F/A-18 Interceptor tests your air combat ability, as you fly a super-modern jet fighter against destruction-seeking intruders. The action unfolds in a realistic flight environment; you skim over the bay, soar above the San Francisco peninsula, and perform manoeuvres above the Pacific Ocean. You look out from the cockpit of a Navy F/A-18 Hornet or an Air Force F-16 Flying Falcon.
Read the Getting Started section to begin play, and study the Aircraft Reference section to become familiar with the joystick and keyboard controls for F/A-18 Interceptor. The cockpit and controls are the same for both the F-16 and F/A-18. After you've seen the demo flight, and have flown in free flight, you practice the training manoeuvres vital to successful combat. You'll qualify for active duty, practice selected combat missions, then fly in actual combat against the intruders.
You can play Interceptor on an Amiga 500, 1000 or 2000. Before you begin, write protect your disk then make a playing copy of the diskette. You can play Interceptor using the keyboard or joystick.
F/A-18 Interceptor requires at least 512K bytes of memory (if your computer has 512K, you should disconnect your external drive to receive improved sound.). Its recommended that you have a colour RGB monitor and one megabyte of memory to maximise sound capabilities, as well as to view the Demonstration Flight in full. To get started:
When you write-enable your disk, "R" for Rookie appears as the current callsign. The Rookie is a pilot who has successfully completed the first three F/A-18 Interceptor missions; using the "R" callsign thus lets you select from a wider variety of missions right away. If you wish to use your own callsign (thus permanently erasing the Rookie) you must select "8" ("your current flight log"), then reset the log by pressing SHIFT-2. Now press 1 to update the log to disk. Am message appears requesting you to enter your own callsign. You may opt not to enlist for a Tour of Duty. However you must still pass Qualification in order to fly combat missions.
To play F/A-18 Interceptor, you need to enter a security countercode after you select any of the Flight options (see "Flight"). At the onscreen prompt, you'll use your F/A-18 Flight Computer to line up the 4 letters and/or numbers, then type in the appropriate code visible in the window above the last letter or number.
Use care when selecting characters on the Flight Computer; and "8" can look like a "B" or an "0" can resemble a "D". To practice using the F/A-18 Interceptor Flight Computer, find the number for the combination 9E5F. You're on the right tack if the answer you come up with is 057247. See Flight Computer Illustration, page 2.
When you take to the air, you fly one of two intercept aircraft - either the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon or the F/A-18 Hornet. In your capable hands, the Falcon and the Hornet are both weapon and shield. Please refer to Appendix A - Aircraft Specifications, for more information on both aircraft.
You control your plane in flight by using the keyboard, or a joystick. Take control of the joystick when your plane is taxiing off down the runway on takeoff. Once you have achieved takeoff of about 200 knots, pull back on the joystick and take to the air. In flight, move your joystick in the direction you want your aircraft to fly. The joystick's fire button fires the selected weapon against the selected target, and triggers the instructor's next manoeuvre in Training Missions.
Familiarity of the cockpit controls of both the F-16 Falcon and the F/A-18 Hornet is important to the F/A-18 Interceptor pilot. Prominent features of the cockpit are the HUD (heads up display) system, the radar and weapons systems, and the fuel, altitude and airspeed indicators. The HUD, which appears on the canopy above the control panel, includes a target designator, missile-aiming reticle, gun-boresight line, weapon-select indicator, target-in-range, target lock-on, and a G-meter (load measurement).
Refer to the illustrations of the cockpit control panel and the keyboard when reviewing this list of controls:
F1 - F10 Thrust. Control throttle in 10% increments.
Note: Pressing F1 twice shuts down the engine if you
are at settings above 10%. Pressing F10 twice turns
on the afterburner if you are at 100% throttle.
= key Thrust. Increases throttle by one step.
- key Thrust. Decreases throttle by one step.
BACKSPACE Brakes. Puts on speed brakes or ground brakes
(depending on your location). The "Brakes" indicator
on left side of control panel lights up when you put
the brakes on.
, Rudder control. Left Rudder, turns left ("yaws").
. Rudder control. Right Rudder, turns right ("yaws").
