Yep!

 

I'll keep posting my findings in FLIGHT :-) just as I keep using it almost everyday :-), and, although I am trying another sim, my opinion hasn't shifted - FLIGHT is still unbeatable in as far as "the sensation of Flying" goes...

 

I have found other interesting aspects, related to how FLIGHT models some aerodynamic effects... More on that later ;-)

Yea good observations...

 

It's the little discoveries like that which make you smile.

 

When in multiplayer and your with someone on the ground watch their plane and ask them to get out.

When in multiplayer and your with someone on the ground watch their plane and ask them to get out.

 

Curious you mentioned it because one of this days I was thinking about what might happen under such circumstances :-)

With them out of the plane, it lifts up a bit, just as it settles when you load the chickens in. :P

Back to the original topic.

 

Something I found odd about the controls of the Maule:

As I began a turn, you would see the yokes move as expected. But if I held the turn, rather than the yokes staying put, they would drift back to their neutral position.

 

Am I the only one who sees that happening?

Am I the only one who sees that happening?

 

Do you mean when the mouse is being used as control, or only through the keyboard?

 

When flying with the keyboard I believe it is programmed to return to the center position so that keypresses will represent a force applied to the yoke/rudder, and then released. It makes life easier for those who have to use the keyboard for input, and yes, it's how you describe it :-)

When you turn a plane, you turn the yoke to set an angle of bank, then return the yoke to the center position. The aircraft is usually stable enought to hold the bank angle without additional input from the yoke.

 

In the Maule in Flight, the rudders will hold a bank angle perfectly and if you're gentle you don't even need to use ailerons and you still get coordinated turns. You do need to hold rudder in turns to keep the bank angle constant, and the turn coordinated.

 

Hook

Hi,

 

With reference to Hook's comments about coordinated turns:

I've pretty much given up on coordinated turns. Just too many things to take into account, especially in the pattern. Here's where the missing real world "seat of the pants" feeling is a real detriment. Seems like a seat cushion with variable left-right pressure might be a solution. Heck, even front-back and uniform increases and decreases might be beneficial. It seems like some amusement park rides feature these features to good effect.

 

Jim F.

I'd buy that seat "cushion" in a heartbeat!

I've pretty much given up on coordinated turns. Just too many things to take into account, especially in the pattern.

 

What I figured out in flight sims is, Ignore the Ball. The Ball is a Lie. Get your bearings from the view out the front of the plane. The ball does a weird combination of lag and swing and doesn't tell you anything until you are already stable, which you won't be when increasing or reducing a bank. It's a lot like the vertical speed indicator: don't try to chase it.

 

The Flight Maule is easy: add aileron and rudder at the same time, watching out the front to make sure your nose doesn't waver in either direction, counter with the rudder. When your bank angle is correct, center the ailerons and remove about half the rudder. Ignore the ball, the turn is stable enough when the bank angle neither increases nor decreases. To level out from a turn, you'll first center the rudder then move it in the opposite direction and add aileron. Watch the horizon; it will tell you if you're doing it right.

 

Other aircraft require less rudder in a turn, and may require some aileron pressure to maintain a bank angle. Experiment. But the view out the front is the key; just double check with the ball after you think your turn is stable.

 

Hook

The ball like most instrumentation is telling you history. Look outside over the nose and do what it takes to maintain coordination when you roll into and out of turns. If the nose is yawing away or into the turn as you begin changing back then you know you're using to little or too much.

 

with time you will get to know how much rudder and aileron to use together. The ball matters once you have stopped rolling into out of a turn, or when you are climbing and descending at various power settings and you are in a"steady" state.

 

Lol Hook beat me to it.