The Indexer Lights are located left and right side the HUD and provide sensitive information to the pilot while on
ground, during approaches and during inflight refueling.
Once you get used to them (that happens very fast) you will find out that they provide very much help during
the manouvers mentioned before.
The left Indexer Lights show your plane´s attitude during the landing approaches and if you keep your Viper in an
attitude where the green circle is lit, you can expect a neat landing.
The correlation between attitude and speed is therefore shown on the left, telling the pilot weather he is too
slow, too fast, the AOA is too high or too low. According to the Indexer Lights the pilot can then make the
required corrections and land his bird safely.
On the right Indexer the pilot can see the status of the NWS (Nose Wheel Steering) during taxi and during the initial
part of the takeoff as well as the NWS satus after landing.
During inflight refueling, this indexer shows the status of the refuel-nozzle, telling the pilot if the connection
between the tanker and the Viper has been established or if it has been disconnected.
Information about the refueling port is also given. RDY informs the pilot about the condition of the intake, weather
it is open and ready for refueling or if it is still closed.
Some friends have called me and told me about having problems with the inflight refueling. They got into the correct
position, held the appropiate speed, but were not able to take fuel. After asking them if they had opened the refueling
hatch (the switch is located at the left side console) I heared only "OUPPS!" and the problem was solved.
In a simulator this might not be a problem, as you can allways hit the ESC key and the headache is gone, but imagine how
it would be in a real Viper ,-)
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Indexer Lights - II
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Side view
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Top & Side view
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The side view shows a small leaver, which is supposed to allow dimming the indexer´s lights. This feature is not
implemented in these indexers, as my friends in Spain (RealSimulator) felt that this feature is seldom used in the
simulator and it would have risen the price of the indexers unecessarily. Even though the mock-up is there and the
indexers look exactly like the real thing.
You can also see, that the glareshield is quite long and therefore when mounting the indexers besides the HUD of your
simulator, you have to adjust the position of the lights so that you have a clear view into the barrel. This means
that a small convergence has to be given top the indexers.
USB Plug & Play is also given with this equipment, and therefore you have just to plug the Indexer Lights into your
ICP, get the software update from RS, and there you go.
I am sure you will have as much fun as I do with the Indexers.
