDU times. Don't waste time holding punching everything in only to find out you are now a minute or two late.
    - Depending on how tight you have to be, you can always just pencil in your TOT and WP times on paper and skip the CDU entry. I'd do this as anyways to find the numbers for CDU entry then use it as a cross check.
    - Build in some adjustment room...also known as slop...in the form of turns along your route. This allows you to cut the corner and make up time.
    - Likewise you can have pre-planned off-course maneuvering to lose time without holding if in a threat environment
    - This should go in pre-flight stuff but plan your enroute speed carefully. The larger the formation, the more airspeed you need to leave for 2/3/4 etc.
    Last edited by Tex; 14Feb16 at 15:18.
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    Member Dojo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Noodle View Post
    It should be noted that the HACK function has been bugged in DCS for a very long time. The HACK clock should not start until you press the UFC ENTER key but it starts immediately upon entry of a value, which makes it almost impossible to correctly time anything.
    Thanks for bumping, Stuka. Besides the answer Noodle/Tex provide as the best method to solve your problem, it's worth discussing HACK specifically. It doesn't appear to be "as bugged" as we originally thought.

    Specific to the HACK function, the counter actually starts from the moment you press the "HACK" key, not after you enter the time. Perhaps it's actually suppose to start when you press UFC Enter as in the real jet, but still, this difference is significant as it actually makes the function highly usable in DCS.

    As a test, you can press the HACK key in the pit, and you'll note the timer pops up. Wait 20 seconds before even beginning to enter the time you want. Then enter the time, and press UFC enter, taking only a few seconds to do so. You will notice that the timer is already down 20+ seconds, i.e. it started from the moment you hit the HACK key.

    Revisiting the football video, you'll notice the coordinating "Hack" calls, which I imagine is a synchronized depression of the Hack button to start the countdown from whatever number you subsequently enter.

    Understanding this better now, the video serves as a slightly complex example because they're demonstrating multiple hacks as they need several TTGs to get in position as the actual TTG is unknown before hand. (i.e. the band may finish faster or later than expected, hence the plan for 3 increasingly shorter Hacks, depending on what's happening on the ground.).

    A far simpler scenario would be if the song were going to start and end in, let's say exactly 5 mins, 30 seconds, they'd only need one Hack, and then they'd fly the given R HUD speed from there to arrive at on target.

    I'm mostly happy it's "working" in the sim. Now to understand when it's best used...
    Last edited by Dojo; 14Feb16 at 14:14.

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