Nose wheel veers left on take off XP11 - IT"S NOT TORQUE

[montanasimmer 7]

First, I've been simming for 20 years.  I flew the original PMDG 757 in Fly2k and have their NGX and 777 planes in FSX.  I've flown a 777 simulator and landed the bird three times, once in a 20 knot crosswind.  I've flown 10 hours in a Cessna, learning how to manage torque on take off. 

My problem is when I load up X-Plane with the default 737, as soon as I add power, the plane veers left.  I went to external view.  As soon as I add power, the nosewheel goes left.  Big time.  It only responds to toe brakes, yes, that's right.  You hit the toe brakes, and the nose wheel turns. 

I have Saitek pedals.  They are working correctly.  I've calibrated them in win 10 with small null zones.  They are properly assigned in XP11.  No matter what I do in the useless control sensitivities panel (one of the biggest regressions in the sim) nothing changes. 

Any thoughts?   I want to like this sim.  Really.  But the ground handling of aircraft is terrible. Really terrible. 

Thanks.

Colin Ware  - MIssoula

[Murmur 3,941]

First of all, make sure that the wind is set to zero so that it does not influence any veering tendency. Then, can you confirm that the nosewheel turns as you move the throttle axis? That looks like a control mis-assignment. Try shutting off all the engines and check again. Does the nosewheel turn when moving the throttle?

 

[montanasimmer 7]

Problem solved - there is a nose wheel steering toggle buried deep in the control settings.  Now mapped to a button. Plane actually is starting to handle on the ground like it's supposed to.

[Anxu00 176]

On 8/27/2017 at 8:31 PM, montanasimmer said:

Problem solved - there is a nose wheel steering toggle buried deep in the control settings.  Now mapped to a button. Plane actually is starting to handle on the ground like it's supposed to.

Can you explain?  What is it that you map to a button, what data ref is that?  And when you press on the button what is it supposed to do?  Thanks

[montanasimmer 7]

It is one of the control parameters on the sim.  There is a toggle setting for nosewheel steering on and off - just like there is one for turning on and off the landing lights, or setting and then unsetting the parking brake.  

If nosewheel steering is off, then the front wheel is not controllable.  I will be what is called a free-castoring wheel.  You can only steer with differential brakes.  So, what was happening in the sim, was that when power was applied, the wheel would veer off - likely because it was not pointed squarely down the runway.  Think about if you try to start riding your bike with your front wheel turned a bit.  The momentum generated when you peddle pushes that wheel into an even more severe turn, the wheel ends up sideways to your momentum and then you fall down.  Here the wheel is pushed far over by the plane starting to move, and off the runway it went. 

The process to map the control is simple.  Open up the controls section in the settings and bring up your joystick, throttle or whatever other peripherals you are using.  Pick a button that you are not using, and then search for "nosewheel steering" in the controls - there is a search dialogue at the top of the pull down list of controls.  Then you can turn on or off nosewheel steering.  

For some reason, it was off in my sim.  There is a control for this because a number of airplanes do not have nose wheel steering.  The B25 for instance does not, and I'm told Diamond aircraft don't as well. 

Hope this helps. 

Colin

[jwenting 20]

light aircraft in general tend not to have active nosewheel steering because they don't need it. Larger aircraft, especially modern ones, do have active nosewheel steering.

[Anxu00 176]

On 8/30/2017 at 1:00 PM, montanasimmer said:

Hope this helps.

It did.  Thanks