Re: steering reversal when taxi-ing

[enged]

Some downloaded aircraft have reversed rudder effect when taxi-ing, but are
normal when airborne. This makes landing in a crosswind too exciting for me.
I'm also making a weightshift microlight for FS98, and I need to reverse the
'rudder' on the ground. I'm using AirEd. Does anyone know which entries control

the ground steering?

Hello, Alan,
I was waiting to see if wiser heads than mine would respond. They haven't as
yet, so here goes:
If I understand correctly, the planes you mention are giving reversed
"steering" on the ground but normal rudder action, right? Also, I assume you'd
like ground behavior to match rudder action; i.e., right rudder pedal should
cause the plane to turn to the right.
Check in the AirEd for the item that defines Center Gear Longitudinal
location. It sounds like the plane in question is a trike with an incorrect
taildragger setting or vice versa. A trike should have positive value for
Center Gear Longitudinal (i.e., its nose wheel is ahead of the cg). A
taildragger should have negative value (i.e., its tail wheel is aft of it).
Obviously Center Gear and Main Gear Vertical locations should be set
appropriately as well; otherwise the plane won't sit correctly. In fact, if the
Gear settings conflict with cg location, it may not sit at all!
Hope this is helpful. -- Dennis S, FSEngEd@aol.com

[pvarn]

Some downloaded aircraft have reversed rudder effect when taxi-ing, but are
normal when airborne. This makes landing in a crosswind too exciting for me.
I'm also making a weightshift microlight for FS98, and I need to reverse the
'rudder' on the ground. I'm using AirEd. Does anyone know which entries control

the ground steering?

If you only get reversing on the ground, check the assignment/placement of the
nose/tail gear (called Center.)

If the longitude is set neg, it's a tail wheel, if positive, nose wheel.
If the "taildragger" flag (328) is set, the L,R function of the wheel is
reversed.
-Pv-

[pvarn]

Dennis,

You did real good.
-Pv-

Some downloaded aircraft have reversed rudder effect when taxi-ing, but are
normal when airborne. This makes landing in a crosswind too exciting for me.
I'm also making a weightshift microlight for FS98, and I need to reverse the
'rudder' on the ground. I'm using AirEd. Does anyone know which entries control

the ground steering?

Hello, Alan,
I was waiting to see if wiser heads than mine would respond. They haven't as
yet, so here goes:
If I understand correctly, the planes you mention are giving reversed
"steering" on the ground but normal rudder action, right? Also, I assume you'd
like ground behavior to match rudder action; i.e., right rudder pedal should
cause the plane to turn to the right.
Check in the AirEd for the item that defines Center Gear Longitudinal
location. It sounds like the plane in question is a trike with an incorrect
taildragger setting or vice versa. A trike should have positive value for
Center Gear Longitudinal (i.e., its nose wheel is ahead of the cg). A
taildragger should have negative value (i.e., its tail wheel is aft of it).
Obviously Center Gear and Main Gear Vertical locations should be set
appropriately as well; otherwise the plane won't sit correctly. In fact, if the

Gear settings conflict with cg location, it may not sit at all!
Hope this is helpful. -- Dennis S, FSEngEd@aol.com

[enged]

Earlier stuff snipped for brevity.

Hello, Paul,
Oddities persist, though. I recall one taildragger of a fellow simmer that
would reverse-steer until I fooled it into thinking it was a trike...
I still haven't solved the steering sensitivity issue: Usually trikes are
fine, but my Miles M.57 is overly twitchy, I believe because of its relatively
short "wheelbase" and wide track. Several taildraggers are overly dull (even
when cheated to shorten wheelbase, etc).
All in good fun. -- Dennis S, FSEngEd@aol.com

[pvarn]

"twitchy" and "dull" are easy to fix. I highly suggest leaving the wheel base
for both kinds of planes as they are in real life. Unless you are over 25% off
the real-world setting, changing the wheel base influences balance and ground
rolling effects as well as wind effects a LOT more than they affect steering
sensitivity.

Also check to make sure the yaw center of ration is correct. This is easiest
to set while steering on the ground so you can see where the plane pivots.
You can get restricted or strange steering effects if the yaw rotation is too
close to the nose/tail.

If a plane with proper wheel base and placement is too twitchy, increase the
yaw inertia, and decrease for those sluggish tail draggers. In FS2K, there are
prop wash parameters that strongly influence the rudder and elevator. In those
cases with a small plane, you can make it steer more effectively by pulling
back on the stick, forcing the rear wheel onto the ground. Strange, but true.

Double-check to make sure you have placed the fuel tanks and quantities
properly. I still get caught once in a while using inches instead of feet in
FS2K fuel tanks. Planes will act kinda strange with fuel tanks hanging 70 feet
off the ends of the wings!
-Pv-

Earlier stuff snipped for brevity.

Hello, Paul,
Oddities persist, though. I recall one taildragger of a fellow simmer that
would reverse-steer until I fooled it into thinking it was a trike...
I still haven't solved the steering sensitivity issue: Usually trikes are
fine, but my Miles M.57 is overly twitchy, I believe because of its relatively
short "wheelbase" and wide track. Several taildraggers are overly dull (even
when cheated to shorten wheelbase, etc).
All in good fun. -- Dennis S, FSEngEd@aol.com

[lyall]

Some downloaded aircraft have reversed rudder effect when taxi-ing, but are
normal when airborne. This makes landing in a crosswind too exciting for me.
I'm also making a weightshift microlight for FS98, and I need to reverse the
'rudder' on the ground. I'm using AirEd. Does anyone know which entries control

the ground steering?

If you only get reversing on the ground, check the assignment/placement of the
nose/tail gear (called Center.)

If the longitude is set neg, it's a tail wheel, if positive, nose wheel.
If the "taildragger" flag (328) is set, the L,R function of the wheel is
reversed.
-Pv-

Thanks, I'll try it out.

[lyall]

Hello, Alan,
I was waiting to see if wiser heads than mine would respond. They haven't as
yet, so here goes:
If I understand correctly, the planes you mention are giving reversed
"steering" on the ground but normal rudder action, right? Also, I assume you'd
like ground behavior to match rudder action; i.e., right rudder pedal should
cause the plane to turn to the right.
Check in the AirEd for the item that defines Center Gear Longitudinal
location. It sounds like the plane in question is a trike with an incorrect
taildragger setting or vice versa. A trike should have positive value for
Center Gear Longitudinal (i.e., its nose wheel is ahead of the cg). A
taildragger should have negative value (i.e., its tail wheel is aft of it).
Obviously Center Gear and Main Gear Vertical locations should be set
appropriately as well; otherwise the plane won't sit correctly. In fact, if the

Gear settings conflict with cg location, it may not sit at all!
Hope this is helpful. -- Dennis S, FSEngEd@aol.com

Thanks, I'll check it out.