Anyway, the email I got from the designer about his FCLP question said this:
"I will probably have to remodel it bit it's good to know what it looks like. The current equipment has all been removed so does not show on the Google of Cecil. Can you tell me where the carrier training traps would have been? If you want them?"
He obviously did not find the Google picture you found. What would be great is a picture of the actual arresting gear...and that site. The attached picture is roughly what the simulation FCLP will look like.
Pete
Pete,
He's got it pretty good. What I remember from my 1000+ hours sitting in FCLP LSO shacks. (Fentress, Oceana, Norfolk, Key West, Choctaw, P'Cola, Cecil, Whitehouse, El Centro, New Orleans, Miramar, etc)
1. Carrier box was all white. No yellow on the box, but the box centerline (different from the runway centerline, see below) was alternating yellow/white.
2. Box was not centered on the runway's centerline. It was offset to the left side. The reason for this was so that the lens (Meatball) would be in the proper position to simulate the scan pilots use at the ship.
3. Need a lens. It would be on the left side, just off the runway in the grass, about the place where your current "1 wire" engine is positioned.
This is the best picture I could find of a field lens unit. They are a little different now (Navy gone to IFLOLS, long story) but for Cecil, this is what they would have had. I'm pretty sure Cecil had a lens on each runway, even the ones without carrier boxes. BTW, I'm not a flight sim guy, but do they put the rubber marks on the runways from aircraft tires? If so, remember NAS's had "spots" of rubber where USAF/Civilian (same thing!) runways had streaks that go down the runway. Navy lands on spots, others flare to land and land in different areas.
4. Runways had Arresting Gear, but not 4, only one. And as said above, the Arresting gear was not part of the FCLP carrier box. It was used for emergencies/aircraft problems and was located about 1000 feet down the runway past the FCLP Carrier Box.
5. If I remember correctly, Cecil had Arresting gear on each runway, usually located about 1200-1500 feet from the approach end. The cables looked like
this.
6. Need an LSO shack. LSO shack looked like a greenhouse (and unfortunately also worked like a greenhouse) on wheels. The shack was about 8' by 14' and the roof was pointed. The bottom half was metal, the top half was all glass/plexiglass panes so the LSO could see jets all the way around the pattern. Can't find a picture, still looking.
