Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

The jack of all trades and the world's most popular high performance GA aircraft
User avatar
DHenriques_
A2A Chief Pilot
Posts: 5711
Joined: 27 Mar 2009, 08:31
Location: East Coast United States

Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by DHenriques_ »

If I may please I'd like to take a moment to discuss something that has been discussed before but I feel needs to be revisited every once i awhile, especially for newcomers to the A2A Accusim environment. What I'm about to say addresses directly posts from concerned sim pilots concerned that their Accusim aircraft are turning left or right or that the "aircraft is doing this or that in flight". Keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you assumes there is no actual bug involved affecting your flight model. In the case of an actual bug, or something affecting the flight model via FSX or say a controller setting, the team will naturally be dealing with it as a bug and helping you find the answer as always.

Now, as to flying Accusim airplanes in FSX;

First of all, from the moment you install one of A2A's Accusim airplanes in your simulator, forget completely everything you learned from flying either the default aircraft in the sim and even other add on aircraft. Consider your A2A airplane as a totally new experience, because that is exactly what it is meant to be.

Your Accusim aircraft has been programmed for the most part through actual flight test or from actual experience in the real airplane. Add to this that Accusim now not only allows but DEMANDS proper interaction from your airplane with the aircraft's real life counterpart and a few things begin to enter into your simulator experience that might not have been there before.

Gone forever is flight in the simulator with the aircraft "on rails". Your Accusim airplane now HAS to be FLOWN.
What you will be experiencing now is the same interaction with flight you would be having in the real airplane.
This means you can no longer "fly" with your trim or allow the aircraft to wander from where you want it to be in the sky. The aircraft is now reacting to the physics in which it is immersed and if you aren't actually on top of it all the time, it will indeed want to wander left and right and leave the altitude where you would like it to be.
All this means to you as an Accusim pilot is that you now have to forget thinking like you're in a simulator and start thinking like you are flying an airplane !
As a flight instructor, when I hear a student tell me, "The airplane want's to do this" I simply say, "Don't let it do that". :-) I'm telling you the same thing here. With Accusim installed, you are in a real life flying environment. Start thinking that way and you have half the battle licked. On your takeoffs, MAKE the airplane assume the proper climb attitude. Don't rely on trim to do that. YOU do that !. PUT the aircraft in a climb attitude using your main controls, HOLD IT THERE, and trim for the climb. That's how pilots do it and that's how you do it with Accusim.
If you're in cruise and flying manually and the airplane wants to bank left or right, DON'T LET IT! Maintain your chosen heading. Flying an Accusim aircraft will require you to be making constant subtle adjustments using your controls. In short, instead of just sitting there like a gamer letting the airplane go where it wants, now YOU are in control. In short......you're now "working" the airplane and flying it as it should be flown.

So basically that's it gang. I'm not saying you don't have an issue going that needs attention when I read posts saying "the airplane's doing this and it shouldn't be doing that". What I am saying is that in a lot of these postings I'm seeing about "wandering airplanes" could be "fixed" by flying the airplane as you would the real airplane.
As always, keep asking questions on the forums. A2A encourages that and will always try and be of help.
Dudley Henriques

User avatar
Mazo
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 602
Joined: 15 Jan 2011, 08:52
Location: Florida

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by Mazo »

Dudley,
I always look forward to reading your posts as they are very informative and relate to your RW experiences. The one thing I always remind myself, at some point, as I am flying the A2A planes are your words "Fly the aircraft!!" This is such simple advice and entirely true! I always fly VFR and no autopilot so always have a finger or two on the yoke to make slight corrections as needed with changes in wind or fuel balances. There are always slight changes and corrections needed and this is what makes flying the A2A aircraft such a joy - you have to use your skills to fly the plane. :D

Thanks for all the advice you provide the forums!!
[*]2021 Jetline Systems GTX, [email protected], EVGA RTX 3080ti 12GB, 64GB Memory 3200MHz, Win11 64 Pro, P3DV5.3, FS2020


In memory of my fallen Brothers in Arms in Viet Nam - may they Rest in Peace.

