Originally posted by scottydawg
I'm curious about the flight model, in particular the 'elevator bounce' and 'rudder wibble' (my words) I get when I fly.
For example if I move the elevators and release to center, I get what I can only describe as a rubber-band like bounce, as if the plane was held in place by rubber bands. is this realistic?
Give it a try in the MA, line your sight up with something and pull rudder and release to center. It's bizarre. Do planes really do that?
Yes, and the correct term for what you describe as elevator bounce is a pitch oscillation. It is a normal characteristic of the control response and flight dynamics of an aircraft. There are other types, but what you are seeing is called a short period pitch oscillation. That type of oscillation is normally damped by the tail plane, and the degree of damping depends on the longitudinal stability, longitudinal dihedral, position of the center of gravity, the movement of the center of pressure on the main wing and fuselage, and the area, aspect ratio, angle and distance of the tail from the center of gravity. In most aircraft where the controls have low to moderate control power, and are handled gently, pitch oscillations are not significant. However, fighters are intended to respond quickly to their controls, they are generally less stable than other aircraft and their control power is relatively high and they have less pitch damping because that would reduce their transient maneuverability. The situation is further complicated because stability in roll, yaw and pitch all have an affect on each other. In the Aces High flight model that is accurately accounted for and the differential equations that describe the motion in one axis are coupled with those for the other two axis, and they are solved numerically as simultaneous differential equations providing a high degree of fidelity to real aircraft motion. Even so, most real fighters are rarely handled in a way that causes them to behave badly in this respect. Real pilots don’t handle their controls sharply, by snatching the flight control backwards and then releasing them, if they did the pitch oscillations would be apparent, particularly at the lower end of the aircraft’s speed range. Real pilots tend to make control commands that are positive but steady, for flight sim pilots, who don’t suffer the same physical restraints, control movements and responses are inclined to be far more dramatic and for that reason, even though the aerodynamics may be exactly the same, the flight sim pilot may experience control responses, in terms of oscillations, that few real pilots would normally see.
The good news is that because this is a control response, it is something you have the ability to influence with good manual control technique. You simply don’t need to make sudden or sharp control demands. One area where this is particularly important is in the influence this has on gunnery. When you are trying to track a target and hold a guns solution, it is important to make smooth changes of direction so that you can minimize any oscillations that spoil your aim. That’s why it can often be easier to get a kill when the bandit is holding a steady turn, and also why a good guns defense involves sudden and frequent changes of direction. All of that is the same for both real and sim' pilots.
I have found from experience that the design of some flight controls actually exacerbate this affect, particularly when they allow you to generate large control movements in very short times. Other flight sticks ease the problem, and I’m also convinced it is not just the physical design of the stick at play, the electronic characteristics of the stick also has an influence on the control signals received by the game and my own experiments with many different sticks show that this can result in a difference in the stability of the aircraft observed in flight simulations.
Regardless of what stick you use the pitch oscillations can also be damped out to some extent in Aces High by using the control settings. However, too much pitch damping can have a negative affect on your reaction times in combat so it is important to find a stick that enables you to achieve a good degree of stability with as little pitch damping as possible.
Hope that helps…
Badboy