Cursor Keys Aircraft movement. The UP arrow pitches the nose down,
the down arrow pitches the nose UP, the LEFT arrow
rolls it left, and the RIGHT arrow rolls it right.
G Gear. Raises or lowers the landing gear.
A Arrestor hook. Extends arrestor hook on F/A-18 for
carrier landings.
H HUD. Turns HUD display on/off. All displays except
that for a selected weapon disappear when you
deactivate the HUD, and return when you re-select it.
J ECM jammer. Turns ECM (electronic countermeasures)
on/off. "ECM" on the right side panel lights up when
you select it.
C Chaff. Dispenses rapid-bloom chaff to jam an enemy
aircraft's surveillance system, as well as radar-
homing missiles.
F Flare. Dispenses an infra-red flare to draw IR-guided
missile away from your aircraft.
M Map. Displays map of airspace and your location on
the HSI (horizontal situation indicator).
R Range. Controls radar resolution (2, 10 or 40 miles).
T Target Select. Selects radar contact as a target.
Toggle through available targets by pressing T
repeatedly.
RETURN Weapon Select. Press repeatedly to toggle through
available weapons. The weapon selected is highlighted
by a red bar in the weapons window in control panel.
SPACE BAR Fires weapon. Fires active weapon at selected target.
Shift-F Dispenses rescue pods. Releases rescue pods in some
missions.
Shift-E Eject. Press to eject from a doomed aircraft. P Pause on/ off.
ESCAPE Reset Mission. Returns you to the start of the
current mission.
Shift-Escape Exit Current Mission. Returns you to Mission Select
screen. Keypad Enter Switches viewing mode from first-person perspective
inside cockpit to third-person perspective outside
cockpit; press ENTER again to re-enter cockpit. Press
ENTER to skip through the "zoom down" that follows
your selection of any of the scenarios; you'll go
straight to the cockpit.
Shift-Enter Takes you to the control tower nearest your starting
location.
[ ] Zoom. Left bracket zooms out, right zooms in.The following keys on the numeric keypad function when your view is from inside the plane:
4 Moves your head to the left.
6 Moves your head to the right.
5 Locks your head in present position.
2 Turns your head around for backward view (checks
your "6").
1 Straight-down view.
7 Straight-up view.
8 Returns you to forward view (shortcut).The program automatically returns you to the forward view after 4 seconds. To prevent this, press 5 (see above) to remain in the pilot viewing mode that you have selected.
When you press Enter, the view mode numeric keypad remains inoperative. However, the view each number gives is the position of the viewer outside the aircraft. Scroll through the numbers on the keypad to view your plane in flight from the different possible angles, then press ENTER again to return to the cockpit view. Note: In addition to the 7 keys mentioned above, the 3 and 9 keys are operative when you're viewing the plane from the outside views (the 5 key now shows you a view of the aircraft from directly above). In addition, the decimal point gives you a beneath-the-plane view.
You can use ECM to foul an enemy's radar, avoid detection, and deflect an incoming attack. ECM has both an active form, like jamming the enemy's radar electronically, and a passive form, like dropping chaff, composed of small lengths of wire or foil. Chaff acts as a signal decoy, confusing the tracker's radar. --- even causing missile guidance on the wrong target. When a pilot faces an impending attack, he will often employ ECM and perform an evasive manoeuvre simultaneously.
Both the F-16 and F/A-18 Hornet are fitted with standard ECM pods. There is an ECM indicator on the right side of your cockpit panel. It is highlighted in yellow when your ECM pod is active. Using ECM reduces the range and effectiveness of enemy missiles, but also provides a beacon to your current position.
Each aircraft boasts medium and short range missiles, plus a short range cannon. The AIM-120A AMRAAM is the medium range missile on each aircraft; it is a highly accurate "fire and forget" weapon. The AMRAAM has an effective range of over 30 miles; its guidance system keeps it on a strapdown, inertial course until it approaches the target. Then the AMRAAM activates a small active seeker in its nose as it homes in on the target.
The short range missile available to the F/A-18 Interceptor pilot is the AIM-9L Sidewinder anti-aircraft missile. The Sidewinder has a range of 11 miles, and reaches a speed of Mach 3. A pilot manoeuvring at 6g can still release a Sidewinder toward its target; the Sidewinder can be released when the attack craft is as close as 1000 feet. The AIM-9 performs best when it is launched from astern at a glowing afterburner, but its "all-angle" capability allows launch at head-on targets as well.
The close-range cannon is the GE-M61, a 20mm cannon that fires 570 rounds at 6000 rounds per minute. In the modern era, a close range gun is most valuable in the midst of a close-quarters dogfight.
Now that you've completed your brief check-out of each aircraft, you're ready to solo. Your departure point is always the Mission Selection screen, where you choose the flight option that's right for you. Select Demonstration Flight and become familiar with the basic mechanics of flight from a passenger's point of view -- and some of the key landmarks of the San Francisco bay area.
Select Free Flight a few times if you are a beginner to get the feel of the airplanes, then select Training: Demo of Manoeuvres, to get acquainted with the basic combat manoeuvres.. To practice the manoeuvres behind an expert instructor flying an F-16, select Training: Practice Manoeuvres, and go through the manoeuvres (descriptions of each are found below). Select Qualification to qualify for combat; now go on to the Next Active Advanced Mission, where you are dispatched on active status to face one of six missions. As you complete them, you can relive past glories by selecting a previously completed mission in Selectable Missions.
After you select the Demonstration Flight (enter 1 at Mission Selection screen), you zoom in to the carrier Enterprise (CVN 65). You watch as the Navy's workhorse takes off from the carrier deck, with its afterburners alight. When you select the demo, you cannot take control of the plane. The demo gives you a brief taste of flight, then lands at Alameda Naval Air Station. The demo repeats; to exit to Mission Selection, press Shift-Escape. When you're ready to take control of the aircraft, go on to Free Flight.
Free Flight, No Enemy Confrontation is the perfect opportunity to become familiar with the skills of flight that build a combat pilot's base of experience. Once you select Free Flight, select your starting location choosing between San Francisco International (1), Alameda Naval Air Station (2) Moffett Field Naval Air Station (3), and an aircraft carrier off the coast of San Francisco (4). You choose to fly either the F/A-18 Hornet or the F-16 Falcon (if you select the carrier as your starting location you are assigned an F/A-18 automatically). Watch as the view zooms in to your aircraft in takeoff position, then check your control panel and verify that all systems are "go". To take off, just press F10 to increase your throttle to "military power". Once your airspeed reaches 200 knots, pull back on the joystick to lift off.
In Free Flight, you face no enemies, and have no aerial targets to sight on; however, you can explore the possibilities of flight, practice take-offs, and familiarise yourself with the control systems and flight characteristics of your aircraft. Free Flight also lets you in on the sounds of flight -- the roar of take-off as you accelerate, the whine of your landing gear as it is raised, the kick of supersonic flight as you light the afterburners.
If you should crash in any of the F/A-18 Interceptor missions, you are returned to your starting position, in position to take off again. However, if you are enrolled in a Tour of Duty, crashing means you won't gain mission completion credit in your flight log (see Your Current Flight Log, below).
Demo of Manoeuvres, you ride as a passenger, as a flight instructor performs a sequence of basic flight manoeuvres. After you select the Training Demo from the Mission Selection screen, you'll be airborne, ready to watch the first of seven manoeuvres. The pilot flies at 80% thrust throughout the demo; he may climb to altitudes above 14000 feet, and fly as fast as 650 knots.
As a passenger, you have no control of the aircraft. However, to skip any manoeuvre,, or to interrupt a manoeuvre in progress and select the next in sequence, press RETURN. Once the sequence of manoeuvres is complete (see Training: Practice Manoeuvres for a complete list of the manoeuvres), it will repeat automatically until you exit the demo. Take advantage of the training demo; it gives you a leg up when you fly the manoeuvres yourself in Training: Practice Manoeuvres. To exit and return to the Mission Selection screen, press Shift-Escape.
