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Getting airborne

Controlling your aircraft, using the autopilot etc.

Re: Getting airborne

Postby Maxim » Thu Nov 28, 2019 1:55 pm

wkitty42

Thanks for the directions to "enable-auto-control" , got there to do that and discoverer the Menu that "wilbragg" mentioned , so got that sorted, and the "save flight tape" issue, got that sorted also - seems I had not given it a directory to save to, once I gave it a folder it worked OK.

wilbragg,

Thanks for your help, just wish there was a little more info on setting up FG in the docs.

Now to the job in hand- Flying, today I managed to get airborne on about the third attempt, managed to stay on the runway during the takeoff roll, as soon as I lifted off it started to bank left, I managed to keep it in the air and gain altitude and spent the next 9 minutes in virtually uncontrolled flight, at no time could I say I was in control, it was mostly all at full right aileron to keep it flying in a semblance of level flight, during this time it was either climbing or diving and flying in left hand circles, next I made an attempt to get directional control - big mistake - thet put me into an uncontrolled spin from which by some stroke of fortune I recovered - however the celebration was short lived as several minutes later I lost it again, this time terminally.

For several periods of a couple of seconds I achieved almost level flight in both axis, but always with at least 20deg right aileron, I can't work out what is causing it, the whole time is such a struggle trying to keep level there is no chance to carry out any other actions or even look at the keyboard to find a key.

The good news is I managed to make a record of the flight, the bad- I haven't managed to reduce the file size enough to upload it yet!

How does everyone make video's of their flight tapes? The only way I could was to run the tape in FG and record it with a screen recorder.
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Re: Getting airborne

Postby wkitty42 » Thu Nov 28, 2019 6:34 pm

i looked and yes, i remember that, now... i generally keep those all open but they got closed at some point... i was kinda surprised that autocoordination was the only other option in there, though...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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Re: Getting airborne

Postby Maxim » Sun Dec 01, 2019 5:24 am

Still not having a lot of joy taking flight - problem still the same - banking left.

Have uploaded a short video of my latest flight - take note of the control position in relation to what the plane is doing.

https://i.imgur.com/8f7ClAZ.mp4

When finished you have to hit the "back button" to return to the Forum.
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Re: Getting airborne

Postby legoboyvdlp » Sun Dec 01, 2019 11:06 am

Looks like you are stalling as you climb out - the airspeed indicator reaches the start of the white markings just as you begin to lose control. Try pushing the nose a bit more to keep control and a bit of rudder also helps to counteract the effect of propwash / p - factor / other left-turning tendencies.
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Re: Getting airborne

Postby tdammers » Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:50 am

You need more airspeed.

The white arc gives you the safe airspeed range with full flaps in level flight; dropping below it will get you in a stall or spin. But you also want to keep some margin for maneuvering: any control input (elevator, rudder, ailerons) will add drag, banking will point the lift vector to the side and thus reduce effective lift, and trying to gain altitude by pulling on the elevator will reduce airspeed.

So extend your takeoff roll until you have a safe margin above stall speed before initiating your rotation, and then when you're airborne, fly level above the runway for a few seconds to pick up extra speed (keep tracking the runway centerline, just in case). THEN start climbing; and when you do, do it such that your airspeed keeps increasing so that you can retract flaps and accelerate to the ideal climb speed (best rate-of-climb or best climb angle, whichever you need/want).

Here's a little speed reference card for the 172: http://www.beverlyflightcenter.com/wp-c ... EEDmph.pdf

Stall speed with full flaps is 54 mph, and the card says to rotate at 60 mph, a full 6 mph faster than stall speed. Flaps can be retracted above 61 mph, but again you want some safety margin, so probably somewhere around 70 mph.
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Re: Getting airborne

Postby dilbert » Wed Dec 04, 2019 1:43 pm

As a once upon a time plot I never liked the idea of having to use the mouse for controls. I have both Logitech 3D Pro and Saitech Madcat sticks, both of which
work well. What's nice about the Logitech 3D is it's programmed out of the box, such that stick forward and back controls elevator and side to side controls ailerons; twist of stick controls rudder; the two top left buttons control elevator trim, the two top right control flaps up and down; front button controls brakes; the two rear buttons on base engage left or right brakes. individually. The "hat" switch on middle top controls view. The lever at rear bottom controls throttle.
Plug it in to a USB port before launching Flight Gear and you're ready to fly. :)
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