OK, I'm pretty sure there will be many on here who will tut and throw their hands up in the air in disgust! But I am going to push my head above the parapet and ask the question.... am I the only one who feels the nose wheel shimmy is too aggressive on the BlackSquare Commander 114? I have no idea what it's like in real life, I'm pretty sure it has been well reproduced. However, even if this is the case, I nevertheless feel it is quite aggressive, to the point where it happens almost each time I touch the brakes, even slightly. Am I alone with this? It's spoiling what is otherwise a sensational aircraft and certainly my favourite plane in my hangar. Is there a way of reducing the effect in the cfg? Has anyone achieved this?

Edited September 2Sep 2 by Rocky_53

This has not been my experience. The only time I get significant shimmy is when I aggressively brake. Light to moderate braking is fine. Don't know if you're using hardware for brakes, but if so perhaps a less aggressive curve?

Scott

Yeah,

There is not one GA plane I have not adjusted the brakes on. Anywhere between -20 to -35.

Maybe even play with the dead curve I think its called.

On my end I have not noticed the Commander to be anywhere worse then the others.

Sure, I think perhaps I should try the brake assignments with Axis&Ohs instead of FSUIPC and work some changes later today. Thanks.

Edited September 3Sep 3 by Rocky_53

8 hours ago, Rocky_53 said:

Sure, I think perhaps I should try the brake assignments with Axis&Ohs instead of FSUIPC and work some changes later today. Thanks.

In addition to that....I believe the manual says if you pull back on the yoke during rollout (to reduce loading on the front wheel) it can help mitigate the shimmy somewhat.

My experience is that if I brake more than about 70% of travel, while more than 40kts, I'll get the shimmy. I used to slam the brakes on as hard as I like in GA planes, to make the nearest exit - with no consequences or affects, there was no real reason not to, and it didn't even look or feel like I was breaking too hard in the sim.

With the 114, I now have to break realistically, and if I do (no more than 50% travel, when over 40kts), I never get the shimmy.

For me, it's another immersive feature, that provides a consequence for unwise actions/operations.

PATIENT: Doctor, doctor, I keep getting nosewheel shimmy!

DOCTOR: Will you give me a brake!

I think there's one thing in particular that makes braking in flight simulators harder to judge and control than in real life: The brakes on most flight simulator rudder pedals respond quite a bit differently than brakes on real aircraft, at least the light aircraft with which I have experience.

Real brakes have a very characteristic response. You can depress them a fair bit without getting any braking because you're initially taking up the "slack" in the system by closing the air gap between the brake pad and the brake disc. Once the pad is in positive contact with the disc, the resistance in the pedal increases noticeably. From this point on, the amount of braking you get is proportional to the amount of force you apply to the pedal, without a lot of additional travel. A significant force is required to achieve maximum braking.

This characteristic makes it easy to control the amount of braking because we can sense pretty accurately how much pressure we're applying with our feet.

On most flight sim rudder pedals, the brakes work differently. As soon as you start depressing the pedal, you start applying brakes, and the amount of braking is proportional to the amount of travel. The maximum travel is often higher than on real brakes, while the force required is significantly lower.

This makes it harder to control the brakes because the main feedback we're getting is how far we're depressing the pedals, and it's harder to judge accurately how "deep" into the total amount of travel you've pressed the pedal than it is to judge force.

There are some rudder pedals where the brake axes measure force rather than deflection. These are typically referred to as "load cell" pedals, after the sensor that is used to measure force. However, all of the load cell flight simulator pedals I'm aware of are really expensive. One example are the VirtualFly RUDDO+ pedals, which sell for over 1000 Euros.

Interestingly, there are much more affordable options in the sim racing space, with load cell sim racing pedals available for under 150 Euros. I guess the reason is that brake feel is super important in sim racing, so there's an impetus for manufacturers to make load cells brakes available even in their more affordable products.

I've been thinking of retrofitting my MFG Crosswind pedals with load cell sensors, but I know this would be a pretty involved project, particularly to get things working mechanically in a way that's sturdy enough to hold up over time. If anyone's aware of affordable rudder pedals that are available with load cell brakes, or even of plans for a DIY build, I'd be interested!

1 hour ago, Mace said:

In addition to that....I believe the manual says if you pull back on the yoke during rollout (to reduce loading on the front wheel) it can help mitigate the shimmy somewhat.

Sure Rhett, I read that only a short time ago. I'll try that technique. Cheers.

It's commo for many GA aircraft to bring yoke aft after landing and even during taxi. The main goal is to unload front gear load during taxi and invoke aerodynamaic brakingdfuring landing

18 hours ago, sd_flyer said:

It's commo for many GA aircraft to bring yoke aft after landing and even during taxi. The main goal is to unload front gear load during taxi and invoke aerodynamaic brakingdfuring landing

True. And if you're coming in even a few knots higher than the documented approach speed, getting the flaps up quickly on landing, before braking, is a good idea. There are a couple of models in MSFS with poor FDE, where if you land at 'book speed', deccelerate a bit, then pull the yoke back, they'll take right back off 🙂 Chucking the flaps up and killing low speed lift is a good way of preventing this.