In this scenario, the manoeuvres are the same as in Training: Demo of Manoeuvres, and you perform them in the same order. Once you select this scenario, you begin lined up on the runway, behind the instructor's plane. He'll wait for you to begin his take-off. Accelerate to 80% thrust; when you reach 200 knots, take to the air. Try to stay in sight of the instructor as he climbs into position for the first manoeuvre. Follow the instructor, and perform each manoeuvre in sequence as he does. If you lose the instructor once he starts to perform his manoeuvres, you can reposition yourself behind his aircraft by pressing Return (once you're repositioned, make sure you stay within range of the instructor without overtaking him).
Demo of Manoeuvres, and follow the instructor as he loops or rolls, breaks or flies inverted. If a particular manoeuvre is too difficult, you can always trigger the next manoeuvre automatically. Make sure you're lined up in sight of the lead plane, then press the joystick button when the instruction to trigger appears at the bottom of the cockpit panel. The instructor executes the manoeuvre, and you try to keep up. To skip a manoeuvre, press Return; to leave a smoke trail behind the instructor's plane, press S. Just as in Training: Demo of Manoeuvres, the manoeuvres repeat automatically until you exit. Press Shift-Escape to return to Mission Selection.
What follows are detailed descriptions of the 7 manoeuvres you practice in Training:
To perform an aileron roll, push the stick to one side. The plane rolls around, and its nose describes a circle on the horizon. In combat, use rolls to position yourself to "lift" through climbs, dives, and turns.
Use the Break Turn when the attacker is first seen approaching when you're in the enemy's "cone of vulnerability". To execute, break hard in the direction of the attack, fly with your wing pointed at the ground , then right yourself. You want to generate "angle-off" and ruin the aggressor's angle, making him overshoot.
In an inside loop, you pull up quickly and go all the way over. Your head faces the centre of the loop, while you pull positive G's. It's a bit like an aerial backward somersault. Perform an inside loop to trade positions with an opponent who's near.
In the Split-S manoeuvre, the defender rolls inverted and then dives away vertically, pulling out in the opposite direction. from his opponent. The idea is to force the attacker to overshoot, positioning yourself for a reversal, while destroying the opponent's angle of attack.
In this manoeuvre, you pull back on the stick, get to the top of the loop, then fly horizontally in inverted flight. Now roll your plane upright. Also known as an Immelman, the half-loop allows you to gain altitude and reverse directions.
In the Barrel Roll, the defender first breaks, then rolls in the opposite direction to the break. The barrel roll involves loss of much speed; it works best when the attacker is in a high angle-off, high overtake situation. If you execute this manoeuvre properly, the opponent should overfly you.
Inverted Flight is a basic part of several aerial manoeuvres; to accomplish it, pull the stick back until you're upside-down, maintain your direction, then fly inverted. Try to maintain level flight.
When you've completed your training and orientation, choose Qualification at the Mission Selection screen. You quickly hear the roar of the F/A-18's powerful engines, and look out from the Hornet's cockpit to the Enterprise' deck and the ocean beyond. Read the onscreen instructions for qualification.
In Qualification, you must take off successfully from the carrier's deck, fly around, then return to land safely on the carrier deck. You should be prepared for potential opponents in the Pacific skies; your enemies are indifferent to your mission, and will harass you with impunity. Deal with bogeys if they appear, then find your way back to the carrier. Get a bearing on the ship, reduce your speed to 175 knots, drop your altitude, and bear down on the flight deck. Head in toward the side where the hooks are closest to your aircraft. Put on your brakes, lower your landing gear, then hit the wires to come to a full halt.
Once you pass Qualification, you are eligible for active duty (a message appears onscreen confirming your advancement to active combat status).
Escape repositions you on the carrier deck; Shift-Escape sends you back to Mission Selection.
When you select Next Active Advanced Mission, you take on the challenge of several combat missions against the intruders. Each mission has a specific task for you to execute (see descriptions of the 4 missions below). To succeed in Next Active Advanced Mission, you must be versed in all phases of combat -- flying the aircraft, detecting the enemy while avoiding detection through electronic and visual measures, closing in for the attack, selecting and readying your weapons systems, attempting kills, and then manoeuvring to disengage from combat.
The warning lights in the upper-right corner of the cockpit panel flash these different colours when the following situations arise:
In addition, an explanatory message appears at the bottom of the control panel for each "event".
In this first combat mission, you take off from San Francisco International in an F-16 Falcon or and F/A-18 Hornet. Your assignment is to find and identify an aircraft (it's somewhere out there!), then return to SFO unscathed. The aircraft which you must identify may be either a friend or a foe. In Visual Confirmation, you face some danger of attack,. All your weapons systems are operational, so arm your weapons if you spot a bogey. Shoot only if fired at. If you can avoid a melee, you're better off. An onscreen message lets you know when you've completed your assignment. Head for home, and put your aircraft down in one piece.
When you complete Visual Confirmation, you're ready to fly Emergency Defence Operation. You fly an F/A-18 Hornet from the deck of the carrier anchored off the coast of San Francisco. Your mission is clear and compelling -- "We have hostile aircraft in your sector. Air Force One is currently on course to SFO." That means the Commander-in-Chief is unaware of the attempt to assassinate him and fatally compromise U.S. security. In this protective situation, you must intercept and occupy the aggressor planes, allowing the Air Force One pilot time to land safely at SFO (an onscreen message informs you when the President's plane is down). Scramble to the scene of the attack, deflect or destroy the enemy, and return to the carrier to land. Emergency Defence Operation is a combat pilot's challenge of the highest magnitude -- including the ability to gain attack position, outmanoeuvre your opponent, and outgun him if necessary.
Two F-16 Falcons from the U.S. Air Force have defected to the enemy side, aided in their escape by a couple of unidentified escorts. Your assignment is to take off from the carrier, find the would-be defectors and their co- conspirators, and deal with the enemy planes in the most convincing manner possible. Fly in front of the would-be Benedict Arnolds to inform them that the game is up. If they agree to return home, escort them there; if they disobey your signal to surrender, prevent their getaway at all costs.
In Search and rescue Operation you try to find and rescue a downed friendly pilot. Take off from the carrier Enterprise, and find the lost pilot, using radar and your pilot's keen eyes. Again, enemy aircraft seek to prevent the execution of your mission. After you locate the downed flier, you should deploy the rescue pod within his range. A message informs you if the drop was successful. Once the downed pilot is safe, your job is done -- return to the carrier and safety.
Choose Selectable Missions after flying Next Advanced Mission. You'll be able to select any of the missions that you completed in Next Active Advanced Mission, plus one more. Each time you complete a mission in Selectable Missions, you are given a new scenario to select from the Selectable Missions screen. As you take to the air in each mission, all of your instrumentation and weapons are operational; your aircraft is standing by, so strap on your G-suit and climb aboard. Fly Selectable Missions to practice the combat scenarios before returning to combat on active status.
There are other selectable missions, which we won't describe here. Once you have successfully completed an active mission, you may repeat it. The second time around, though, you may have to contend with a tougher array of opposing pilots.
Your Current Flight Log lets you view your progress when you enrol in a Tour of Duty (you must write-enable your disk before enrolling). Select Your Current Flight Log from the Mission Selection screen; you view a summary that includes the following:
After each mission that you complete, your flight log is updated. To save the update onto your disk, press "1". Any missions you've completed count toward your credit; for example, if you've completed the first two Selectable Missions, you can begin the third whenever you like. As you fly more missions, you will continue to update the flight log, keeping track of your progress throughout play.
If you wish to reset the Flight Log and keep statistics from scratch, press Shift-2. This erases the current log and sets statistics at 0. When you reset the Flight Log, you erase credit for any missions completed. Remember to enter a new callsign.
Note: You'll need to requalify to fly missions.
To exit from the Flight Log back to Mission Selection, press Esc.
Learning the workings of today's modern fighters is a key element of the pilot's art. He need to know where all the controls are by touch, but more than that, he needs to approach his aircraft as the wonder of aerospace technology that it is. Your F/A-18 Interceptor and F-16 Falcon aircraft are the best that the Navy and the Air Force can put in the air. They are the results of thousands of hours of design and engineering, and are kept in tip-top shape by careful ground crew maintenance. In your hands, the F-16 and the F/A-18 turn into precise instruments, and the trained pilot emerges as a surgeon of the sky.
