Can't get enough speed.

[Lyonidis]

So I hop into my P-47N, start the engine, crawl onto the PCP, gain speed and lift off from the airstrip, pull up to gain altitude, then slam right back into the ground again from stalling. I cannot seem to gain enough altitude, or speed for me to really do anything! It takes me five minutes to get in position to shoot at the passing AI planes circling over the airstrip.

My average speed on taking off: 150 mph

My average altitude after taking off: barely 2000 feet!

A question: How long does it take for an average pilot to get an altitude of say... 30,000 feet?

Another question: How long does it take you to get a speed of say... 350 mph?

I am looking for mainly P-47 pilots to answer this, as that is my plane of choice due to it being durable, having great firepower, and excellent ground attack power.  

Thanks for answering in advance.

PS: I have played Aces High before, I know how it works, I am just not used to the P-47 yet.

PPS: Thread pretty much closed. Thanks for all of your input! 

[IamSalem]

First thing to no about the 47, it's heavy. Even with light fuel, light guns, its heavy. It aint a home sick angel like other birds (zeke, 109, etc) so climbing is going to take a good little bit.

[The Fugitive]

These are not jets! They take awhile to build speed. Once you have some speed(250 or so) ease back on the stick to start your climb out. The P47 is heavy , add a full load of fuel and it's heavyER. while you practice use 50% fuel. You"ll get up a bit faster. The P47 isn't that maneuverable. Once you get it to speed try not to let it get slower than 250. It takes to long to get back up to speed.

[Tigger29]

I'm guessing you're new here, and came either from JET games, or less realistic non-simulator flying games.

The simple truth is like they are saying.. IT IS HEAVY AND UNDERPOWERED (as compared to modern jets).

Before accepting that though we need to start to make sure your throttle is working correctly.  While sitting on the runway in your P47, give it full throttle and when you're at full, press the P key and it should give you a bit more power (War Emergency Power).  If you press P and nothing happens, then your throttle is not at full and you need to check into your throttle calibration, etc.  You can press P again to turn off WEP... leaving it on will cause your engine to start to overheat (although the game will automatically turn it off for you before the engine blows up, you'll just have to wait for it to cool back down before you can use it again).

Climbout does take time though.  At ground level it'll do 1750 feet per minute of climb, so technically that's just over 17 minutes to climb to 30k, but really it takes a lot longer as your climb rate drops as your altitude increases.  I think 22-25 minutes is about right for 30k, although running WEP would decrease that to 15-16 minutes or so.

On the deck you'll need to run WEP to reach 350MPH, and I'm not even sure that's possible with a really heavy configuration.  Even so, it would take several minutes (if not longer) to even get close.

You have to realize that this is as much of a simulator as it is a game.  In real life they would sometimes fly for hours before seeing any action.  Yes, they make some concessions to make this game more playable for the average person (auto starting engines, no cowl flaps to worry about, no check lists to adhere to, no equipment failures to worry about unless it gets contaminated with lead, auto retracting flaps, close proximity of bases, etc.) but the physics and performance of the Aircraft is going to be about as realistic as it gets.

[Lyonidis]

Thanks for all of your input.

It would be appreciated if you did not go wildly accusing someone of coming from "hurr durr jet gamez" or "omg unreliztik" flight sims. I have played this game before, and was just curious.

Again, thanks for your input.

[Tigger29]

Thanks for all of your input.

It would be appreciated if you did not go wildly accusing someone of coming from "hurr durr jet gamez" or "omg unreliztik" flight sims. I have played this game before, and was just curious.

Again, thanks for your input.

Just for the record, I wasn't "accusing" you of anything.  Making an accusation is also makinga sweetie umption that somebody did something wrong.  This is not the case.  I was just simply stating that someone who is used to modern Jets or less realistic physics games often expect the same out of Aces High during the transition and end up thinking something is wrong when in fact it isn't.

*Note, apparently there is a new word filter in use here that changed my correctly spelled word, "assumption"

[Krusty]

You pull up too hard and you're below best climb speed. You'll drag around and wallow. Also, the 47N has 2x the internal fuel any other 47 has. If you're loaded down with 1000lbs of 50cal ammo and several thousand pounds of gas, you're not going anywhere fast.

One of the things it took me a little while to understand is that you don't just haul back on the stick to climb. You find that right angle to go forward and up at the same time. You use the speed to tell you how to adjust the angle. Speed drops, point the nose down, speed rises and you can climb. You have to find that point where your speed is steady (preventing you from stalling out) and where the altimeter keeps going up (meaning you're gaining altitude).

