The default Mooney Bravo

When I'm on approach at 80 knots, (actually a bit fast for a Mooney, as I recall) and on the glidepath, the nose blocks my view of the runway. I installed the Baron attitude indicator in the Mooney, and noted that the approach angle of attack is anywhere from two degrees nose-up with full flaps to seven degrees nose-up with no flaps. Admittedly, I haven't flown a Mooney (201) since 1981, but I don't recall the nose blocking my view of the runway on approach. I guess I need a memory refresher from someone who has flown a Mooney more recently.

Elmer J. Fudd

You can make the flaps more effective by editing the aircraft.cfg file with Notepad:

Search for the [flaps.0] section and change "pitch_scalar=1.00" to "pitch_scalar=1.10".

This will increase the flaps effectiveness by 10%. Test this on approach, and increase by another 10% e.g. "pitch_scalar=1.20" until you've achieved the correct pitch and speed.

It's wabbit season btw :p

On most airplanes I usually change the flap pitch to '-0.049' to NOT have that much pitch, yet have the lift and drag required. Try it.

Chuck B

Napamule

Thanks for that, Tim. I didn't know what the pitch_scalar did. I will give it a try.

Regards,

Elmer J. Fudd

napamule2, I get what you're saying, but in this case I do want the nose lower. I have this fetish about wanting to see where I'm going, when I'm trying to land.

Regards,

Elmer J. Fudd

Looks Like you want to move up the eyepoint. This can be done in the aircraft.cfg in the "Views" section.

[Views]

eyepoint = -4.52, -.884, 1.4

The eyepoint is the location of the pilot's eyes in relation to the aircraft's center. The first number is the horizontal location, a minus number is forward in the plane and a plus number is further back in the plane. the second number is the lateral location from the center of the plane. A minus number is left of the center line and a positive number is right of the center line. The last number is the vertical height. This will be the number you will want to adjust. All numbers are in feet and each .1 increment will increase your eyepoint by .83 inches. If you increase the number to much, you eyepoint will be above the top of the plane.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

John Cottreau

John,

I moved the eyepoint on this plane about fifteen years ago. The default eyepoint on this plane is a joke. Microsoft has really messed up on this plane. Even the seats are in the wrong place, when I look to the side, and then down in the virtual cockpit. It looks to me like someone took a series of photos of a parked Mooney. The problem is, when a Mooney is parked, the seats are moved back, so that the occupants can get out, much like in a Skyhawk. When you get into a Mooney, you need to slide the seats forward, (way forward). The pilot and front-seat sappenger sit quite close to the panel in a Mooney, as shown when looking directly from the side, from the spot-plane view. This is due to the original design of the M20 Ranger, which was so short as to be ridiculous. To get in, the seats had to be pulled back until they were touching the back seats, then pulled forward to allow the rear-seat sappengers to get in after the pilot and sappenger got in.

When I adjusted the eyepoint to what it should be, relative to the panel, (I use -3.800, -.884, 1.485) it's still not realistic, but close enough. One sees a lot more of the glareshield than what I recall in the 201.

Either my memory is playing twicks on me, or something is not quite right about the default Mooney.

Regards,

Elmer J. Fudd

Two ways to get a better view over the nose while landing:

1) Raise the seat...There's a keyboard command to do this. I don't know what the default key command is, because I changed it to something else.

2) Change the view angle in the panel.cfg. Look for an entry like:

[Views]

view_forward_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL

VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=4.0, 0.0, 0.0

"4.0" is the angle between straight forward and the angle of the pilot's view. A larger number will give a better view.

Changing the viewpoint in aircraft.cfg will not help this situation.

IMHO, the default Mooney is particularly troublesome because the panel occupies so much of the screen, that there is not much left for view out the window, so even a bit of AOA causes the nose to block the view.

Yeah, I have the same humble opinion. As I said in the OP, I don't recall it being an issue in the 201. Thanks for the tips.

At any rate, I've come to terms with it. It takes a bit of technique to fly this bird in the sim, as opposed to SOP in the real aircraft. I just carry a little more speed until I get closer in, then bleed it off as I get close.

Regards

Elmer

You could super glue a DASH CAM under the nose to give you an un-obstructed view of the runway. You would only need it for a couple of minutes while landing. The monitor could lay flat on dash. Prop up for landing (use Velcro would hold monitor upright). They make 24 volt cams now. And they get smaller all the time. $40? You would then have a CUSTOMIZED Mooney (ie: re-sale value). Q-Tips and alochol will clean the lens of dust, bird doo, etc. Waterproof? Of course! IP65. :-)

Chuck B

Napamule

Dang just flew this bird from KROC to KORF 5 minutes ago. Found myself streching my neck up while landing .....maybe some Old School telephone books.....8>).

Might try some of the above suggestions.