Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Seeker on January 13, 2002, 07:22:16 PM

Title: Ground effect
Post by: Seeker on January 13, 2002, 07:22:16 PM
Ground effect seems to be modelled in AH when coming in to land. Wouldn't this phenomena be present anytime you're close to another surface and the air is compressed between wings and that surface?

I ask because I've only ever noticed ground effect upon landing; as opposed to ditching away from a field (never noticed it) or flying NOE raids over land or water, or even during a stall fight in Mindano's canyons.

I'm not saying this is wrong (because I don't really have that fine a grasp of aerodynamics); but it seems logical to me that if slow flight within 100 feet of a surface (landing) exhibits particular charecteristics, then slow flight within 100 feet of a surface should always display that charecteristic (for example zooming up parralell to a canyon wall in Mindano.

Wells? Widewing? HT?
Title: Ground effect
Post by: AKDejaVu on January 13, 2002, 07:57:46 PM
I don't know why it would be working like that for you.  It can be toggled on and off using cntrl-C .

AKDejaVu
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Seeker on January 13, 2002, 08:10:09 PM
I don't mean ground clutter, the graphics enhancement, Deja, but ground effect (perhaps that's the wrong name?); the "floating" feeling you get when you're just a little too fast and the plane won't quite touch down where you want it to; a result (I believe) of a thin layer of air being compressed between wing and ground adding to lift.
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Furious on January 13, 2002, 08:25:18 PM
He is not talking about a visual aspect, rather an effect during flight caused by a build up of pressure under the wings due to the proxitmity of the ground.

F.

Oops, didn't see your second post Seeker, and yes it is called ground effect.
Title: Ground effect
Post by: AKDejaVu on January 13, 2002, 10:00:55 PM
Ah.. gotcha
Title: Ground effect
Post by: MANDOBLE on January 14, 2002, 03:17:20 AM
Haven't noticed this effect even upon landing. Seeker, are you sure you find GE at landing consistently?
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Wilbus on January 14, 2002, 03:34:36 AM
Gotto say I've noticed it too and thought about it, both over land and over water when you ditch, once ya get close, you can glide forever, just keep pulling back on the stick slightly, you can even glide good in the speed that don't work 1000 feet higher. Maybe it is the ground effect or just our imagination.
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Pinner on January 14, 2002, 05:31:30 AM
I think the rule of thumb for when ground effect kicks in is roughly when your altitude, agl, is within 1.5x your wingspan.

I would also guess that it is really only noticable in level flight, hence making it difficult or impossible to see any effect from ground effect in a low level dogfight.
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Flossy on January 14, 2002, 06:14:11 AM
Quote
Originally posted by MANDOBLE
Haven't noticed this effect even upon landing. Seeker, are you sure you find GE at landing consistently?

I have often noticed this effect when trying to land a Lanc in particular - I find a bit of down-trim (I key) seems to help (seem to remember reading about that on here somewhere) otherwise I end up running out of runway and have to go around again, not always successfully  :o  
Title: Ground effect
Post by: MANDOBLE on January 14, 2002, 06:29:13 AM
Found the gliding effect only with engine/s stoped. Shouldn't GE has vibrations as side effect of a "not-flat" ground?
Title: Ground effect
Post by: milnko on January 14, 2002, 09:12:21 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't AW have ground effect modeled to Force Feedback?

That be a nice addition to the game I think.
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Furious on January 14, 2002, 10:48:22 AM
Just as an aside, the following site has some good info about the "wing-in-ground effect":

http://www.se-technology.com/wig/

I like this pic of an missle boat Ekranoplane

(http://members.tripod.co.uk/aerospace21/ekranoplans/ekranoplanes.jpg)


F.
Title: Ground effect
Post by: Blue Mako on January 14, 2002, 08:01:55 PM
AH DOES model ground effect.  If you take your plane in full flight down to within about 10ft of the ground and level (try this offline only) then let go of the stick, the plane will not fly into the ground without forcing it to.  The ground effect builds up under the plane and prevents it from flying into level ground.  Ground effect is not strong enough to prevent you flying into hills etc but it is present in the game.  Do some testing, you will notice that ground effect is most noticeable at high speeds over level ground or water and does not need to be over a rwy either.