New to Flight & having a slight problem

[matt_gold 1]

Actually, he may be right.

 

My beautiful, wonderful, intelligent wife calls me a geek from time to time.

So do my plethora of awesome friends, whenever we make it out to the pub for a pint.

 

Anyhoo, I use the Logitech Extreme 3D pro, the same as mentioned three posts up. It's pretty great, it does tend to show signs of wear after time, mainly a loose "dead zone" around the neutral position. That being said, it's not at all expensive, and it's a good deal.

 

I wish....oh how i wish I had a yoke and rudder pedals......

[InboundFour953 0]

I've never had a problem with the maule pulling left, and I use one of those sticky things.

[RichLP 32]

I'm fairly sure the intention was to simply appear helpful and welcoming given that it was the first post from a new forum member who was asking for help and also mentioned hoping that the forum was friendly. I think you'll probably find that in spite of the reputation for geekiness on the internet, most of us have actually spoken to a woman before. Some of us have even done so more than once. :LMAO:

 

Al

 

And some of us even married one... thus ending our speaking privileges altogether... ; )

[Chock 17,769]

Then again, some of us married a girl who like aeroplanes too. Here's a true story about that:

 

A few years ago, I was at a dog show with my wife on a nice sunny summer's day (dog showing is her obsession). We were inside a sports hall where the show was taking place, it was pretty warm and so we decided to go outside for a bit of fresh air; we headed over to one of the exits, and as we did, we heard the unmistakable sound of a Merlin engined aeroplane passing over, so we hurried up a bit, as I said: 'that sounds like a Spitfire', to which my wife replied: 'nah, that's a Hurricane'.

 

So we get outside, and sure enough, we see a Hurricane disappearing off into the distance. Now, I can usually tell the sound of an early mark of Spitfire from the whistling sound the Morris air intake makes, but god knows how she could tell that it was a Hurricane just from hearing it pass over when inside a building, but one thing I do know, is that when your wife can do that, you know you married the right girl!

 

Al

[RoboRay 126]

Impressive.

 

My wife always believed that there are three types of airplanes... Big planes, little planes, and helicopters.

 

She's getting better about it now, though, since she started a new job supporting Marine aviation on the financial-management side. She can accurately distinguish between an F/A-18 and an F-35 now, as her office is right next to the Strike Test flight-line and sees them all the time.

[matt_gold 1]

Mine...Nope. That being said, I have started getting the odd curiosity question of the past few years. Like we were watching James Bond, not sure which. The villain decided to kill Bond&girl with a helicopter rotor. How? by pitching the chopper forward to almost 90 degrees, thus making the main rotor into a huge grinder, and slowly inching forward to chop up our hero, a bit like how the huge ###### mechanic dies in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but with a helicopter rotor. Magically, the helicopter remained perfectly stationary and airborne. Something felt wrong to Mia so she asked me "that's totally impossible, right?"

She's extremely smart, but we take for granted sometimes that people without any interest in this stuff have no conception of aerodynamics, or even the basic forces keeping various aircraft in the air.

[EastCoastGuy 0]

I don't think anybody in Hollywood studied physics. Like the guy who shoots somebody with a shotgun -- the guy he shot flies 10 feet backwards, while the shooter barely flinches. C'mon guys... :LMAO:

[RichLP 32]

I don't think anybody in Hollywood studied physics. Like the guy who shoots somebody with a shotgun -- the guy he shot flies 10 feet backwards, while the shooter barely flinches. C'mon guys... :LMAO:

 

Reminds me of the Superman catching Lois Lane just before she hits the ground discussion on The Big Bang Theory... since his arms are like steel, and she's falling at approximately 120 mph, she'd be sliced into 3 pieces... LOL

[noffa 0]

Reading up on propeller torque it seems I got it mostly wrong. I thought it was mostly about the rotating mass of the propeller and shaft causing the plane to want to rotate in the opposite direction, Newton style. But from what I understand now during a takeoff roll it seems that the propwash would dominate? Does this mean that single turbines don't have a strong torque effect?

 

Edit: very unfortunate spelling mistake. I was writing "mass", but the m key on my laptop is acting up...

[RoboRay 126]

For other amusing Superman discussion, look up "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" by Larry Niven.

 

Sorry kids, content is 18 years and up.

[phonic_monkey 0]

Well my take-off and landings are now a lot more stable, I've been flying with a lot less fuel than usual too, not sure if that's helping. Once again, thank you for the help guys.

[Gibbage 199]

Its all a balancing act. More weight will make you more stable, since more force will be needed to push you off course. On the other hand, more weight means it takes longer for you to take off, and gives the forces more time to push you around. Some pilots like to fly "heavy" (full fuel) even if its a short hop. Some like to only take a little more fuel then they need to feel light. If you like the feel of flying light, then thats the right way for you to fly!

 

Thats one of the aspects I LOVE about Flight. You really can FEEL forces acting on you. Passenger weight, fuel, cargo loads, winds, toque, turbulence all have a very dramatic effect on your aircraft, and you FEEL these forces. Its not an easy thing for a designer to make you feel something that really does not exist, but I think the team did a great job on that in Flight. I dont get this "feeling" of feedback from any other sim.

[RichLP 32]

Thats one of the aspects I LOVE about Flight. You really can FEEL forces acting on you. Passenger weight, fuel, cargo loads, winds, toque, turbulence all have a very dramatic effect on your aircraft, and you FEEL these forces. Its not an easy thing for a designer to make you feel something that really does not exist, but I think the team did a great job on that in Flight. I dont get this "feeling" of feedback from any other sim.

 

One of the coolest things I "FEEL", is that moment of 'float' you feel when your wheels leave contact with the runway... I feel it every time I takeoff, and I'm sitting right here in my La Z Boy...

[Great Ozzie 101]

More weight will make you more stable, since more force will be needed to push you off course

I see what you mean Kevin (i.e. momentum)... while true, for an airplane, increased weight leads to decreased maneuverability.

 

Just as important is the C.G. It could very well be the phonic_monkey's reduced fuel loadings are pushing the c.g. further away from a too far forward or aft condition. (Obviously we do not know as MS FLIGHT does not provide the ability to calculate Wt. & Bal.).

 

Part too PM of your "more stable" could be some "muscle memory"... in other words, familarity to the point where you are thinking less of control inputs and doing more "naturally". But I too fly with the least amount of fuel for a 'safe' flight, which in FLIGHT puts me many times between 30-50%. And I do the same with certain FSX aircraft... the DH.88 Comet for example, I prefer to have a light fuel loading if all I am doing is pattern work.

 

As long as within acceptable C.G. limits (again, indeterminable) less weight means better aircraft performance.

 

I dont get this "feeling" of feedback from any other sim.

 

I've noticed the same for me with FSX at times when I get so absorbed in the flying... concentrating so much that the thought of being in a sim falls by the wayside.

 

E.g., I had a wee tummy ache a week ago while flying some pretty rough weather over Norway in the Comet (FSX). Autopilot was engaged, but the tossing to and fro'... ufff... did not help things at all. Maybe the big, wide screen and how close I sit has something to do with it. :unknw:

[Gibbage 199]

There is a very fine line between being very maneuverable, and being unstable ;) Weight gives you better stability, while being light makes you very maneuverable. Thats the balance. Each pilot has there own preference.