Attention Beta testers!!!

[Guest jonpoint]

To all L-13 Beta testers,I don't wish to appear pushy, but has everyone posted any comments they wish to make yet? I am starting to get a bit of mail from others wanting to know if it will be uploaded before the weekend ;)You may either post comments here or directly to me at the address below :-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest Ansgar]

Hello Jon,hmmmm, I gave you already a comment a few day

[Guest jonpoint]

Ansgar,Thanks for the input. I appreciate what you say about balance and I suppose I have erred on the 'safe' side here. For example, in zero lift conditions, simply paging up to 10kft and touching nothing should eventually put you into a stable glide. Unfortunately, in FU3 it's near impossible to find NO lift at all but, the aircraft was trimmed for 'nominal descent' (constant speed) at about 60kts. Now, I could have trimmed it for 'minimum descent' (max glide) but it would be a real handful in windy conditions. It's hard enough to get down as it is - it astounds me that one of us did it without using spoilers (he must have taken hours...). Obviously, trimming it any heavier is just a waste of time ;)I think that once everyone has it, maybe a few people would try changes and we can then compare them. If I make flight model changes now, by the time everyone has tested them, another week will pass. This isn't the tester's fault - just me being in Australia ;):-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest Quaxo]

Jon,"Unfortunately, in FU3 it's near impossible to find NO lift at all"...Are you *sure* you mean UNfortunately? I think that's one of the major features of FU3... :-)Cristian

[Guest qvdg]

Hi Jon, Following my brief weekend flight. I gave her a try over Lundy Island last night. I noticed that she was particularly hard to roll even at decent airspeeds. The only way I could get her around was by really dipping the nose, full defelection on both commands. Is this due to the wing area resistance ? Also looking from the F5 (my favourite because of the view of the cockpit from the exterior is a real feast) the aileron deflection was only just discernable for what was normally should have been full deflection. Do I have to check my joystick settings or is this something that others have noticed ?Cheers, QvdG

[Guest andy9164]

Jon,I took her up the last couple of nights.From a totally non-gliders perspective.The look of the aircraft is up to you usual high standard. I flew around Seattle and also the UK. One comment is that if you start with just the page up, I found it very difficult to get the nose down and it took a few minutes of "joystick forward" to get it level, but once there......., I also think it was pushing around 170 Knots.I think the control was good and did a few gentle turns and gained some more height and then all the way back down again, no problem. I was a bit gentle as I didnt want to break her. Made a safe gentle landing, but missed my intended runway, but then thats nothing new for me.Very flyable and nice to look at.Andy

[Guest glidernut]

I hav no ideer about triming bicous my joiystik has no self sentering.My joiystik is all loos and flopy, "well sort of".It can be mooved with a fether, or just by blowing on it.My joiystik stays where ever its left.This is realy grate for flying, I can fly fast hands off or slow hands off.But it also meens I cant giv any advice or asistence on triming.All in all I think its redy for uploding to avsim.I think its a dreem Jon.If any one wants to try a catapalt take off, then try this.Start as parked on the ground in the F2 or F3 vew with the wheel brake off,then go into ZOR mode witch is Ctrl + Z then Page-Up then at your leshercum out of ZOR mode Ctrl + Z and your off. glidernut.:-wave

[Guest jonpoint]

Dear All,OK, we can each play with the trim as we want. When the majority are satisfied, I'll upload the flight model as an update.Hard to roll? Yes, they can be, unless you're doing ~80kts and pointing DOWN. Try it at 40-50kts and they fall out of the sky like a stone (well, a vaguely aerodynamic one but they fall none the less). Requires a steady hand at low speeds too. 'Cook' it too far to one side and you'll need a fast jab with the rudder and full stick to get enough lift under it to bring it back. BTW, the physical movement of the ailerons has nothing to do with the flight model.Note. If you hit by itself anytime, please remember to pull the release handle (or hit +). Otherwise you accelerate to wing-breaking speeds. So, Friday, my time (midnight Thursday for you time-laggers) OK?:-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest Ansgar]

Hello Jon,sorry if I must correct your following statement a bit:...BTW, the physical movement of the ailerons has nothing to do with the flight model.The corresponding section looks like the following in the physics file of the FU3 planes:byte $AF_CTRL_AILERON, //ctrlRatio float 0.30, //maxDeflection 15, The "maxDeflection" defines the angle you can see the ailerons moving in the outer model. But as I know it also has sure an effect at the fligh physics behavior. You only can compensate this with the parameter: "ctrlRatio"This value is somewhat like the amplification of each aileron. With that parameter you can define+change i.e. the size and effect of each of your ailerons.What I didn

[Guest qvdg]

Just a minor clarification. When I said roll I meant it in the more general sense of the term ie. to roll it about its own axis (not a barrel roll). I had the impression that in some cases I was doing rudder only turns and that is why I mentioned the F5 view as I wished to check if I was putting in any aileron input at all (hence question re. joystick). I will have another look (this time by cross checking the side slip indicator)I agree with all the other priviledged Blanik testers that this is another exceptional FU3 aircraft. Quite frankly I don't know how you guys get this level of quality. Enough to make a beginner give up and leave it to the pros. I'm off to practise some turns....:-)Cheers, QvdG

[Guest R_Driscoll]

With roll, I always get this strange feel of the central axis of the glider being over my head, so that as I bank, the scenery shifts in the opposite direction for a moment, then starts to turn, and as I straighten out moves a lot further in the bank direction - this was true of the original glider as well, and the microlight. This makes it difficult to accurately steer when doing large bank turns, but I suspect is probably a real effect due to the high wings relative to the pilot.The new snow is great - I mention this in the Blanik thread because I see the snow a lot when gliding! I am not good at thermal gliding - I seem to find the downdrafts but not the updrafts, but ridge gliding is wonderful fun and the higher you go, the easier it becomes until well over the mountains.QvdG, don't leave it to the pros. If I'd done that (after Captain Bazza's work), I would never have done anything. My first fence and tractor cart still make me shudder, but at the time I was bouncing off the walls in high excitement at getting something into the FU3 world. And now Jon turns out models in an evening that I couldn't do in ten years - doesn't matter, overall FU3 wins and grows a bit further. Dive in!Which reminds me, have you seen my passport? Can't find it anywhere ...RobD

[Guest jonpoint]

Ansgar,Sorry for my generalisation! What I meant was that what you see isn't necessarily what you get. Swap the axle ends over and the aileron goes the wrong way - but still works OK. This had me going bonkers with the GeeBee trying to get believeable aileron angles. You are correct though, deflection angle and coefficient do different things. With the L-13, I didn't wish to increase drag, however simply increasing angle does this. We just need some trial-and-error ;)QVDG & RobD,As for rolling, the reason it feels weird when turning is that it has no engine! You are not 'driving' through the turn, you are falling through it. If climbing in a thermal, one uses mostly rudder with ailerons used to keep level. Imagine a big fan underneath you, pushing up and you're just using minimal forward speed to stay within the wind. Technically, you could stay absolutely still and climb but in reality, minor variations in air pressure across the lift area prevent this. Ridge lift is generally smoother - one can literally come to a stop in the right place! Just make sure you have a few hundred feet of air underneath you so you can initiate forward flight - or you'll be there all night ;)Rob,Your passport is in Glidernut's office - or was that the combustion heater... ?:-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest Robs]

Jon,I must apologize that I haven't had any chance to beta test your glider. I haven't been near a computer for a while.I have a new baby (6 weeks old now) and this has curtailed all leisure activity including my development of filton airport.(Filton is looking very good...it is just taking time - when you see it you will understand! ;-)Also my brother has just emigrated to Oz - to Sydney so a little south from you (can't really get used to the idea that going south it gets colder!! Typical northern hemi chap!)Anyway thanks for sending me the beta and so sorry I didn't have the time to help out. Robs

[Guest jonpoint]

No problemo...This is why I sent it to a lot of people - I knew that the 'regulars' were all very busy with other projects and that, if one felt inclined, they could just give me a simple opinion ('yes, it works' or 'what were you thinking?") so I could go ahead and upload it.The pure truth of this all is that I want to encourage everyone to have a try at gliding in FU3. I simply cannot believe how good this sim is (again!) for gliding! It's pure magic compared to M$F$ but you all know that anyway ;)As to the baby - that's what started me on flight sims! When Clare was about 3 months old, I had decided to curtail my hobby of playing guitar at home and bought FS4, complete with Australian scenery! Then I could sit in the study all night (literally) and fly my bum off!So, where did your brother settle? I am actually IN Sydney, although we don't go to the city much, unless there's something special to see or do. It's only 40 minutes by car or 60 by bus so it's close enough. I probably go into the city about once every 3 weeks for work. :-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest Robs]

Jon,I thought you were way up north..deep in Kakadu...dunno why I thought that....he found a place in Greenwich. I have only been to Sydney once (loved it)...dunno where it is because the resolution on FS200 isn't good for that kinda thing (although the scenery is robust enough to land helicopters on) and Xtian hasn't mapped Australia for FU3 yet !!!Anyway just about getting the hang of night and day with the new kid so might not fall asleep at the stick now!!Rob.