Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-08 Thread David Megginson
Tony Peden writes:

  Aside from restoring from a saved state, when do you need the trimming
  routine to step aside?  It seems to me you'd want it the rest of the
  time.

Probably, but it's easy to make sure it's called from FlightGear,
then.  It's just a matter of where we locate the logic -- if
FlightGear explicitly requests trimming, then we can be consistent
across FDMs and make the code more obvious.


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-08 Thread Curtis L. Olson
Arnt Karlsen writes:
 ..I see 2 more or less fundamentally different cases here, fdm's
 internal to FG, and fdm's external to FG, where FG communicates
 externally over network, with several fdm's, or with standalone 
 jsbsim instances and where FG only does visualization and 
 controls our own plane.
 
 ..what if _all_ fdm's are made external to FG, as in 
 interfacing to the FG framework?  
 (Yeah, I know, I ask way too late.  ;-) )

This should not be a problem as long as the external FDM has it's own
trimming routine, which it probably will have anyway.

Regards,

Curt.
-- 
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-08 Thread Tony Peden
On Wed, 2003-01-08 at 03:44, David Megginson wrote:
 Tony Peden writes:
 
   Aside from restoring from a saved state, when do you need the trimming
   routine to step aside?  It seems to me you'd want it the rest of the
   time.
 
 Probably, but it's easy to make sure it's called from FlightGear,
 then.  It's just a matter of where we locate the logic -- if
 FlightGear explicitly requests trimming, then we can be consistent
 across FDMs and make the code more obvious.

Wait a minute, though.  FG already has the ability to turn trimming
on and off: the boolean /sim/presets/trim
 
 
 All the best,
 
 
 David
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-08 Thread David Megginson
Tony Peden writes:

   Probably, but it's easy to make sure it's called from FlightGear,
   then.  It's just a matter of where we locate the logic -- if
   FlightGear explicitly requests trimming, then we can be consistent
   across FDMs and make the code more obvious.
  
  Wait a minute, though.  FG already has the ability to turn trimming
  on and off: the boolean /sim/presets/trim

Right -- I'm suggesting that it might make the code simpler and
clearer (and avoid bugs and misunderstandings) if FlightGear always
invoked the trimming routine explicitly; I know that there are ways to
manage it already.


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-08 Thread Curtis L. Olson
Tony Peden writes:
 On Wed, 2003-01-08 at 03:44, David Megginson wrote:
  Tony Peden writes:
  
Aside from restoring from a saved state, when do you need the trimming
routine to step aside?  It seems to me you'd want it the rest of the
time.
  
  Probably, but it's easy to make sure it's called from FlightGear,
  then.  It's just a matter of where we locate the logic -- if
  FlightGear explicitly requests trimming, then we can be consistent
  across FDMs and make the code more obvious.
 
 Wait a minute, though.  FG already has the ability to turn trimming
 on and off: the boolean /sim/presets/trim

Yup, and it can specify ground vs. in-air trimming ... although it's
up to the FDM to honor this flag when it initializes itself.

Curt.
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-07 Thread Curtis L. Olson
David Megginson writes:
 That makes sense -- thanks.
 
 So, here's my near-term YASim wishlist, which is pleasingly short:
 
 - wing washout
 - turbulence
 - steady-state starts with non-zero velocity and/or in-air
 - respect runtime property changes (i.e. new altitude or location)

My wish list for YASim is slightly different:

 - steady-state starts with non-zero velocity and/or in-air

Andy: if you have questions about how resets and position changes are
handled in flightgear, please ask.

 - respect runtime property changes (i.e. new altitude or location)

I would respectfully suggest that this one not be implimented or at
least be put at a low priority.  We tried to do this in JSBsim and it
can really get messy.

I think it would be much cleaner to force a reset to a new location
each time we warp to a new location.  This allows us to delete the FDM
instance and create a new one so it can be freshly inited and trimmed
for the new conditions.  Otherwise, it's really hard not to carry over
some state from the previous location which can cause obscenely large
forces and other wierdness.

Regards,

Curt.
-- 
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-07 Thread David Megginson
Curtis L. Olson writes:

   - respect runtime property changes (i.e. new altitude or location)
  
  I would respectfully suggest that this one not be implimented or at
  least be put at a low priority.  We tried to do this in JSBsim and it
  can really get messy.

The problem was that the startup trimming routine and the properties
always ended up arm-wrestling.  In principle, this should be very
easy:

1. Before each iteration, copy all state variables in from the
   bus/property tree.

2. After each iteration, copy all state variables back out to the
   bus/property tree.

YASim already does #2; it simply needs to add #1.

JSBSim retrims automatically when certain values are changed outside
the FDM unless certain properties are set, etc. -- it's all fairly
confusing.

Over all, I think it would be better if none of the FDMs trimmed
automatically.  FlightGear, which provides the primary user interface,
is in a much better position to know when trimming is required; for
example, you do want to trim when an altitude and speed are selected
on the command line, but you do not want to trim when a flight is
being restored from a save file.  If the FDMs simply retrim for steady
state when requested, we can make sure the request is issued when
needed.  That should clean up the JSBSim/FlightGear interface code a
bit as well.

Tony: what do you think?

  I think it would be much cleaner to force a reset to a new location
  each time we warp to a new location.  This allows us to delete the FDM
  instance and create a new one so it can be freshly inited and trimmed
  for the new conditions.  Otherwise, it's really hard not to carry over
  some state from the previous location which can cause obscenely large
  forces and other wierdness.

The problem is that when we restore a saved flight or start a premade
scenario, we'll get bumps (etc.) from the trimming routine, when the
saved state was already (presumably) steady.  I think we're pretty
close -- you want to force a reset, and I want to be able to request a
retrim.


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-07 Thread Tony Peden
Resend after getting bounced earlier ...

On Tue, 2003-01-07 at 14:39, David Megginson wrote:
 Curtis L. Olson writes:
 
- respect runtime property changes (i.e. new altitude or location)
   
   I would respectfully suggest that this one not be implimented or at
   least be put at a low priority.  We tried to do this in JSBsim and it
   can really get messy.
 
 The problem was that the startup trimming routine and the properties
 always ended up arm-wrestling.  In principle, this should be very
 easy:
 
 1. Before each iteration, copy all state variables in from the
bus/property tree.
 
 2. After each iteration, copy all state variables back out to the
bus/property tree.
 
 YASim already does #2; it simply needs to add #1.
 
 JSBSim retrims automatically when certain values are changed outside
 the FDM unless certain properties are set, etc. -- it's all fairly
 confusing.
 
 Over all, I think it would be better if none of the FDMs trimmed
 automatically.  FlightGear, which provides the primary user interface,
 is in a much better position to know when trimming is required; for
 example, you do want to trim when an altitude and speed are selected
 on the command line, but you do not want to trim when a flight is
 being restored from a save file.  If the FDMs simply retrim for steady
 state when requested, we can make sure the request is issued when
 needed.  That should clean up the JSBSim/FlightGear interface code a
 bit as well.
 
 Tony: what do you think?


Aside from restoring from a saved state, when do you need the trimming
routine to step aside?  It seems to me you'd want it the rest of the
time.

 
   I think it would be much cleaner to force a reset to a new location
   each time we warp to a new location.  This allows us to delete the FDM
   instance and create a new one so it can be freshly inited and trimmed
   for the new conditions.  Otherwise, it's really hard not to carry over
   some state from the previous location which can cause obscenely large
   forces and other wierdness.
 
 The problem is that when we restore a saved flight or 

 start a premade scenario,

You realize that this situation is exactly what the trimming routine is
good for, do you not?  In what way does it create a problem?

  we'll get bumps (etc.) from the trimming routine, when the
 saved state was already (presumably) steady. 

It must not have been ... of course, it's highly unlikely that any human
can trim an aircraft as precisely as the trimming routine.

  I think we're pretty
 close -- you want to force a reset, and I want to be able to request a
 retrim.
 
 
 All the best,
 
 
 David
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Andy Ross
[Sorry for the delay.  This one was hard, and had to wait for the
 weekend for an investigation.]

David Megginson wrote:
 Andy: unfortunately, none of your suggestions helped (details
 below).  How are you modelling washout in YASim?  From the violent
 roll that comes with every stall, it looks like all of the wing is
 stalling simultaneously, so the plane loses roll control from the
 ailerons at the same time as it loses lift from the wings.

Wow, good call.  The lack of washout modelling is indeed the problem.
And the details turn out to be great fun, to boot:

What happens in the current (no washout) implementation is that the
aircraft nears a stall some (just a tiny bit) non-zero roll rate.  The
wing going down therefore experiences a higher AoA than the upward
wing.  In normal flight modes, this has a pro-stability effect.  The
asymmetric lift distribution opposes the roll rate.  Once the wings
are beyond the stall point, however, increasing AoA's decrease lift
and this causes a pro *roll* moment.  That's a divergence, and the
aircraft very rapidly rolls off into a wild departure.

I've always understood washout the way you explained it.  It's there
to keep the ailerons unstalled and the plane controllable at high
AoAs.  I figured this was something that could be modelled away by
simply increasing the stall width to reflect the fact that the whole
wing stalls gradually at different AoA's.  But that is a demonstrably
minor effect; you can pump the aileron effectiveness up to ridiculous
magnitudes in YASim and you will still be doing snap rolls.

The real reason for washout (or at least a better physical
explanation) is this: the washout that maintains the tips below stall
AoA keeps as much of the stable derivative as possible out on the
wing tips where the moment arm is long.  If the early stall happens
near the fuselage on a short moment arm, then the overall behavior
will still be stable, not divergent, even past the peak of the whole
aircraft lift curve.

It also explains why aircraft which are normally stable in the stall
can sometimes do divergent snap rolls (c.f. Luke and Ryan's
anecdotes).  If you pull the AoA high enough to put the tips in the
stall too, then the divergent mode reasserts itself.  You can do this
with an accelerated maneuver, for instance.  Also, flying at aft
c.g. configurations results in more relative elevator authority which
could plausibly overwhelm the washout at the tips.

Cool.  I learned something this weekend.  A snap roll is a
physically well-defined thing: it is a roll executed in a post-stall
environment where the roll-moment-due-to-roll-rate coefficient is
divergent.

So anyway, YASim needs to model washout.  In principle, this should be
pretty easy.  Each wing segment (Surface object, as currently
implemented) gets its own orientation already.  We just need to decide
on a way to specify it to the solver.  Would a linear interpolation
between base and tip incidences work?  I don't know much about
washout design as implemented on typical aircraft.  A fancier
mechanism would allow you to specify washout as an interpolated curve
per-station curve along the span, but that sounds like it might be
overkill to me.  Does anyone have a preference?

Andy

-- 
Andrew J. RossNextBus Information Systems
Senior Software Engineer  Emeryville, CA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  http://www.nextbus.com
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread David Megginson
Andy Ross writes:

  The real reason for washout (or at least a better physical
  explanation) is this: the washout that maintains the tips below
  stall AoA keeps as much of the stable derivative as possible out
  on the wing tips where the moment arm is long.  If the early stall
  happens near the fuselage on a short moment arm, then the overall
  behavior will still be stable, not divergent, even past the peak of
  the whole aircraft lift curve.

I found it easier simply to picture different 2D sections of the wing
stalling at different times, but I can see how your explanation might
lead to a programmatic solution faster.

  Cool.  I learned something this weekend.  A snap roll is a
  physically well-defined thing: it is a roll executed in a
  post-stall environment where the roll-moment-due-to-roll-rate
  coefficient is divergent.

Isn't the snap roll usually uncoordinated?  I've never done aerobatics
myself.  If it is, then I wonder what the role of the uncoordination
is.

  So anyway, YASim needs to model washout.  In principle, this should be
  pretty easy.  Each wing segment (Surface object, as currently
  implemented) gets its own orientation already.  We just need to decide
  on a way to specify it to the solver.  Would a linear interpolation
  between base and tip incidences work?  I don't know much about
  washout design as implemented on typical aircraft.  A fancier
  mechanism would allow you to specify washout as an interpolated curve
  per-station curve along the span, but that sounds like it might be
  overkill to me.  Does anyone have a preference?

Start linear -- the real-world is probably not predictable enough that
anyone would notice increased realism from an interpolated curve.

On a separate note, I make no claim to understand how flaps and
washout interact, but perhaps that's more obvious to others.


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Arnt Karlsen
On Mon, 06 Jan 2003 11:31:46 -0800, 
Andy Ross [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote in message 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:

 So anyway, YASim needs to model washout.  In principle, this should be
  pretty easy.  Each wing segment (Surface object, as currently
  implemented) gets its own orientation already.  We just need to
  decide on a way to specify it to the solver.  Would a linear
  interpolation between base and tip incidences work?  I don't know
  much about washout design as implemented on typical aircraft.  A
  fancier mechanism would allow you to specify washout as an
  interpolated curve per-station curve along the span, but that sounds
  like it might be overkill to me.  Does anyone have a preference?

..some planes use distinctly different airfoils, leading edge cuffs,
slots etc, towash out.  Some different-airfoil wings transform
gradually towards the tip, and not neccesarily in a linear fashion, 
some of these can get really weird.  Start with a linear thing and drop
in all sorts of weird handles to keep us future eaa types happy.  ;-)

-- 
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt... ;-)
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
  Scenarios always come in sets of three: 
  best case, worst case, and just in case.



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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Andy Ross
Arnt Karlsen wrote:
 ..some planes use distinctly different airfoils, leading edge cuffs,
 slots etc, towash out.  Some different-airfoil wings transform
 gradually towards the tip, and not neccesarily in a linear fashion,
 some of these can get really weird.

Actually, this is supported already, for those who have the patience
to work with such minutia.  You can chop the wing up into as many
separate vstab objects as you like, each with an independant
configuration.

The point of handling washout as a separate concept is that (counter
to my original thought) it turns out to be important for all aircraft
with high aspect wings, not only those with hyper-realist authors. :)

In fact, adding a tip section to the cessna wing with a different
incidence value would be an immediately useful way to test washout
effects.

Andy

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Senior Software Engineer  Emeryville, CA
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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Andy Ross
David Megginson wrote:
 I found it easier simply to picture different 2D sections of the
 wing stalling at different times, but I can see how your explanation
 might lead to a programmatic solution faster.

Right, but what is it about different secions of the wing stalling at
different times that causes the aircraft to snap roll?  That's the
part that was non-obvious to me.  You get the snap roll effect even
when there is no dihedral or sweep, in situations where the wing
should be stalling symettrically.

It happens because when the aircraft is rolling (even a little bit),
one wing is going down and the other up.  This causes a difference in
AoA at the tips.  If the wing tips are stalled, then the wing going
down is pushed farther into the stall, while the one going up sees a
lift recovery.  So the net effect is that the aircraft tries to roll
*into* the existing roll direction.  That's an unstable situation
(like a ball sitting at the top of a hill), and it will diverge if the
roll rate has any non-zero value.

The more common explanation for washout (that the ailerons are
masked by the tip stall) is incorrect.  The snap roll doesn't happen
because of aileron authority, it happens because the aircraft is
literally unstable in roll.  Aileron authority can obviously help to
recover, but the tendency to roll off into a divergent snap roll is
the real effect, and it is a different behavior from the normal roll
stability of the aircraft in typical conditions.

 Isn't the snap roll usually uncoordinated?  I've never done aerobatics
 myself.  If it is, then I wonder what the role of the uncoordination
 is.

