Rudder authority during the flare

[meznas]

Did a few crosswind landings with fairly light but direct crosswind (about 7-10 kts). I noticed that trying to transition from crab to sideslip during the flare seems pretty tricky mainly due to running out of the rudder. I had enough aileron to stay on the centreline but with the aileron wind correction even full rudder deflection was not enough to align the nose with the centreline. I was doing about 90 mph during the approach and the speed was starting to bleed off during the flare but I left a bit of power in (about 11-12") to give the rudder some propwash and see if it'd help. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. I haven't flown a Comanche in real life, but find it surprising that it'd struggle with rudder authority at such light crosswinds. On the other hand, interestingly, crabbing all the way into the landing and just briskly applying rudder to align the nose just before touchdown seems to work fine though. I think that slipping should be perfectly doable at 7-10 kts and suspect that in the real life it would work in crosswinds much stronger than that. Is this a limitation of the MSFS flight model, or something that A2A could improve?

[ratty]

For what it's worth, the "Maximum Demonstrated Crosswind Velocity" of the Comanche is 17 knots. I've flown hundreds of hours in the Comanche in FSX and P3D and never had a problem in that regard - well, apart from the occasional operator-induced situation. Here's a demo of the sideslip capability: https://youtu.be/Dsa3SqMAB5I.

I don't fly the Comanche in MSFS, but my guess is it's either a MSFS "thing" or related to your control configuration.

[davidtsw1906]

That's weird. I love landing the Comanche in crosswinds. I'm using the entry level T1600 flight pack and I've never had issues with running out of rudder.

[meznas]

Well the maximum demonstrated crosswind is actually not a limitation it's simply what the test pilot demonstrated for the certification purposes. Many aircraft can be safely landed in crosswinds significantly in excess of the maximum demonstrated crosswind.

I think MSFS has generally had issues with rudder control during crosswinds as demonstrated by the very aggressive weathervane on the runway. Now Comanche doesn't suffer from this, but I suspect that's mainly because of the ground physics (the higher friction perhaps). When you're in the ground effect and before the ground physics has kicked in though the yawing effect of the crosswind is too strong in my opinion. Not sure if this is something A2A can control (perhaps not, as it's a common problem for other MSFS aircraft as well).

[AKar]

It's been a bit since I did some crosswinds up into teens of knots, but I recall no specific issues with rudder authority nor did I have any at around 8 knots or so of component. I typically use two notches of flaps and I really don't want to keep the pull on flare for too long with the wind from the side. I guess I need to re-try (well, after the sim stops putting me offline for unknown validation reasons anyways....I sometimes really wish the P3D just kept on... ), but I wonder if anyone else has had any such issues? For I don't quickly recall any with recent releases of the A2A Comanche?

Just some random comments, depending on the wind direction, holding the nose up at high alpha and keeping power on may work against you instead of helping with the rudder authority, should the asymmetries introduced add up that way. I've not tried to figure out specifically, but I've noticed that spurts of power to account for...piloting deficiencies at my end, in case of uneven runways noticed late mostly, have made me to bump the end of travel for rudder sometimes with fairly modest sideways component. I don't know how much power I have spurted in those cases exactly, for I always had other things to keep my eyes at.

Regarding that demonstrated crosswind, of 17 knots with Comanche, while, yes, not a limit I doubt it would act nice much higher, or even up there. While not strictly stipulated, to my knowledge anyways, what is demonstrated by the test pilots during certification is still generally thought to comply with the subjective judgement used all over the testing criteria, of not requiring exceptional skills, considering the pilots thought to normally fly such aircraft. That would be private pilots in this case. What I've been let to understand is that the typical maximum demonstrated values are indicative of where the test pilots started to figure out that either exceptional skills or techniques deviating from the standard practices were required. So, it would not be indicative of the highest crosswinds available for demonstration, like some aces out there think that they just could not find any stiffer (let me have it!), but more often the figure where the test pilots started to think that, yea, this is getting unfair for non-test pilots.

That said, Comanche's certification predates anything I've got any idea about, so that may or may not apply.

-Esa

[ratty]

I took the Comanche up in a 24-knot steady crosswind. It can be done - not pretty, but possible. With a gusting wind, I'd go somewhere else.
https://youtu.be/Lg1SkDHPm2U

[AKar]

MSFS Comanche does not share its flight model with FSX/P3D one. Any specific behavior may be quite different.

-Esa

[ratty]

MSFS Comanche does not share its flight model with FSX/P3D one. Any specific behavior may be quite different.

-Esa

Well, that's disappointing. I've rationalized not getting the MSFS version because I've bought the Comanche twice already. Seems I'll have to rethink that.

[MkIV Hvd]

Well, that's disappointing. I've rationalized not getting the MSFS version because I've bought the Comanche twice already. Seems I'll have to rethink that.

Third time's the charm bro'...

Also...don't worry about the posts about the MSFS model not behaving like a Comanche should...written by guys that have never flown one...

Cheers,
Rob

[ratty]

Thanks, Rob. I picked it up a couple of hours ago and I'm just getting ready to fly it.

Hmmm. Should I jump straight to the 25-knot crosswind scenario, or just start off gently? Decisions, decisions.

[AKar]

I'd just take it for a casual flight, you might notice it flies a bit different from the FSX/P3D one in some aspects. For starters I, at least, noticed the dihedral effect is much more noticeable in MSFS variant; the thing can be banked using rudder alone much more fluently than what I remember from P3D version. Crossed controls are affected accordingly.

-Esa

[ratty]

Thanks, Esa. I chose to take it gently (of course). I've done the walkaround, start, and taxied out. I haven't even flown it yet and I can already see that this is going to be a real treat.

[davidtsw1906]

I just took the Comanche for a quick pattern in N. Portugal. ~15 knot direct crosswind and no issues in flare. Touched down lined up nicely, but I was pretty much using full rudder. Maybe check your rudder settings? Extreme dead zone could be the culprit.

[MadMac@388th]

I have not noticed rudder control authority problems with the Comanche until the crosswind gets near the 20’s. I would suspect an issue with the device configuration for your rudders, having dead zones, not giving full deflection, or something like that.