Laminar Research X-Plane 8 Part 2 Page 9

By SimHQ on June 17, 2005 in _air4, hide

After firing off my ordnance I’m light enough to sustain a hover. Transitioning from full forward flight to a hover is a tricky affair that requires a fair amount of practice. A gradual transition occurs from high speed flight to the hover where less and less lift is generated by the wings and ever increasing downward thrust from the lift nozzles is required to stay airborne. Control response gets sluggish and care must be taken to keep enough power in to prevent excessive and irrecoverable sink rates. Approaching a frigate off the coast of Los Angeles I use the transparent cockpit view to keep an eye on my landing area while jockeying all of the controls. It really is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time!

After several abortive attempts I finally manage to ease down onto the landing pad, quickly chopping the power to allow the plane to settle firmly onto the deck. Add in some gusty winds and change the settings in X-Plane to set the seas to 8 or 9 feet (or more!) and you’ll have a pitching and rolling deck to contend with as well!