towplane is drunk!

[briansommers 74]

i cant get the tow plane to give me a straight tow anymore, whats up?it starts straight then he vears off left and this is before he takes off!!any ideas, it was working fine, is it only at certain airports? or ??thanksciao!Brian S

[Ramasurinen 0]

Heh, drunk or asleep. It's a good thing tow plane wrecks aren't saved in a bgl file, as I've unwillingly followed about 30 of them into the cumulogranite in the alps so far.Umm...dude....duuude...turn man! nope. Bam!Reminds me a lot of the Top Gear episode where the presenters tried to jump a caravan with life size remote controlled cars.New FSX mission, find the "obligatory controlled flight into terrain tow plane"...Oh, there it is!...and there....oh there's another one...Been laughing too hard to care, nice touch if a bit odd in behaviour.

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

I've been trying to figure this one out, also, Brian. It may be that such a small airplane is just bouncing around in the wind. There are thermals and turbulence around there, so this may be the cause. But, it is just speculation. It seem the best thing to do is keep the spoiler and gear out and fly carefully until release.Best regards.Luis

[Guest EternalNY1]

But he said "this is before he takes off".

[Guest allcott]

If you're keeping the gear out that's where the problem is - you need to get the glider off the ground as soon as possible, get the gear up, ensure flaps are at `0` using the F5 key NOT anything else as this aircraft has reflex flaps, and take up a position above and directly behind the tow plane. You want to be able to just see the top surface of the wing, but with the tailplane underneath, and no part of the sides of the aircraft should be visible. If you have too much drag becasue you've got spoilers or gear deployed then the glider is acting like a giant pendulum on the tow planeThe tow plane is probably veering because of the amateur behind it, not the pilot in it. ;)Allcott

[briansommers 74]

i dont even have time to takeoff, im not fast enough yet, and i don't think its the ameature in the glider because it was working now it doesnt anymorei put my glider down on the active runway, hit f5 and make sure my brakes are off, then call the tow plane, then he starts to pull me and about 3-5 seconds into the takeoff run he takes a hard left and he does takeoff, but after turning left, he does not roll straight down the runwaysomething is up, either something is corrupt with the towplane file, or whatever it is that controls the towplane or something is a miss with fsgenesis mesh - i have that for fsx and installed it, i cant believe it would be scenery related but.... im just trying to think of all possibilities, im thinking of reinstalling, dreadfull as that thought is,...ive had several successfule tows before, now none...???very frustratingthanks anyways.

[rpbartle 0]

Brian,Thanks for your post about this problem. However, I am not sure that the drifting problem is just limited to the tow plane.For the last couple of days I have had extreme problems taking off at various small airfields (eg KTRK) because of serious drifting off to the left. I thought at first it was side winds, but I have set the weather to Fair and the problem repeats. I thought about the joystick a Saitek Cyborg 3d, but have recalibrated and it's still there. I have also turned off the stcik and flown by mouse but the problem it still there.The problem is so bad that no matter how much right rudder I put in the plane drifts sideways before I have even taken off.What is strange is that I can then move to KSEA and the plane will fly no problems at all. If anyone has any idea about what I might be doing wrong I would welcome some help.By the way apart from the above problem I'm having a great time with FSX, its a superb addition to the FS line and certainly gives us plenty of potential for the future.Ralph.

[briansommers 74]

SOLVED! I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT! WHEW I HAD TO REALLY RACK MY BRAIN, what i did was i went in and edited some aircraft.cfg files to add my weight as the pilot permenately so i wouldnt have to add it in everytime and i was just thinkin, i think it uses the maule so i opened that up and put all the weight to 0 and IT WORKS! very nice sttraight tows!!there ya go, thanksciao!Brian S

[Chock 17,769]

