Despite following guidance in the manual, and on the FlyingIron website, whether I can get the Spitfire off the ground without crashing, seems to me to be completely random. It’s almost impossible to keep it on the runway, and it seems that once you have enough speed, you need to get it away from the ground as quickly as possible. It feels like I have a random chance of successfully taking off from a hard runway, with only a 1 in 4 chance of success. I am being gentle with the throttle / boost, but I cannot seem to master it. Does anyone have a procedure they follow to have a successful take off first time every time? I believe I’m using the latest release, having only purchased and downloaded it 2 weeks ago. I don’t mind a challenge, but would at least like to know where I’m going wrong.
You really need to dance on the riddle peddles…. Make sure you have a little bit of right rudder trim…
Slowly push the boost 5-7 MAX!!! Let the aircraft roll and start dancing on those peddles to ensure the plane stays on the centerline. If you start to roll a little, make necessary adjustments to the ailerons, it’s not easy. Let the nose lower down a bit, but not too much; once you get air over the wings and elevators, the plane should lift into the air by itself. It really wants to fly.
Well over 100 take-off and landings for me, and I still struggle with the bird. I have read IRL rookies would crash the aircraft before leaving the ground, so don’t feel bad.
First off delete wind layer (or set it to 1 knots) when practicing.
During the initial takeoff roll go slow on the throttle to build up bit of speed for better control. Makes the torque easier the handle, push maybe to 0 boost at first, then go on slowly to higher boost from there. I don’t actually see huge reason (beyond roleplaying vintage aircraft pilot) to limit boost to 6-7, if you can keep it under control at 7 you can do so at 12.
When the plane starts veering immediately (as in right away) apply the opposite rudder, even if you need correct immediately afterwards. Dance the pedals back and forth to find the equilibrium where the plane goes where you want. And having a set of pedals, especially ones without center detent, is recommended for warbirds.
The most challenging moment is when the tail lifts off the ground. At that moment you are hit by the gyroscopic precession and then you lose the P-factor since now your prop is level, both alter the turning tendency of the aircraft. You can control and hence predict the moment the tail lifts by pulling the stick back in initial stage of the roll then releasing it back to neutral when you want the tail to lift.
Rudder trim can help (full trim is acceptable), but it’s not necessary.
What the above posters said is correct… however until MSFS tailwheel dynamics are fixed… it will always be tough. I have flown a number of tail draggers in real life… it is challenging… but it is nothing like in the sim… Something is wrong with the friction or physics relating to tail wheel aircraft. The closest I have flown to real life is the DC Designs Stearman.
Welcome to tailwheels! They are much harder to handle until they perform the trainsition from 3 wheels to 2 wheels. As explained above don´t apply too much power too quickly, specially on the warbirds as they deliver much more horsepower than civil ones, so that you can maintain control while wings are not yet horizontal and use rudder and ailerons until your wings are fully horizontal and tail is lifted. At that point the control is much easier and you can accelerate and take off normally.
If you want to know why all that happens this video is long but very complete and it explains very well the physics of the tailwheelers. The reason for the control loss is explained at minute 19 approx with the bike wheel experiment.
Cheers
I’ve noticed the latest update has made the aircraft very light on the controls - all of them. To be honest, it feels like flying a paper airplane with a powerful engine compared to past updates, and the weight of the aircraft is difficult to apprehend based on its response to the controls. Whether this is good or bad or realistic is unknown to me.
What works for me is right aileron and stick pulled slightly back. The latest update requires quite a bit of nose up trim on takeoff or it’ll nose over very easily. Careful with the power; +5 boost is fine. You can take it off from 3-points, but I wouldn’t recommend it in a crosswind.
Make gentle movements with the rudder on time rather than drastic movements too late. It is very easy to over-correct. You could do highspeed taxiing practice until you learn to react with rudder input on time. The more time you put into it, the better you will get.
My take off routine in the Mk9 is:
Parking brake off
Boost to zero
Back pressure on the stick (this is very important)
Use SLIGHT rudder inputs. Strong inputs will end in disaster
Use aileron control to keep level (quite often opposing the rudder inputs)
GRADUALLY increase the boost to about 4
This should give you enough power to lift off. I can usually manage to do all this without any pitch or rudder trim, but it does take a bit of practice. I really struggled for ages getting a safe take off, but the back pressure on the stick was an absolute game changer. Even a very small crosswind can make the experience even more difficult, so practice with headwinds first to get used to the process, then start trying out some crosswinds. I’ve had the spit pretty much since release. It’s one of my favourte aircraft in the sim, and I fly it quite a bit, and sometimes I STILL mess up the take off, especially in strong crosswinds. The good thing about the spit is that it just “wants” to get airborne, so the struggle shouldn’t last too long. But make sure you don’t keep too much back pressure on the stick. Otherwise it’ll try to take of too early.
Thanks all, for your suggestions.
A few good ideas for me to try out, and lots more practice required!
DCS teach us to pull the stick all back and all right with half rudder to the right.
When you start accelerate gently push the stick forward but hold all to the right.
Very very easy when you understand why.
If you can practice on DCS then try on FS.
I tried out some of the suggestions last night, without any crosswind, and was much more successful. Watching the youTube video explaining the physics of tailwheels and crosswind was also very useful, and made me realize that the Spitfire behaviour is more or less as it should be, even if that makes it tricky to master. It’s all starting to make sense.
I mainly fly the FBW A320 and DC Designs F16, and taking off with them is basically just a case of pointing them in the right direction and applying the power.
I’m sure once I’ve mastered the Spitfire, it’ll be all the more rewarding for having been a challenge to master.
Thanks again for all the help, and hopefully anyone else who is struggling will find your help useful, as I did.
Now for some crosswind!!
They are not airliners. Just forget everything about airliners when flying tailwheels. The wings are not horizontal when they start to receive the airflow and the force of such a rotating big mass (propeller) will make them turn you wanted or not, because its initial rotating axis is not horizontal either. The higher the rotating speed the bigger the turn will be, so that´s why it´s important to increase power gently just to allow the transition to 2 wheels and from that point continue accelerating. What you see is just plain physics. You can´t do anything else than compensating those forces with the control surfaces. Once you are levered it´s just like any other aircraft.
Prepare for the helicopters arrival because you will see a quite similar turning effect and you will need to fight it hard with the pedals as well.
Cheers