*UPDATED* F-14 RIO Tip: CAP and TID

I have added a few additional functions and values obtainable from the CAP and the TID. I initially wanted to simply update the previous article but due to length of the new part, I preferred to post it again.

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Hooking a Waypoint or an Airborne Contact with the HCU, either originating from the AWG-9 or the DL, has the effect of showing the range or the latlong coordinates of that Waypoint or Radar contact. Additional information are available by means of the Computer Address Panel.

The following are the information displayed on the TID depending on the function selected in the Numeric Keyboard.

CAP	Waypoint	Contact
1. LAT Latitude	Latitude and Longitude of the hooked target, allows to input Latitude.	Latitude and Longitude of the hooked target.
3. SPD Speed	Ground Speed and Magnetic Course to the WP.	Contact’s Ground Speed and Magnetic Course.
4. ALT Altitude / Elevation	Elevation of the WP, allows to input a new value.	Altitude of the target.
5. RNG Range	Range and ETA in minutes and seconds to the WP.	Range to the contact.
6. LONG Longitude	Latitude and Longitude of the hooked target, allows to input Longitude.	Latitude and Longitude of the hooked target.
8. HDG Heading	Ground Speed and Magnetic Heading to the WP.	Ground Speed and Magnetic Heading of the Contact.
0. BRG Relative Bearing	Range and Relative Bearing to the WP.	Own Ground Speed and Bearing to the Contact.

NOTE: Before switching to another option press CLEAR otherwise the TID may consider your following selections as inputs.

Own Aircraft

By selecting Own Aircraft option from the CAP (NAV), you can either read or input some values. I suggest you to avoid fiddling with the latlongs (button #1 and #6) because it will have the effect of changing your aircraft’s latlong values, therefore later a new INS re-alignment is required (such as the TACAN update).
The most useful are:

• #3 – SPD: Ground speed and Magnetic Course;
• #4 – ALT: Altitude¹;
• #8 – HDG: True air speed and Magnetic Heading/True Heading².

The Altitude reading is incredibly useful to help the Pilot during CV operations along with the speed, so he doesn’t have to look at the instruments. Make sure to ask your pilot if he wants you to read such values for him.

Wind

The Wind direction and speed can be a valuable information for the pilot. To obtain such numbers, select the NAV category in the CAP then WIND SPD HDG.

The Future

Later on, the NAVGRID and AVIA pages will be implemented. The AVIA page will display information such as the Angle of Attack, ILS, Vertical Velocity and so on.
The NAVGRID instead provides the aircraft position relative to a common reference point. Therefore a contact can be reported by means of bearing and range from such common point instead of using grid or latlong coordinates.
More information about these two upcoming features are available on NATOPS documents easily obtainable with a simple query on Google.

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¹ I’m still trying to find where does this value come from. Changing the Pressure Setting and disabling DL and RadAlt have no effect and it works at altitudes greater than 50,000ft (I haven’t tested much higher).
² I found a possible bug in the representation of the values. Initially the MH is shown, by checking the wind details and back to Own Aircraft, the TH is displayed. I will update the post as soon as the bug (or feature?) is confirmed.