F406 - sensitive steering ... any tips?

[Guest]

I'm finding low to moderate speed steering is VERY sensitive in F406 -- relative to all the other Twin Turbo props I use.  Roll out to power on take-off and the aircraft will wander across the runway in some cases I'm full rudder just to keep it pointed in the right direction (even with low winds).

 

I've tried, gradual power, rapid power, different rpm and prop settings, but aircraft will wander around until I hit about 80KTS.

 

Taxi is extremely difficult.

 

Any tips?

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

EDIT: the inertia also seems off, I'm able to taxi at a good speed with feather and throttle at min ... have to apply brakes always.

[Ron Attwood 3,465]

I agree with everything you've said Rob. Taxiing has to be a very considered affair. I've put it down to the usual Carenado 'Flog it and let the customer fix it' exercise. Now, where is that customer?

[Guest]

Maybe Bert has some recommendations ... tweak in the aircraft.cfg perhaps?

[Poppet 709]

Yes,  our in house Carenado magician should take a peek at this one 

[JYW 2,980]

You can reduce the sensitivity of the steering, by narrowing the turn angle. 

 

Go to the F406's aircraft.cfg, and search for this entry :-

[contact_points]
static_pitch =          0
static_cg_height =      5
max_number_of_points = 10

point.0 = 1, 10.6,   0.0, -5.10, 1500, 0, 0.8, 38, 0.2, 4.0, 0.8, 2.5, 2.0, 0, 192, 192
point.1 = 1, -1.3,  -7.0, -5.55, 1500, 1, 0.8,  0, 0.6, 2.0, 0.7, 5.5, 4.5, 2, 202, 202  
point.2 = 1, -1.3,   7.0, -5.55, 1500, 2, 0.8,  0, 0.6, 2.0, 0.7, 5.5, 4.5, 3, 199, 199  
point.3 = 2, -3.0, -23.5,  0.00, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.4 = 2, -3.0,  23.5,  0.00, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.5 = 2,  -21,   0.0,  0.50, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.6 = 2,  -24,   0.0,  9.50, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.7 = 2,  9.0,   0.0,  -2.6, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.8 = 2, -2.0,  -5.0,  -2.6, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.9 = 2, -2.0,   5.0,  -2.6, 1500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0

 

The value "38" (highlighted above) is the overall turning angle for the nosewheel.  Reducing this will obviously reduce the turn angle, but it will also lessen sensitivity of steering.

 

Perhaps give it a try. Obviously you'd need to find a good balance between turn angle and sensitivity.

 

Worth a try.

[Jim Robinson 122]

Mine was uncontrollable too in v3 where it was just dandy in FSX. I chalked it up to the controller issues everyone's been reporting in v3, disabled my joystick, and set up control axes through FSUIPC. Now my F406 is quite controllable without any FDE tweaks.

[Guest]

Thanks Bill, will try that.  

 

Alternative solution is going the FSUIPC route since that can be setup to be aircraft specific and this issue seems to be specific to just the F406  ... the PA31, C404, and other Alabeo/Carenado all seem fine.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

I mainly use differential braking for taxiing..  :wink:

 

Have not noticed difficulty on take off, but tend to fly the aircraft lightly loaded..

 

And.. am still in FSX.

[Guest]

Differential braking doesn't help in this case, brakes are hyper sensitive also. It's as if Carenado tested the AC in FSX only but forgot to test it for P3D with full range controller sensitivity settings.

 

Hopefully that'll change soon as market sales numbers for add-ins have shifted in favor of P3D.

 

Posting video shorty from FT Corfu - you'll see my struggle to keep it straight ... Even worse with 19 KTS wind ... Which brings me to another issue ... A 19 KTS tail wind will send the 406 along the taxi way or runway at about 20+ KTS (engines off). I'm pretty sure that shouldn't happen ... So I'm thinking that it's possible testing of this AC was done with surface frictions modifiers? Which would skew aircraft flight parameters.

 

LM also changed some aspects of sim1.dll which seems to impact this aircraft, specifically altitude loss during coordinated turns.

 

I'll make some adjustments and see I can come up with.

 

Cheers, Rob

[TerribleT 0]

Back up your aircraft.cfg and replace your "station loads" with this amendment for proper "moment arms" according to POH W&B and FAA specs (adjust fuel accordingly):

 

station_load.0 = 180,  2.00, -1.15, 0
station_load.1 = 180,  2.00,  1.15, 0
station_load.2 = 170, -0.50, -1.15, 0
station_load.3 = 170, -0.50,  1.15, 0
station_load.4 = 170, -2.66, -1.15, 0
station_load.5 = 170, -2.66,  1.15, 0
station_load.6 = 170, -4.90, -1.15, 0
station_load.7 = 170, -4.90,  1.15, 0
station_load.8 = 170, -7.06,  0.00, 0
station_load.9 = 170, -7.06,  1.15, 0
station_load.10= 250,  11.9,  0.00, 0
station_load.11= 350,  7.50,  0.00, 0
station_load.12= 200, -1.60, -6.40, 0
station_load.13= 200,  1.60,  6.40, 0
station_load.14= 400, -20.00, 0.00, 0
station_load.15= 200, -21.33, 0.00, 0

 

 

Loaded to the max like a working GA 'plane should be - decrease loads for more fuel as required for those long hops but watch your CoG.

 

If you have A2A Accufeel you will find turbulence more exciting as well.

[Guest]

Thanks you, will give that a try.

 

Cheers, Rob.