Hi Folks,

I do some single engine training on the RealAir Dukes. It's really a joy to fly this bird with single engine - till I'm back on the ground and try to taxiing. It's not possible (for me) to do a straight taxiing, 'cause the plane begins to spin around. I use the toe brakes steering method. Didn't test this with rudder steering yet.

 

Any suggestions?

This doesn't answer your question, I know, but why do you always double post everything?? It's really annoying.

I think that's a forum software issue at the moment. They've changed the system internals not too long ago, which seems to lead to a lot of folks posting twice unintentionally. Don't ask me about the technical background there, but I think it's only a matter of time until everything works nicely again. Downside is, people sometimes tend to post in both threads.

 

On the topic. Me says you are seeing a FSX-based issue with the actual force that nosewheel can take or handle. You may receive that single engine problem with a lot of planes, especially when the arm of that nosewheel placement in regard to ones of the engines is rather small. The bigger planes sometimes sort of skid their NW over the taxiways when turning, so they may more or less receive the same odd behaviour, though not as emphasized.

 

Right you are, it's close to impossible to start taxi with one engine out. I could get my planes (not only the Duke) to rotate very fast, but not in the way we usually use the word 'rotate'. :lol:

 

Maybe some dev can join in and explain that nosewheel friction thing a bit better. Even the large airliners need a significant amount of nosewheel deflection to remain on a straight line while taxing single engine. From the sheer NW movement in the sim, it would skid a lot, way more than on the real plane I guess.

 

The bigger the plane, the higher your chances to succeed with that single engine taxi.

Ahhh, now I unnerstan (sic), well sort of. Sorry to have been a little short with you petefsx.

First off sorry for that double post. Had a delay with my browser/network, so I thought it hasn't been send.

 

Me says you are seeing a FSX-based issue with the actual force that nosewheel can take or handle. You may receive that single engine problem with a lot of planes, especially when the arm of that nosewheel placement in regard to ones of the engines is rather small. The bigger planes sometimes sort of skid their NW over the taxiways when turning, so they may more or less receive the same odd behaviour, though not as emphasized.

 

Ok, and there is no way to tune some kind of friction or inertia in a/c config files to reduce this behaviour?

I think the most precise answer would be 'not without spoiling other parts of the model, especially on the flight dynamics'. But, as said, I think some of the devs could answer this in more detail. Seems to affect a lot of small planes.

The Microsoft design team abandoned ground friction as a separate entity from air friction after FS4. In FS4 (not FS2004 but much earlier) there was a hint of lateral runway "grip", where now there is very little. Thus apart from obvious and easy maneouvres like steering at slow speeds, FSX doesn't behave much different on the ground compared to in free air except for a little friction in the tires but hardly any lateral friction, and very little yaw friction either. This is why all FSX aircraft tend to drift sideways excessively on runways, and are also very floppy in yaw. The bigger the aircraft the more the tendency to do this.

 

FSX also rather exaggerates twin engined asymetrical power on the ground so that it is easy to end up with a comical out of control yaw with one engine feathered and the other on only moderate power. Other sims like the original Falcon 4 suspended normal aerodynamics the moment the sim aircraft hit the runway and a friction based flight engine took over, but it was easy to spot the transition which didn't look entirely natural.

 

You can tighten up the yaw on the ground, by making weathervane stability extremely strong, but that would mean the rudder would hardly move the tail in flight. So it is all a compromise.

 

Rob - RealAir

First off sorry for that double post. Had a delay with my browser/network, so I thought it hasn't been send.

 

 

Nope, not your fault. No biggie.

@Rob: Thank you for sharing this significant details. I appreciate your excellent support.

 

Switching to rudder steering method works much better for single engine taxiing, although this toe brake thing a very nice feature is. Isn't the whole life a compromise? :Cry: