Scott - A2A

Wow Stearmandriver, you get it. The advantage of making an engine from the inside out is we can do things like spark plug fouling and clearing. It’s all organic and just a load of things running at the same time. Just like a real combustion engine, it’s mind blowing it even works. Also agreed 100%, real is fun. Heck, watch a toddler play in a puddle. People love physics and they don't even know it. We just made it as real as we could while making it approachable as we could. There is no "argh! read the manual!" attitude. Casual simmers are welcome. Scott

Someone back a few pages asked about spark plug fouling, so just some context first. I purchased a 1959 Comanche 6229P back in 2012. It came with standard “massive” type spark plugs which are prone to fouling. If this engine was ever left at low idle for any length of time, plugs would foul.... quickly. It became almost part of my checklist to run the engine at high power for some time or so to clear them out prior to takeoff. Especially when operating out of large airports with a lot of taxiing (they don’t let you taxi fast). I was told by many “lean on the ground” and I did, aggressively. Leaning mixture does help, but only relative to the amount of fuel being used. IOW, they just foul at a slower rate which was still pretty bad. I later learned that heat is what scavenges the lead from plugs so to avoid fouling, you need to raise your idle. On my Comanche, idling at 1000RPM fixed the issue. Then a few years later we got a sponsorship from Champion that included all new “fine wire” style plugs, and since that change, plug fouling is a thing of the past. With fine wires, I just idle at any RPM without issue. We clean the plugs at annual once a year and that's it. So we support both plugs and their behavior. Using massives promotes good habits. Fine wires eliminate the problem but as a result, you can get lazy idling at 600RPM all day (that's an option you have flying for real so it's here too). Bottom line is this: Massive plus: Keep your idle at 1,000RPM or higher. If they foul, run the engine at full power until they clear. It can sometimes take a LONG time. Fine wires: No fouling worries. Scott

Can you post on our tech forum all the info about your unit? This way it will be on our list and the team will look into it. Our trim should be very slow and easy to tune just right. Scott

There are trim sensitivity sliders in the tablet Controls / Advanced Options. Weight and balance is almost everything to an airplane and is a large part of this aerodynamics engine. Scott.

Hi Len, Our flight model aerodynamics are 100% outside MSFS including wind physics (we read the weather conditions reported by the simulator). This is why the airplane feels different as it flies through the air. We started developing this system three years ago, and this has been a dream of ours for some time so I hope everyone enjoys it. It should feel very fluid and natural. Scott

After checking the stalls, I could see the problem not only in the simulator but in the underlying physics, specifically the area that affects the wing stability after the stall. We had this working perfectly but can see when this changed during development. The good news is I not only found and fixed this but while doing so, was able to make things even better than before. What I'm seeing now is a really nice reproduction of how this airplane feels in departed flight. You can control the wing drop with the elevator pressure, and just do a normal recovery, or if you are not paying attention and don't release the yoke, you will see a sharp wing drop (which is as it should be) which is also fairly easy to recover from with the correct control inputs. I'll shoot some heavy cross wind landings later this afternoon as well. We'll get this and any other things we're working on to testers to chew on next week and get another update out as soon as we can. Thanks everyone for the feedback. Scott

Neil, check your breakers. Your COM/NAV1 may be popped. The trim speeds are using the default controls in P3D/FSX. Which is slow then after a delay, should be very fast. So when on the ground, just hold the trim in one position and see if this works this way for you. Jose, be aware that changing that limit multiplies the entire speed by 5x. This also means your smallest increments are increased by 5x, and you will likely not be able to trim the airplane to level flight. Scott.

Years ago while at E3 watching customers sit down at the sim and fly our airplanes, we discovered there are two different kinds of sim pilots. Those who respond to stick pressure or stick deflection, meaning, some interpret yoke tension (spring pressure) as movement, and others interpret yoke movement as movement. This is noticeable when the airplane is moving fast. The pressure sensitive sim pilot is more likely to pull the stick too far back and get frustrated (because they didn't feel the tension and over controlled), where as the deflection sensitive sim pilot is more likely to be gentle and just move the stick slightly back, and has no issue. Both would converge to the same place if we had force feedback, but we have to make these spring yokes work the best we can. Our solution was to put a pressure scalar in the CONTROLS (Shift-3) menu. In the lower left, you will see a slider with 0-100. By default, all of our airplanes are set for the deflection pilot (setting of 0). If you find the stick is too sensitive, move this more to the right until if feels right for you. This is automatically altering the yoke's response based on air pressure on the elevator. For those who find the yoke sensitive, please try this and let me know how it works for you. We can always make changes if needed too. Scott.

Here's a link that should help explain: http://www.a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=59802 Scott

gboz, We are very much on board with this system. It's not that, but only the process of getting the files in the customer's desired place regardless of where that is. For example, many don't want their add-ons in that directory and have a special place already setup and we need to support that. Scott.

We made the P3Dv4 installers this way because we did not want to take any chances messing up anyone's custom locations, as there are so many possible traps. But after reading everyone's feedback here, the team spent the day going over this and we think we have an improved system that should work for everyone. The most important thing is it's reliable regardless of how someone wants it to be setup. We're testing this over the weekend and when it's ready, we'll roll it out to our store and other distribution partners. If everyone is happy with this new approach, we'll make it the new standard for the entire A2A P3Dv4 roll out to come. Scott A2A Simulations Inc.

Many years ago I was part of the SimHQ staff, but once I started developing software it got very uncomfortable for me despite them wanting me to stay on. It just felt dirty to be on their staff while another one of their staff members was reviewing one of our products, moderating a topic involving us or our competition, etc. So I left SimHQ as it was the only option, out of respect for them (and A2A). I don't think moderators or anyone involved in reviews or news should be in any way directly (beta tester) affiliated with a developer. Even if someone thinks they can be impartial, they can't. The professional thing to do is to make a choice: either be involved in development (beta testing is development), or media, but not both. Scott.

For me personally, I don't use FSUIPC and don't have a need or desire to have a curve for a controller, as we tune these airplanes with a direct connect. But if someone wants to use a controller curve, whether it be through FSUIPC or some other controller software, I think this is personal preference - meaning, no curve is necessarily "right." Since, the plane will perform the same with both high and low values being the same, stall, glide, trim, etc. Scott.

This is why a curve is a personal choice, as the extremes are unaffected, so I don't think it matters what a person chooses. I think we've turned a nice corner with the sensitivity sliders in FSX. Now at least we can finally all be on the same page. Having some with this slider left, others right, was just a recipe for trouble. RIGHT = direct response, no delay, then it's up to the user what curve they prefer. It seems, based on the responses in this thread, FSX has gotten better for many with this understanding. Scott.

Just to dispel any confusion, because this is a critically important issue, I made this quick video (using a default MS airplane) to demonstrate the sensitivity slider adds delay, something that has no place being inserted between your controller and your control surfaces: Scott.