Hi Secondrule - sorry to hear you're having stick problems - there's lots of folks here who'll be able to help you on that score. I've a FF2 myself; best stick ever IMO.
Question - is it just on the Twin Bonanza, or on all aircraft?
Now; about the plane:
The Twin Bonanza is easily one of my absolute fave addon planes - the guy that built it ought to get an award; IMO. Man; what a lovely plane. Looks great, flies even better.
BUT - it's most definitely
not the aircraft to learn circuits in. The TB is a big, monstrously powerful twin. Aerodynamically, it's also clean as hell - very slick. It's easy to fly; but not easy to fly
precisely for beginners.
Secondrule; all this is very much in credit to you - to be able to fly an excellent series of circuits like you did with this plane proves you're no beginner; at least to flight sim, IMO.
Like all aircraft, the TB
must be properly trimmed for all aspects of flight. Takeoff; trim for the climb. Cruise; trim to hands-off flight. Descent; retrim again. Drop flaps and gear; retrim, etc.
In real-life flight
everything you do is followed by a retrim.
In FS; pilots often ignore the trim and just turn on the AP - a waste of valuable simming fun; IMO. In a hot plane like the TB; flying like this can bite hard - the Bonanza can be real cranky at slow speeds (i.e. on approach) if it's not trimmed out.
Just a general rant on flight-sim trim.
In your case; you could really benefit in the areas you're asking about by practicing good trim habits.
Try this drill:
The TB cruises nicely (without fiddling with the prop) at 190kias @ 2000ASL. (A nice GA altitude. You can fly lots jigher but there's not much point - you miss a lot of scenery that way.
)
Take off and head out from the airport; set a 500fpm. climb to 2000ft. Once there; level out and set throttle for 190kias (about 90% throttle). Use the stick to keep the VSI centered; then set trim until the aircraft flies handsoff. (The mnemonic pilots use for this is APT - Attitude, Power, Trim.)
Once the aircraft is flying hands off; do just that. Take your hand off the stick; you won't be using it for a while.
Now: Climb to 3000`just using the throttle. Add
just a crack of power. The aircraft will climb gently to its new altitude. At 3000` throttle back to the old setting and let the plane settle to level flight again.
Now reverse it - use the throttle to descend back to 2000`.
Once you've got that down; start using sharper climbs and dives. Climb to 10,000 ft. @1000fpm. Use APT to set your climb properly. Descend in the same way; back to 2000`. Use PAT for descent. (Power, Attitude, Trim).
Now evolve to 'lazy eights'. Make a 3-minute turn to the left; followed by a three-minute turn to the right. Work to keep your turn rate constant and your VSI nailed on 0. If you can do all that; you've got this flying thing down cold.
Finally; apply all this to landing. Throttle back to flaps range - the white arc on the ASI. This is what's so tricky about flying a clean plane - the Bonanza takes forever to slow down; and you have to throttle back practically to idle to get it into flaps range at all.
Now; when you drop flaps you know it's going to A) add a lot of lift and B) add a lot of drag; so be ready. As you drop your first notch of flaps, add power to compensate for the extra drag. At the same time; lower the nose slightly to keep the VSI centered. It's not hard at all if you can do the drills described above.
As in real life; never start a final descent until your plane is properly trimmed for landing. Base/Final is
not the place to be fiddling with secondary controls; that's what the downwind is for.
Try the above - hope it'll help you in your sim practice.
Cheers!
