Originally posted by Krusty
Okay I've been flying AH since a little after it left beta. I've been following it since before it left beta. I'm not a newbie, but due to hardware limitations I never learned a few things. Now I'd like to know them.
HOW do you do that nifty barrel roll? I can do *A* roll. I can ROLL. But I'm guessing there's rudder input involved in the nice round roll that puts you almost behind the plane chasing you. Explain what input combination is used please?
I know a bit about torque. But nothing specific. I know that I have to adjust trim for different speeds, but I just hit combat trim on for a second then shut it off (saves me time, and I don't have a stick with lots of buttons to map trim to). Okay, so when I pull into a high zoom and hang on my nose I start rolling (naturally). So I heard I'm supposed to add rudder trim to stop that rolling. I'm going ot just try adding a bit of rudder on my stick, but which way am I supposed to do it... most of the times I try it I do the wrong way and I end up flopping around in a bad hammerhead because I didn't want to do that.
Why is it that you can fly in the same plane in the same sortie for quite a while with ease and then all of a sudden the same plane becomes 100% unstable about any axis and you can't even fly level? I was in a spitIX in a HTH room trying out the hizookas (damn those are single ping killers, it's absurd! -- I usually don't fly spits/RAF stuff), and I had about 12 kills over a long period of time. So anyways I have good speed, I'm engaging a F6F, I pull a loop, only I can't level out when the loop is done.. I am totally unstable, but at 200+ mph. I can't level. I'm flopping, but I did not pull too hard and there's no reason for this. I'm not stalling, not spinning, I'm just 100% unstable for no reason at all.
WHAT causes this? And how the heck do I avoid it?????
Hey Krusty!
First off, you can do a perfectly nice barrel roll without touching the rudders. Envision in your mind instead of being in an airplane you are in a roller coaster car. The track goes straight and level, then starts to go up but starts to roll you upside down as it does. At the bottom of the "loop", the car is level again. Now get rid of the roller coaster car, and just envinsion the track in your mind, and follow it with your plane. Pull back on the stick and to your left. The nose will climb to your left. Aileron roll to the right, so you are inverted, and straighten your nose as you do. Then reverse the process to go down and level again. You basically make a corkscrew with the nose of your plane around the inside of the barrel. That is a barrel roll. An aileron roll is just rolling the plane in place using left or right stick.
I'm assuming from your question you have to use either the keyboard or mapped buttons on your stick for rudder control? The easiest way to keep yourself level when approaching stall speed in a climb is to make sure you are straight up and down. I use my left and right views to keep my wingtips at the horizon. Without having rudder pedals or at least a twisty stick, if I were you I'd leave the combat trim on. It will keep your rudder trim adjusted. Then all you have to do is kick it one notch this way or that to stabilize your attitude, and center again. In MOST planes, I've found that combat trim really doesnt hurt performance that much, and can actually help even a vet. There are only a few planes that are picky enough about their performance that using combat trim is a real no-no.
For your last question, I honestly dont know. I can make some guesses. One thing that might be affecting you is your fuel load. Especially if you manually switch tanks. Even more especially if you take off with 100% fuel. I'm sure the balance of the plane has to change as you use fuel. In most real WWII fighters there was a sequence you were supposed to use to switch tanks, and as the fuel was depleted performance increased due not only to less weight, but better balance of the plane. I dont know how much of that is represented in AH, at least with the internal fuel. It is one thing that changes throughout your flight though. Also, you could be experiencing trim problems. Try using combat trim throughout the maneuver and see if you still have the problem at the end. Spits always feel a little "wobbly" to me, because 1) I dont fly them much, and 2) they are so sensitive to input. FW's are like that also, but not in the same way. As for your specific problem at the top of an Immelman, or exiting a loop, I almost always use rudders at the top to help me roll over (except in FW, it not only doesnt need them, if you are too slow and use too much rudder it goes into a nasty spin). Aileron roll left at the top? Add left rudder and watch the nose swing around faster. Your nose probably WILL dip on your rollout, even with enough speed. Just bring it back up slowly. If the problem is at the bottom of a loop, take your hand off the stick for a second (or at least let up any pressure on it). Sometimes after a loop, especially if you were being careful on the G's you were pulling, you can sometimes maintain some pressure on the stick without realizing it when you come out of the maneuver. Taking your hand off is not so much a reset for the plane, or your stick, as it is a reset for your hand. Kinda like if you've been driving on the Interstate for hours and used to going 70 mph, then you get off and you are on a smaller 2 lane highway with a slower speed limit but you keep going faster. You got used to the faster speed and have to "reset" your senses.
Hope this helps!