If there is any wing sweep or dihedral, then a non-zero yaw angle also
changes the relative AoA of the wings to produce the same effect.  If
you apply full rudder on such an aircraft, then you don't need to pull
up the nose as far to get the down wing tip stalled.

There might be a yaw rate effect too.  When the aircraft is yawing,
the wingtip going back also sees a higher AoA and will drop if it is
past the stall.  Same deal.  The snap roll needs a stalled down
wingtip to get the divergence, in any case.

Andy

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Norman Vine
David Megginson writes:
 
 I found it easier simply to picture different 2D sections of the wing
 stalling at different times, but I can see how your explanation might
 lead to a programmatic solution faster.

Easiest way I know of to learn about airfoil stall is to stick a bunch
of yarns into an iceboat sail and go for a ride :-)

Norman

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread David Megginson
Andy Ross writes:

   Isn't the snap roll usually uncoordinated?  I've never done aerobatics
   myself.  If it is, then I wonder what the role of the uncoordination
   is.
  
  If there is any wing sweep or dihedral, then a non-zero yaw angle also
  changes the relative AoA of the wings to produce the same effect.  If
  you apply full rudder on such an aircraft, then you don't need to pull
  up the nose as far to get the down wing tip stalled.
  
  There might be a yaw rate effect too.  When the aircraft is yawing,
  the wingtip going back also sees a higher AoA and will drop if it is
  past the stall.  Same deal.  The snap roll needs a stalled down
  wingtip to get the divergence, in any case.

That makes sense -- thanks.

So, here's my near-term YASim wishlist, which is pleasingly short:

- wing washout
- turbulence
- steady-state starts with non-zero velocity and/or in-air
- respect runtime property changes (i.e. new altitude or location)


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread David Megginson
Norman Vine writes:

  Easiest way I know of to learn about airfoil stall is to stick a bunch
  of yarns into an iceboat sail and go for a ride :-)

That's a lot of work, when you can just go flying in light snow and
watch the flakes around the wings.  I haven't tried that yet, though.


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Curtis L. Olson
David Megginson writes:
 Norman Vine writes:
 
   Easiest way I know of to learn about airfoil stall is to stick a bunch
   of yarns into an iceboat sail and go for a ride :-)
 
 That's a lot of work, when you can just go flying in light snow and
 watch the flakes around the wings.  I haven't tried that yet, though.

Yeah, and trust me, the I'm buying the yarn for my Grandma excuse
only works so many times...

Curt.
-- 
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RE: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Jon Berndt
   There might be a yaw rate effect too.  When the aircraft is yawing,
   the wingtip going back also sees a higher AoA and will drop if it
is
   past the stall.  Same deal.  The snap roll needs a stalled down
   wingtip to get the divergence, in any case.

 That makes sense -- thanks.


There's also the shadowing of an inboard portion of one wing as beta gets
larger. Don't know if that is part of the effect, tho'.

Jon



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Description: application/pkcs7-signature


Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Tony Peden
On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 15:26, Andy Ross wrote:
 David Megginson wrote:
  I found it easier simply to picture different 2D sections of the
  wing stalling at different times, but I can see how your explanation
  might lead to a programmatic solution faster.
 
 Right, but what is it about different secions of the wing stalling at
 different times that causes the aircraft to snap roll?  That's the
 part that was non-obvious to me.  You get the snap roll effect even
 when there is no dihedral or sweep, in situations where the wing
 should be stalling symettrically.
 
 It happens because when the aircraft is rolling (even a little bit),
 one wing is going down and the other up.  This causes a difference in
 AoA at the tips.  If the wing tips are stalled, then the wing going
 down is pushed farther into the stall, while the one going up sees a
 lift recovery.  So the net effect is that the aircraft tries to roll
 *into* the existing roll direction.  That's an unstable situation
 (like a ball sitting at the top of a hill), and it will diverge if the
 roll rate has any non-zero value.
 
 The more common explanation for washout (that the ailerons are
 masked by the tip stall) is incorrect.


