Aircraft realism - flight model

[scott967 62]

I've never really played with these sliders. Aside from what's in the help, what do these things really do for/to .air file or aircraft.cfg? How big a difference is it while flying? Does everyone fly with them two-blocked right or what?scott s..

[Virtualwombat 4]

Hi Scott, The realism settings interact with the flight model of each plane. Ideally, the realism settings should therefore be optimized for different planes and the settings saved in separate configuration files. In practice, few add-on aircraft builders seem to pay much attention to these adjustments. Realair Simulations are one exception; they specify just where the sliders should be set and the settings are different for their Spitfire, compared with say, their SF260.Cheers,Noel.

[scott967 62]

OK, so I guess you are suggesting they need to be tweaked on a per-aircraft basis? Is there any way to know when it's right, unless the developer tells you where to set them?scott s..

[Virtualwombat 4]

Unless the dev specifies, I push all the sliders to the right. I'd like to think I can handle whatever the flight model throws at me...Cheers,Noel.

[michal 44]

Most serious aircraft developers (Flight1, PMDG, etc.) will normally tell you to set them to max. But regardless whether it is max or somewhere in between - ask them and they should tell you. If they have no opinion - most likely their flight model is not that great to begin with and they don't care. ;)Michael J.http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9320/apollo17vf7.jpg

[Guest jshyluk]

The pilots I have talked to who also use FSX suggest to keep the sliders at MEDIUM. While you can put them all the way to the max and "take what the sim has to offer", it's just adding to your workload. Consider that you are (in the vast majority of cases) just flying your computer desk. You don't have the peripheral visual, audio, and motion cues that a real aircraft had to offer, although there are work-arounds to try to simulate those. In effect, it's like flying a real aircraft, but with blinders on. So, to compensate, you can safely put the sliders to MEDIUM.The big exception to all of this flight model business is rotorcraft such as helicopters. The FSX helicopter model is optimized for MEDIUM flight model settings. If you put the settings to HIGH, you will likely have trouble with hover, top speed, landings, and autorotation. Unless you really like fidgety helos, I think it's best to keep the sliders at MEDIUM. Beyond the case of helicopters, I consider the realism settings to be a matter of personal taste. You can still fly a passenger jet upside down underneath large bridges in FSX regardless of your realism settings.Jeff ShylukAssistant Managing EditorSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

[robert young 2,897]

HI Jeff,You are right...most helicoper flight models need the general realism slider between half way and two thirds, otherwise the chopper does not behave itself. However with fixed wing aircraft things are different. If an aircraft is set up to be able to do advanced manoeuvres like spinning and side slipping, the general realism slider most often has to be maximised. That is because even one tiny notch less than "maximum" disables FS9 and FSX high alpha and other aerodynamics.None of our aircraft will spin or side slip at all without the realism slider fully right. Setting the slider at halfway also increases the roll rate and disables yaw and pitch side effects of rolling fast. Fixed wing aircraft are therefore easier to fly with sliders at halfway, if you can accept the somewhat "dumbed down" qualities.With helicopters it is different. The slider in almost all cases should not be max.Best Regards,Rob Young - RealAir Simulations

[Guest jshyluk]

Good point, there, Rob. The pilots I know prefer using MSFS to practise navigation, and aren't really into turning and burning. Lesson learned: like many other things in FSX, you're going to have to experiment to find your best performance.I should add that the quality of your controller setup would also have an effect on how the sim-pilot perceives reality in the sim. I hate to say this, but the more you spend and the more stuff you get, the better you will be able to control your aircraft.Jeff ShylukAssistant Managing EditorSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM