All the complex stuff - and I get REALLY caught out by the Piper Cub!

[~Craig~ 10]

A great lesson learned today.  First let me say that in FS, I fly a bit of everything.  I'm mainly into high quality GA at the moment but I do also like the airliners, and have the PMDG NGX, 777 and J41, the Aerosoft Airbuses, MJC Q400, etc.

Today, I decided to take the A2A Cub up for a flight around my latest scenery purchase (PacSim VFR Appalachia, on sale at 12 Euros!!)...... I have not flown the Cub for a long time.   Anyway I set up FSX and sat there at Martinsburg KMRB in my parking spot.   Set up my viewpoint to be in the front seat, hand cranked the engine (as you do with the A2A Cub) and was ready to taxi......

As I set off, I noticed that the aircraft was lifting off the tailwheel at speeds of only 20kts or so ..... that can't be right!  I thought.....  I'm going to wind up tipping it forward before I even get to rotate speed.     I therefore decided that the problem was that my brakes were obviously "stuck on" a bit, thus causing the torque from the prop to pull the plane up off the tailwheel too early.

What followed was an hour of fiddling around in FSUIPC and FSX Settings trying to find the cause of my "sticky brakes";  null zones, sensitivities, duplicated assignments, this, that, the other........    I ran out of time as had to pick my partner up from work. 

As I'm driving along the road it hit me like thunder - DOH! - the tipping forward too early was because I was solo in the aircraft but sitting in the front!! .... my weight (with no counterbalance in the rear) was changing the CoG and causing the aircraft to tip forward too soon.

I got back home 30 mins ago and couldn't wait to test my theory - set up the same flight but sat in the back - aircraft behaved perfectly. :smile:

 

 

1938-designed 65hp simple aircraft   1 - 0   Craig Bennet

 

Just goes to show that no matter how clever we think we are, programming our FMGC, and piloting our 400 ton airliners, the beautiful natural wonders of physics and flying can still make a fool of us! 

 

 

[jordan750 0]

Nice story...

[Alan_A 1,650]

I jump back into the Cub every time the other stuff I'm flying (or programming) gets to be too much. Works every time.

 

But my most recent experience similar to yours happened in the A2A Cherokee.  Couldn't get the starter to respond.  An hour of reloading, restarting P3D, checking settings.  Finally, on an impulse, I checked the circuit breakers.  The breaker for the starter had popped.  I reset it and everything was fine.

 

Too much complexity for me.  

 

So I jumped back into the Cub...  B)

[~Craig~ 10]

I jump back into the Cub every time the other stuff I'm flying (or programming) gets to be too much. Works every time.

 

But my most recent experience similar to yours happened in the A2A Cherokee.  Couldn't get the starter to respond.  An hour of reloading, restarting P3D, checking settings.  Finally, on an impulse, I checked the circuit breakers.  The breaker for the starter had popped.  I reset it and everything was fine.

 

Too much complexity for me.  

 

So I jumped back into the Cub...  B)

 

It's fantastic isn't it?  :smile:

 

It really shows how much complexity there is in A2A's models;  of even very basic aircrafts.

[Mickel 42]

That circuit breaker caught me out too... Not that I'm going to admit that though. Still can't get the 182 to start. Either not enough priming or too much.

 

How did you get into the front seat of the Cub? I've always been looking over Heidi's shoulder. Her whining finally made me decide to get half reasonable at landing the thing.

 

Mike

[Oracle427 45]

Cubs can only be flown solo from the back seat. Also note that the front seat is lower than the back seat so the view is actually worse than the back seat as you will be staring at the fuel tank and panel. I think you can jump to the front seat by pressing A or S a couple of times. I forget which key is the default bind to change the views. It is the same key binding that you use to switch to the view to flip the prop. This will also unrealistically not affect your W&B.

 

I do not recall if the view of the front seat is correctly positioned a little lower in the A2A cub. I think it is.

 

Lastly, I recommend flying the pattern very tight with the cub and using lots of forward slip to maintain sight of the runway and then straightening out as you go into the glidebreak and/or flare. It is a RW technique.

 

It is a lot of fun to practice landings in the cub.

[~Craig~ 10]

How did you get into the front seat of the Cub?

Pressing 'A' a few times, from the VC view (while Heidi's not in there of course - she won't be impressed if you sit on her knee... :wink:

[MauB 74]

Yeah the Cub is great, but AFAIK changing only the view point couldn't affect your CoG.

[smakar 0]

A great lesson learned today.  First let me say that in FS, I fly a bit of everything.  I'm mainly into high quality GA at the moment but I do also like the airliners, and have the PMDG NGX, 777 and J41, the Aerosoft Airbuses, MJC Q400, etc.

 

Today, I decided to take the A2A Cub up for a flight around my latest scenery purchase (PacSim VFR Appalachia, on sale at 12 Euros!!)...... I have not flown the Cub for a long time.   Anyway I set up FSX and sat there at Martinsburg KMRB in my parking spot.   Set up my viewpoint to be in the front seat, hand cranked the engine (as you do with the A2A Cub) and was ready to taxi......

 

As I set off, I noticed that the aircraft was lifting off the tailwheel at speeds of only 20kts or so ..... that can't be right!  I thought.....  I'm going to wind up tipping it forward before I even get to rotate speed.     I therefore decided that the problem was that my brakes were obviously "stuck on" a bit, thus causing the torque from the prop to pull the plane up off the tailwheel too early.

 

What followed was an hour of fiddling around in FSUIPC and FSX Settings trying to find the cause of my "sticky brakes";  null zones, sensitivities, duplicated assignments, this, that, the other........    I ran out of time as had to pick my partner up from work. 

 

As I'm driving along the road it hit me like thunder - DOH! - the tipping forward too early was because I was solo in the aircraft but sitting in the front!! .... my weight (with no counterbalance in the rear) was changing the CoG and causing the aircraft to tip forward too soon.

 

I got back home 30 mins ago and couldn't wait to test my theory - set up the same flight but sat in the back - aircraft behaved perfectly. :smile:

 

 

1938-designed 65hp simple aircraft   1 - 0   Craig Bennet

 

Just goes to show that no matter how clever we think we are, programming our FMGC, and piloting our 400 ton airliners, the beautiful natural wonders of physics and flying can still make a fool of us! 

 

 

 

Great story!

I had a one of my own "Duh" moments recently. For a week, I've been flying my recently purchased A2A Cherokee airplane, and neither my beacon nor strobe lights worked on the external views. I thought it was because I am running DX10 and it was an oversight by A2A. Because I don't have an FBO breathing down my neck in FSX, I decided to live with this, but when this continued to bug me I searched the forums - low-and-behold, I found someone with the same problem who was told to check the fuses. DUH! That's exactly what it was! This is a great testament  to A2A's realism - I just love their airplanes!