Air Combat Maneuvering
Flight Procedures
Turn back into the bogey nose-high using 16-17 units AOA, and keep your lift vector aft of the bogey by
attempting to pull your nose to him. Adjust your attitude as your airspeed reaches 140-150 KIAS, and
maintain that speed. Once you are behind the bogey’s wingline, reverse and attempt to align fuselages
while maintaining 19-21 units AOA. Unfortunately, estimating nose-to-tail in a scissors is extremely
difficult. With experience, your timing and assessment of all the variables will be more accurate. But for
now, a general rule states that when you are on or aft of the bogey’s 3/9 line and your nose is on him, you
should start your reversal. A reversal forward of the 3/9 line may allow you a snap shot, however, you
may lose the advantage. The bogey will time his reversals depending on how effectively you generate
nose-to-tail and execute reversals. A rapid or close-aboard overshoot signals to the bogey that he should
reverse early; a slower overshoot with nose-to-tail separation signals to the bogey that he should delay his
reversal until the fighter overshoots. The bogey is trying to gain lateral separation in an attempt to create
more angles on subsequent passes. You should prevent excessive lateral separation from developing. If
no nose-to-tail exists, reverse as you cross the bogey’s flight path.
At this point you should be established in a horizontal scissors with your aircraft at approximately
120 KIAS, 10-15 degrees nose-high, 45 degrees AOB, and 20 units AOA. During your reversals and
subsequent maneuvering, utilize rudder and back stick to maintain optimum performance while monitoring
your aircraft’s attitude, airspeed, and AOA. You may find yourself wanting to overbank the aircraft to gain
a quick advantage. By doing this, you will find it harder to keep the nose above the horizon, which means
you will have to execute reversals with more rudder. Additionally, with your nose below the horizon,
airspeed will increase leading to the tendency to use excessive back stick, which then leads to an
increased AOA beyond the optimum performance level bleeding off energy. The combination of these
errors will increase your down-range travel to a point where you not only lose some advantage, but you
may even end up defensive. Assuming you keep the aircraft close to these parameters, the possibility
exists for a raking-guns shot as the bogey crosses your nose. During these attempts, do not compromise
your offensive advantage.
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T-45C Revision 1
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