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Aerobatics with the Abacus FA-18


N33029

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Gang,

 

I have a package of seven A/C including the FA-18 from Abacus. I've only flown it once, finding that it oscillated between climbing and diving in cruise. I had to spend most of my time trying to stay in the same 1,000' of altitude. Now I just watched the Van Halen video featuring the Blue Angles and some excellent air to air footage. Richard Bach said the secret to flying was slow, smooth control inputs, but in one scene in the video you can see the elevator fluttering as the A/C stays in formation, the same distance from the other ships.

 

What am I missing here? Also, I read "In Pursuit of Lines and Symmetry" but I've forgotten it all. Can anyone suggest ways to learn flight other than straight and level and turns? Patty Wagstaff's plane is a joy to fly but it seems like it is too easy because it is the only one I can do aerobatics in - it just does whatever you ask it to, no questions asked. I'd like to be able to do that stuff in other aircraft, to prove that I learned a skill. Thoughts? Johnathan Seagull? Anybody? Stand to center?

 

Best,

Sean

'Glichy' controls or switches and don't want to pay for new ones? Read on... You can bring a controller back to life by exercising it through it's full range of motion or from maximum to minimum and back again 50 times. I had a Logitech joystick that gave left rudder without touching it but turning it 50X fixed it.
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The 'skill' you need to learn in order for any airplane to 'fly right' is Flight Dynamics. There is the aircraft.cfg and the air file. Just because your airplane is Payware does not mean it is going to 'fly right'. They sell you a model (ie: a 'picture'). The dynamics are YOUR 'Problem' and not theirs. Sorry but those are the facts. You pay your money and you take your chances. Me? I don't own ONE payware of any kind and never will.

Chuck B

i7 2600K @ 3.4 Ghz (Turbo-Boost to 3.877 Ghz), Asus P8H67 Pro, Super Talent 8 Gb DDR3/1333 Dual Channel, XFX Radeon R7-360B 2Gb DDR5, Corsair 650 W PSU, Dell 23 in (2048x1152), Windows7 Pro 64 bit, MS Sidewinder Precision 2 Joy, Logitech K-360 wireless KB & Mouse, Targus PAUK10U USB Keypad for Throttle (F1 to F4)/Spoiler/Tailhook/Wing Fold/Pitch Trim/Parking Brake/Snap to 2D Panel/View Change. Installed on 250 Gb (D:). FS9 and FSX Acceleration (locked at 30 FPS).
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The 'skill' you need to learn in order for any airplane to 'fly right' is Flight Dynamics. There is the aircraft.cfg and the air file. Just because your airplane is Payware does not mean it is going to 'fly right'. They sell you a model (ie: a 'picture'). The dynamics are YOUR 'Problem' and not theirs. Sorry but those are the facts. You pay your money and you take your chances. Me? I don't own ONE payware of any kind and never will.

Chuck B

 

Chuck,

 

Thanks for the info. I enjoy working with the aircraft.cfg files, but I don't know which parameters would affect flight stability. Perhaps if you gave me the ones for one axis I could figure all of them out.

 

Thanks,

Sean

'Glichy' controls or switches and don't want to pay for new ones? Read on... You can bring a controller back to life by exercising it through it's full range of motion or from maximum to minimum and back again 50 times. I had a Logitech joystick that gave left rudder without touching it but turning it 50X fixed it.
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Hello,

 

On Avsim

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Miscellaneous Files

Flight Dynamics Tutorial ZipDive! Download

 

File Description:

This pdf file is for people who want to learn, or learn more, about updating the flight dynamics of FS2004 aircraft. It won't tell you everything, but it will tell you some things the majority of flight simmers don't know about updating flight dynamics.

 

Filename: how_to_tweak_the_flight_dynamics_of_fs2004_aircraft_172187.zip

License: Freeware

Added: 2nd September 2005, 07:58:38

Downloads: 2617

Author: Bob Chicilo

Size: 46kb

 

Very good tutorial

 

And the tool ( Air File editor)

 

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Utilities

AirEd152 Update ZipDive! Download

 

File Description:

AirEd(itor) has become one of the most versatile .air-file editors for MSFS 2000 up to 2004/FS9. For FS9 in particular the treatment of section [1101] has become pivotal for tuning the aerodynamics of FS9 aircraft. Yet, for many users the expert jargon remains obscure. Yahia now provides more information on [1101], making tuning easier to understand! References to the CFG file are made as well. Just right-click on an item in [1101] to see new amendments, test values and hints. Some divert from earlier insights or explain where things can go wrong. Also about taxiing are some new hints. AirEd now becomes an easy to understand "Must Have" for everybody interested in tuning FS9 aircraft.

 

Filename: aired152_update806.zip

License: Freeware

Added: 6th August 2006, 16:49:18

Downloads: 22449

Author: William M. Roth, Ronald Freimuth, Yahia al Wajid

Size: 570kb

 

Regards.http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/a/bye.gif

If you gave a couple of monkeys a box of ballpoints, enough paper, and enough time, they'd eventually finish up writing the complete works of Shakespeare :)
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Now I just watched the Van Halen video featuring the Blue Angles

Oh man, do I ever LOVE that video!! I watch it constantly. Heck, I must have seen that vid 4 times more than the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and that is a LOT!!

That was filmed at El Centro, their "winter home" by the way, while i lived nearby, in Yuma. I used to watch them practice every chance I got, first in Phantoms, then in A-4's (blech, IMO) then in the F/A-18's. They even came to Yuma to practice a particular maneuver, when the C/D models came out. The plane came in over the runway about 200', and just got slower and slower, and more and more nose high, until it was literally standing still, nose vertcal, in one spot. Danced it there for a short period, then lit the blowers and went UP.

All of us out on the flight line at Yuma that day were hoping, but they decided it was too dangerous to try in a show...

We honestly thought we were going to see a crash, as he got slower...

That elevator flutter you see is the FCS holding the plane steady as the turbulance from the others hits the plane's body and control surfaces.

Anyhow: I found that Kuazori Ito's F/A-18F Superhornet for FS9 is about the best I've found. It's actually pretty accurate. It will do the aerobatics you want fairly well.

There are any number of "how-to" for aerobatic maneuvers. Try looking up ACM or BFM's ion a Google search. There will be some great references there. Let's face it, all aerobatics were developed for ACM in the first place :) Mostly in WW I, although perhaps a tad faster nowadays. The basic How to of them hasn't changed much though. At least until the post-stall maneuvers became possible. THOSE are an adventure! Like the Pirouette Maneuver the F/A-18's can do, or hte famous Russian Cobra maneuver. And of course the incredibly useful "viffing" Harriers can do. Stands for Vertical in Forward Flight". Think about it. Someone gets behind a Harrier, he suddenly goes into a Hover, the bad-guy overshoots badly, and now it's the harrier's advantage. Pretty nifty little maneuver.

 

Now, if you want a plane for FSX...

I have a super-realistic one for ya.

 

Can anyone suggest ways to learn flight other than straight and level and turns?

Start with those. Once you can hold the bird at a steady altitude, airspeed, and make good, "staandard rate" turns, start adding to them. Make a tighter turn, holding altitude and airspeed. The simplest and easiest thing to learn is the barrell roll, which is really a turn and climb mixed together. Start with that, then on the Hammerhead stall. Or maybe a loop. Now combine any two. Do a barrell roll on the upside of the loop.

Keep doing that until you are a BFM/ACM Ace :D

Pat☺

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again!

Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D

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