To fly a Cessna 172 in FS9 with rudder pedals very tricky

[jfri 42]

I find it very tricky to fly the Cessna 172 with rudders. The first thing I notice is that in a not to steep turns the ball remains centered even with rudders enabled . It can wave a little at the onset of the turn. If I make a steep turn the ball behaves stange. It can suddenly move a long way in the direction and the plane moves erratically through the air.And to keep the ball centered is very difficult since it's very sensitive to my rudder movements. I use CH PRO Rudder Pedals USB and I have installed CH Control Manager and the registered version of FSUIPC. How do I use theese to make a optimal calibrationof my rudder pedals?I have been asking myself if it was a mistake to buy the rudder pedals. Thet make it tricky to fly but it does not seem to be very realistic.

[Guest]

First, let me say that it wasn't a mistake to buy the pedals. It takes a bit of practice to get it right in the real world too, and especially if you used autorudder or a twisting stick before, you might need a few hours till everything works smoothly. I know I did.Second, there's an easy way to improve rudder control using CH's control manager: Open it, click on "Test/Calibrate", select the pedals, go to "Axis Settings", and click a few (e.g. two) times on the down arrow next to the Z-Axis' gain setting to flatten the response curve next to the center point. Click Apply, and check the rudder action in the "Test/Calibrate" section.That way you have to move the rudder a longer way to get the same registered deflection as with a linear response curve, giving you more precision where it counts. Also, you usually don't need any Dead Zone, either in control manager or in FS and sensitivity in FS should be max.Hope you'll enjoy your future x-wind landings! ;)

[Jimmy Angel 19]

It took me quite a while to get my rudder pedals confifgured so that I was happy with them in FS2004. I set FS2004 for maximum sensitivity and minimum null zone, and then used the CH control manager with the settings shown here. The main trick for me was to use the gain settings for the brakes to reduce the sensitivity on a curving scale (not so twitchy if I press lightly, but more responsive if I press harder). This allows the brakes to retain their full power, which isn't the case if you just reduce sensitivity. For the rudders, I've set sensitivity to 80, though I'm still playing with it a bit.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/33713.gifThis works well for me. YMMV.The default C172 does seem wierd when it comes to coordinated turns. The black ball will tend to center unless you really whip the plane around, in which case it isn't really possible to center it with rudders. I'd encourage you to try the freeware RealAir C172 instead (available in the library). I've found the rudder pedals pretty effective in coordinated turns with that plane. They are updating it for FS2004, but it works pretty well as is with a couple of caveats.Once you get over the initial frustration, you'll enjoy the pedals.

[jfri 42]

I now trie to set the Z axis sensitivity to 60 but still the rudder semms a bit jerky.

[jfri 42]

>The default C172 does seem wierd when it comes to coordinated>turns. The black ball will tend to center unless you really>whip the plane around, in which case it isn't really possible>to center it with rudders. I'd encourage you to try the>freeware RealAir C172 instead (available in the library). I'veI didn't find any RealAir C172 in the library. I tried search on 'RealAir C172 ' and was told there was no such file.

[fbobum 0]

It is the RealAir Simulations Cessna 172SP; name of file is realair172sp.zip. It's there...Rick

[Guest]

Just to clarify: the sensitivity setting works like a multiplier on the z-axis value. So when you set it to 60%, 60% is the maximum deflection that you get. Eg moving the pedals 2 inches now sends the software-equivalent of 2 * .6 = 1.2 inches pedal deflection to FS. That way your maximum rudder force is severely curtailed in the simulator.To verify that, you can set FS into windowed mode, call up Control Manager, hold the rudder pedals in a fully deflected position and then change the sensitivity setting (click apply afterwards). You'll see that you get less rudder in the sim.Adjusting the gain/response graph on the other hand doesn't change your min/max but instead makes the pedals or brakes more or less responsive at their extremes. Flattening the z-axis graph close to its center point makes standard rate turns easier in many planes but you still have max rudder force if needed.Perhaps a combination of the two settings works for you. 80% sensitivity is definitely a reasonable value for the default planes as MS overestimates rudder authority (but underestimates side-slipping, perhaps to make landings easier?).For some realistic addon planes, like F1's C152, reducing sensitivity is a bad idea since you won't have enough rudder for banks steeper than 15 degrees or so.Just play around a bit, maybe different planes require different settings.Sensitivity 50%, full rudderSensitivity 100%, full rudderMy settings

[jfri 42]

I already knew all that about sensitivity. My impression is that I will never need full rudderdeflection. But of course I have only tested with the Cessna. And I did find an addon panel that made some adjustments to rudder input. It's a little bit better but I can't thionkthat I would ever want to push the rudder to their extreme position.

[LAdamson 240]

>I already knew all that about sensitivity. My impression is>that I will never need full rudderdeflection. But of course I>have only tested with the Cessna. And I did find an addon>panel that made some adjustments to rudder input. It's a>little bit better but I can't thionkthat I would ever want to>push the rudder to their extreme position.>spin recoveryslipscrosswind landingsThe degree of maximum rudder deflection is set by the designer, but in the three cases above, full rudder might come in handy. It's often required to recover from a spin, you'll use it in varying amounts in a slip, and if full rudder still doesn't align you with the runway in a crosswind landing, then land somewhere else.The three examples above, often work with numerous simulated aircraft also.L.Adamson

[jfri 42]

I havn't tried any of that yet. But actually being able to land in windy condition was the main reason for buying the rudders.But I still think the plane reacts very strongly on even small rudder movements. And if you flattens the curve the the reaction must be very fast and violent when you go for the max positions.Does this not make the plane very difficult to control?