Tenth Crack at stablizing the F-18 and providing a good flight experience.
Ver 1
Added Elevons with 170% defelection
Added Elevator Mix to Slats
Added Elevator Mix to Flaps
Added Elevator Mix to Rudders - VTail
Added Elevator Mix to Ailerons - Negative at high deflection
Ver 2
Fixed broken slat mixes - Slats only deploy above 50%.
Reduced Elevator Flap Mix from 50% to 30%.
Added Flap - Elevator Mix to reduce pitch change caused by flaps.
Ver 3.
Changed VTail to be total elevator control for first 30% of elevator and then elevons kick in. Noticed this watching F-18 carrier launches on YouTube. this also makes things naturally more sensitive at the center of the stick.
Removed some elevator flap mix.
Adjusted elevons to prevent need for up elevator trim.
Smoke to wing tips.
50% expo on ailerons
Ver 4.
Added 5 degrees washout to the wings.
Removed all elevator flap mix
The washout seems to counter the tip stall at most speed ranges.
Ver 5.
Okay, I give.. it seems every change to the flight surfaces results in a change of the speed at which tip stall induced roll occurs. It is rather gentel now, and an aileron gyro removes this problem with minimal impact on roll speed.
Hopefully I'm done with the roll axis and can now concentrate on yaw and trimming the yaw axis.
Ver 7.
Added some mixes to prevent pitch when deploying flaps.
Added some engine trim to prevent pitch when apply throttle.
The aircraft is now good at low speed especially when landing.
Ver 8.
Moved airbrake to Idle up 3 pos switch ( many requests for this )
Removed some flap elevator trim to prevent hard pitch down with flaps. Please note there is some pitch down with flaps but the flight path should remain the same. With flaps full down the (no bombs or extra weight) F-18 flies a bit nose down.
Ver 10.
Added the elevator gyro back in to help stablize the plane when transitioning from highalpha to normal flight. Version 8 and below tended to snap back to their normal flight path and it was rather abrupt ( which is normal ). However adding the elevator gyro gives the plane much more predictable behavior when transitioning from high AOA to normal flight. Just a better experience over all. Also added a curve on the throttle to make it more sensitive at the bottom. This makes it easier to setup landings. With the new elevator gyro you get her lined up and setup the nose at about 9 degrees up and then just work the throttle. 15% should get you very close to a gentle glide slope. Simply work the throttle to inscrease or decrease the descent rate. The extra sensitivity at the bottom of the throttle will make this easier.
The speed ranges of the plane are wildle. She can be flow very fast and then slow down and turned on a dime. With flaps down she is almost floaty with no changes to weight or wing loading. Land with some power.. but only a touch. For those that think this is too floaty, please remember this is a clean F-18 with no external fuel, bombs or missles.
Please leave suggestions and give feedback.
I am going to continue to refine things, however I would like some input.
PS. If you're going to rate me a 5.. please tell me why.. leave feedback.
Ver 1
Added Elevons with 170% defelection
Added Elevator Mix to Slats
Added Elevator Mix to Flaps
Added Elevator Mix to Rudders - VTail
Added Elevator Mix to Ailerons - Negative at high deflection
Ver 2
Fixed broken slat mixes - Slats only deploy above 50%.
Reduced Elevator Flap Mix from 50% to 30%.
Added Flap - Elevator Mix to reduce pitch change caused by flaps.
Ver 3.
Changed VTail to be total elevator control for first 30% of elevator and then elevons kick in. Noticed this watching F-18 carrier launches on YouTube. this also makes things naturally more sensitive at the center of the stick.
Removed some elevator flap mix.
Adjusted elevons to prevent need for up elevator trim.
Smoke to wing tips.
50% expo on ailerons
Ver 4.
Added 5 degrees washout to the wings.
Removed all elevator flap mix
The washout seems to counter the tip stall at most speed ranges.
Ver 5.
Okay, I give.. it seems every change to the flight surfaces results in a change of the speed at which tip stall induced roll occurs. It is rather gentel now, and an aileron gyro removes this problem with minimal impact on roll speed.
Hopefully I'm done with the roll axis and can now concentrate on yaw and trimming the yaw axis.
Ver 7.
Added some mixes to prevent pitch when deploying flaps.
Added some engine trim to prevent pitch when apply throttle.
The aircraft is now good at low speed especially when landing.
Ver 8.
Moved airbrake to Idle up 3 pos switch ( many requests for this )
Removed some flap elevator trim to prevent hard pitch down with flaps. Please note there is some pitch down with flaps but the flight path should remain the same. With flaps full down the (no bombs or extra weight) F-18 flies a bit nose down.
Ver 10.
Added the elevator gyro back in to help stablize the plane when transitioning from highalpha to normal flight. Version 8 and below tended to snap back to their normal flight path and it was rather abrupt ( which is normal ). However adding the elevator gyro gives the plane much more predictable behavior when transitioning from high AOA to normal flight. Just a better experience over all. Also added a curve on the throttle to make it more sensitive at the bottom. This makes it easier to setup landings. With the new elevator gyro you get her lined up and setup the nose at about 9 degrees up and then just work the throttle. 15% should get you very close to a gentle glide slope. Simply work the throttle to inscrease or decrease the descent rate. The extra sensitivity at the bottom of the throttle will make this easier.
The speed ranges of the plane are wildle. She can be flow very fast and then slow down and turned on a dime. With flaps down she is almost floaty with no changes to weight or wing loading. Land with some power.. but only a touch. For those that think this is too floaty, please remember this is a clean F-18 with no external fuel, bombs or missles.
Please leave suggestions and give feedback.
I am going to continue to refine things, however I would like some input.
PS. If you're going to rate me a 5.. please tell me why.. leave feedback.
