Released - Bush Hawk XP

[Killbilly]

Low-FPS products tend to stay in the drawer, even if there are other things to like (and there almost always are). Not everyone has the same experience, I'm sure. But if you're like me, you ask before you buy and look for trends in the reporting.

Exactly! It isn't moaning to question before you buy, and it isn't just the "numbers" or being "of little faith". It's what's associated with the numbers. The reason FPS-heavy addons sit unflown isn't because I fly around with the framerate showing and whine when the number drops or because I have a "super eye" that can tell the difference between 35 FPS and 25 FPS. It's because the FPS-heavy birds steal resources from other parts of the sim. On my machine (which I have locked at 25), if a plane drops my FPS more than 6 or 7 frames (average - not just momentarily), I start getting blurry scenery textures, increased mesh "popping", and a kind of flickering in the water textures. Sure, it's still smooth and stutterless, but the experience is damaged anyway. I love eye candy as much as the next guy (and I'm sure many people are fine trading FPS for easter eggs and more detail), but I fly the sim to enjoy flying, not to be pulled out of the experience by blurry scenery.

I love Aerosoft. I still fly the Beaver more than almost any other plane. It has wonderful detail and has zero effect on my FPS (or on any other part of the sim experience). I fly the beautiful Twotter constantly because it is an amazingly good-looking model with excellent detail. It has only the slightest FPS hit (1-3 frames every once in a while). I think the Bush Hawk is incredible. I am impressed by all the designers' talent in creating such a visually stunning addon. If I were just going to look at the model and enjoy the detail, I wouldn't care about FPS at all. I only asked the question about the Bush Hawk to find out if I was likely to enjoy flying it enough to justify the money. I'm sorry if anyone's feelings are hurt by questions like these (and I don't know what's going on in other forums), but calling people names and labeling innocent customer inquiry "moaning" doesn't seem appropriate.

 

[Roger]

I'm enjoying the aircraft. Here at Nordeney dock.

 

[bkeske]

Brian,

How goes it?

I tried the FP GNS430 - no joy. The panels are built into the model. With some tweaking, the 2D pop-up can probably accept the FP and maybe the RXP units. Not so for the VC. Although I did a swap with FSPS, the unit rode over both the GNS and transponder but behind the knobs and everything else. It was a mess. I understand the 2D unit a bit better now. It's OK for my purposes with this airplane.

Other thing I've seen - this airplane is very sensitive to fuel imbalances. Switch tanks frequently.

Glenn

Hey Glenn, thanks for the answer.

Me thinks I'll pass on this for a while given all the other issues going on right now. Perhaps by the time UT Alaska comes out......:mixedsmi:

Thanks again.

 

[LTCSZ]

Turning Right

Some folks have had a problem with the plane turning right...A small part of this is the fuel tank load, but, if you put a passenger in the rear seat behind the pilot that weighs about the same as the pilot, it really cuts down on the tendency to turn right...Cheating maybe, but it works for now...

Steve in Kansas

 

[glennc]

Steve,

Good point - I checked that. It does help to even out the weight for a while. But, it is still very sensitive to a fuel imbalance. A tank switch is still necessary every 10-15 minutes. Performance seems to me OK in most of TahitiX, at least in broad daylight. I tried a sunrise take-off in the VancouverX area - that got pretty painful.

Glenn

 

[Lionheart]

Yep, gotta stay on Aileron trim with planes that have single selection wing tanks. The Mooney is one of them. When you start to feel the wing get heavy, just swith that fuel tank selector over.

Looks like a sweet plane! Well done Chris!

:ernae: :ernae:



Bill

 

[azflyboy]

Steve,

Good point - I checked that. It does help to even out the weight for a while. But, it is still very sensitive to a fuel imbalance. A tank switch is still necessary every 10-15 minutes. Performance seems to me OK in most of TahitiX, at least in broad daylight. I tried a sunrise take-off in the VancouverX area - that got pretty painful.

Glenn

The imbalance issue is probably due to the fact that FSX does a horrible job of modeling uneven fuel loads in wing tanks.

In the real world, flying an airplane like a Piper Warrior with a 5 gallon fuel imbalance between the wings (switching tanks every 30 minutes) is almost undetectable by the pilot, but trying the same thing in FSX makes the airplane act like one of the passengers decided to go sit on a wingtip or something.

 

[CBris]

Nope... the imbalance is good...

Not a rant or a grumble here, just some experience with the sim-Bushie being passed on - take or leave as you will.

The real Bushhawk does not have a cockpit trim trim control to balance the plane about it's longitudinal OR vertical axis either. That is: no aileron or rudder trims. The real plane has a manually adjusted rudder trim tab at the rear, which the owner will probably adjust to his or her flavour. Of course - it is set by the factory too.