User avatar
DHenriques_
A2A Chief Pilot
Posts: 5711
Joined: 27 Mar 2009, 08:31
Location: East Coast United States

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by DHenriques_ »

Mazo wrote:Dudley,
I always look forward to reading your posts as they are very informative and relate to your RW experiences. The one thing I always remind myself, at some point, as I am flying the A2A planes are your words "Fly the aircraft!!" This is such simple advice and entirely true! I always fly VFR and no autopilot so always have a finger or two on the yoke to make slight corrections as needed with changes in wind or fuel balances. There are always slight changes and corrections needed and this is what makes flying the A2A aircraft such a joy - you have to use your skills to fly the plane. :D

Thanks for all the advice you provide the forums!!
Thank you much.
Sounds like you're doing everything completely right.
DH

User avatar
taildraggin68
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2411
Joined: 14 May 2014, 18:26
Location: Florida

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by taildraggin68 »

Thank You Dudley,

Your words are always a source of confirmation and inspiration. It's not easy to merge two separate worlds into one, much less unlearn everything you thought you knew about flight sim. But A2A has done just that, and you Sir, have a talent at putting it just right, in terms that everyone can understand. It's like having my flight instructor here with me still, answering any questions, and being that voice of rational finality when needed.

Best Regards,

Scott

rcoultas
Airman First Class
Posts: 76
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 10:33

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by rcoultas »

This post would make a great "sticky" post. Thanks Dudley!
Cheers,
Randall

Image
Image
Image

AnkH
Airman
Posts: 49
Joined: 14 Jan 2011, 03:57

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by AnkH »

Well, I would really love to agree here, but I cant. Maybe I did something wrong with my installation, but flying around the Cherokee is still faaaaaar away of the feeling you get in a real airplane. Since I am flightsimming, I am desperately looking for an addon that actually gives me the impression of being in the air, but even with the Cherokee and Accusim, the plane behaves in 90% like on rails. Sure, torque-depending effects are there, also if there is some stronger side-wind or really bad weather, but most of the time, the plane still remains perfectly calm in the air, for example when the weather is good. Maybe I also always hit by chance real nice weather (using FSGRW as weather engine) when doing my trips, but I never ever experienced the small, slight jumpy movements I always encountered in a real plane (C172, Archer III), even if the weather in the real plane was significantly better than in my simulator flights. The real plane is never calm, it sinks, it climbs, jumps around from left to right, gets faster, then slower. In the real plane, I was not able to let controls go for some seconds. In the A2A Cherokee, you can simply trim it correct, set cruise power and basically let go controls. Nothing happens. Maybe slight movements due to the torque as mentioned. Those small constant movements of the real plane are still missing, at least on my build.

So yes, the overall package of A2A planes is far beyond what you get elsewhere, this is correct, but for me as a used flightsimmer, handling the A2A Cherokee was absolutely the same as the default Cessna (which I basically flew only twice or something like that) or any Carenado Plane. Please tell me now that Accusim is not running properly on my side (what I doubt, sadly), I would really love if this is the case and not the fact that the limits by FSX are still to big...

User avatar
Welsch
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 276
Joined: 08 Sep 2013, 19:57

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by Welsch »

All of that sounds like stuff that is imposed upon the aircraft by the air around it... all those little eddies, wind shifts and turbulences that jerk and tug and toss the airplane around. If the air is perfectly still, a well rigged airplane will probably have quite some "on rails" feel as well - but the air rarely is totally still.

The question for me is - should those things really be fudged/made up by the airplane model in the absence of a real detailed weather model that handles these things? Or do we rather need a better weather add-on... AccuWeather, anyone?! ;-)

eddie3
Airman
Posts: 33
Joined: 24 Feb 2012, 16:32

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by eddie3 »

I have to admit that Cherooke is suprisely stable aircraft to fly (haven`t flown real one), but in both Cessnas I seem to have quite similiar feelings to the real one I`m flying (keeping in mind that this is still FSX and not 10 million dollar simulator). I wound`t blame A2A anyway - their job is to make physics of a model behaviour in stable conditions. What air is like and how it interfere aircraft flight is mostly your weather engine which should produce small drafts, wind changes, turbulence etc. Personally I`m using Active Sky Next and it calculates some of the turbulence and drafts from the terrain data, so most of the times for example flying for example in mountains you can forget about stable, trimmed flight.

