A couple FS things I've thought about over the years

[PilatusTurbo]

I'm not complaining, just posting a couple things about the realism of FS. This applies to all versions, because I've even noticed these things in FSX during my short stay over there.

One thing I've noticed about piston engine aircraft in the sim, is that when shutting down, the propeller kinda 'windmills' to a stop far longer than it would in real life. In real life, once the mags and fuel are off, the prop will spin a bit more, but eventually the compression will catch it and bring it to an immediate stop with even a little back stroke. I hope that makes sense. It's normal for a turboprop to windmill for a while before stopping, but not piston engines. I guess something like this would be very tedious to model and animate. I hear this effect in many sound packages, but even after you hear the crank grind to an unhappy halt after cutting mags and fuel, the prop can usually still be seen spinning for a few more seconds. :d

Something else I've noticed with the majority of taildraggers out there (minus the whole 'power-steering' setup on most of them), is that the tailwheels are not animated to castor freely. I mean, I always mod every single taildragger I fly to be a 180 degree steer angle on the tailwheel in the contact points, but many of the models simply still have that 'power steering' animated steer angle on the tailwheel. Hope that one made sense, too. :d

I donno, figured this might be interesting conversation. I'd love to hear what other little nuances people have noticed in their years of simming, if they have any. :ernae:

 

[txnetcop]

OH I have found a few more minor irritations than that but heck look what we paid for the simulator...LOL. It is funny how some of the things most people would not notice can just rub ya raw!
Ted

 

[Terry]

I'm not complaining, just posting a couple things about the realism of FS. This applies to all versions, because I've even noticed these things in FSX during my short stay over there.

One thing I've noticed about piston engine aircraft in the sim, is that when shutting down, the propeller kinda 'windmills' to a stop far longer than it would in real life. In real life, once the mags and fuel are off, the prop will spin a bit more, but eventually the compression will catch it and bring it to an immediate stop with even a little back stroke. I hope that makes sense. It's normal for a turboprop to windmill for a while before stopping, but not piston engines. I guess something like this would be very tedious to model and animate. I hear this effect in many sound packages, but even after you hear the crank grind to an unhappy halt after cutting mags and fuel, the prop can usually still be seen spinning for a few more seconds. :d

Something else I've noticed with the majority of taildraggers out there (minus the whole 'power-steering' setup on most of them), is that the tailwheels are not animated to castor freely. I mean, I always mod every single taildragger I fly to be a 180 degree steer angle on the tailwheel in the contact points, but many of the models simply still have that 'power steering' animated steer angle on the tailwheel. Hope that one made sense, too. :d

I donno, figured this might be interesting conversation. I'd love to hear what other little nuances people have noticed in their years of simming, if they have any. :ernae:

You can adjust the prop to stop at the same instant as the sound with the prop MOI = X, but forget the backstroke.

 

[PilatusTurbo]

Well geez, "forget the backstroke..." You seemed a little upset there... ;-D

I know that's coded into the model but I honestly didn't know there was a confit setting to stop the prop sooner. Neat things you learn here.

Thanks for sharing that. :ernae:

 

[Tom Clayton]

The tailwheel animation depends on how the developer codes the model. I've seen some that had the true castoring animation, and kept it even after I added the virtual steering linkage to the rudder cables.

And yes, the Prop's MOI can be reduced to reduce the wind down time. I've expiremented with this quite a bit "back in the day" and found that spool up time under power is virtually unchanged no matter how heavy or light you make it, but it has a huge impact on the shutdown.

 

[Terry]

You probably know this little tidbit but in case you don't, if the engine fires and revs to quick reduce normalized_starter_torque= X. There is a point around .002 where it won't start, bring it up a bit at a time till your happy with it. Some will start at .002 some need .02, the difference must be in the air file but I haven't found it. Did you folks ever notice how many props spin backward based on looking at the plade pitch. Somehow a few designers miss this.