Curtiss Jenny Rudder

[russ69 0]

I soon found when I tried to fly the "First United States Airmail Route" with the Jenny I had no control of the rudder except with the keyboard keys and that was erratic. I'm using a CH Products Flight Sim Yoke and Pro Pedals which work very nicely for everything else but when it comes to the Jenny there is little to no rudder response. Has anyone seen this problem?The Jenny flies fine after I learned to adjust the elevator trim with the coarse trim wheel on the Flight Sim Yoke, which from other forum comments I understand has no use. It certainly fixed the Jenny's trim. Otherwise, because the Jenny has no trim it is intolerable to hold onto the yoke all the time to keep the airplane level or climbing. However, without rudder control it is impossible to steer the airplane to taxi for takeoff, on cement with a fixed wooden tailskid, from Regan Washington National Airport KDCA where the historical flight begins.Hoping for an answer. I'd love to make the flight. Thanks.Russ

[Guest Milamber]

Well I am not a pilot and I have never flown in a real Jenny but I bet most of what you describe is what you would experience in the real plane. Certainly it would probably REQUIRE constant back pressure on the stick...no trim...As to the rudder it probably would not become effective until some minimum airspeed was reached. At taxi speeds the rudder will do nothing to turn the plane. So probably the only way to turn it in a taxi would be differential braking. So you probably just have to learn how to control the plane, which obviously will NOT fly like a c172 :)

[Guest]

The big trim wheel on the yoke does nothing except set a permanent up or down on the main elevator.It's not trim at all, more like pushing or pulling the yoke in a real aircraft and fixing it in position with your knee.

[russ69 0]

Thanks for your responses,The rudder does not move at all on the ground in response to the rudder pedals. The rudder does respond to key commands but response is erratic. When the rddder responds to key commands the movement is large and adequate, however for some reason the rudder often returns to neutral for no apparent reason. Additionally using key commands to steer the airplane on the ground is too difficult and I believe being able to use the pedals would make it much more acceptable. The wooden tail skid is part of the problem, it seems to drag quite realistically and therefore requires quite a bit of rudder travel to make it effective. Of course as soon as the airplane begins to turn the rudder must be returned to neutral via the keyboard - ah too much keyboard manipulation for me to keep up with. I realize the trim wheel on the front of the CH Products Yoke changes the neutral point on the elevators and is as such not trim but in the absence of trim I found it can be used this way. I assume if the real airplane did not have trim they must have used proper balance to make it fly without continually holding onto the stick. Hmmm, maybe I should try that. Thanks for your comments anyway. I still would like an answer. Somebody out there must be making the historical flight with the Jenny. Russ

[Stuntie 0]

I have been flying the Jenny, with no real problems.(The clickity clickety motor is just so gourgeous)First thing - check your settings for assigments and sensitivities.I too have a CH USB Rudder and find that FS2004 keeps forgetting the sensitivities athat I assigned to it.Also if you have a stick with a rudder function it may be in competition with the pedals.Check the assigments for all your controlers.I have an X36 USB with rudder rocker - and that was set up as a rudder initially by Fs2004 and I needed to disable it to stop it messing up my pedals.As to the jenny...Differential braking is the best method of taxing. You need to remeber that an original flight would have involved ground crew wheeling the plane out to the field, and the pilot would climb in and go straight ahead. It's only with more modern airports that taing became an issue.Taxing with the rudder is not that effective compared to brakes as the rudder is speed dependant so the slower taxing speeds make for poor turning. However once you have speed up hard rudder or hard braking can throw the wing into the ground and cause you to crash.When taking off push down to get the nose down (gently or you end up cutting the grass) then the rudder comes into play more.You can then use it more effectively.But don't forget - Jennies took off from fields not narrow strips. If you stray off the tarmac don't worry - tarmac is for these new fangeled machines.The main thing is to not think of things in a modern airport way. Just find a nice straight bit and take off.And if you have a wind blowing try not to take off cross wind - coz she may just get blown over.The real Jenny pilots flew hands on all the time - or as mentioned earlier wrapped a leg around the stick to wedge it in a position that would fly ok (the first autopilot control).I did the Washington to New York run the firat day I got FS2004, and I tried it with only the kind of rudimentary grasp of US geography that a Brit would have, and a map from a book about the American Civil war - and made it there no problem. Makes me wonder just how dumb the original pilot was.I'm planning to fly the chicago mountain route this weekend.Wish me luck...And I hope to pass you as you flying the opposite leg in your Jenny.P.S.Look out for a video called "Flights of Courage".It's about the Mail pilots. Lovely shots of Jennies and D.H. 4's. etc.

[Guest freequest]

Well once you have sorted out your rudder probelm to turn in the jenny all i do as i do with most tail dragger is rev the engine and turn the rudder works very well on the light tail draggers... would you beleve i saw this method on Aces High :)

[russ69 0]

Stuntie,Thanks especially for your suggestions although everybodies suggestions are appreciated, Thanks again,Russ