Since the Q400 is said to run outside of FSX does this mean weather related turbulence in FSX has no effect on this AC?

 

 

What about weather from programs like Active Sky or Opus?

This used to be true with the early versions of the software.

 

The current build (1.8 by memory?) certainly is effected by turbulence from ActiveSky Next (Personal experience confirms this).

There is a setting for the Q400's sensitivity it was toned down in the last major patch, i think (don't quote me) it's 0.75 as default, i turned this down to 0.50, it makes a significant difference, i see very little now, before hand i thought it was a little too strong.

 

I think the setting is in the aircraft.cfg file...i think.

There is a setting for the Q400's sensitivity it was toned down in the last major patch, i think (don't quote me) it's 0.75 as default, i turned this down to 0.50, it makes a significant difference, i see very little now, before hand i thought it was a little too strong.

 

I think the setting is in the aircraft.cfg file...i think.

 

Thanks for the info. Yes I found myself flying north of Sydney during a thunderstorm and found the amount of bank travel to be rather annoying, although the pitch/speed seemed about right. That said I was seeing a variance in wind speed and it was a crosswind, so maybe the bank was just the autopilot correcting the drift angle to remain on course/LNAV.

 

But it was certainly a marked and very obvious increase in reaction to turbulence compared to earlier versions of the software.

O.K. 

 

Does the AC also bounce around in turbulence or does it just affect the flight controls?

Yes. It bounces around. Since release version 1.007 which was introduced in December 2013. 

 

The turbulence "reads" FSX's weather, and then interperets it into the external Q400 FDE.

As Ian mentioned above, there was a change in January's 1.008 release that turned the turbulence down a notch because before that it was really throwing the thing around the sky like a ragdoll. 

 

My experience with the 1.008 is that it rocks nose down/nose up and banks left/right by a visibly obvious amount, maybe as much as 3 or 4° movement sometimes (I noticed this passing in and out of CB in cloud, thunderstorm, crosswind you name it).

 

In a word. Yes. It simulates turbulence now.

You might see earlier in development it didn't.

It does now.

Yes. It bounces around. Since release version 1.007 which was introduced in December 2013. 

 

The turbulence "reads" FSX's weather, and then interperets it into the external Q400 FDE.

As Ian mentioned above, there was a change in January's 1.008 release that turned the turbulence down a notch because before that it was really throwing the thing around the sky like a ragdoll. 

 

My experience with the 1.008 is that it rocks nose down/nose up and banks left/right by a visibly obvious amount, maybe as much as 3 or 4° movement sometimes (I noticed this passing in and out of CB in cloud, thunderstorm, crosswind you name it).

 

In a word. Yes. It simulates turbulence now.

You might see earlier in development it didn't.

It does now.

 

Excellent!

 

Thanks for the confirmation!

I finally settled on a turbulence scalar of .43 after flying some planes like the NGX or the PMDG J-41 around in what Active Sky Next calls 'light turbulence'.  Then I went and adjusted the Dash 8 just based on a subjective feel by comparison.  It was just a guess, really.

 

Here is a question for the smart people:  Would a plane with an extremely high wing loading like the Dash 8-400 be more prone to bouncing around in turbulence or less prone than a comparitively sized plane with a lower wing loading?

Less prone. Basic aerodynamics.

Less prone. Basic aerodynamics.

 

At the .43 I settled on, I was wondering if I had made the plane a little too tame in the gusts, but I guess, because of this, the real one must also be pretty tame.  I must say it's certainly one of the most pleasant, and intuitive, handflyers out there now, but I certainly understand what people who were using ASN were talking about when they said the .75 default was simply too high.

.40 looks a good setting to me, although I've got mine at 0.50

This is good news.  I'd passed on this airplane when it came out that it didn't have turbulence.  Now...I can add it to my list.

This is good news.  I'd passed on this airplane when it came out that it didn't have turbulence.  Now...I can add it to my list.

 

Yes, this was one of my primary reasons for waiting as long as I did, too.  That and a few other questions about compatibilities.  Most of these issues appear to be a thing of the past, as far as I can tell.  My impression is that the plane is quite tight now.  There are some unexpected perks too, that I wasn't aware of, like the highly customizable sound, which supports all conceivable speaker configurations-I wish all developers would take a page from that book.  I found the control set up very straight forward, despite having read earlier horror stories about Saitek throttles and reverse prop and things.  It has good multi-crew support (MCE).  Also, a gigantic body of knowledge has built up now, so despite the included documentation being somewhat paltry, most of my questions so far have been easily answered by either a forum search or a youtube vid, making coming up to speed fairly painless.  Good things come to those who wait. :p0502:

_{So far I've noticed the aircraft rocks from side to side mostly. I haven't seen much nose movement and the aircraft hasn't shown any movement vertically (yet), maybe this will change as the weather I fly in varies over time. The stick shakes a lot though. I'm using ASNext with turbulence about 70%, which from memory is a bit above ASN's default setting, maybe I might try the slider at 100% and see if I get more "bang for my buck". I'm using the latest 1.08b patch which in my opinion is the best so far. The turbulence effects in the cockpit will give me the impression that I've encountered turbulence so it's doing it's job and I'm pleased with it.}

 

_DP

Turbulence effects are much better with the new versions. Now that the aircraft sits within fsx it is no longer a floater.

 

Hirdy