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FSX - AI aircraft ground steering

Fern

Fern

Messages
537
Country
canada
Hi, all
I have a plane, my own creation, that flies just fine. It is a tail dragger and it steers on the ground just fine, too.

But I made an AI traffic for it, and it doesn't steer well on the ground at all, curves way too wide. Following a tip that I don't know where I found, I used FSEdit to change the max angle of the tail wheel. It was at 70 and I changed it to 89. It made the plane, as a user plane, work just fine, but when used as an AI aircraft it is marginally better but still doesn't make the turns tight enough (all over the grass, inside buildings...).

Does anyone know a fix for this?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Do you have any evidence that the tail wheel is rotating/steering enough?
Just because you increased the total max angle does not mean it is actually doing that.
I'd be inclined to look at the amount of steer angle commanded by the sim rather than try to change anything on the plane
Roy
 
Hi, Roy, thanks for the reply.
Two things: first, where would that be done and second, is it desirable to change a native part of FS to accommodate a problem that only affects an aeroplane or two? Most planes work fine. Unless it is a problem with all tail draggers.

If anyone knows, let me know.

Thanks
 
Tail draggers are going to be worse than trikes for several reasons.
First they are inherently unstable in yaw when taxying.
Second, I believe AI planes are steered by keeping the steer wheel on the taxying centerline.
So, a nose wheel would lead the plane on entering a turn and the main wheels would follow equally spaced from the line.
A tail wheel would also turn as it reaches the bend, but the main wheels would not be equally spaced from the line, the inside one would be closer than the outside one, so the plane would lag the turn and maybe have issues staying on the taxiway.

You can see the value of AI plane variables if you have a gauge that can select the plane concerned and read the variable using the sim traffic C values.
Roy
 
Hi, Roy, thanks for your input. Problem remains, though.

I tested a few other tail draggers, including the Microsoft Maule M7, and it does exactly the same thing: turns while taxiing way too wide, totally unreasonable.

Does anyone else have observed the same problem with Traffic using tail draggers?

Thank you very much.
 
You would be better served to ask the question in the Living World and AI forum.
There is a thread there about AI turning circle similar to yours though it concerns seaplanes.
In general AI planes often have horrid flight characteristics even though when flown as piloted they are not so bad. And tail draggers on the ground are different than trikes.
Roy
 
Roger that, Roy. I looked, but didn't find it. I'll go there.

Thanks.
 
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