I flew an A320 full flight sim for a few hours last winter and I actually think the AXE is pretty good in terms of the roll and pitch rates when hand flying. The real Airbus sidestick isn't like a PC joystick at all - it takes a lot of force to move it to the stops to command a high roll or pitch rate. I suspect most simmers would be shocked at how different it feels vs. the average PC sticks we use.

 

I agree. I sat in an EZY A319 cockpit after a flight to TFS (GCTS) and the stick had much more resistance than I expected. Naturally it makes no difference that the plane was shut down and all hydraulics were at low pressure...the stick is just the stick. I found it to be very comfortable too.

I flew an A320 full flight sim for a few hours last winter and I actually think the AXE is pretty good in terms of the roll and pitch rates when hand flying. The real Airbus sidestick isn't like a PC joystick at all - it takes a lot of force to move it to the stops to command a high roll or pitch rate. I suspect most simmers would be shocked at how different it feels vs. the average PC sticks we use.

That is a very good point regarding the multitude of joysticks/yokes and sensitivities/null zones everyone uses.

 

A good way to test is to place the aircraft on the ground while it is in direct law, bring up the flight control page and slowly move your joystick or whatever controller you have to the full stop left or right. You should get full aileron deflection at the same time your joystick reaches the limit.

 

Best joystick for the bus I have found is the Logitech attack 3, unless you have a a few thousand $ to dump on a replica.

I agree that the real sidestick feels different in terms of force to a usual PC joystick. When I did a flight in a full motion sim at Lufthansa Flight Training center some time ago, at first I was very surprised what amount of force you had to use to move the stick or the rudder pedals. (At that time I was using a Saitek X52 at home.Now I'm using a Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog, which I think in terms of force comes close to the feel of the real sidestick.)
On the other hand I was impressed how precise you could handle the plane with just some very small sidestick inputs.

And in this regard the AXE feels a bit weird in my opinion. It seems to me that especially roll feels somewhat lacking behind my actual sidestick commands. You can also see this when doing the flightcontrol check as rob suggested. There is a noticable delay between the movement of the white cross on the PFD and the movement of the control surface. Comparing this to the Airsimmer A320 I don't see and feel the same behavior.

Am I the only one with this impression?

(...)

Am I the only one with this impression?

 

 

Do you use controller settings as per the AAX recommendations? (an AAX hardware profile)

 

Or are your settings like mine: One set, supposed to fit all planes I fly.

Is the recommendation max sensitivity zero null zone?

Is the VC of this plane considered a "light" version where half of the switches don't do anything?

I'm considering getting this but if its light like the quality wings 757, I'll hold off.

 

 

*sigh of relief* great because I own the airbus X and it left a sour taste.

 

 

No no no no !   :smile:

 

Let me tell you, I bought the Airbus X and absolutely hated it, for various reasons.

 

The Extended is nothing like the original Airbus X; they are like chalk and cheese.

 

It may not be for everyone; but if your concern is that it is similar in any way to the original Airbus X, fear not.

Is the recommendation max sensitivity zero null zone?

 

1. yes, 2. leave a small null zone

1. yes, 2. leave a small null zone

Ok thanks

No no no no !   :smile:

 

Let me tell you, I bought the Airbus X and absolutely hated it, for various reasons.

 

The Extended is nothing like the original Airbus X; they are like chalk and cheese.

 

It may not be for everyone; but if your concern is that it is similar in any way to the original Airbus X, fear not.

 

 

Rather facious: 50% of the AX files went into the AXE (now the AAX); the other 50% are new.

 

Rather serious: There's a vast improvement of the current AAX over the former AX; resulting in a completely new experience (a highly positive one) - but it's still not meant to be a complete systems simulation: So and so many switches still don't work - and are not supposed to do so in the future.

 

It's medium-depth .. but highly immersive!!!

Re: Roll rates.

 

I have a feeling that our individual experiences are possibly affected by our hardware and control sensitivity and null zones settings.

 

The experience for me is nothing like what some people are describing (not to negate their opinion, just saying that my experience is nothing like that).... the roll is responsive and feels real; not overly fast or twitchy. I too had a fantastic 2 hours in a Level D A320 simulator at Manchester Airport, 2 years ago, and the AXE roll rate in v1.1 feels very, very similar to how that was.

 

But................... those that find the roll too slow or sloppy, could try opening the aircraft.cfg (for one of the variants), and scolling down to the [FLIGHT TUNING] section, then perhaps increasing this value :-

 

aileron_effectiveness = 1.0

 

perhaps to 1.3 or 1.4

 

You may also want to try reducing this value :-

 

 

roll_stability = 1.0

 

perhaps to around 0.7

 

 

........................back up your Aircraft.cfg before messing!............................

Not sure about possible side effects - pls. check your hardware settings against Aerosoft recommendations for the AAX first ...

1. yes, 2. leave a small null zone

Well, mine is set like that. Maybe it's just me and I've flown the Airsimmer for too long which flightcontrols do feel more direct to me.

 

Thanks anyway

Gross weight and fuel distribution could be factors, too ...

Flying too slow on approach, with a higher AOA would also make the control surfaces feel heavy and sloppy.

 

I still think some of the computed speed values in the AXE are a little low (including VAPP), so I tend to increase by 5% or so.

Gross weight and fuel distribution could be factors, too ...

This wouldn't affect roll rate. The whole point of Normal law is to give you the same predefined roll rates and pitch authority with different speeds, angle of attack, gross weight etc etc.

 

Edit - since we are talking about FS and not the real thing your above point could be very true.