Trike Challenge

[John_Cillis 2,406]

As FSX enthusiasts know, an Air Creation trike (quite similar to one I took real life training in) is part of the sim. As Trike pilots know, flying a trike requires reverse control inputs as compared to fixed wing (I have flown both, and have certainly given my Trike CFI a few scary moments).If you want to fly the Air Creation trike the way the "Trike God" intended, may I suggest a small aircraft.cfg mod for you.In the "Flight Tuning" section, change these entries from:elevator_effectiveness = 1.0aileron_effectiveness = 1.0To:elevator_effectiveness = -1.0aileron_effectiveness = -1.0You will then experience what I do whenever I fly a trike. A couple of hints--fixed wing pilots will inadvertently steepen a bank by applying pressure in the wrong direction on the stick. Always "Push away from the problem" to get back into level flight. For pitch adjustments "Push the ground away" when you want to raise the pitch. If you can fly the pattern a dozen or so times (my CFI drilled me in touch 'n go's until my brain was dead) you've graduated to becoming a true FS-X trike pilot. Regards,John

[Mace 1,923]

I've been thinking about slapping a ferry tank on the 2nd seat of the trike, and flying it from Labrador to Greenland. :)Might as well do it with a more realistically handling trike! Thanks for the tip I will try it out.

[Guest jshyluk]

Yes, I would have never thought of this, although it's pretty obvious now that you mention it. Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Yes, I would have never thought of this, although it's pretty obvious now that you mention it. Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

Another way (more visually accurate than my first suggestion) is to go to your controller options and switch the axis for the Trike before flying. The reason why it's more visually accurate is the animations with my first method don't mimic a trike's real life wing movement--they are opposite what they should be. The drawback to adjusting the controller is you must do it every time you switch between trike and fixed wing.Although trikes are described as "weight shift", they also employ a method of wing warping to aid in banking the wing--yet it's very difficult to see even from a pilot's POV. Both two place trikes that I have flown require only a slight bit of pressure to initiate a bank. You hold pressure then relax the pressure once your desired bank angle is achieved and it doesn't take much pressure--just fingertip pressure. It also doesn't take a lot of bank angle to turn. One of the two place trikes I've flown had a dual surface wing--that style of trike is harder to turn than the traditional trike.-John