Culver Cadet (FS9) problems persist with no apparent solution in sight.

[KCD]

While some of the problem seems alleviated by altering line #330 in the Cadet.air file to 1 instead of 0 and making the same change in the aircraft.cfg file under propeller type (from 0 to 1) and by altering the "gear_reduction_ratio" from 2.3 to 1.25 as Stringbean suggested, the overall effect remains unsatisfactory.

With those changes made, I was unable to sustain the 800'/min climb rate at 70 MPH, and at 1000feet altitude. I only achieved the 120 MPH advertised cruise speed with the throttle wide open pinned on the red line.

After changing the "gear_reduction_ratio" again, this time from 1.25 to 1.50, I was able to sustain a climb at 500'/min. to 1000' at a speed of 80MPH. Straight and level at 1000', the Cadet cruised at 121 MPH with the throttle wide open at 3200 RPM, well in excess of the 2600 RPM red line.

The design author of the Culver Cadet is Dan Cowan. He has done a few aircraft for MS sims, most recently a version of the Icon A5 uploaded to this site in July of 2009. The A5 claims to be for FSX, but it flies very nicely in FS9. Problem is Mr. Cowen didn't attach an e-mail address to his "read me" file so the only addresses that I've been able to find are so old they quickly bounce back.

After trying for almost two years to correct the problems associated with the Cadet, I think there are only two ways this aircraft is ever going to fly properly.

1.) Someone out there has an address for Mr. Cowan and, under the circumstances, is willing to contact him to advise that someone is trying to correct an error in his model, or

2.) Some aircraft designer still working in FS9 takes Mr. Cowan's basic work and creates a new model file, aircraft.cfg file and cadet.air file that accurately models the aircraft.

The Cadet is a great little aircraft designed by Al Mooney. It is the precursor to the Mooney (M-18) Mite that Tim Conrad made for FSX. The looks of the FS9 Cadet are spot on. They are not to fancy, but they are representative of how the actual plane looked as WW II ended. It would be a shame not to find a solution to the problems that plague this FS9 model

Thanks,

KCD

[tgibson_new]

There is no need for a new model file to fix flight dynamics - the AIR and CFG files are the only things used for that.

What you need is someone with experience creating flight dynamics for a small aircraft with a fixed pitch prop. I would try to find a recently uploaded freeware model and contact the author. Perhaps he/she might be interested?

Something *you* could do would be to find a very similar aircraft already uploaded, and use the AIR and CFG files from that plane. Rename the Cadet aircraft.cfg file to aircraft_old.cfg. Then copy the AIR and aircraft.cfg files from that plane into the Cadet's folder.

Then copying over the fltsim sections, along with the Lights, Contact Points, and Views sections from the original CFG file into the copied one (overwriting the original sections) should get you a Cadet that flies like the copied plane. Now tweak this flight model to get it perfect.

Hope this helps,

[KCD]

Tom,

I've tried everything else, I might as well try your suggestion too. Now all I have to do is find a proper doner aircraft.

Thanks,

KCD

[KCD]

Tom,

Thought you might be interested in this. I tried your suggestion of replacing the *.air and *.cfg files with those of another similar aircraft. I used Bill Lyons' Tempco Swift without any alteration other than naming them properly. The result is about as good as it is going to get short of a total make over. The RPMs are about -100, and the Cadet wants to climb at a faster rate than called for, but those can be tolerated (and possibly even adjusted by a little editing).

Thank you for your suggestion; I never would have thought of doing that, and I've been messing with this aircraft for almost two years. By incorporating your suggestion, in just five minutes the Cadet is close to perfect.

Thanks again,

KCD

[garryrussell]

If you've used another aircraft with just renaming then the contact points and lights positions will be wrong for starters.

There are only certain parts you can use as Tom outlined above

Other than that I'm glad you have a solution.

Garry

[KCD]

Gary,

You are correct about what Tom said to do, but here is the strangest thing... 1.) replacing the light section provided proper placement of the Cadet's running lights (all she has), but 2.) adding the original Cadet Contact Points in place of those of the Swift buried the wheels and tail skid deeply into the tarmac. It also affected the retractable gear. All is OK now, though and although I still have a little tinkering to do, this aircraft is vastly improved.

Things to do...
1.) somehow adjust climb speed
2.) increase full throttle from 2500 RPM to 2600 RPM without affecting top speed.
3.) figure out how to paint the aircraft the way I would like it.

Thanks everybody for all your assistance.

KCD

[tgibson_new]

Hi,

Glad to help.

Sometimes there are differences in the COG and centerpoint of the aircraft (in the Weight and Balance section) that have to be copied to the new CFG file from the old one. This is rare and thus I didn't mention it. Sounds like this is the problem, although if the lights are in the right place it shouldn't be...

If you are happy with it, I wouldn't mess with it.

You can decrease the prop diameter slightly to increase top RPM from 2500 to 2600; this shouldn't affect speeds much.

To adjust climb speed vs cruise speed you can try using the flight tuning section to decrease low speed drag (a number less than 1.0) and leave high speed drag alone (or increase it a bit). They are induced and parasite drag, but I don't remember which is which.

If there is no flight tuning section in the cfg file, you can add it:

[flight_tuning]
cruise_lift_scalar=1.0
parasite_drag_scalar=1.0
induced_drag_scalar=1.0
elevator_effectiveness=1.0
aileron_effectiveness=1.0
rudder_effectiveness=1.0
pitch_stability=1.0
roll_stability=1.0
yaw_stability=1.0
elevator_trim_effectiveness=1.0
aileron_trim_effectiveness=1.0
rudder_trim_effectiveness=1.0

Hope this helps,

[KCD]

Tom,

Thank you for your post of 8/7/2012. I will definately tinker using your suggestions, but the Cadet does fly reasonably well as is. I willreduce the prop diameter to get the RPMs to 2600, and make adjustments to the low speed drag. I don't want to mess with it too much, however, it's taken years to get it to where it is now.

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but I've been away and just returned. Thanks again for your helpful suggestions...

KCD