July 23, 201213 yr I am wondering if anybode knows if (and how) X-Plane simulates ground effect with helicopters when they hover near the ground (distance to the ground approx. smaller then the rotor diameter)? Peter Goossens http://www.helistart.com
July 23, 201213 yr Sure it's simulated ! (and not only for helos btw) Hovering would be way too hard without ground effect ! How is another question. Do you mean programatically ? Well, who knows, except Austin Meyer himself ? Pascal
July 23, 201213 yr The Helo ground effect was overhauled bigtime in early v9. Brett S over at .ORG was closely involved in the process and can maybe fill in some details. From what I recall, XP models the reduction in flow through the rotor close to ground. Some update notes from the time; More tuning of the rotor system. We are tuning effective translational lift, vortex ring state effects, settling with power envelopes, cyclic deflection requirements, and ground effect to match real helos more closely. Yet more tuning of the propeller/rotor model to rack real helos ever- more-perfectly! A military helo pilot (Brett Sumpter) is flying every X-Plane beta and feeding back info to get the rotor effects just perfect! Morten Melhuus
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