Side-to-side rocking behavior in MSFS: how realistic is it??

[Noel 4,565]

Seems like in modest cross winds or and turbulent air plane often sort of rock back and forth in what appears like a ricochet action.  Is that what happens in the real world, especially the lighter the aircraft?  I'm not a RW pilot so don't know but intuitively it seems if anything its significantly exaggerated from RW behaviors.  For example the plane might slide to the left modestly, then it will hit a wall and slide back to the right, and this continues until maybe it burns out I'm not sure. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by Noel

[Car147 2,290]

I dunno, but i can say i just had the same in Xp12 crossing the pond....

[hs118 731]

5 minutes ago, Noel said:

Seems like in modest cross winds or and turbulent air plane often sort of rock back and forth in what appears like a ricochet action.  Is that what happens in the real world, especially the lighter the aircraft?  I'm not a RW pilot so don't know but intuitively it seems if anything its significantly exaggerated from RW behaviors.  For example the plane might slide to the left modestly, then it will hit a wall and slide back to the right, and this continues until maybe it burns out I'm not sure. 

I would say "it depends". In a previous life, I sat in the right seat of a Cessna 337 for about 200 hours. Depending on the day and wind speed/direction, it could be pretty choppy.

In general, the new turbulence modeling in MSFS SU10 seems pretty close to my recollections for a GA aircraft. 

Now the big "depends"...it's all about the flight modeling of the individual sim aircraft. For example, one aircraft under my microscope has a vertical stabilizer with 300% more area (in the flight_model.cfg) than it's real world counterpart. Needless to say, the modern flight model in MSFS depends on correct dimensions and, as such, turbulence tosses this one about a little too much. 

 

[sd_flyer 6,104]

MSFS is not perfect but close. In my experience in GA airplane with moderate turbulence aircraft get tossed: usually dropping wings or  nose, swinging left and right. There are speed variations. Basically it feel like you riding rough waves. When turbulence gets bad we say fly attitude not altitude  LOL

[tgsweat 144]

I'm not a real pilot, but i think i get what OP is saying.  Its not really that the wings are dipping, its more like the plane is just moving side to side while staying horizontal.  From what i see, MSFS seems to be very twitchy in the horizontal stabilizer area, even on heavier aircraft.   

[Cpt_Piett 4,843]

I’ve noticed this too. After reading through the “anyone excited about 20km CFD” thread by Abrams (it should really be called “the MSFS word not allowed vs XP word not allowed slugfest), I decided to do a flight in the Sting S4. I thought the constant movement in the yaw axis seems excessive. It was a SU11 flight from KSBA over the hilly terrain, and the Sting has CFD and prop physics in the flight model. 

For some reason I didn’t capture a video flying over the hills, but I got this from the same flight, which shows the aircraft reacting to the surrounding air whilst in a holding pattern over LAX:

The yaw movements are not as pronounced in the video as earlier in the flight, near KSBA. Perhaps the air was calmer over LAX.

Edited November 10, 2022 by Cpt_Piett

[jimcarrel 688]

Nah! that incessant jerky yaw is what I'd call fake, to be honest that is some of the wackiest I thing I've seen yet. I got the chance to "left seat" a Piper Warrior for about 90 minutes years ago. Most of the trip reminded me of getting in my dad's 18 foot bass boat and tearing across Lake Tennkiller as fast as I could. That sensation was the only thing that allowed me to keep a small ford pickup I mistakenly thought I liked and not take it back to the dealer. It always reminded me of that flight.   I've also been a passenger in Cessna 172's in calm air (which can still give a bit of the occasional chop). I've flown in sim (before FSrealistic came out) that seemed to have that herky jerky right and left yawing baked in (could have been one version of a P-38) one can mess with FSrealistic and tune some of the yawing out of it. (that's my two cents on flight model oddities)

[Noel 4,565]

Interesting you have to love the different perspectives.   Thanks all we'll continue to monitor incoming opinions.

[LRBS 959]

1 hour ago, Cpt_Piett said:

 I thought the constant movement in the yaw axis seems excessive. It was a SU11 flight from KSBA over the hilly terrain, and the Sting has CFD and prop physics in the flight model. 

 

I do hope that this constant unsettled movement not to be the new "normal" behavior from now on. Do you remember/noticed what kind of winds you had? 

[Noel 4,565]

3 minutes ago, LRBS said:

I do hope that this constant unsettled movement not to be the new "normal" behavior from now on. Do you remember/noticed what kind of winds you had? 

Wouldn't it be grand if there was a turbulance effect slider?  I proposed it a long time ago on the MSFS forum:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/please-consider-adding-a-turbulence-slider/300063

I think we will see some of these things arrive when they have run out of bigger ticket items.

[thibodba57 462]

If you are referring to the quick jerky sways because of winds adjusting +\- 2 knots and a few degrees direction.  It’s completely unrealistic. Took until I flew on a glass setup to see what the winds aloft were doing that caused the motion.

[sd_flyer 6,104]

36 minutes ago, jimcarrel said:

Nah! that incessant jerky yaw is what I'd call fake, to be honest that is some of the wackiest I thing I've seen yet.

We have to understand perspective on turbulence. Human body is not fixed camera; therefore perceptions of turbulence by  our eyes and body are different. In MSFS we fly see flight as suspended fixed camera view. Camera can shake, jerks and have all other side effect which human eye don't register. For example engine vibrations are not registered by our eye but rather by our bodies. But if we setup camera we will notice it's right away.

Talking turbulence there are different kind of turbulence, for simplicity we define it with PIREP language  as light, moderate, severe, and extreme. Light moderate turbulence pilot got tossed in different degree but maintains positive control of airplane. In severe pilot loses control of airplane  time to time but able to regain it again. Finally severe turbulence  pilot doesn't have control of airplane and structural damage is imminent.  So if you fly long enough you get chance to experience all kind of turbulence (hopefully not extereme thought LOL ). Pilot perception of turbulence also changes based on experience and skills. Light turbulence for one pilot could be moderate to severe for another (no jocking) 

[Snuffleupagus 328]

That video above is not very realistic. Yaw movement is common in turbulence in that small of an aircraft but it’s not as twitchy as that shows and the yaw movements last longer in duration in each direction/more movement to each side. MSFS has a very bad tendency to be “twitchy” in almost all axis vs real flying, especially with the controls. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Hatch76

[thibodba57 462]

13 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

Pilot perception of turbulence also changes based on experience and skills. Light turbulence for one pilot could be moderate to severe for another (no jocking) 

This is incorrect and needs to be trained out of the industry.  There is a defined table of what each category or turbulence is and feels like.

[sd_flyer 6,104]

2 minutes ago, thibodba57 said:

This is incorrect and needs to be trained out of the industry.  There is a defined table of what each category or turbulence is and feels like.

Like we train to fly correctly and have still have loss control in flight number one GA killer? LOL