I would take 8 guns with 267 rpg, 25% fuel (for the offline AI)... Roll until you're about 175 or more, and then lift off. Retract flaps, gear, try and level out (trees/hills permitting). Engage WEP for a little bit. Once you've built up a little speed ease the nose up and watch her climb. She's rather light on the controls once you get above stall speed.

Best climb on the 47s is about 170 or 175 or something (can't recall exactly) so by hauling her up at 150mph you're slower than normal and will feel the pain.

[GNucks]

If there're no cons around to nip at your heels, a safe way to climb is to use the ALT+X autopilot. A safe minimum airspeed to climb for most aircraft is 150, but it'll take a little bit of practice and some studying of your particular plane to find that sweet spot. But anyway, if you press "/" and type ".speed #" (the # being the airspeed you wish to fly at) and then press "ENTER", the ALT+X autopilot will pick whatever pitch attitude it can to keep you at your desired airspeed.

So if you're at full throttle and press ALT+X with your dotspeed being 150, you will nose up and start climbing. You can also use the dotspeed to safely drain a lot of alt if you're looking to land at an airfield that's like 20K directly below you. If you set your dotspeed to 300 or 350 (or 400 if your plane can handle it) and chop the throttle, ALT+X will cause your plane to nose down but keep your aircraft from compressing and losing control.

Anyway, there's a lot of ways to stall your plane, but letting your airspeed get too low is the easiest one to avoid. So just keep an eye on it if you're going to stick that nose up skyward.  

[Krusty]

A safe minimum airspeed to climb for most aircraft is 150

I would disagree. There are many that have climb speeds of 155, 165, 170+... If you are not fast enough when you engage auto climb, you will actually nose DOWN to get that speed before nosing back up. If you're low and not expecting it -- guess what? You've just plowed into the ground/water


Note: Me262s have a HIGH auto climb speed. It's about 285 indicated. Don't engage auto climb until you're ABOVE this or you'll plow in and blow a lot of perks for nothing.

[Tec]

Are you using auto take off, or are you doing it manually?  If it's the latter are you pressing G on your keyboard once you get airborne?

[FLS]

GNucks you don't have to set a speed for ALT-X, auto-speed. It defaults to the approximate best climb speed for your aircraft.

[GNucks]

I would disagree. There are many that have climb speeds of 155, 165, 170+... If you are not fast enough when you engage auto climb, you will actually nose DOWN to get that speed before nosing back up. If you're low and not expecting it -- guess what? You've just plowed into the ground/water


Note: Me262s have a HIGH auto climb speed. It's about 285 indicated. Don't engage auto climb until you're ABOVE this or you'll plow in and blow a lot of perks for nothing.

Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that. You want to make sure you meet the airspeed you set the autopilot for before you engage, or you may unexpectedly find your nose in the dirt.

Anyway, using FLS's advice is probably the simplest and most effective way to use that autopilot. I'm just kind of a control freak and am always afraid somebody came by and switched my dotspeed while I wasn't looking so I reset it every time I plan to use the autopilot.

[EskimoJoe]

GNucks you don't have to set a speed for ALT-X, auto-speed. It defaults to the approximate best climb speed for your aircraft.

This is exactly true. I found that if you're unsure on an aircraft's climb rate, take it up to 200 indicated with about 500 feet AGL, and engage auto-climb. It'll sort itself out from there, granted of course that jets climb at a much, much faster rate.

If you DO find yourself nosing down after engaging auto-climb, however, you can simply disengage and level out for more speed before you start a dive.

Best of luck with those jugs, they're a handful but a lot of fun!   

[dtango]

Folks do realize that default auto-climb (alt-x) is set for the best climb speed for that particular aircraft no?  If you want best steady climb of a particular airplane just use what auto-climb is set to as default.  The program takes care of it for you.

Rate of Climb = (Thrust_v - Drag_v) * Velocity / Weight

Each airplane has a specific best steady climb velocity where the above equation is at maximum (thrust and drag being functions of velocity also).  The AH program knows where that's at automatically.

[HighGTrn]

So I hop into my P-47N, start the engine, crawl onto the PCP, gain speed and lift off from the airstrip, pull up to gain altitude, then slam right back into the ground again from stalling. I cannot seem to gain enough altitude, or speed for me to really do anything! It takes me five minutes to get in position to shoot at the passing AI planes circling over the airstrip.

I think its a bug. On Friday, I up'd an N with about 50% gas, rockets, 2 1000lbs'r and 1 500lbs'r. Didn't touch the controls and let the autotake off do all the work. The plane ran the entire length of the runway and then off without ever rotating. Checked RPM and Manifold which read all was fine. I towered, re'up'd, did the same thing and everything was fine.