Steering during Taxi, Takeoff roll and after

[Stewie]

What part of the CFG file deals with the steering of the aircraft? I have an aircraft that when any speed is applied, it automatically rolls to the left. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this? Thanks in advance!

[Adam24]

Wind?
Aircraft type?

[skaboy690]

What part of the CFG file deals with the steering of the aircraft? I have an aircraft that when any speed is applied, it automatically rolls to the left. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this? Thanks in advance!

I use a Saitek X52 joystick, and somewhere along it got ganked and I now have to create a Deadzone that fixed the problem.

[elmo313]

I have the same problem with the Just Flight Tiger Moth. No wind, sliders all set to easy, and it pulls to the left as soon as power is applied. I'd like to know how you solved this problem. I'm using a Sidewinder joystick.

Any help would be appreciated

[HoratioWondersocks]

I have seen other posts like this before.
I am no expert ,but I believe in real world aircraft (not sure about jet aircraft) there is a tendency for the aircraft to pull (not sure whether left or right) but pull anyway ,its something to do with engine torque ,in which case your sim plane is functioning correctly and just goes to show what a fine old sim 9 is. A real world pilot is needed to answer your question though. It would be interesting to know how a pilot manages to control this in a real take-off.
A.

[TCX559K]

Try recalibrating your joystick. I had this once, I spent a week wondering what the hell was going on. Tried to fly an A320 out of Barcelona and ended up crashing into the terminal it was that bad. I recalibrated and it was fine. Works perfectly now.

[mrzippy]

Make sure your flight controls are centered when you start out. I think it's the number 5 key.

[mikeandpatty]

Their are three possible solutions:

1. As others mentioned, your joystick calibration. The rudder sensitivity is too high, or the null zone too small. Just like a car steering wheel, you need to rest your hand on a control without accidentally moving it, and when you do intend to move it, the reaction must be predictable. This applies to ANY axis, as is true in any REAL airplane.

In FS, using aileron also has an input to the rate of turn while taxing - not realistic, but it is in fact true in FS. Try it and you will see what I mean. Also, if you are taxiing fast, some aircraft can really get unmanageable.

2. The aircraft.cfg file may need some tweaking to help out. If your plane is prop driven (recip or turbo, single or multi engine) the "p-factor" that causes one side of the propeller to produce a little more thrust than the other side causes a plane to swerve; the greater the power addition at lower speed, the more tendency to swerve. Jets DO NOT do this. People talk about "torque roll" and gyro effect, but they are relatively insignificant in comparison to "p-factor". P-factor direction is a function of which way the propeller turns; typical airplane engines rotate clockwise while viewing from the cockpit and P-factor causes a left yaw tendency. Some airplanes rotate in the opposite direction, especially early European designs, but relatively uncommon. Some multiengine airplanes have counter-rotating props to cancel out P-factor (most notably the P-38 Lightning).

Anyway, two items in the aircraft.cfg can help.

Look for a section that says [flight tuning]. If their isn't one, we are going to add one! within that section you will probably see some lines that look like this -
p_factor_on_yaw=1.0
torque_on_roll=1.0
gyro_precession_on_yaw=1.0
gyro_precession_on_pitch=1.0
rudder_effectiveness=1.0
yaw_stability=1.00

The value 1.0 is a default value. Change, or add this line:
p_factor_on_yaw=0.0 //was 1.0

the value 0.0 will eliminate p-factor both on the ground and in flight (a help on takeoff!). The // was 1.0 will be ignored but serve as a reminder about what you did.

Reload the aircraft and see if it is better.
If there was no [flight tuning] section, add one that looks like my example above. It can go anyplace in the aircraft.cfg file after all the different airplane variation entries. Just don't put it accidentally in the middle of another section.

3. Look for a section [contact points] and examine the first line. For the FSX Cherokee 180 the line says:
[contact_points]
point.0 = 1, -3.80, 0.00, -4.20, 1500, 0, 0.433, 25.0, 0.500, 2.5, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0, 0, 150

point.0 is ALWAYS the nose wheel or tail wheel. the 8th value is the caster angle, in this case 25 degrees. I doubt that changing this will fix the problem of always pulling to the left, but does help in correcting any airplane that tend to over steer, or does not turn very well while taxiing.

Let us all know if this helps.

I have flown REAL prop airplanes from an Aeronca Champ thru T-28Cs to AD-5's and P-3Cs, so I think I know what I am talking about.

Let us know how things work out.

[clintlc]

I fly single engine prop in real world and yes the torque pulls the plane. You have to counter with opposite rudder. Doesn't last long. Just til engine rpm is up.

[ronzie]

P-Torque is proportional to engine rpm, so less on low rpm (like idle). (In FS the effect can be turned off in realism settings as I recall.) At lower air speeds you need more rudder to counteract it so when taking off you need to apply more opposite rudder reducing it as airspeed increases and the rudder becomes more effective.

In prop aircraft design the vertical stabilizer has a compromise of yaw offset built into it in part to counteract P-Torque in cruise configuration. Twin props with counter rotating props cancel the P-Torque effect. There is still a slight vertical stabilizer bias due to a slipstream effect which causes a turning tendency.

(I flew real world SE GA all tricycle gear.)

Regarding yaw calibration I have a user paid registration for FSUIPC. I use its yaw mapping and a non-linear sensitivity curve less sensitive toward the control center. This reduces over steering but lets me apply full rudder when needed. This works nicely for taxiing. (I have rudder peds.)

Regarding strong crosswinds, on the ground as you slow for tricycle gear aircraft push the nose down slightly with elevator to increase pressure on roll out. In addition apply aileron increasing as you slow so you tend to bank into the crosswind. Reverse the amount of deflection for take-off as you pick up speed. This is to counteract side drift on the runway from the crosswind component.

I fly single engine prop in real world and yes the torque pulls the plane. You have to counter with opposite rudder. Doesn't last long. Just til engine rpm is up.