Hey everyone,
Just trying to see if this is “normal” and if not, what settings I can potentially adjust.
Primarily fly the CJ4 and PMDG 737. With both aircraft, I feel like I’m getting pushed around on takeoff more than I should be.
To test this theory, I disabled live weather, hopped in the CJ4 ready to go on Runway 36. Set wind steady 090 at 5kts.
On the takeoff roll, gradually adding left rudder to maintain centerline. The second the nosewheel comes off the ground, though, I need to apply a very quick FULL left rudder to avoid drifting off the runway to the right. I can maintain extended centerline, but only with full rudder, and this is at 5kts crosswind.
Needless to say, using “proper” crosswind takeoff technique in this scenario (wind from the right - left rudder to maintain centerline, slightly banking the right hand wing into the wind) causes the aircraft to positively rocket off the right hand side of the runway. Conversely, landing in the same 5kt crosswind requires only gentle inputs to maintain centerline.
Same deal on a slightly different scale with the PMDG 737. Minor crosswinds requiring major rudder inputs on takeoff to maintain centerline.
Summary: all aircraft seem to want to swerve into the wind on rotation in minor (5kt) crosswinds, and require full/near-full rudder to compensate.
Just wondering what the verdict is - normal, deal with it? Some sort of weather/sensitivity setting?
Thanks in advance!!
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We had this looked at by the three people in our team who have thousands of hours piloting the 737, and they concluded it is not unrealistic. But MSFS is always a bit funny when it goes from ground to air, and it is an area we will certainly revisit.
Mathijs Kok
PMDG
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OK, thanks. To be clear, this isn’t only your 737. Everything seems normal with both the CJ4 and 737 on takeoff (and landing, for that matter) except at the point where the nosewheel comes off the ground and, as I said, I have to apply full/near-full rudder to avoid a very fast and violent swerve off the runway into the wind. I’ve even had to use aileron in the same direction as rudder on rotation to maintain centerline, which cannot possibly be correct, can it? I should need to be lowering the wing into the wind and taking off in a cross-controlled state, but I’m having use opposite aileron & rudder in tandem from veering into the wind.
Appreciate your input very much, just not sure how to navigate stronger-than-5kt crosswinds when I already have to apply full rudder to get off the runway at 5kts.
If this is just the way it is, I’ll deal with it, I’ve figured out how the sim wants me to mitigate it so far and will continue to do so. It just seems at odds with how a crosswind takeoff should be handled IRL, is all, and thought maybe there was something funky going on.
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This comes down to a lack of proper understanding/use of basic friction components in aircraft cfg files. Combine that with improper rudder effectiveness at various speeds and it becomes a real challenge to fly it realistically. As a specific example, looking into a certain recently-updated coffee-hauling airliner, the wheels have almost 400% normal friction on both the mains and nosewheel. This means all of the wheels will stick like glue until the instant they lift off the ground, which will lead to a large part of this grossly unrealistic behaviour you’re seeing. Looking into the CJ4, all wheels are set to have 1000% normal friction, which is absolutely insane.
At any rate, it takes devs recognizing this before it’ll get fixed. Just know that any dev telling you that a 100000lb+ airliner having difficulty handling a 5 knot crosswind being “realistic” is either honestly mistaken or just making stuff up.
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