The aircraft
Damage and failures
The Apache is not one health bar. Each system has its own hitpoint, and losing one takes away what it does, often before anything shows on the outside.
Most components fail outright at heavy damage. Some, the engines, gearboxes, transmission and hydraulic reservoirs, warn you first and get worse in steps. The WCA page and the UFD tell you what has been hit.
What each hit costs you
Powerplant and drivetrain
| Component | When damaged | Shows as |
|---|---|---|
| Engines (2) | Worsen in steps to chips, low oil pressure, oil starvation and failure. A heavy hit on a running engine can start a fire. See Engines and rotor. | ENG1 CHIPS, ENG1 OIL PSI, ENG1 OUT |
| Nose gearboxes (2) | Low oil pressure, then chips; a damaged one slips. If one comes apart, its engine overspeeds. | GRBX1 OIL PSI, GRBX1 CHIPS |
| Main transmission | Low oil pressure, then chips. If it fails it takes the rotors, generators and hydraulic pumps with it. | XMSN1 OIL PSI, XMSN2 OIL PSI, XMSN CHIPS |
| Intermediate and tail rotor gearboxes | Vibration, then the tail rotor stops. | GRBX VIB |
| Main rotor | Destroyed, it makes no lift. | |
| Tail rotor | Destroyed, it makes no anti-torque. | |
| APU | Fails. A heavy hit while it runs can start a fire. | APU FIRE |
Electrical and hydraulic
| Component | When damaged | Shows as |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | Stops holding its charge. | BATTERY |
| Generators (2) | No AC from that generator. | GEN1 FAIL, GEN2 FAIL |
| Rectifiers (2) | No DC from that rectifier. | RECT1 FAIL, RECT2 FAIL |
| Hydraulic pumps (primary, utility) | No pressure from that pump. Primary also takes the backup flight control system and the FMC. | PRI HYD PSI, BUCS FAIL, FMC DISENG, UTIL HYD PSI |
| Hydraulic reservoirs | Leak, from a weep to empty in about two minutes. | PRI HYD LVL, UTIL HYD LVL |
See Electrical, APU and hydraulics for what each one feeds.
Fuel and airframe
| Component | When damaged | Shows as |
|---|---|---|
| Forward and aft cells, IAFS | Leak, up to about 130 lb/h each. | The cell’s quantity falling on the FUEL page |
| External tanks | Explode when their pylon is hit hard, if they hold more than about 200 lb. | |
| Stabilator | Freezes at its current angle instead of following airspeed. The same happens without DC power. | STAB FAIL |
Mission equipment
| Component | When damaged |
|---|---|
| TADS DTV, TADS FLIR | That sensor is lost. The sight status shows TV FAIL, or TADS FAIL with both gone. |
| TADS turret | The TADS stops moving. |
| PNVS FLIR, PNVS turret | No night vision picture from the PNVS: NVS FAIL. |
| Fire control radar | The radar faults: FCR FAULT. |
| Gun turret | The cannon fails. Cooked-off ammunition from an overheated gun does the same. |
| Pylons | Hits drain the utility hydraulics, which articulate the pylons. |
| IR jammer | No jamming: IRJAM FAIL (US equipment). |
Repairs
Repairing the aircraft, with ACE, Zeus or a script, restores the systems along with the hitpoints:
- hydraulic fluid, the accumulator and the battery come back full;
- a repaired engine loses its chips, oil pressure, failure and overspeed faults, and can be started again;
- the fire bottles are refilled.