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 ///   HOW TO PUSH or PULL YOUR AIRCRAFT SMOOTHLY ON GROUND  ///
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When you want to push/pull your vehicle on ground/water the last few yards to it's final position (parking spot, hangar, dock etc.) you need to slew it around. The following actions will reward you to perform such movements some more realistic to perform. So lets start to do this.
Read all text until end of document, so you can't miss anything important!

 

   o First of all you need P3D (in my case v 5.5 hf2) and a registered version of
     FSUIPC (in my case v5.153 registered version).
     Remark: I guess it will work in FSX too.
     But I think a version number 5 but subnumber smaller than .153 will also do.
   o Select tab |Key Presses| and press [Set].
   o Now press [Y] key to set the wanted keystroke.
     You may also set another key than [Y], it's your choice. But be sure it
     does not interfere with a key already set within P3D.
     I just redefined the [Y] key which was already set by default by P3D.
   o Under "Control sent when main key released" select:
     'Slew Toggle'
   o Under the second listed "Control sent when main key released" select:
     'Slew Freeze'
   o Next set a checkmark beside "No repeats!".
   o And finally confirm all input data by pressing [OK].

 

Now we've bound the [Y] key to 'Slew Toggle' for the moment pressing the key down *AND* to 'Slew Freeze' on release of the pressed [y] key. The next keypress we will define is for toggling mouse/yoke. In mouse mode you will see the mouse pointer as usual but when in yoke mode the icon will change to a nearly transparent crosshair. So let's go on to set a similar key for that.

 

   o Select tab |Key Presses| and press [Set] again.
   o Now press simultaneously [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[Y] key to set the wanted keystroke.
     You may also set another key than [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[Y], it's your choice.
     But be sure it does not interfere with a key(combination) already set.
     Else use other unset/free keys.
   o Under the second listed "Control sent when main key released" select:
     'Mouse As Yoke Toggle'.
   o Next set a checkmark beside "No repeats!".
   o And finally confirm all input data by pressing [OK].

 

Don't change anything else on this FSUIPC-screen!

So now try it out with any plane you want. I especially enjoy it with Milviz's DHC-2 Beaver float or their straight floats version (inside the expansion pack) as well as using Aeroproyecto's Cessna C172N (flotaplane) versions since you can now enjoy rather realistic movements of the seaplane on water surface and at the seaplane docks.

You need just some practice to move the crosshair/aircraft in a convenient manner so it moves slowly by practicing moving your mouse slowly in subtile
portions of movements.

Now you are able to move e.g.: forward and right together by moving the crosshair upwards/forward and to the right side. Just practice this procedure and you get rewarded by an enhanced/realistic aircraft movement on ground/water.

To accomplish especially a very slowly ground movement also follow these steps:
Have a look into P3D's OPTIONS/CONTROLS/CALIBRATION.

 

   o Under 'Controller' select 'Mouse Yoke'
   o Under Flight mode select 'Slew'
   o Set 'Slew (rotate axis) SENSITIVITY to a value of 16
   o Set 'Slew (rotate axis) NULL ZONE to a value of 64
   o Set 'Slew (forward/backward axis) SENSITIVITY to a value of 1
   o Set 'Slew (forward/backward axis) NULL ZONE to a value of 32

 

These values work very, very well at least for me. Just fiddle around with them.

And best of all: while you move your aircraft from the outside spot view you can also change the view direction simultaneously if you haven't reset the appropriate outside keys. In my case these are [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] on the keypad, NUM-LOCK must be set active/on for this.

I assume above described procedures will also work with FSX and all P3D versions, but this is *not* approved!

All the movements perform now nicely and some more realistic in 'spot view'. No unwanted automatic extra jumps or fast slews/drifts around!

Enjoy your enhancements!

_______
Josef

Another "trick" is to use shift+P to slowly move backwards.. A second shift+P stops the plane.

You are right for standard planes, but this doesn't fit for a floatplane. And the distances until it starts turning left/right and curve radius can't be set by the user, but there are also other 'gauges' available.

Edited March 7, 20206 yr by ATP_JR

I slew with my joystick, well smoothed. You can add more cruve for better smoothing with FSUIPC if needed.

BTW I just use Ctrl+Shift+Y for slew mode at all, that eliminate almost any possiblity to accidentally into slew mode while flying.