Plane loves going left

[HyperionXL 0]

So I'm trying to work out why my aircraft won't stop ever so slightly teetering left.I figured at first, maybe my weight balance is off. Nope.Wind? None.Taxi-ing is the same. I go left.Must be my rudder right? I'm using the Logitech g940 flight system. I recalibrate. Still going left.I unplug the rudder. Still going left.I recalibrate the flight stick. Still going left.Unplug the throttle and rudder. Still going left.Went through FSUIPC to try and figure that out. After going through 10 different settings, changing FSX sensitivity settings, I still go left with no improvements made over the first encounter of this happening.I tested this with several different single prop aircraft. Maybe its the torque of the prop? but I doubt that because I know it shouldn't be taking me off the center line moving 10 knots. Anyone else experience this kind of trouble? Any possible solutions I haven't looked at?Thanks

[loop_n_roll 7]

Does this happen on all your aircraft or just one or two in particular?

[Mike_CFII_MEL 788]

Hi,What are FSX's reality settings, if FSX's settings are set to real, its more than likely a flight model P-Factor / Torque setting.=====================================This may help with understanding Torque / P-Factor=====================================Propeller Torque Effect Torque effect is the influence of engine torque on aircraft movement and control. It is generally exhibited as a left turning tendency in piston single engine propeller driven aircraft. According to Newton's law, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," such that the propeller, if turning clockwise (when viewed from the cockpit), imparts a tendency for the aircraft to rotate counterclockwise. Since most single engine aircraft have propellers rotating clockwise, they rotate to the left, pushing the left wing down. Typically, the pilot is expected to counter this force through the control inputs. To counter the aircraft roll left, the pilot applies right aileron. It is important to understand that torque is a movement about the roll axis. Aileron controls roll. Prop torque is not countered by moving the rudder or by setting rudder trim. It is countered by moving or trimming the aileron. This correction induces adverse yaw, which is corrected by moving or trimming the rudder (right rudder). On aircraft with contrarotating propellers (propellers that rotate in opposite directions) the torque from the two propellers cancel each other out, so that no compensation is needed. P-Factor P-factor is the term for asymmetric propeller loading, causes the airplane to yaw to the left when at high angles of attack. The descending right side of the propeller (as seen from the rear) has a higher angle of attack than the upward-moving blade on the left side and provides more thrust. This occurs only when the propeller is not meeting the oncoming airflow head-on, for example when an aircraft is moving down the runway at a nose-high attitude (i.e. at a high angle of attack), as is the case with tail-draggers. Aircraft with tricycle landing gear maintain a level attitude on the takeoff run, so there is little P-factor during takeoff. In all cases, though, the effect is weaker than prop wash.

So I'm trying to work out why my aircraft won't stop ever so slightly teetering left.I figured at first, maybe my weight balance is off. Nope.Wind? None.Taxi-ing is the same. I go left.Must be my rudder right? I'm using the Logitech g940 flight system. I recalibrate. Still going left.I unplug the rudder. Still going left.I recalibrate the flight stick. Still going left.Unplug the throttle and rudder. Still going left.Went through FSUIPC to try and figure that out. After going through 10 different settings, changing FSX sensitivity settings, I still go left with no improvements made over the first encounter of this happening.I tested this with several different single prop aircraft. Maybe its the torque of the prop? but I doubt that because I know it shouldn't be taking me off the center line moving 10 knots. Anyone else experience this kind of trouble? Any possible solutions I haven't looked at?Thanks

[ziffel 0]

I have problems with going left too, but mine is a bit different. In Cessna's, both my payware 152, and the stock 172, they constantly want to bank left. if I let go of the stick, they will bank (and thus turn) left. I had realism to the far right, which I now understand isn't actually realistic, but rather unrealistically difficult. I put those back in the middle, which helped, but I still have to babysit the stick.In my Beaver X, and especially the A2A Piper Cub, I can let the stick go and those will fly straight all day long, assuming no wind, so I know it's not a stick calibration issue.

[molleh 451]

I have the same "turning left" thing too, even in zero or near zero wind, I'm having to fight with a fairly hard right aileron movement. Some planes don't do it like Ziffel said (planes of the same type, single engine props) but others do. The Carenado 185 is a good example. That thing wants to rell to the left very hard, even with the throttle at just about idle, if I'm in the air, it wants to roll left.