Hmm, I think that depends mostly on how the flow separation progresses
forward on outboad part of the wing.  If it's very sudden, then you are
probably right. If not, then preservation of roll control could well be
the reason.


   The snap roll doesn't happen
 because of aileron authority, it happens because the aircraft is
 literally unstable in roll.  Aileron authority can obviously help to
 recover, but the tendency to roll off into a divergent snap roll is
 the real effect, and it is a different behavior from the normal roll
 stability of the aircraft in typical conditions.
 
  Isn't the snap roll usually uncoordinated?  I've never done aerobatics
  myself.  If it is, then I wonder what the role of the uncoordination
  is.
 
 If there is any wing sweep or dihedral, then a non-zero yaw angle also
 changes the relative AoA of the wings to produce the same effect.  If
 you apply full rudder on such an aircraft, then you don't need to pull
 up the nose as far to get the down wing tip stalled.
 
 There might be a yaw rate effect too.  When the aircraft is yawing,
 the wingtip going back also sees a higher AoA and will drop if it is
 past the stall.  Same deal.  The snap roll needs a stalled down
 wingtip to get the divergence, in any case.
 
 Andy
-- 
Tony Peden
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
We all know Linux is great ... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds. 
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RE: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-06 Thread Tony Peden
On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 17:54, Curtis L. Olson wrote:
 Jon Berndt writes:
 There might be a yaw rate effect too.  When the aircraft is yawing,
 the wingtip going back also sees a higher AoA and will drop if it
  is
 past the stall.  Same deal.  The snap roll needs a stalled down
 wingtip to get the divergence, in any case.
  
   That makes sense -- thanks.
  
  
  There's also the shadowing of an inboard portion of one wing as beta gets
  larger. Don't know if that is part of the effect, tho'.
 
 What about virtual yarn?
 
 X-Plane does something like this and it look like it would be a pretty
 cool effect.
 
 http://x-plane.com/images/cola.jpg
 
 This doesn't mean we'd need to do exactly the same thing, but the idea
 of graphically representing what the internal flight dynamics is
 calculating is kind of nifty ...

Hmm, this is getting dangerously close to that old dream of real-time
CFD ...

 
 Curt.
-- 
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RE: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-05 Thread Ryan Larson
quoteI understand that many higher-performance aircraft can have quite
violent (and even unrecoverable) stalls, as can some trainers like the
Traumahawk/quote

I have to disagree with that quote.. I did the first 40 hours of my training
in a Tomahawk, and I was never able to get a wing to drop.. I know they
added some little strips on the leading edge of the wings about half way
down to help cause a mild stall before a full fledged stall would occur.

The worst stall I have been involved with was in a Cessna 172 where the
right wing dropped extremely quickly to about 75 degrees, while my
instructor was trying to show me how docile the 172 is.  I am not sure if he
had to much left rudder or something, but it wasn't very docile.  I
personally have not had any problems in the following aircraft during any
type of stall.  Just remember to keep them coordinated and you should never
have any problems.

Piper
Tomahawk
Warrior
Archer
Arrow
Cessna
172
172RG

Ryan



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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-02 Thread Luke Scharf
On Thu, 2003-01-02 at 13:35, Andy Ross wrote:
 This might be enough to fix your problem -- you could still get a
 viscious asymettric stall with violent control input, but gentle
 motion of the yoke wouldn't be able to pull the nose high enough.

That sounds about right to me.  In the Cessna 172 that I fly, you can
get some exciting nose-drop behavior in a power-on stall, or with a more
abrupt control movement.  But, if the aircraft is lightly loaded (200lb
pilot, 30gal fuel) and you do a power-off stall gently, you just hear it
go in and out of the buffet every few second while you descend smoothly.

I've flown several incipient spins (with an instructor,
un/cross-coordinated power-on stall) in the Cessna 172  and they were
quite exciting.  :-)

-Luke

-- 
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http://www.ccm.ece.vt.edu/~lscharf


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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-02 Thread David Megginson
Andy:

Thanks for the suggestions -- I will try them all out, especially the
elevator adjustments.

