Hi there. I'm really enjoying Lionheart's Super Viking for P3D v4.5 but am finding that it has a tendancy to drift to the right if I stop using the yoke in level flight (or when climbing and descending for that matter). With the auto pilot on there are no problems, obviously. I have tried a few other planes to make sure there is nothing wrong with my Logitech Yoke and no issues.

I have easy settings and no torque effect. Wind is 6 knots. 

Any suggestions most welcome. Maybe it's just the pull of the powerful engine and needs constant correction?

Fuel imbalance could do it. 

3 minutes ago, mtr75 said:

Fuel imbalance could do it. 

Hi Mike - both tanks are full and fuel is set to unlimited, so not sure it's that.

28 minutes ago, dagbostar said:

Hi Mike - both tanks are full and fuel is set to unlimited, so not sure it's that.

Hmmm. Does it have aileron trim? Perhaps you can fix it with that. When you are in straight and level flight with the AP on, is the ball on the slip/skid indicator in the middle?

6 hours ago, dagbostar said:

Hi there. I'm really enjoying Lionheart's Super Viking for P3D v4.5 but am finding that it has a tendancy to drift to the right if I stop using the yoke in level flight (or when climbing and descending for that matter). With the auto pilot on there are no problems, obviously. I have tried a few other planes to make sure there is nothing wrong with my Logitech Yoke and no issues.

I have easy settings and no torque effect. Wind is 6 knots. 

Any suggestions most welcome. Maybe it's just the pull of the powerful engine and needs constant correction?

Also check rudder trim if it has it.

Al

Edited July 11, 20205 yr by ark

Pitch could be making it worse owing to the effects of P-factor. Normally P-Factor would only be a big concern on take off for a tail dragger, or when flying at high anglers of attack, whereby it results in the upward and downward travelling prop blades to be at significantly different angles of attack, which causes a turning motion to the left on a typical GA aeroplanes with a clockwise-rotating prop. However, since the Viking is a sporty aeroplane which requires a fair bit of trimming and tweaking of the prop setting to get the required performance out of it, and normally it would only be on about 60-65 percent throttle in the cruise, if you've got the thing wide open that is going to affect things; this is why the Viking has a noticeably large elevator trim tab.

So as a result of the requirement to trim it quite a lot for different flight stages, it is quite easy to find yourself with the trim setting being less than ideal, therefore if you are trimmed for speed (quite often the case in the Viking since it can shift a bit) and your AoA is low, you might well have a negative P-Factor effect which is pushing the nose to the right. Also check the passenger load: If you have an odd number of people on board, this can make your aeroplane turn one way more than the other.

Be aware too that, behaviour-wise, the Viking is tricky to compare to most other GA aeroplanes of a similar size, since it employs different construction to most other GA aeroplanes. This affects its flight characteristics quite a bit, although normally this is in a good way; the Viking is one of the best-harmonised GA singles there is in terms of its control surfaces, so it may also be worth tweaking your control surface sensitivities/null zones on your yoke/stick to reflect this, as in reality the Bellanca Viking is a really sweet aeroplane to fly controls-wise.

Thanks @ark and @mtr75I have just been playing around with the Rudder Trim (pre-take off and during flight) and it seems to be having a big effect, so I may have inadvertently set the rudder trim on an early flight and not realised. I also suspect @Chock that you are right it is a trimming and power issue. It's a lovely plane and Lionheart has done a great job, so I am going to persevere a little longer.