Slowing down control surface reaction times

[Travis]

I am trying to work on the control dynamics for my Sky Hunter I was creating, but I can't seem to get them to be slow.  The entire craft is about 900 meters long, and the ailerons are a big part of it.  I would like them to be a little slower, as they react like they are on a small blimp right now.  Is there a space in Aircraft.cfg I should edit for this?

[Mike Thurman]

I think this is what you're looking for:


[keyboard_response]
//Breakpoint speeds (knots) on the keyboard increments of control surfaces.
//Speed at which the incremenet is reduced to  1/2 and 1/8 respectively.
elevator = 100,  180
aileron  = 200, 1000
rudder   = 200, 1000

[Milton]

I assume you are working on a fictional aircraft?

Weight of the aircraft and area of the control surfaces are major factors here.

Look at the 777 moi's.
;Moments of Inertia
empty_weight_pitch_MOI  = 18000000
empty_weight_roll_MOI   = 5500000
empty_weight_yaw_MOI    = 16300000
empty_weight_coupled_MOI= 0.0

These are sizeable for the 777 but may be small for your aircraft.  Try these, then double/triple/quadrupe these numbers until you get the feel you want.  Keep the numbers relative to each other though.  :-)

Just a thought.

[Mike Thurman]

Milton, i am given to belive that the MOI, does not alter the speed ( Visually ) of the aircraft's control surfaces, but indeed is a major factor to Stability/And the speed of movement of the aircraft, but not neccesairly the factor that defines the speed VISUALLY of the control surfaces. For example, take the C172, and B747, they both have the same speed VISUALLY on thier surfaces.




Hope this helps guys


Mike

[Milton]

Sorry. I was thinking about response to the movements of control surfaces, not speeds of the surfaces themselves.

The only control I know over control surfaces are for deflections in degrees and effectiveness as limited by mach speeds.  Of course, that's not to say that this isn't available.  For example, setting the aircraft up like a bomber for sluggish controls should effectively slow the movements, but not sure.

I think that using the 1% spreadsheet on an aircraft of this size should help to get the correct feel, though I am unsure of how the control surfaces visuals are affected.  I do know that in my current project, flying at .5 mach, the controls appear very slow and sluggish to match the decreased responsiveness of rudder, elevator, and ailerons.

I'm at lunch break now and can't get to the tables to check out the appropriate ones to give these effects.  Will look at it tonight.

I do however highly recommend the 1% SS to set the FD's for this aircraft.

Milton

[Travis]

The 1% spreadsheet hates me with a vengeance!

I've tried it many a time, and have never succeeded in creating a workable set.  The only one I ever had that worked was one I sent off to Jerry Beckwith with a pleading to help me . . .

Any other routes?

[Katahu]

Why go through all that trouble if you can just simply change that deflection limits of the control surfaces?

Look at where the arrows are marked.

[airplane_geometry]
wing_area

[Travis]

The deflection limits are not the problem.  The problem lies in the time it takes the surfaces to move.  I would like to have them move much slower, as the parts are very large and would not move as fast as a normal aircraft would make them.

[RIC_BARKER]

I think I know what you mean Ender.

From how I read it, you want to be able to yank the stick back, and the elevators take some time to reach the stop.

I'd love to know how to do this as well, if I find anything, I'll post here.

Ric B.