Hi folks,I just raised the level of realism of my FSX to hard, but when I line up with the runway and start my take off, the aircraft steer to left and as soon as I am airborne the aircraft trims left, is this normal?My realism settings are set to hard and they are all on realistic.Any advice is very much appreciated.cS

If flying props it is a natural tendency to go left a bit due to prop rotation.

I have been trying to take of with Piper J3-cub around 20 times, but every time it steers awfully to the left. I have been trying thoroughly with the piper, the Beachcraft Baron.Thanks for the reply diajohn

If it's a prop aircraft, then yes that effect you are experiencing could be correct. It's caused a combination of several things: gyroscopic precession, which tends to turn the rotating prop disk (and as a result the aircraft as well) through ninety degrees like when you hold a toy spinning gyroscope in your hand and feel it pulling, prop torque, which will make the aircraft rotate in the opposite direction to the way the propeller is spinning, and prop wash, which spirals down the fuselage and pushes on the side of the fuselage, tailfin and rudder.Whether an aircraft steers left or right due to this propeller effect depends on the engine's rotational direction (Russian aircraft tend to have props which rotate in the opposite direction to American ones for example, so will turn the other way), but either way most prop aircraft will require some rudder input to correct the track of the aircraft on take off roll when the power is high. You can help it track straight if it has a tailwheel by holding the stick back initially on the take off roll, which will force the tailwheel down and help keep you straight, which is something you can do with the Piper Cub. Some aircraft actually have a tailwheel lock for that purpose too, such as the Douglas DC-3.On take off, rudder correction tends to be done completely manually by simply judging how much you need to depress the rudder pedals (which will be quite a lot at first because the airflow over the rudder at low speed will make it less effective). That's why with powerful aircraft such as a WW2 Spitfire or similar, it is often better to feed the power on gently when taking off so that you can get a feel for how much rudder you need in order to counteract the tendency to turn. Once in the air, you would generally trim the aircraft to counteract these effects by use of a rudder trim tab, which you can do in FS too providing the aircraft you are flying has a manually adjustable rudder trim tab (not all do). The rudder trim tab forces the rudder to deflect slightly so that you don't have to hold it there yourself.One or two aircraft - most famously the Messerschmitt bf109 - did not have a trim tab for the rudder until the later variants, so you have to fly such aeroplanes with a bit of rudder permanently applied. Some other fighter aircraft were especially vicious in this regard - notably the British WW1 Sopwith F1 Camel. The Sopwith Camel had a very powerful engine located extremely close to the centre of gravity, which produced masses of gyroscopic precession to the extent that the aircraft could barely turn in one direction, but was lightning fast at turning in the other direction when assisted by that gyroscopic effect. It was often difficult for enemy pilots to judge which way it was actually flying because of that prop effect making it crab along sideways, which was one of the things that made it fairly difficult to shoot one down.If you are having difficulty judging this by the way, going on the external view behind your aircraft will help you get the hang of things. all it takes is a bit of practice.Al

While Chock's explanation covers the propeller, which is the most common cause of aircraft yaw on the takeoff roll, don't forget (speaking to OP here) to check your crosswind. This is also very important! Your vertical stabilizer (where the rudder is) is essentially a giant wind vane on the back of your aircraft. Also, being that is commonly where the aircraft is lightest, wind pushing against it will cause the aircraft to want to turn into the wind - this is commonly known as "weathercocking" and is used to describe the motion of wind vanes as well. So this can work two ways - one, if the crosswind is coming from the left of the aircraft, this will make the aircraft yaw even greater since it will turn the aircraft in the direction the propeller torque is already sending it. Two, if the crosswind is coming from the right, it can help to cancel out the effects of the propeller torque - or if it's strong enough cause the plane to yaw right instead of left!All aircraft specifications include crosswind maximums - this is the greatest amount of crosswind the plane can successfully rudder into on takeoff - if you have realism all the way up be sure to know this value and check the weather!! Otherwise you'll find yourself running off the runway no matter how much rudder you apply.

Also, tail draggers are much more susceptible to crosswinds that tricycle geared craft.And in the case of the Beech Baron, which is a twin prop, you won't notice anywhere near as much yaw (if any) from the propellers since there is one on each side of the aircraft. However it is still susceptible to crosswinds.

Also, tail draggers are much more susceptible to crosswinds that tricycle geared craft.And in the case of the Beech Baron, which is a twin prop, you won't notice anywhere near as much yaw (if any) from the propellers since there is one on each side of the aircraft. However it is still susceptible to crosswinds.

In the case of the Mooney Bravo, with its tail swept far back and its wheels going so far forwards, I've also discovered the same yaw issue. Infact, this happened in all of my warbird collection, be it the A2A B-17G or the freeware Warwick Carter P-51D Mustang, I'd always be pushed to the left side, with or without crosswinds, with or without the activation of the tail-lock. Another probable cause to these cases would be the weight of the tail, or any other aviation attributes located in the rear of the aircraft. When the plane is going at a very high speed upon taking off, the tail starts to swerve due to imbalance, particularly when the planes' tailwheel goes up, which turns it either left or right. So to cut a long story short, the weight of the tailside of the aircraft as well as the speed of the aircraft while running on the runway affects its movements if the tailwheel is unlocked. Dave.