[HyperionXL 0]

Yup... realism settings were my problem. Set all to 0 (except crash) and torque effect was gone. Guess I have a lot to learn about flight dynamics!!I was experiencing this problem with small single prop bush planes like the cessna 152, 172, etc.Would I notice this in dual prop to quad props? Jets? Airliners? Military aircraft? Helis? etc, etc.I don't always have time to babysit my flights as I'm usually doing work on a second PC at the same time and check back every once and a while (I'm like those Northwest pilots that missed the airport by an hour or so, only in the sim world. Haha). It was frustrating setting autopilot on, only to have me veer 50 degrees off course 10 minutes later. But say I have time to focus just on my flights? Where would I put my realism settings optimally for each type of aircraft?Thanks for the help, everyone. I really appreciate it!!

[Mike_CFII_MEL 788]

Hi,With all the calibration and testing you performed, the only thing left was the realism settings within FSX. As far as your next question, since multi engine prop aircraft have contrarotating blades, the torque from these engines cancel each other out.Jet Engines all rotate in the same direction. There are stationary vanes in the engine opposing this rotation of airflow converting it to linear reward thrust and receive compensating torque. The less rotation in the exhaust the more efficient the jet thrust. Most jets and turboprops essentially eliminate this rotational component to the air flow and so produce no torque during steady operation. As far as engine revving torque, jet engines don't change rpm's very quickly and during steady flight not at all, so this torque is not of much consequence. Turbine blades are not that massive so their moment of inertia is small compared to the whole plane. When the rotor of a helicopter turns it produces reaction torque which tends to make the craft spin. On most helicopters a small rotor near the tail compensates for this torque. On a twin-rotor helicopter, the rotors spin in opposite directions, so their reactions cancel each other out.Hope this answers your question.

Would I notice this in dual prop to quad props? Jets? Airliners? Military aircraft? Helis? etc, etc.

[HyperionXL 0]

Hi,With all the calibration and testing you performed, the only thing left was the realism settings within FSX. As far as your next question, since multi engine prop aircraft have contrarotating blades, the torque from these engines cancel each other out.Jet Engines all rotate in the same direction. There are stationary vanes in the engine opposing this rotation of airflow converting it to linear reward thrust and receive compensating torque. The less rotation in the exhaust the more efficient the jet thrust. Most jets and turboprops essentially eliminate this rotational component to the air flow and so produce no torque during steady operation. As far as engine revving torque, jet engines don't change rpm's very quickly and during steady flight not at all, so this torque is not of much consequence. Turbine blades are not that massive so their moment of inertia is small compared to the whole plane. When the rotor of a helicopter turns it produces reaction torque which tends to make the craft spin. On most helicopters a small rotor near the tail compensates for this torque. On a twin-rotor helicopter, the rotors spin in opposite directions, so their reactions cancel each other out.Hope this answers your question.

Awesome info Mike. I appreciate taking the time to answer my questions!Cheers mate!

[Donmo 6]

You would have had the same problem with multi-engine aircraft as well, unless they had counter-rotating props like a Seneca. If you flew an Aztec or Aero Commander, etc., you would still have gotten that left turn with realistric settings.Don

[CaptainAlan 0]

I had the same problem, and tried almost EVERYTHING... nothing worked until I finally started messing with the realism settings. I set it to easy (without the exception of crash detection) and viola, it worked! Will continue working on it to discover the real cause...

 

Cheers

Hope it works for everyone else!   :smile:

[Jon 4]

I had the same problem, and tried almost EVERYTHING... nothing worked until I finally started messing with the realism settings. I set it to easy (without the exception of crash detection) and viola, it worked! Will continue working on it to discover the real cause...

Cheers

Hope it works for everyone else! :smile:

The cause is the p-factor slider. You can turn other realism settings back up and then adjust the p-factor slider to be a bit more realistic.

[Capt Speirs 52]

You want to see left turns, try the Majestic Dash 8 Q400. Rudder trim is your friend. 

[Jetstream96 20]

If you set the autopilot to on, the plane should stay on your assigned heading.

[CaptainAlan 0]

The cause is the p-factor slider. You can turn other realism settings back up and then adjust the p-factor slider to be a bit more realistic.

 

Ok, but just remember that this issue has nothing to do with P-factor. It never used to be this way, it usually only occurs after a re-install or the installation of an addon. Maybe something causes the P-factor effect to be drastically increased? It is very bad on the take-off run. Probably some sort of bug. Anyways, thanks...