FlipS
Senior Airman
Posts: 128
Joined: 15 Oct 2013, 04:47

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by FlipS »

The problem is not that the virtual plane behaves like on rails, but you can't experience any feeling with the FS for PC. Try to fly a virtual plane in formation (eg with an AI plane) and you will see that the aircraft that you fly moves a lot more than you suspect if you're flying that plane solo.
The controls let loose? This sometimes will succeed, but it will never take a long time before the virtual plane is off course.
Virtual flying can never be the same as in RW but of all available aircraft for FSX/P3D A2A brings the experience closest to.

fsxar177
Senior Airman
Posts: 156
Joined: 02 Jun 2012, 01:04

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by fsxar177 »

FlipS wrote:The problem is not that the virtual plane behaves like on rails, but you can't experience any feeling with the FS for PC. Try to fly a virtual plane in formation (eg with an AI plane) and you will see that the aircraft that you fly moves a lot more than you suspect if you're flying that plane solo.....

This is true. We loose the seat of the pants feeling. A big benefit, in my opinion, are the subtle differences that AccuFeel makes. Combined with properly tuned hardware, and FSX settings, and a decent weather engine, and you are pretty much set.

While working on our T-6 project, it was clear to see just how much practice a fella needs to just fly 'straight and level'.

Cheers,
- Joseph

THibben
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 257
Joined: 16 Oct 2007, 16:06
Location: Lacey, Washington

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by THibben »

AnkH wrote:Well, I would really love to agree here, but I cant. Maybe I did something wrong with my installation, but flying around the Cherokee is still faaaaaar away of the feeling you get in a real airplane. Since I am flightsimming, I am desperately looking for an addon that actually gives me the impression of being in the air, but even with the Cherokee and Accusim, the plane behaves in 90% like on rails. Sure, torque-depending effects are there, also if there is some stronger side-wind or really bad weather, but most of the time, the plane still remains perfectly calm in the air, for example when the weather is good. Maybe I also always hit by chance real nice weather (using FSGRW as weather engine) when doing my trips, but I never ever experienced the small, slight jumpy movements I always encountered in a real plane (C172, Archer III), even if the weather in the real plane was significantly better than in my simulator flights. The real plane is never calm, it sinks, it climbs, jumps around from left to right, gets faster, then slower. In the real plane, I was not able to let controls go for some seconds. In the A2A Cherokee, you can simply trim it correct, set cruise power and basically let go controls. Nothing happens. Maybe slight movements due to the torque as mentioned. Those small constant movements of the real plane are still missing, at least on my build.

So yes, the overall package of A2A planes is far beyond what you get elsewhere, this is correct, but for me as a used flightsimmer, handling the A2A Cherokee was absolutely the same as the default Cessna (which I basically flew only twice or something like that) or any Carenado Plane. Please tell me now that Accusim is not running properly on my side (what I doubt, sadly), I would really love if this is the case and not the fact that the limits by FSX are still to big...
You might want to try Hi Fi Tech Active Sky Next. This weather program has turbulence and it knocks the plane around.
They have a free trial.

Tom

devgrp
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 17 Nov 2014, 00:35

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by devgrp »

I was just about to say try active sky next to the person commenting about the plane being on rails. If the weather is bad the plane will be affected. I will constantly have to keep trimming the plane because its is bobbing up and down from the weather

User avatar
Oracle427
Chief Master Sergeant
Posts: 3916
Joined: 02 Sep 2013, 19:30
Location: 3N6
Contact:

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by Oracle427 »

Using the trim to fly through whey is a no no. Trim the airplane for straight and level as much as is possible and then fly it using the yoke. The trim is not a primary control. The trim should be adjusted if the power or aircraft configuration is changed.
Flight Simmer since 1983. PP ASEL IR Tailwheel
N28021 1979 Super Viking 17-30A

smokeyupahead
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 433
Joined: 22 Feb 2012, 12:48

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by smokeyupahead »

I love it! I can't fly anything else, reason why A2A is actually saving me money!

David
Cheers,
David DD

User avatar
Neon
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 532
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 02:22
Location: Adelaide Australia
Contact:

Re: Just a word or two on flying an Accusim airplane

Post by Neon »

EXCELLENT post. This should definitely be a Sticky for all newcomers to Accusim.

After reading this post, your comments on "Make it do what you want" I hear my old Flight Instructor
in my ears saying the same thing, and it's been a long time since I've flown, and even reading this now,
I noticed some mistakes in my last flight.

Thanks heaps. Great post. Make it a sticky!

Neon

new reply

Return to “C182 Skylane”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 4 guests