D'oh! - I Finally Did It

[Corsaire31]

"that landing thingy with a pointing arrow" is called a jet blast deflector ...
Normally it's used for take off of jet planes, not for landing. I still don't get what they are doing in Elite because you usually land or take off vertically. Probably only to show some moving parts and for the arrow showing the right landing direction (which could have been painted directly on the pad)....

[Skipp]

Speaking of landing pads... Is it just me or the landing numbers seem to:

1. Dissapear for no reason (making docking in a huge station really difficult since you have no idea where your landing pad is)
2. Be placed in different positions on smaller stations?

Sometimes the blast deflector (thankyouverymuch) is infront of the number and sometimes the number is ontop of the blast deflector. Since I always fly into the numbers - i have to stand there in the middle of the landing pad 180 degrees in the wrong position and i need to slooooooowly turn around to actually dock.

[Flip]

1. Yes, it's a known problem that should be fixed in the next major update (1.1).

2. It's much quicker to pitch vertically then roll, rather than using the yaw, in this case.

[Skipp]

I know about the roll, but why don't they just make each landing pad the same when it comes to this. For example - put the number above the blast deflector so I can always just fly in the correct position.

What I do now is fly from the side. That way i can turn while coming in close instead of when it's too late

[Corsaire31]

Speaking of landing pads... Is it just me or the landing numbers seem to:

1. Dissapear for no reason (making docking in a huge station really difficult since you have no idea where your landing pad is)

Yes you have, as soon as you enter the station, or when you approach an outpost, your radar points to where the landing pad is, which helps a lot finding it, even if sometimes the light goes off (not very often for me so far...)

[Skipp]

It helps you with the general direction. If you need to land on a far landing pad it will show aligned all the time from the entrance up till the point you actually hit it vertically

But it usually pops up for me when i come really close. Still annoying though

[Flip]

I know about the roll, but why don't they just make each landing pad the same when it comes to this. For example - put the number above the blast deflector so I can always just fly in the correct position.

In my experience, the number is always on the side opposite to the blast deflectors.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

It helps you with the general direction ...

Actually, if you center your compass with the solid dot directly in the center, it will point directly to the center of the landing pad. Then as you approach and you raise your nose, the solid dot will drop to the bottom of the compass. When you are directly over the center of the landing pad, the solid dot will change to a hollow dot. If you are left or right of center, the dot will be bottom left or bottom right, too.

The landing pad problem is so bad, and is still so bad, even though they said it was supposed to be fixed, that I generally look at my compass first, and then look for the hologram. This is especially helpful for the first ring of pads where the pad numbers may be out of sight.

I also have a problem at outposts, where if an NPC is on the pad and takes off, my landing assist radar won't work (medium pads - ticketed). It happens every time on any outpost I've visited (with an NPC occupying the pad). Anyone else have this problem?

[Flip]

I also have a problem at outposts, where if an NPC is on the pad and takes off, my landing assist radar won't work (medium pads - ticketed). It happens every time on any outpost I've visited (with an NPC occupying the pad). Anyone else have this problem?

I've seen that, but I'm not sure I can say it happens every time.

[Manny72]

I think my absolute best one (or worse as it were), was docking at LAVE with 40 cargo of Rares..have a nice docking routine now depending on where I appear in relation to the "toaster", usually involves lots of boosting, fine maneuvering along with voice command for docking clearance. Was coming in nicely on a great line that would have (yes would have) put me in perfect alignment with the maw of the cattle grid, except my hubby came in to ask me some annoying question about nothing. Instead of saying "docking clearance" I accidentally hit the boost button again. Looked back at screen to the noise of the boost to see myself missing the grid completely and heading for the station wall. Full reverse thrust while trying to rotate the cobra so could get away did nothing. Reverse thrust finally kicked in just before slamming into the bulkheads.. result of this... Shields to 0%, Hull Compromised, Most equips on board at least 80% damaged, Canopy knocked out and hull left at 1%. Was a very slow and scary limp into the station, didn't trust the docking computer to do it this time. But at least my Cargo of Rares was still safe.