7 replies to this topic

[turbine_broke]

Advice from real pilot's always appreciated

[turbine_broke]

I am trying to find the most realistic settings in particular to fly with in the cessna 172 and beachcraft baron 58 (for the FSX Learning Center Lessons). I am starting my Private Pilot's Course January 2012 followed by Commercial and want to use this a bit of a training aid. I have Flown a GOB 109 powered glider solo and know that the forces exerted on the aircraft are no where near what FSX simulate, especially P Factor and Torque (Being a light glider would these forces not be even more noticeable than say in a Cessna, I guess less torque but still, such a lighter frame)?? Your opinions on the flight dynamics of a real Cessna 172, or small twin engine aircraft, in comparison to in FSX, or even better in comparison to flying a powered glider with the engine running (Such as take off's and climbs), would be greatly appreciated. I am currently flying the FSX lessons with Realism Settings as follow: General 50%   P-Factor very low, Torque even lower (As the aircraft's rate of left turn just seems un-realistic)  Gyro at 50% and Crash Tolerance at full. Thanks in advance for replies.

[Fate01_VUSAFS]

I find that about 50-70% on everything in the Realism Settings is somewhat realistic. I notice that the maximum settings are a bit overdone.

It's hard to judge really because you don't feel the physical effects of having to control the aircraft when it's trying to left-turn (which isn't usually that strong of a tendency, but enough to notice and have to counteract).

[turbine_broke]

Thanks for the answer, I suspected round 50% to be closest to realistic, specifically on the light aircraft, I realize when flying jets everything can be on 100% and still the aircraft is easy to control. For P-Factor and Torque surely a lower setting is realistic for the lighter aircraft's, otherwise they are banking to 20 degrees on take off if no rudder is applied within the first 5 to 10 seconds, this is extreme. The flight dynamics in FSX seem off to me, when trying to adjust pitch angles on slow landings on short field runways shouldn't your variance be no more than a few degrees; seems like I'm 10 degrees, then 20 degrees, then 10 again, just to maintain a constant speed (While adjusting throttle to achieve a decent descent rate, as is the way explained in the short field lessons) I am trimming the best I can but I have just never seen a light aircraft do this in real life. Maybe it is my hardware (Saitek Pro Yoke and throttle, and Pro Multi Panel for trimming with the trim wheel), I have heard this yoke is very sticky and hard to achieve precise flight control. Guess it's time to dust off my old joystick and see how that compares. Thanks for all help.

[Daube]

The story about limiting the realism setting to be more realistic is mostly a legend.
All came from the fact that the helicopters flight models are extremely poor per defaut in FS. Mainly the Bell206 was so unstable and impossible to control that most user were limiting the realism setting to 90% in order to get a more stable behavior of the Bell, similar to other helicopter simulations at that time.

Truth is that the realism will mostly depend on the addon that you are using. The default copter are poorly modelled, and playing with the realism setting will not help getting anything more realistic at all. If you want realistic handling, then you'll have to find some serious addons, payware or freewares. But once again, you won't get any additionnal realism by killing the realism setting in FS. You will only make it worse.

[Fate01_VUSAFS]

Daube, on Mar 28 2011, 08:20 AM, said:

The story about limiting the realism setting to be more realistic is mostly a legend.
All came from the fact that the helicopters flight models are extremely poor per defaut in FS. Mainly the Bell206 was so unstable and impossible to control that most user were limiting the realism setting to 90% in order to get a more stable behavior of the Bell, similar to other helicopter simulations at that time.

Truth is that the realism will mostly depend on the addon that you are using. The default copter are poorly modelled, and playing with the realism setting will not help getting anything more realistic at all. If you want realistic handling, then you'll have to find some serious addons, payware or freewares. But once again, you won't get any additionnal realism by killing the realism setting in FS. You will only make it worse.

However, many of the add-on choppers have been known to have tweaking to add in a more realistic feel and the designers way overdo it and almost make it uncontrollable. Payware aircraft can generally be much more realistic as far as control sensitivities go; however, nothing is ever 100% spot on.

I tend to adjust my realism settings anywhere from 5% to around 70% depending on what I'm doing. If I'm screwing around and doing a solo flight, I'll set everything at a semi-realistic level. If I'm doing a long-haul multiplayer flight, I'll usually do the same. If I'm getting into having to multitask with a 1,000 different things to do and windows to open and close every minute, I'll usually dumb down all the settings so I don't crash trying to play on two different screens at one time. I often find myself with my FS window minimized while I'm trying to type/pull up a web page and still holding onto the joystick. Whatever enhances the experience for participators

Edited by Fate01_VUSAFS, 28 March 2011 - 08:23 AM.

[turbine_broke]

I guess what I really need is realistic flight model's in terms of flight dynamics, then crank all the realism settings up, hence i have started a new post on realistic flight models. There is no way in my opinion that the default cessna 172 is anywhere near realistic, and having everything on 100% just seems a joke (Keep in mind auto rudder is off as well as auto mixture, gyro is on, I'm tring to stay realistic as possible) if anyone can suggest realistic add on's including flight models, payware or free, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the answers so far.

[Fate01_VUSAFS]

turbine_broke, on Mar 28 2011, 04:02 PM, said:

I guess what I really need is realistic flight model's in terms of flight dynamics, then crank all the realism settings up, hence i have started a new post on realistic flight models. There is no way in my opinion that the default cessna 172 is anywhere near realistic, and having everything on 100% just seems a joke (Keep in mind auto rudder is off as well as auto mixture, gyro is on, I'm tring to stay realistic as possible) if anyone can suggest realistic add on's including flight models, payware or free, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the answers so far.

Aye, best way get better flight characteristics is to get an aircraft that has them tuned in. Careful though, you might find yourself having to adjust the realism settings a tad for different aircraft as they may have been design during testing on someone's computer with the settings they're accustomed to (moreso with freeware).


And just a pet peeve of mine, I can't stand people using auto-rudder. Unless you're flying with a keyboard, no excuse!