Down Draft

[Viper61]

Stoney:  I don't think the Alt cap was working as designed last frame either.  I was in a heavy 110 on my way to 23.5K (just under the alt cap).  I got distracted by radio chatter and doing map analysis, i looked back at the alt meter and my heavy 110C with 50% fuel had climbed to 24.5K and was still climbing pretty well.  No stalling, it was going slower but still climbing.  At that point I nosed back down to 23.5 and leveled out.  My first thought was "well the alt cap weather isn't working tonight".  I didnt think to report this until i saw these posts.

Recommend that the wind sheer be increased to hurricane force winds that distroy AC.

[Stoney]

Ok, just to repeat:

Frame 1 we had a problem with the settings, so if you remember flying above 24,000 feet in frame 1, you probably did, since there was no downdraft.  We had that fixed in Frame 2.

So, if you were flying above or saw someone else fly above 24,000 feet in Frame 2, I'd like to hear about and see film.  I attempted to fly above 24,000 feet during Frame 2 in my Corsair, and was unable to sustain flight above that altitude.  With a bit of energy, it is quite simple to penetrate above 24,000 feet, but very difficult, at least in my testing, to sustain it.  However, I'll allow anyone to prove me wrong, I just need some film with which to do some analysis.  Like I said yesterday, if there's something wrong with the mechanic, I need to know.

[ghostdancer]

When a down draft is set the farther you go above the initial alt the more it kicks in. By this I mean at say 24.1K you will not get the full 127MPH down draft. You will get maybe about 50+ mph. Meaning it is possible to actually flight level there with autopilot. Well by level you are actually in a slight climb to compensate for the down draft winds and still able to move forward slowly.

In offline testing I took a Ki 61 up and was able to climb to 10.1K and do autopilot level. It severely cut my forward speed though.

Now with offline testing I found that say if you approach 9.8K level there until you hit your max speed and then pitch up in an auto climb you can climb to roughly 11K before the down draft winds overcome you (meaning you lose speed do to the climb and fighting the down draft winds to the point that you have no forward momentum or vertical momentum). At this point I nose pitched down and I was driven back to 10K when in auto. When in manual I stalled out and winds forced me down under 10K.

Tried several variations and I was not able to stay level and fly at anything higher than 10.1K for any extended period of time before the winds forced me down below that.

I then repeated the test with a Ki 61 offline with a wind cap set at 20K -127 rise and 127 mph with the same results.

So yes, it is possible to pierce the 24K alt wind cap but not for very long before 127 MPH winds drive you back under it.

[daddog]

Tested this myself online in SEA I.

Much the same results as Stoney and Ghostdancer.

Down draft of 127mph (which is the max) at 24k and above.

Rolled a 109k and put her in auto climb.

1st try she made it to 24,200 and was pushed back down.
2nd try level at 23,500 at 300mph. Auto climb punched up to 25,500 and pushed back down in less than 30 seconds.
3rd try level at 23,500 at 300mph. Manual climb and made it up to 26,000. Was able to keep her at 24,200 for a couple minutes, but speed was not much over 120mph with a very high angle of attack.

It is very possible for players to get above 24k, but staying their for any length of time would be difficult unless their is some kind of bug that we don't know about.

[Mystic2]

In frame 1, I did not set the downdraft, mainly as an oversite.  For frame 2, I made sure that the downdraft was set to max starting at 24k.  It was double checked 20 min prior to launch. 

[Enker]

If the video is posted you will see that he ran from the slaughter of his buddies as well.

I ran from the slaughter due to missing half a wing and knowing that I would be unable to do anything to help. You may have been thinking of me. I was entirely unable to do anything to your Ki-61s due to my overextending and having little experience at high altitude.

[snakeplissken]

In Frame 2 I zoom climbed (roller coaster) above 24K but could not maintain that alt and was pushed down.  The wind was on. I checked the settings...

[Valkyrie]

How about we just end the damn alt cap. I like fighting above 30k

Vlkyrie1

[ZULU6]

Looks like no 1 has a film to prove we flew over 24K.  And no 1 will, because we never exceeded the alt cap.  Looks like Sax was just jacking his hole because we wasted him, and his boys so easily!
 

[Saxman]

Discussed with Stoney. Satisfied with his response. End of story.

[CHAPPY]

I love happy Endings.