Hello all,
First post from a Comanche newbie.
I added this remarkable plane to my MSFS hanger and for some reason, it always lean to the left upon take off and cruising. I checked tht my fuel tanks are filled to the same amount and also that my center of gravity is in the middle but still.
Will thank you for some directions of investigation.
Thank you,
JJ1892
My Comanche Is leaning Left
Re: My Comanche Is leaning Left
Hello and welcome onboard!
To begin from the basics to be sure, you don't expect an aircraft of much any kind to fly perfectly straight with all controls released, much less a single-engine prop.
Start by applying right rudder, just enough to hold the thing upright more or less without aileron input. Thereabouts is good enough. The amount needed would vary depending on your power setting, angle of attack, and airspeed, to name some.
You can then smoothly apply rudder trim to relieve any constant input, if you so desire. I recommend making the trim speed very low via the tablet so you can be smooth and accurate with this.
See if that helps for starters. It won't make it hands-free, that why gods assembled together to invent the autopilot, but lets you hand-fly mostly with corrections and mostly without too noticeable constant pressure on controls.
-Esa
To begin from the basics to be sure, you don't expect an aircraft of much any kind to fly perfectly straight with all controls released, much less a single-engine prop.
Start by applying right rudder, just enough to hold the thing upright more or less without aileron input. Thereabouts is good enough. The amount needed would vary depending on your power setting, angle of attack, and airspeed, to name some.
You can then smoothly apply rudder trim to relieve any constant input, if you so desire. I recommend making the trim speed very low via the tablet so you can be smooth and accurate with this.
See if that helps for starters. It won't make it hands-free, that why gods assembled together to invent the autopilot, but lets you hand-fly mostly with corrections and mostly without too noticeable constant pressure on controls.
-Esa
Re: My Comanche Is leaning Left
Hey, jj1892! Welcome.
While you will certainly need some right rudder during takeoff and climb, the aircraft should be fairly stable at cruise power.
I typically cruise in any aircraft at 55% to about 70% power. Aircraft are mostly stable at this power setting, rolling neither right nor left. If you cruise at higher power, the aircraft will want to roll left.
Some sim aircraft will tend to roll left if you have a pilot but no front seat passenger. A2A mostly takes care of that in the P3D versions of their aircraft. I don't have any MSFS versions but I suspect they get that one right as well.
Just in case, if ALL your aircraft want to roll left, even if balanced, check your control trim.
If none of this helps, follow Akar's advice above. I have a few non-A2A aircraft that require 2 to 4 degrees right rudder trim in normal flight. I've got one aircraft that doesn't have rudder trim, so I added a one pound weight station off the right wing to handle the trim function that should have been in a rudder tab on the real aircraft, adjustable on the ground.
Flying using the rudder pedals to handle "trim" works better in real aircraft than in the sim, especially if your rudder pedals have a center detent.
Enjoy!
Hook
While you will certainly need some right rudder during takeoff and climb, the aircraft should be fairly stable at cruise power.
I typically cruise in any aircraft at 55% to about 70% power. Aircraft are mostly stable at this power setting, rolling neither right nor left. If you cruise at higher power, the aircraft will want to roll left.
Some sim aircraft will tend to roll left if you have a pilot but no front seat passenger. A2A mostly takes care of that in the P3D versions of their aircraft. I don't have any MSFS versions but I suspect they get that one right as well.
Just in case, if ALL your aircraft want to roll left, even if balanced, check your control trim.
If none of this helps, follow Akar's advice above. I have a few non-A2A aircraft that require 2 to 4 degrees right rudder trim in normal flight. I've got one aircraft that doesn't have rudder trim, so I added a one pound weight station off the right wing to handle the trim function that should have been in a rudder tab on the real aircraft, adjustable on the ground.
Flying using the rudder pedals to handle "trim" works better in real aircraft than in the sim, especially if your rudder pedals have a center detent.
Enjoy!
Hook
Re: My Comanche Is leaning Left
As a sidenote, to me, MSFS Comanche's flight model is very distinct from the FSX/P3D's one. There is surprisingly little carry-over in nuance and feel, more so, of course, in figures and such. And yaw-roll coupling is one of the areas that really got my attention in a positive way; A2A very much managed to get it feel like an airplane in their external flight model used in MSFS Comanche. As a result, I fly the MSFS one quite differently from how I used to fly the FSX/P3D one, including using slight rudder to keep it upright.
-Esa
Re: My Comanche Is leaning Left
Thank you Esa & Hook for the insightful help.
As newbie I find it difficult to decipher what are "bugs" and what is plain limited know-how in flight.
Thank you for your patience,
JJ1892
As newbie I find it difficult to decipher what are "bugs" and what is plain limited know-how in flight.
Thank you for your patience,
JJ1892
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