The art of combat flying is a combination of skills. Experience is any pilots best teacher -- there's no substitute for long hours spent perfecting basic flight manoeuvres., the principles of attack, and successful disengagement. The qualities that a top gun must have are courage, determination, acceptance of danger, and a measured faith in his ability to get the job done without fanfare. A flashy show-off is guaranteed one of two outcomes -- a quick trip to the beyond, or lots of practice separating himself from the lines of his flight chute after a dizzying fall to earth.
A solid pilot builds flight skills in stages, taking on the right challenges at the right time -- taking it smart, not easy. That means graduated training, moving from Free Flight to Training, on to Qualification, then Selectable Missions, and finally, Next Active Advanced Mission. He applies basic principles like achieving surprise, detection, gaining a superior attack position, closing, and using weapons in an attack. A smart pilot builds a good variety of manoeuvres into his repertoire, practising each until it is second nature. Careful preparation helps instil a calm, winning attitude in the most heated of aerial encounters.
Welcome to the combat pilots' fraternity!
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a state-of-the-art, lightweight, multirole air-combat fighter with an advanced ground attack capability. The F-16 is a single-seat aircraft with a single vertical tail, mid-mounted tailerons and wings, leading-edge flaps, and trailing-edge flaperons.
The F-16 has a single Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-100 engine with 23,830 lbs of thrust.
The aircraft has a wing span of 31 feet and a length of 47 feet.
16,794 lbs. when empty, and 37,500 lbs. at maximum take-off weight.
The Fighting Falcon's primary navigation system is a Singer-Kearfott SKN-2400 INS with a Standard ALQ-131 ECM Pod.
Its radar capability includes a I/J-band pulse-doppler set, with range scales of 2, 10, or 40 miles. The Falcon's downlook capability allows detection of fighter targets over 30 miles - including treetop targets.
The F-16 can carry a weapon load of up to 20,450 lbs. With 2 short-range Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles boasting an 11 mile range, 4 medium-range AMRAAM missiles with a 30 mile range, and an internally-mounted GE M61 A-1 gun capable of firing 500 rounds of armour-piercing projectiles at a maximum range of 500 meters, the F-16 is a sleek and deadly weapon of defence.
The Falcon can attain a maximum velocity of about 1350 mph (Mach 2.05) at 40,000 feet; at sea level, the F-16 reaches a speed of around 915 mph (Mach 1.2).
The Falcon's tactical combat radius with maximum internal fuel is 340 miles.
The fighter's ferry range is 2415 miles.
The combat pilot is assured a quiet ride and an exceptional all-around cockpit view when he takes the Falcon out for a ride. Control inputs are force-sensing sidestick controller and pedal, both positioned for maximum effectiveness. The speed and range of the F-16 Falcon guarantees top performance in several areas of combat.
The carrier-based McDonnell Doublas/Northrop F/A-18 Hornet is a U.S. Navy workhorse, performing both fighter and attack functions. Designed as a replacement for the timeless FA Phantom II and the versatile A7 Corsair, the F/A-18 has filled a critical strategic need in the Navy's combat arsenal.
The Hornet is driven by two GE F404-6E 400 engines, each of which generates 16,000 lbs. of thrust.
It spans 37 1/2 ft. without missiles, and over 40 feet with missiles.
The F/A-18 weighs 23,060 lbs. empty, and 36,710 lbs. when loaded for a fighter mission.
Search and define, lock-on and multiple-pass capabilities.
There are 9 external weapon stations on the aircraft, plus 4 medium-range AMRAAM missiles, 2 short-range Sidewinder missiles, and a GE M61 cannon (20mm) that fires up to 570 rounds.
The F/A-18 can reach a maximum speed (clean) of 1190 mph, or Mach 1.8, and will sustain a combat manoeuvre ceiling of over 40,000 feet.
The Hornet's air-to-air combat radius (with no external fuel) extends to 461 miles.
