Hello all! I'm fairly new to flight simulators (I remember playing the old MS Flight Simulator on my dad's computer as a kid, mostly weaving around the buildings in Chicago and pretending I was in the death star trench shooting TIE fighters or something. ). I was hesitant to try out MS Flight since I've always been kind of intimidated by the complexity of flight sims, but I'm glad I decided to. I've been having a bunch of fun with it and even bought the adventure pack and the P-51.Anyway, I am having some problems controlling the planes. Specifically the airplane keeps wanting to go right, even with the mouse dead center and no keys pressed. In order to fly straight I have to keep the mouse crosshairs off to the left a couple inches. Happens with all planes (except the Maule which I do not have) and also with a joystick and an Xbox360 pad. Leaving the stick centered results in turning to the right. I've tried it without wind, wind from the front, wind from the rear, and wind from the sides, with no change.Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas on what's causing it? It's a minor issue and won't diminish my overall enjoyment of the game, but it makes landing a bit more difficult

That could possibly be one of the settings you have selected. I think it might be because the direction of the prop spin, it causes your plane to drift slightly.Possibly corrected with rudder trim.

Yeah, theres a setting for it in gameplay options... Reducing rotating propeller effects i think its called. Try that!

I would say it's the natural left-turning tendency of airplanes but you're experiencing right-turning tendency...which is quite strange :PIt's gota be something wrong with your controls or settings. Maybe you have some rudder trim. Maybe theres some other controller connected to your computer thats adding some unforeseen controller input.

Or wind.. A 8kt wind will send these small little GA aircraft all over the runway if you don't throw some rudder or toe brake in. I will drift either direction depending on the wind in the RV, Icon, Stearman or Maule..

Last night I was playing with options and turned off the reduce rotatating propeller effects option thinking it couldnt have to much of an effect on the game. Every plane now veers to the left and it gets worse with speed and is much worse with a crosswind especially if you have turned off smooth flying as well, the icon is less pronounced with its reversed propeller.

Prop aircraft have a few phenomena that generally create left turning tendencies. You will need to use the rudder to counteract this tendency to fly in a straight path.You can expect this effect to be strongest when these conditions exist.SlowHigh powerhigh angle of attack

Thanks for the quick responses everyone. I've been fiddling around with the settings and assists (like propeller effects) but still no joy.

I would say it's the natural left-turning tendency of airplanes but you're experiencing right-turning tendency...which is quite strange :P

It's strange indeed. Especially since it's unpredictable. Yesterday it was veering right consistently, but tonight it's been perfectly fine sometimes, going left sometimes, and going right other times.

http://youtu.be/mQbja9TW3jY

In the video you can see that the plane starts going right as I go full power and I have to keep the mouse left to keep the plane straight. As soon as I leave the ground it wants to go left instead and I have to keep the mouse right to compensate. No wind indicated. (Not included in the video is the part where I came back around and completely botched the landing B) )

It's gota be something wrong with your controls or settings. Maybe you have some rudder trim. Maybe theres some other controller connected to your computer thats adding some unforeseen controller input.

I'm not sure about the rudder trim. The only thing rudder related I see in the options is "Rudder Left" and "Rudder Right" which I have bound to the "A" and "D" keys. Is their a knob in cockpit view for it? Maybe I'm accidentally hitting it when moving the camera about.Mouse and keyboard are the only things plugged in at the moment. I'm using a trackball, but I don't think that'd matter; if I can find my old normal mouse I'll give that a try.Perplexing. I'll try downloading and installing it on my laptop tomorrow and see if I have the same problem.

I might suggest that you've got wind out of the right in the vid. It's blowing on the rudder when you're on the ground, pushing the nose right. Once you're off the ground it's simply blowing the whole thing to the left. Trying taking off from both ends of the runway in the same conditions and see the effect is more or less reversed (because you're facing the other way). It won't be exactly the same if you've got some head or tail wind.Mike

Just to make sure this is due to wind or not: fly a short while and see if you pull to the left or right. Then make a turn of 180 degrees and fly the other way. If the pull is to the same side then it's not the wind but something else. If the pull is to the other side... well, then you what it is. :wink:If the pull is different everyday, it can't be the prop, that's for sure.

Regardless of wind effects, in that take-off video above, it seems that left aileron is being used to control the slight drift to the right whilst on the runway. Whilst it does bring that take-off roll back in line, the minute the nose lifts that left aileron will produce the expected roll to the left.You really need to be steering on the ground with rudder only, or else anticipating that roll effect and then centring the mouse the moment the nose lifts...Practice, practice :)

Now that I've watched that video again, I have to say that at the very end it's odd indeed that you need to hold right aileron to fly level. That is definitely not normal, nor is it a wind effect (there is no wind indicated anyway)... It feels like there is a very wide 'null zone', but I'm not sure that is really the answer...

I had a similar problem, only to find out that it was due to my controller being a little loose around the axis I used for rudder. I could move the rudder a few inches without pushing against the spring at all!

Perplexing. I'll try downloading and installing it on my laptop tomorrow and see if I have the same problem.

Make sure that you move the controller through the full range for each axis during the balloon mission for automatic calibration. The balloon mission asks you to turn and bank around the balloons, to pitch up and down, and to throttle up and down.

Happened to me again today, consistently turning right. Tested flying E NE N NW W SW S SE with no change so I'm confident it's not the wind. Doesn't seem to be an issue for most people though, so I assume it's just something wacky with my machine.I also happened upon another thread today about rudder trim, Yaw Trim buttons, and the instructions there really helped counteract the weird turning. Just have to adjust it left or right if I notice a problem, and like I said it's a very minor annoyance. Still having a blast!Thanks all!