Version 1.2 update:
Crosswind ground handling improved still further:
Crosswind up to 20 knots will not tilt the wings on the ground causing the wingtips to scrape.
Features flight dynamics, ground handling and texture improvements.
Yoke steering only! Rudder axis is disabled, see the Ground Handling improvements section below.
Fully compatible with all third-party liveries.
Fully compatible with the autopilot feature of the PMS50 GTN750 Premium version: https://pms50.com/msfs/downloads/gtn750-premium/
High gloss finish on all the default liveries removed.
Simply drag and drop the “tiger’s erco415 mod” folder into your Community folder.
Flight Dynamics improvements:
Weight and balance adjusted for smoother control.
Cruise speed increased to 85-90kias, 2100rpm, 3000ft.
Approach speed is 60-65kias, now needs some throttle into a headwind.
Enabled Autopilot control by keyboard commands or the PMS50 GTN750 Premium version.
Ground Handling improvements:
Rudder axis disabled, yoke/aileron axis now controls ground steering up to 20kts crosswind.
Texture improvements:
High gloss metallic finish removed from all default liveries to reveal the actual paint finish.
LOL, I opened up the throttle a little to taxi out of the spot, and forgot you had decoupled the rudder axis. It took me a second to remember “turn the yoke dummy!”|
It’s amazing that we might be able to fly IFR in this (yeah, I know what the placard says lol), but it’s a sim, we can do what we want and not have to pick up the phone and call the FSDO afterwards.
I go for the rudder pedals too and I created the darn mod! An important note about that:
The sim couples the aileron and rudder(s) and you can specify the ratio of aileron to rudder movement.
The real thing doesn’t work like that, so I’ve had to give the rudder more movement than it should have to keep directional control during take off without the ailerons dipping a wing.
I found the autopilot function was useful on a longer flight (time-wise anyway) when you want to get some screenshots of this little stunner against some equally stunning scenery.
I just fired her up and really appreciated what you did with her.
Indeed she is a handful on the ground in a Crosswind! Need to work on my differential braking.
She still seems to hold a fair amount of speed in the flare. I recall someone in the release thread managed to put some prop drag on her. I assume you probably did the same?
@GBTAW I know it’s not the primary purpose of the mod, but I was also trying to get the pax/co-pilot to show up. I note you had entries for the co-pilot in aircraft.cfg, but they don’t seem to override BRsims’ settings. I’m guessing it was always this way right? I could never get the avatar to show up on initial release.
The latest version (1.2) has updated engine and prop physics which are pretty good as they are - I’ve found a couple of references to the Ercoupe having a high sink rate at low airspeed and rpm. With this model you need to keep the airspeed up to 60-65kias on approach to maintain a 400-500fpm descent and just before crossing the threshold, cut the throttle and gently flare down to 50kias and touchdown.
Here’s a good article on the AOPA site: https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/aircraft-and-ownership/aircraft-fact-sheets/erco-ercoupe
I’m sure I also read about this on the Ercoupe Owners Club site, which is a goldmine of useful info: https://ercoupe.org/index.php
@CasualClick - I have also tried everything to get a co-pilot to appear, but I think they need to be defined in the .mdl file as well which is beyond my abilities and should probably only be done by BRSim themselves. One other thing I tried with the earlier versions, and did get working, was properly sliding canopy doors. This has been disabled in v1.2 because the doors don’t follow the curvature of the canopy, they slide down vertically and the curved upper half melts through the pilot’s head. If you lower the doors and then take off, you still get the “you overstressed the aircraft” failure message anyway. Maybe BRSim will revisit the Ercoupe sometime and update this.
Version 1.1 update:
Crosswind ground handling improved:
Crosswind has no effect below 15kts taxi speed and only reaches full effect at 60kts on take-off.
Thank you so much! I hope that this crosswind update will make the Ercoupe more attractive to a wider audience than before - it’s a superb model with some outstanding details.
What would help massively is for it to be available to buy in more places than just Sim Market. It has been on my Wishlist for ages but I am not getting it from there. Do you know if it is available anywhere else?
I would really like to check out your changes as it sounds very good indeed and well regarded here!
