Seaplane handling

[FearlessTower]

Does anyone know of a way to improve the turning ability of seaplanes when on the water in FS2002? I have downloaded a few seaplanes and have a terrible time turning them once on the water. I have tried the "water rudder" key, but that seems to have no effect. Using opposing engines doesn't seem to do much either. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Andrew

[mikeymcc]

Andrew,

With luck an expert will be along soon. In the meantime, I don't "do" seaplanes so I am going to ask a question based on my experience with land planes.

What happens if you turn autorudder on? This just might (a guess) couple the water rudders to the ailerons.

Another thing you might try is using the "real" rudder and letting the propwash blow the tail around.

Guessing ...

Mike McCarthy

[rservice]

I don't know exactly how well this is simulated in FS2002, but I think you have to control the throttle(s) carefully. I think that at higher speeds, the effect of water rudders is less likely to turn the aircraft. You can probably check this by using spot view in conjunction with shift Z to determine if heading changes with water rudders engaged is faster than with water rudders not engaged, also maintain the same throttle speed.

[Simon Evans]

Gas it, then cut it, then turn. Repeat.

Simon Evans

[mikeymcc]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-02 AT 11:11AM (EST)[/font][p]Lean, mean, and on the scene.

Hastily adds: Where "mean" means "bad" means "good".

[jlwoodward]

Here is a little trick, it's bogus but it will work:

Use FSedit and open up the cfg file. Locate the contact points for the front of the float or floats. Assign a steer angle of about 30 degrees to each one. You can use Notepad instead if you know where to look.

This will give you steering that is active anytime on water. You do not have to fool around trying to add a water rudder, and you don't have to use shift-w.

This method was used on the Beaver. It will work on the C185 and Goose. I used it on my Seabee. Should work for you.

John Woodward

[Viking_i]

Hi,

The problem with FS seaplanes is that we can't easily use differential throttle for steering (which you would in real life in say, a Grumman Goose) and singles dont turn at all realistically; so sea handling is always going to be a compromise.

Jlwoodwards idea sounds great. I'll try it myself.

The reason many addon planes dont seem to work with shift W (water rudders) is because the feature is not written into the aircraft config by the author.
If you want to add water rudder to your favourite floatie, open the aircraft config file (called "aircraft") and paste the following in at the foot of the contact points data.

//Water Rudder
point.13= 5.000, -16.000, 0.000, -4.000, 160000.000, 0.000, 0.000, 40.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.700, 1.000, 1.200, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000

Happy landings
LonelyplanetXO

[FearlessTower]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try editing the cfg and see if that works. Between adjusting the angle of the floats and adding the water rudder I should be able to get some control over my Goose.

Andrew

[FITZY]

I have found that differential throttle works pretty well on the twins like the Goose.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...bc261d3f05.jpg

[AlaskaAV]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-02 AT 10:49PM (EST)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-02 AT 10:21 PM (EST)[/font]

I hate to ask this but did you lower the water rudders? Some of the float aircraft I have use different key inputs to lower/raise the rudders.

Ernie

Sorry Andrew, missed your post.