active EA-7 Edgley Optica constant roll left and slow elevator trim

[VaderPaw]

Optica seems to be rolling left when airborne.

 

Additionally, the elevator trim is sluggish, takes a lot on bravo throttle to effect the trim.

 

I am using TCA joystick, bravo throttle and Logitech rudder pedals.

 

I tried to play with sensitivities but alas no fix.

 

Unable to determine the cause, is it hardware or software (model).

 

ref: Flight Simulation forum

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by VaderPaw
URL edit

[John Dow]

Confirm that your flight model is Modern not Legacy.

 

I have no tendency to roll in flight.

 

Some find the elevator control too sluggish, the quick fix is to change the sensitivities in your Controls in MSFS, and save as an Optica profile.  DOn't just save generally or your Asobo aircraft will be far too skittish.  I used 25% for roll and 50% for pitch when I set my profile, however I now use FSUIPC.

 

If you have FSUIPC you can tailor the sensitivities and save for each aircraft, the thing to remember is you need to disable the MSFS control that you are setting up in FSUIPC.  So far I have only set the three primary control axes as the rest all seem to work well enough in MSFS.

[VaderPaw]

1 hour ago, John Dow said:

Confirm that your flight model is Modern not Legacy.

 

I have no tendency to roll in flight.

 

Some find the elevator control too sluggish, the quick fix is to change the sensitivities in your Controls in MSFS, and save as an Optica profile.  DOn't just save generally or your Asobo aircraft will be far too skittish.  I used 25% for roll and 50% for pitch when I set my profile, however I now use FSUIPC.

 

If you have FSUIPC you can tailor the sensitivities and save for each aircraft, the thing to remember is you need to disable the MSFS control that you are setting up in FSUIPC.  So far I have only set the three primary control axes as the rest all seem to work well enough in MSFS.

Thanks for the reply and the suggestions.

 

The Modern flight model was set.

 

I changed the sensitivities as suggested.

 

I do not use the FSUIPC for control management.

 

This did not fix the issues.

 

I have also replaced TCA throttle with alpha yoke, to test, unfortunately no change.

It seems as there is a roll force applied to the plane, rather strange.

 

[Guest Ells]

We do have reports of a slight roll to the left and are investigating it.

[pilot100]

Just a thought, I  have noticed a slight tendency to roll left - only slight. I have set the weights and balance but only one pilot no other person in the cockpit. I am wondering if this is enough asymmetrical weight to cause a slight left roll. No idea if the real a/c has this. I did not notice the left roll when I had the default weights and balance which I think includes a copilot but I have not really investigated this properly as yet.

 

As I say just a thought.

[John Dow]

1 hour ago, pilot100 said:

Just a thought, I  have noticed a slight tendency to roll left - only slight. I have set the weights and balance but only one pilot no other person in the cockpit. I am wondering if this is enough asymmetrical weight to cause a slight left roll. No idea if the real a/c has this. I did not notice the left roll when I had the default weights and balance which I think includes a copilot but I have not really investigated this properly as yet.

 

As I say just a thought.

I imagine flying the Optica requires constant input, a lot of it subconscious same as steering a car. With hand on the stick you would be constantly correcting slightly for eddies in the air even on a calm day. It's not a model I would expect to be able to fly hands off 

[pilot100]

Hi John, 

In general I totally agree with your comments,  however if you put a 70Kilo passenger in the Optica she flys without any bias (just tried it). The Jabiru does not seem to have the same issue so just wondering if there is something that needs a little tweaking. Like I said in the other post it's not a real big issue and I'm not 'bagging' the aircraft at all, it was just an issue raised by a couple of people, for all I know the real plane may behave just like this.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

[John Dow]

On 7/9/2021 at 4:35 PM, pilot100 said:

Hi John, 

In general I totally agree with your comments,  however if you put a 70Kilo passenger in the Optica she flys without any bias (just tried it). The Jabiru does not seem to have the same issue so just wondering if there is something that needs a little tweaking. Like I said in the other post it's not a real big issue and I'm not 'bagging' the aircraft at all, it was just an issue raised by a couple of people, for all I know the real plane may behave just like this.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

 

 

The Optica in real life doesn't have any aileron trim as far as I know.  So the aircraft would be manually configured for desired trim by the mechanic on the ground, which I imagine is trial and error.

 

The pilot is left of c.o.g.so without any trim the plane will tend to bank left.  Put a counterweight in the far seat and obviously the balance will be restored.  I imagine that each aircraft would be tailored to its most useful configuration, if a passenger is often carried, no tweaking, if the pilot mostly flies alone he might request bias be introduced.

 

Either way, flying a stick aircraft will generally make this tendency invisible as subconsciously the pilot will be compensating constantly throughout the flight.

[jalbrech]

On 6/10/2021 at 10:52 PM, VaderPaw said:

Optica seems to be rolling left when airborne.

 

Additionally, the elevator trim is sluggish, takes a lot on bravo throttle to effect the trim.

 

I am using TCA joystick, bravo throttle and Logitech rudder pedals.

 

I tried to play with sensitivities but alas no fix.

 

Unable to determine the cause, is it hardware or software (model).

 

ref: Flight Simulation forum

 

I figured out the roll to the left. By default, the pilot's weight (170 lbs I believe) is set to the left seat. There is no one in the far right passenger seat. If you put the equivalent weight to the far right passenger ... the roll will stop. It took me a while to figure this out!

[pilot100]

Or, seeing as this is a simulator, you could just set the pilots to a weight of 10 kg (25ibs) and that should do it too. Hard to do in real life though.....

[Intedeco]

Adding a passenger with 70 LBS fixed the roll. However, I still have issues on take of. Throttle goes back almost to zero and have to lift the plane constantly till it reaches about 1000 FT above ground and then the throttle starts working normal. Any suggestions?

[John Dow]

18 hours ago, Intedeco said:

Adding a passenger with 70 LBS fixed the roll. However, I still have issues on take of. Throttle goes back almost to zero and have to lift the plane constantly till it reaches about 1000 FT above ground and then the throttle starts working normal. Any suggestions?

 

If the throttle is moving by itself it indicates a conflict or an incorrect setting ion the Controls.

 

If you use FSUIPC check that you don't have the throttle mapped in FSUIPC and MSFS.

 

I have a button mapped to the Hold Reverse Thrust setting and if I hold it down in a few of the GA prop planes like the Optica the throttle does go back to zero.

 

Confirm that the throttle lever on the console moves back to zero, or do you mean power just seems to be lost?  If it's the latter, then you might be using incorrect takeoff technique.  You need to lift off at 60-65kts but hold it close to the runway until you see 75 kts and then only climb gently at 500 fpm.