The Icon is a pretty nifty little plane that can land on either water or land. It’s awesome to fly, but I’m finding it very challenging (read impossible) to steer once in the water. I have extended the water rudder after landing, raised the flaps and added a bit of power but pushing the rudder pedals just doesn’t seem to have much effect. Has anyone else encountered this issue or are people able to steer normally once landed on the water? Otherwise it looks like this might be a bug possibly.
1 Like
(Playing on Series X)
I’ve had the same issue but many simple things I found work for general performance and handling in the water. I pull the elevator back constantly when on the water as the water rudder makes better contact into the water which is needed because the rudder is tiny, if you haven’t noticed and needs all the help it can get which I have noticed a small increase to the turn handling. Throttle control is a “must”, the more revs creates too much torque steer where it will pull to the one side rendering rudder control useless anyway so you need to back off or throttle cut frequently. Pushing forward a little on the elevator but not all the way will lift the rudder out of the water creating less drag and thus greater acceleration but at the cost of handling is great for a shorter take off as well. Best advice is to take your time and not rush to do things. It’s not really a boat or car and so this and alongside the other planes with floats requires it’s own skill set to maneuvor. I hope I made sense and this help.
1 Like
Unfortunately water rudders do absolutely nothing in MSFS. The Icon at least turns on its own axis at idle throttle so you can ALMOST taxi to a pontoon. All the other amphibian aircraft are impossible to manoeuvre in any sort of realistic way. In my mind water rudders are ESSENTIAL for taxying on water and I’m very disappointed that this straightforward function has not been implemented after a whole year. ! WATER 
5 Likes
I do not agree with you here.
True, the A5 was hard to steer in water even with the water rudder down after FS2020 was released but today, it works a lot better.
Of course, you need at least a little forward movement but that’s pretty much the same as with any vessel. ( except those with bow-thrusters)
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.