Without any tab, the plane has a tendency to fly like the Maule - if you leave the Maule untrimmed. Try it. The Maule will fly in left hand circles. But of course, this is caused by the engine torque and prop wash in flight.

If you know your flying, you'll also know that tail draggers need a touch of right rudder during start and untill you get the tail up...

Also... remember this plane has a tank capacity of 100 US gallons in two 50 gallon tanks. That's something like a light adult sitting on each wing about five feet from the centreline (Correct Flyboy). When you climb in to the Bushhawk, the tanks are full and the right hand tank is selected. I hope you guys are flying for more than ten minutes at a time before you get worried about imbalance, because this plane will stay airborne for 10 hours if you loiter (five, if you forget the tank switch :d ) Pilot instructors that I have heard and read, say to change tanks regularly to keep the levels balanced. If you're flying solo, that means technically to drain the left hand tank partly first.

Of course, this is a bush plane for bush pilots. A pickup truck, not a Cadillac. No automation here, it's a working plane, not an Academy Night limo.

Darn City Slickers :costumes:

The fact that it happens faster in sim than in real life is probably the modelling be MS as Flyboy says above, or it might simply be the developer man. The imbalance is noticeable sooner - or is it? In real life, you fly VFR and watch your target. You subconsciously correct and the forces involved aren't noticeable or visible. The physical layout of your computer cockpit is simply not "As real as it gets".

[Devil's Advocate mode on]
Perhaps MS or the dev deliberately made the imbalance more noticeable? So that you get used to the fact that planes with separate tanks and no crossflow will swing? After all - it is a real world drill to regularly monitor the tanks.
[Devil's Advocate mode off]

But I know that both the GEM and the Fuel monitoring gauge could have been better placed by Found Aircraft. Two such useful and functional tools, so far away... I just love using the GEM to get my mixture right and watching the fuel flow follow the manufacturer's settings almost perfectly.

 

[CBris]

Yep, gotta stay on Aileron trim with planes that have single selection wing tanks. The Mooney is one of them. When you start to feel the wing get heavy, just swith that fuel tank selector over.

Looks like a sweet plane! Well done Chris!

:ernae: :ernae:



Bill

Thanks Bill - but remember, I only painted her.

 

[glennc]

Chris,

Me, a city slicker? If you ever saw the top of my head, you'd know the truth of part of it :d. Yep, if I'd wanted a limo, I do every so often, I'd be flying an Epic or a Cirrus. Switching fuel tanks is just part of the mechanics of flying.

Glenn

 

[Lionheart]

Thanks Bill - but remember, I only painted her.

Roger that Chris. You and Thorsten did an excellent job!

:ernae:

Yep, if I'd wanted a limo, I do every so often, I'd be flying an Epic or a Cirrus. Switching fuel tanks is just part of the mechanics of flying.

Glenn

Thanks GlennC for the kind word on the ole Epic. (Its actually a left or right only, but I changed it for FS. :d oops).



For those of you bothered by the 'left/right' fuel selections, remember that you can go into the Aircraft.cfg file, go to the Fuel section, and bring the tanks closer to center. As a matter of fact, you 'can' set the tanks to X-Axis=0 so that it will never turn the plane.

Here is a typical fuel section entry;

[fuel]
LeftMain = 0, -10, -1, 144, 0
RightMain = 0, 10, -1, 144, 0

Here is one with the tanks relocated to dead center on X axis;

[fuel]
LeftMain = 0, 0, -1, 144, 0
RightMain = 0, 0, -1, 144, 0

Thus, if in reality, the tank levels are not properly portrayed in FS, you can then at least 'tune' them by bringing them farther in. (Cant see the config file in the VC :d ).

For guys that are bothered by it, its an easy way out of the constant turning. (I am weak.. arrghh).




Bill

 

[gera]

Roger that Chris. You and Thorsten did an excellent job!

:ernae:



Thanks GlennC for the kind word on the ole Epic. (Its actually a left or right only, but I changed it for FS. :d oops).



For those of you bothered by the 'left/right' fuel selections, remember that you can go into the Aircraft.cfg file, go to the Fuel section, and bring the tanks closer to center. As a matter of fact, you 'can' set the tanks to X-Axis=0 so that it will never turn the plane.

Here is a typical fuel section entry;

[fuel]
LeftMain = 0, -10, -1, 144, 0
RightMain = 0, 10, -1, 144, 0

Here is one with the tanks relocated to dead center on X axis;

[fuel]
LeftMain = 0, 0, -1, 144, 0
RightMain = 0, 0, -1, 144, 0

Thus, if in reality, the tank levels are not properly portrayed in FS, you can then at least 'tune' them by bringing them farther in. (Cant see the config file in the VC :d ).

For guys that are bothered by it, its an easy way out of the constant turning. (I am weak.. arrghh).




Bill

Thanks Bill..............................neat.