Nose wheel won't turn the aircraft

I have a few aircraft that have nose wheels that go round as the plane moves forward (or backward) but they don't turn left or right. I can turn the planes using the rudder but this makes tight turns impossible.

The planes I have this trouble with are,

Posky Boeing 737-600

HJG MD-82

Convair from CalClassics

Bae146-200 (Jon Murchison, I think)

Given that it is across a few planes I'm sure it's more something I haven't done right, rather than the planes being at fault.

I did a search for this problem and it was suggested that the Autorudder might be switched on, I can confirm that it was switched off.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards

Charlotte

Have you checked the [contact_points] section in each aircraft.cfg file? The first line (nosewheel) should look something like this:

point.0=1, -8.5, -15.9, -18.0, 1574.8, 1.000000, 5.826899, 23.0 ,1.000000, 2.500000, 0.900000, 18.000000, 18.000000, 2.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000

The 0.900000 in bold means the wheel can turn 90 degrees left and right. If this figure is 0 for some reason, the nosewheel won't turn.

The other alternative is that the developer did not animate the nose wheel. The plane makes a "Sliding" turn.

I just did a test on the HJG Md-82. The steering angle was at 55.00 and I changed to 90.00 and had no affect. Nose wheel movement left or right is just not animated.

Hi,

In the example tiger provided the Steer Angle is the 8th value; 23 degrees. I don't have any of the aircraft mentioned but I wouldn't think any of those would make tight turns. I have seen FS aircraft with the steer angle set to 90 degrees which stops any forward movement with full rudder

Charlotte: You say that you can make turns using the rudder. I understand that on some aircraft the nose wheel casters in response to the brakes at low speeds and at higher speeds the rudder, but I think that in most cases, especially larger aircraft, the rudder and nose wheel are linked. How are you trying to make a tighter turns? And are you viewing the nose wheel angle in an outside view?

Jim F.

Thanks Mr Zippy, the steer angle on the MD82 is 55 degrees, and thanks Jim - steer angle is the 8th value. I've just installed the HJG MD-82 model into FS2004 and the nosewheel won't move until the plane is taxiing, see the screenshots below:

Thanks Mr Zippy, the steer angle on the MD82 is 55 degrees, and thanks Jim - steer angle is the 8th value. I've just installed the HJG MD-82 model into FS2004 and the nosewheel won't move until the plane is taxiing, see the screenshots below:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]191140[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]191141[/ATTACH]

Good to know the nose wheel actually does move left to right. I was sitting still when I tried. Duoh!

And '-8.5, -15.9, -18.0' can't be the nose wheel (but maybe the TAIL wheel). The nose wheel would be at a positve position (ie: 8.500), and NOT left of center (ie: 0.000 and not '-15.9'). The '90.000' is compression related and NOT steering. So check your SDK before you post 'mis-information' as it's counter-productive (ie: wrong info=not helpful).

Some old relics have old relic aircraft cfg entries. In this case you need assistance to make sharp turns. That is facilitated by implementing 'Differential Braking'. Chick to see if you have it in (brakes) section. If not, then add it. 'differential_braking_scale= 0.800'. Now try it by braking and adding rudder. That combination will 'activate' differential braking and will aid in making turns. Bear in mind that since it's 'braking', you may need to add power to not stop your momentum on turns. Reduce power after turn is completed. This is skills of the trade one has to LEARN (as it's not in the SDK or readme, or in any 'lessons').

Chuck B

Napamule

The nose wheel for the Convair turns nicely and is set to 63.00 in the aircraft.cfg. Could be made a little higher in value!

Well I made a video of the HJG MD-82 to show what differential braking can do to aid in turning. It's FSX but the principles is/are the same. I will now go test in FS9 and see what gives in there. Link:

Chuck B

Napamule

Hi,

The short answer is that this is default FS behavior (straightens the wheel as you stop) and cannot be changed if the plane uses the default cwheel nosewheel animation.