I am a bit confused when it comes to cruise flight in the XCub. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.
When I get up to cruise altitude and set my power (I’m also not completely sure which power settings are best, I’ve decided that 2400 prop and 24.0 inches of pressure gives me decent cruise speed and fuel consumption), I can’t seem to get a good, stable flight.
If I set the inclinometer to be in the middle, I have a pretty good right tilt that I have to constantly compensate for on the ailerons. I know about the left turning tendencies of single engine pistons, but this seems different than other planes. I can usually get a good, level flight with cruise power and a bit of right rudder to eliminate slip and not have to constantly give it left aileron. I can even achieve this in the XCub in MSFS 2020.
Here’s a screenshot of what I’m attempting in cruise. I have the slip indicator even, I have ailerons level (by constantly applying left aileron) I have trim set, and I have my power set. What’s also confusing is the green circle on the PFD shows a path to the left. I have zero wind set, so I shouldn’t be drifting that way, as far as I understand. Once again, I’m confused, and any help would be appreciated.
Just loaded up the X Cub and got this. straight and level the slip skid is half ball to the right, if I hold the rudder to get the ball center I get a right turning caused by the rudder input. The X Cub has no rudder trim (at least that I could find) so I’m not sure what is causing it.
I’m not on the Beta, and I’ve always been able to remove chocks and covers. Sorry, I can’t help you, there.
I loaded up the XCub again and did some more testing.
Here, I put just enough right rudder to not have to hold left aileron. So, level flight, but it’s not straight. There is a constant yaw to the left. Slip skid ball is to the right, similar to, but not quite as far right as @wcc96387 had. But the green path indicator circle is nowhere near the center.
For this one, I centered the green path indicator, but I had to have a lot of LEFT rudder and right aileron. So, I’m cross controlling the plane. And even if the path indicator says I’m going straight, I actually have a ton of left yaw.
I don’t think it’s either. I’ve flown a few cubs and a carbon cub irl, they have a ground adjustable tab on the rudder to trim out this kind of thing.
But I believe they did something on the back end that caused this. This use to not be an issue with this plane. I used to fly it quite often just low and slow VFR, and some water skiing and it flew fine. This happened between the last time I flew it and now. I’m not in the Beta either
It’s level, I’ve got the slip skip ball centered, the path indicator centered, and I barely even need to touch the stick to keep the wings level.
It does seem like something might be weird in 2024 with this plane’s flight model. That’s such a shame; it’s one of my favorite planes in the sim right now. It’s just kind of a pain to fly at the moment.
Both fuel tanks were the same level. I tried half-full and full fuel tanks; same results.
Testing was done a couple minutes after takeoff, so not enough time to have a fuel imbalance. A visual check also confirmed fuel levels were essentially equal.
