How to fly the Hughes H-4 Hercules

I’ve been working from original source material to try and better understand and fly the Hughes H-4 Hercules. It’s becoming a series of How To videos and and I’d like to share what I’m learning with all of you. Hope this helps! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi0WY4xHn9RhVbkjp6dHIY-31e_mjoPdT

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You need to have it in the water click your analog stick down and choose the tool bar click the gear icon and click where it says spawn from a different location in which case you will be able to fly it in the water and land!! Hope that helps

Am I the only one not being able to land it on water?
I can land, I hold it nose up as much as I can, but when the speed decreases and the nose drops, it crashes. What do I do wrong?

Thanks for the comment on my video btw! Landing flat is pretty good. Full flaps only when your seconds away from landing as it can cause a stall and you’ll hit the water really hard. It’s very hard to judge distance and speed on landing I’ve found. When I first started landing I wasn’t full aware I was in a full stall and hitting the water very fast.

Thanks for replying to me.
No, that’s not the case for me, I am VERY careful about my vertical speed, which is very low, like -50 or -100 ft/min, not more. I can understand a high vertical speed can cause a crash so I am very careful about this. I am also careful about the airspeed, anyway with full flaps it is very low, I am sure it is not the problem.
I do a kiss landing on water, the rear part of the hull touches the water before the speed really drops and it seems that when the front part of the hull comes in contact of water, it triggers a landing crash :frowning:

Strange enough, when I start the flight using the 40th anniversary activity starting from Long Beach, everything works. I can take off from water and land back on water, no problem.
The problem I described occurs only if I start the flight from a random point, in which case I spawn in the air. Then when I try to land on water it ends in a crash.

Damage is turned off in the 40th Anniversary activity.

OK, now I understand… It means the H-4 can only land on water if damage is disabled, this is not the best way to design an aircraft :frowning:

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I land on water all the time with damage disabled. I too had issues with crashing when I started landing but it really helped once I understood the stall characteristics. Are you landing full flap?

Really ?? I can’t understand why my son and I (on 2 different computers) cannot make it. I read all your advice carefully, tried a very smooth final descent, and couldn’t make it.

I’ve got a few days off and may well throw up a video. Coming in to Long Beach is one of my favorite views.

Full damage on and i land it all the time. Its a combination of speed and decent rate if you put it down right before stall speed and at -50 or -100 right as you come down to the water level.

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I’m wondering if this is the issue.

Have you tired spawning at a seaplane runway and trying a takeoff and then a landing?

What I’m getting at is I wonder if there is an issue with the aircraft configuration when starting in the air that is incorrect and that is what is evoking the crash when you try landing.

Is your crash a “you stressed the airframe” or a “you collided with an object”?

You’re right, I will try this right now. It may be the explanation.
The crash reason I have is “You landed on water” (or something similar, I don’t remember exactly), but no airframe stress and no collision, that’s for sure

I just tested it. It is the explanation.

There is something about the config files for when the aircraft starts in the air that is causing the issue.

I took off from a seaplane base and landed with no issue.

I spawned in the air and landed and it did exactly as you described. “You crashed into water”. It’s like the plane is not a seaplane when spawning in the air — meaning whatever flag is set in the config files thinks this isn’t a seaplane and thus you crash upon landing in water.

Sounds like it needs to be written up as a bug.

I confirm, I have just tested it as well. I took of from S60, flew and landed back on water without any problem. There is definitely a problem when spawning in the air.
I will declare the bug. Thanks for your help !!

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This was one of the greatest challenges facing the engineers of the day and the reason she didn’t fly much. Luckily , modern engineers have found a way to turn damage mode off but they won’t tell anyone. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: