Wednesday evening session discussion thread.

[MariuszXC]

Honestly taildraggers are not my cup of tea, but I'll try to go with the idea

Standard FGaddon version, or some recommended repository?

Some views from last meeting.

Over crater, feeling slightly dizzy...

And enjoying the views.

[Volador]

Appreciate your willingness Mariusz if you get chance to practice before Wednesday the best tip I have is to land really slowly (I think the experts manage a three point landing(on runways)) and keep the stick pulled right back while you slow, steer or gently brake. This tip is no.1 for avoiding ground loops.

The standard hanger (fgaddon?) piper version is very good.

Your pics look very vibrant, I wonder if I'm missing some scenery settings, or maybe the price of high realistic settings is a more subdue image...

[Woosh]

Hello,

additional thoughts about the J-3

I like it and it is fun to fly.
however, not in the Grand Canyon circumstances.

J-3 limits
- low horsepower
- perform well at MSL // perform bad at Hi DA (Density Altitude)
- perform well take-offs and landing ----iff---- (if and only if) large turns and no obstacles close the RWY // perform badly flying hairpins (hi banking require more HP)
- up-wing will precludes vision of the "wall" while turning/banking
- quite a good "thermaler"

- All the region is average DA 6000+
- Many tight hairpins flying down the Canyon.
- More turbulences close the "walls"

So I wonder if it is the proper plane for.

Also wondering if the habit and confidence of flying our "usual" ACFT ?= better and faster corrective reactions / decisive advantage.

My own very preference:
C182 / 180 HP / 36" wheels

Woosh

[Woosh]

+

all that said,

if it the happiness of group is tight to the use of the J3, I can go along.

W.

[Woosh]

@Mariusz

question about the vibrance in your pictures as noted by Volador,

are you setting
/environment/season=x.yy
or in FG menu
Environment → Season ... slider Autumn ?

W.

[Volador]

@whoosh, interesting points although I think I'll try it if I get time this weekend and see how it handles in the sim

[Woosh]

Volador,

thank you.

Of course, do it.
I am genuinely interested in the experience you are about to do.
Hope you fun.

I will consider to also join with one.

W.

[MariuszXC]

I'll check the graphics settings when I get to that computer and report back, but I do not recall using any unusual settings.
I run FG from command line. This time I used --timeofday=noon option.
Later, in-sim, I disabled real weather, as we decided to use 'fair weather' settings.

Hardware is Radeon, so there may be slight related quirks too.

Thanks for the handling tips.

Did anyone notice that there are two other planes in the first 'over the crater' pic?

[Woosh]

I can spot one at your eleven 500 ft lower

I suppose it was me,
I was trying a CCW @ lower than the group and on a more distant orbit, and I remember to had you at my 10' higher opposite direction

The other one is hard to confirm, with that resolution. Is it at your 12' ?

W.

[Volador]

I had a quick test this morning and the handling does seem to require more effort at that altitude, I think this would make for a more challenging event as you're planning a little further ahead than usual if you're in the canyon. That was with the most powerful engine and bush wheels. I also noticed that once on the ground (bush) you are stuck as the friction prevented rolling/ take off, currently being discussed in the dev email list.

[Woosh]

Volador,
Thank you for your test feed-back!

Stickiness
I am also following the conversation.
I however sense solving the issue will take a bit longer.
Until there, I focus in picking up my grounds for bush, paying attention also at slope (always an help landing and taking-off)

Engine power
While trying the L4 I can not help it, my mind go to an amazing plane that is still missing in our collection, the L5, especially in it version 235 (or is it 253?), a Stinson redone in Italy for glider towing, 235 hp ...
"The" Fun, as long as you do not have to pay for the fuel...

Back to us and now, (and in order to help me avoiding confusions), how does our choice stands for this coming Wednesday 7. ?

W.

[Volador]

The 182 also has overhead wings to spoil the view, are there any other recommendations of a fun aircraft that can handle this altitude and be nimble and powerful? Turbo Porter? Not sure if there's a reliable model in the hangar, I think @Eagle did some custom work on the exsisting one that had issues. What is the L4?

[TheEagle]

Turbo Porter also has high wings.

But perhaps the Cessna 310A from the trunk hangar ?
It has 2xx 240 HP, service ceiling 18000 ft, ground roll ~500 ft on a light load, great maneuverability …
If you want to have some fun you can use Menu -> Cessna 310A -> Failures and activate an (or two) oil leak(s) … then good luck finding a place to land in (or getting out of) the canyon on one (zero) engine(s) !

Mind though that it got an incomplete instrumentation and only works on fairly recent next.

[Woosh]

What is the L4?

L-4 is one of the Piper J3 cube versions.
I believe it is the one we use in FG.

The Piper J3 line date back from just before the WWII.
Many tens of versions have been engineered, military and civilian.

Fun fact but enlightening fact, the first military version was
differing from the civilian one **only** by its green painting!

The plane is quite modular and many many variant come out with small changes and at each time a new designation.
It did become quickly easy to get confused in that list of designations.

At almost the same time, both the "military" version and the the J3-X version become equipped with Continental 65 hp engine.
Again, the differences in between them are not ...that huge

The military version designated as 0-59A (almost 1 thousand of them built) was redesignated L-4A
and the O-59 → L-4

I guess folks did liked the simplicity of "L-4" and got along.
The competitor Stinson with its Sentinel (possibly for the obvious market reasons) also rename its version to: L-5 ...

In FG our J3 Cube come with 2 possible Continental 65 hp engine
and is
or the J3-X
or the L-4.

Voilà, please take this as roughly indicative, dates/designations would deserve to be double checked.
But the goal here was to browse the big picture and place correctly the L-4 inside it.

W.

[Woosh]

The 182 also has overhead wings to spoil the view, are there any other recommendations of a fun aircraft that can handle this altitude and be nimble and powerful?

Well ...indeed the C182 have that up wing, but you fly away enough of the inner wall, that should be 0K.
The DHC6 ...upper wing, also did perform well, however one must really pay aaaaaaaaattention in the turns at slow speed (< 90 kts).

Another suggestion is the DR40, indeed manoeuvrable and performing well at that DA.
Just wondering if we have 180 or 240 hp jsbsim in some hangar.

@Eagle did some custom work on the exsisting one that had issues.

...I run on stable.

W.