There is a definite art to being towed by an aeroplane in a glider, the first time I ever did it in real life, I wasn't quite all over the sky, but I wasn't in the ideal position either. That was until I figured out what I was doing wrong, which was over controlling; the real secret of being a safe flyer behind a towplane is to let the tow aircraft do most of the work, when you do that, you find that the most barely perceptible movements of the stick are usually adequate to keep things under control.It's misnomer to suggest that going off to one side and being able to see the side of the towplane is dangerous, it is not, in fact, most responsible instructors will get you to 'box the tow' at least once in your training days. This involves moving the aircraft out to one side, then down, then back across below the slipstream, and back in again to a central position (of course the towplane pilot is usually ware that this is going to happen, having been briefed by the gliding instructor). In doing this move, the instructor will likely stop you when you get to the low centre and get you to move upwards so that you can feel the slipstream begin to buffet your rudder , thus making you aware of just how far below and behind the aircraft the slipstream actually is (surprisingly low down the first time you experience it). This also illustrates that getting low on a tow is not particularly dangerous, although if you do it too much, the towplane guy will seriously consider dropping the cable!What is dangerous however, is getting too high on the tow, particularly on take off, as you'd present the serious possibility of pitching the towplane forward so much that his prop might strike the runway, although most tow pilots would, again, probably dump you off the tow before they allowed that to happen - and then you'd be in for one very short flight. So I would seriously not recommend getting into the habit of going high enough to be able to see the top of the wing on the tow plane at take off - as one previous poster suggested - particularly if you are ever considering having a go at doing it in real life, as doing so repeatedly in the sim will give you a bad habit that will be difficult to unlearn. What you should actually do is attempt to keep the glider as low down to the deck as you conceivably can and let the aircraft which is towing you make the first move towaards climbing, not as easy as it sounds, as most gliders will be airborne well before the towplane is anywhere near V1.If you are considering gliding for real and want to learn the basics in FSX (for which it is very good BTW), one habit you should also get into, is to pull the tow release lever twice, rather than once as the instructor on the FSX lesson says. This is standard practice, and is to ensure that you get a definite tow cable release, you should also look to your right right just before you do this (to ensure you are clear of other traffic) and make a climbing turn to the right immediately after release (the towplane should turn left ensuring you clear one another properly). When on a tow, you are generally going to be doing at least 60-70 knots, and that extra speed is usefully converted to height right after the tow release, by climbing as much as you can on the clearing turn.Since FSX has a great virtual cockpit on the glider, which is easily panned around by your hat switch, another good habit to pick up early, is to always look first in the direction you intend to make a turn before you commence it. There is a good reason to develop this habit, and it is this: any decent thermal is a magnet for any gliders in the area, and since going for a thermal generally doesn't involve any sort of radio contact or traffic control, on most days where gliders are operating, you'll find yourself in very close proximity to a lot of other gliders, often within 100 feet when orbiting in the same thermal (it can resemble a WW1 dogfight at times!).When so many aircraft are so close to one another, poor observation is asking for a collision, and below about 3000 feet AGL, if you collide with another glider, there is really very little chance that you will have time to bail out, so the parachute is nothing more than an expensive cushion in these circumstances! I have been unfortunate enough to be a member of a gliding club where such a collision happened, because someone wasn't looking where they were going, killing three people as a result.This might sound like I'm getting rather serious with regard to a flight sim, but the reality is that many simmers go on to the real thing too, and a bad and dangerous habit picked up in a simulator, is a bad habit that will transfer to real life, where there isn't a 'reset flight' option.Anyway, if you've never been in a glider in real life, you really ought to do something about that, because it is very good fun and far more challenging than pottering about in a Cessna (cheaper too). But that's one of the great things about FSX, it emulates gliding so well, that there is much to be learned from it which will prove genuinely useful when you get in the real thing.Now if only FSX had winch launching in it too, that's way more fun....

[briansommers 74]

wow great epistle, i printed that outnow does anyone know can someone with the maule tow other sailplanes flyers in multi-player?i would love to get a m/p glider group together online...ciao!Brian S