Hi: I have two questions: Is a "yaw damper" and a "wing leveler" the same thing? And, is it possible to add one of these to the aircraft.cfg file so it is active in a particular plane? I assume the plane must have an autopilot to be able to add it...Hope the question is clear enough! Thanks for your help...Steve

Yaw Damper controls an aircrafts tendency to 'Dutch Roll' (not modeled in FS).Wing leveler is just that, a 'Wing Leveler'.Look up 'Dutch Roll' on Wikipedia...

Thanks for the reply...In FSX, the Yaw Damper seems to be nothing more than a Hdg Hold...It's impossible to make small corrections to heading with the damper on...Is this true in a real aircraft? Thanks again...

Yaw Damper controls an aircrafts tendency to 'Dutch Roll' (not modeled in FS).Wing leveler is just that, a 'Wing Leveler'.Look up 'Dutch Roll' on Wikipedia...

Thanks for the reply...In FSX, the Yaw Damper seems to be nothing more than a Hdg Hold...It's impossible to make small corrections to heading with the damper on...Is this true in a real aircraft? Thanks again...

Short answer is 'no'... :(

Hi: I have two questions: Is a "yaw damper" and a "wing leveler" the same thing?

They are not the same.Yaw damper is some sort of limiter to the rudder movement. At high speeds, the YD will not move the rudder as aggressively as it would let you move it at low speeds. Reason why it does that is to prevent structural damage. Remember the A300 crash in New York shortly after 9/11?

Depends on the autopilot. On a typical GA autopilot-engaging the autopilot as a 1st step engages a wing leveler.If you want to make heading changes with the autopilot engaged the normal routine would be to engage heading hold and use the heading bug to make corrections. The reasoning is simple. You takeoff-are in a busy environment and ifr conditions and engage the autopilot seeking immediate help. The wing leveler engages keeping the aircraft pretty much in the state it is but maintaining some control (like keeping it from overbanking) by keeping the wings level.

Depends on the autopilot specs (entries) in cfg and air file. Plus how well balanced the ac is, but I include these lines in all my cfg (autopilot) sections so I can do 'nifty' manual heading changes (while having the AP and Alt Hold engaged):use_no_default_pitch=1use_no_default_bank=1default_pitch_mode=0default_bank_mode=0I fly with auto-coordination (auto rudder) OFF as I like to make manual corrections (5 degrees or more) without using the AP 'Hdg' feature on approach, and before I switch in 'Approach' feature, as while lineing up to runway heading on approach. Don't need it on take offs.In fact, with these 4 lines, I can make greater than 3 degree heading changes WHILE HAVING ALT HOLD engaged (ie: will not lose alt on turns). There is SOME banking, naturally, but not as much as would be without these lines and auto rudder being on. Amount of roll also depends on the values for 'Rudder effect on roll' in the (Flight Dynamics) section of air file, plus yaw damping, and moi's. I learned this from working on the V-22 Osprey. After tweaks it can now do rotation while wings remain perfectly level. Hey, it's 'part helicopter' so it should be able to do this without seeming too 'not real'. But it works, and makes flying a little nicer (for me). What I can't stand is the models that either won't turn (no matter what) or will do an exagerated roll as soon as you inputsome rudder. So I tweak until I get it working 'my way'. And if ac don't have 'wing leveler' in AP you can still envoke it with keyboard key press of 'Ctrl+V'. Cheers.CBNapamule

They are not the same.Yaw damper is some sort of limiter to the rudder movement. At high speeds, the YD will not move the rudder as aggressively as it would let you move it at low speeds. Reason why it does that is to prevent structural damage. Remember the A300 crash in New York shortly after 9/11?

Your thinking of a rudder ratio limiter (the name can vary depending on what aircraft we are talking about) The yaw damper as stated previously is to stop Dutch roll, as far as I'm aware it is simulated in FS, if you own the PMDG 747 or MD11 switch off the yaw damper in cruise and observe what happens, I'm pretty sure other payware aircraft would also simulate dutch roll.

use_no_default_pitch=1use_no_default_bank=1default_pitch_mode=0default_bank_mode=0

The first two entries are for FS8/9.The second two entries are for FSX, but FSX will also recognize the FS8/9 versions.While it does no harm to have them all in the same aircraft.cfg file, it's rather pointless.Worse, it can lead to contention if they aren't consistent, i.e. not the same setting... use_no_default_pitch=1 means precisely the same thing as default_pitch_mode=0