It is worth noting, however, that even when I have succeeded in
getting a sharp nose drop in a power-off stall on a 172, I have not
seen a wing drop.  You get a bit of roll with a power-on stall, and
you can get a strong wing drop sometimes in a departure (banked)
stall, but even when the nose drops like a roller coaster in a 172,
the wings stay pretty-much level.

I know that in a real plane the wing root stalls first because it has
a higher incidence angle than the wing tips -- would that account for
the roll stability in a stall, even with the sharp pitching down?


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-01 Thread David Megginson
Luke Scharf writes:

  I've had the same experience in the Cessna 172E Skyhawk that I fly.
  I can add this to Dave's observations: I haven't been able to cause
  the nose to drop in an attempted descending power-off turn stall.
  Some at Cessna did a GREAT job with this aircraft!

Did you try the stall cross-controlled?  Note that I'm not
recommending that, since it can put you inverted.

  BUT, I've never tried to stall a C-172E fully loaded -- I fly in the
  utility category most of the time.  So, our observations may not be
  valid, depending on how the simulated aircraft is loaded.
 
  How is the model in question balanced?

We have it loaded and balanced in or near utility, I think.


All the best,


David

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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-01 Thread Luke Scharf
On Wed, 2003-01-01 at 12:35, David Megginson wrote:
 Luke Scharf writes:
 
   I've had the same experience in the Cessna 172E Skyhawk that I fly.
   I can add this to Dave's observations: I haven't been able to cause
   the nose to drop in an attempted descending power-off turn stall.
   Some at Cessna did a GREAT job with this aircraft!
 
 Did you try the stall cross-controlled?  Note that I'm not
 recommending that, since it can put you inverted.

I kept it as well coordinated as I possibly could!

At my current level of piloting skill, I'm not going to intentionally
spin an airplane without a graybearded instructor or a parachute!

   BUT, I've never tried to stall a C-172E fully loaded -- I fly in the
   utility category most of the time.  So, our observations may not be
   valid, depending on how the simulated aircraft is loaded.
  
   How is the model in question balanced?
 
 We have it loaded and balanced in or near utility, I think.

Cool - so it should be fairly close to the way I fly the aircraft.

On another note, is there any possibility of adding a way to change the
loading of an airplane?  It would be interesting to be able to do
something like:
  fgfs  --aircraft-type=c172r-3d-yasim \
--aircraft-loading=fuel=38gal,frontseat=200lb,baggage=400lb
and then do crazy things in the simulated aircraft.

-Luke


-- 
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http://www.ccm.ece.vt.edu/~lscharf


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Re: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-01 Thread David Megginson
Luke Scharf writes:

  At my current level of piloting skill, I'm not going to intentionally
  spin an airplane without a graybearded instructor or a parachute!

The Piper Warrior isn't even spin-certified, unlike the 172.

  Cool - so it should be fairly close to the way I fly the aircraft.
  
  On another note, is there any possibility of adding a way to change the
  loading of an airplane?  It would be interesting to be able to do
  something like:
fgfs   --aircraft-type=c172r-3d-yasim \
   --aircraft-loading=fuel=38gal,frontseat=200lb,baggage=400lb
  and then do crazy things in the simulated aircraft.

Yes, it is possible, but it's complicated and a big FDM-specific right
now.  I agree that it would be a good learning experience to let
people try flying with, say, the CG way too far aft.


All the best,


David

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RE: [Flightgear-devel] Problem: unrealistic YASim stalls

2003-01-01 Thread Jon Berndt
 On another note, is there any possibility of adding a way to change the
 loading of an airplane?  It would be interesting to be able to do
 something like:
   fgfs--aircraft-type=c172r-3d-yasim \
   --aircraft-loading=fuel=38gal,frontseat=200lb,baggage=400lb
 and then do crazy things in the simulated aircraft.

You can do this with the JSBSim planes using the POINT_MASS item in the
config file.

Jon



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