Poll: GA Planes' Turning/Rolling Tendencies During Long Flights

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1

Would you prefer the single-prop planes’ to fly mostly level during long flights, or would you rather have the plane exhibit turning/rolling tendencies as in real life? (please note, I am only referring to these tendencies during long flights due to engine/prop spin)

Edit - I apologize. My poll is flawed, as FlyingBear01 points out below:

The question in the poll is therefore misleading, “exhibit turning/rolling tendencies as in real life” and “fly mostly level during long flights” are not mutually exclusive.

I personally find the turning/rolling tendencies to be a bit annoying, even if it is accurate to real life. I do not use, nor do I want to use rudder pedals, but I do still want full rudder control during landings. (so for me, this rules out the auto-rudder option to counteract that rolling behavior)

Some planes have rudder or aileron trim, but I can never seem to find the right amount of trim to keep the plane nice and level.

Thanks for everybody’s input on this matter.

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Sometimes the unbalanced fuel tanks, the temperature difference on both sides of the wings, or gust winds will make GA rolling all the way, I think it is nice to bring more nuances into the sim.

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3

I agree with that totally. However I was really only referring to the plane’s tendency to turn/roll during long flights simply due to the engine/prop spin (at least, I think that is what is happening to me in most cases).

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Poll for @HethrMasn

I would prefer the planes to:
  • Fly mostly level during long flights
  • Exhibit turning/rolling tendencies as in real life

0 voters

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5

I guess what I need is an option to enable auto-rudder during flight only, or something to that effect. However auto-rudder really takes away all crosswind effects, which I don’t want it to do. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If the autorudder binds actually worked, I could just switch it on when I get annoyed by the rolling and switch it off before landing. But they don’t work.

6

Ask Otto to do his job.
His complete name is Otto Pie-Lot :wink:

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7

Otto doesn’t fly the plane correctly sometimes. And Otto is missing in action in some planes. I’d rather fly the plane than have Otto fly it :wink:

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I’m curious what you’re flying and this sounds like a possible calibration issue. For me after I am set up for cruise I never find myself having to keep messing around with the rudder pedals. During takeoff and in the climb yeah I’m needing to use quite a bit of right rudder (to be expected). While in cruise the aircraft will sometimes wander a bit for a few reasons which I can always correct with a nudge of the yoke, not much effort on my part. I’ve flown long distances without an AP in single-engine aircraft in MSFS, XP and P3D. Sometimes I can just totally let go of my controls and it will fly pretty much where I want it to go.

1 Like
9

Hi. Lately I’ve been flying a lot of the C172 G1000 for SU9 beta testing purposes. It wants to roll to the left a lot during flight. Number 86 in the SU9 release notes actually indicates that the developers made some changes to this behavior.

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Let me take a look at this really quick, will make a video.

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Thanks. Though I’m not sure this is something you can test really quick. I’ve been flying it for hours. But it might be.

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I’m going to hand fly the 172 for 260nm and see what happens.

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I also had a lot of rolling issues with the Bonanza G36 before SU9. This is only an issue for me with the auto-rudder assist disabled.

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In my view it is not realistic for a C172 to require continuous aileron or rudder input in cruise. It will fly hands free in smooth air for short periods of time if properly trimmed and rigged.

The question in the poll is therefore misleading, “exhibit turning/rolling tendencies as in real life” and “fly mostly level during long flights” are not mutually exclusive.

5 Likes
15

Thank you for your input. I have never made a poll, and will probably never make a poll, that satisfies everyone.

16

Hey,
well - airplanes only fly “level” when there is absolute calm conditions and the trim is set well. Also their weight and balance shoudl be in perfect equillibrium. So - even in real live it is unrealistic that a plane just “flies straight”. I am a pilot IRL and always have to do micro adjustments to wind, weight, balance etc.

However - having that said - I noticed that some planes (the TBM 930 for instance) in my version of the sim do come with a “miscalibrated aileron” setting - it always rolls to the left. That is how I know it is the calibration because even if you turn the plane it still rolles to the left. So that might be a different issue at all.
But planes that always fly striaght and level would be quite unrealistec and disappointing :wink:

Well at least I want to simulate reality to have something to do / learn - I do not intend to set my trim and than leave the sim to go for a coffe (thats what the autopilot is for <just kiddingt :stuck_out_tongue: )
Just my 2 Cents.

1 Like
17

I agree, and I don’t want that behavior. I just want a way to stop the aircraft from rolling due to the engine/propeller torque. The autorudder binds do not work to accomplish that.

18

You might want to try the aileron trim. Interestingly, it works also with planes that typically do not have one… :smiley:
That should help (this is what I need to do on the TBM930 all the time).

2 Likes
19

I will look into that thanks :slight_smile:

20

Funny you bring this up. One time I was doing a long cross country in the US with the 152 and the aircraft did was doing so well by itself I was able to eat my entire Whataburger without touching the controls.

2 Likes