Somebody please tell me...

[Chips86]

...where the hell I'm going wrong on the cross country quick mission. Its the one where you fly the blenheim to france. My problem is whenever i go to take off the plane veers violently to the right, ending up going at pretty much a 45 degree angle to the runway, making it impossible for me to take off.

I'm not usuing complex engine management, and heres my takeoff procedure:

1) Turn engines on
2) Throttle up gently, brakes on
3) Release brakes at about 50 percent throttle, carry on throttling up while rolling
4) Veer to the right, crashing into trees/buildings/hangars/pretty much anything.

I really cannot understand why its doing this. I have tried trimming the rudder to full left - no effect. I have looked for a chock release button but cant find one...is this a bug or am i doing something wrong?

[whoarmongar]

tap ur brakes with full left rudder to keep straight. use less left engine, tho i dont know if you can do this without CEM

[brando]

Lock tail-wheel? Trimming the rudder only has an effect when you have enough speed (air over wing) to affect the control surfaces. Try a different method:

1. Lock tail-wheel
2. Start engines (Remember to use Select all Engines once they're both running)
3. Extend flaps as required.
4. Ease throttle(s) up to 60% and roll, holding the stick back to keep the tail wheel on the ground
5. Once you're rolling smooth ease the throttle(s) to 75% and push the stick forward to raise the tail. At this point you will need to correct any tendency to wander by using the rudder.
6 Keep easing the throttle(s) on until the plane lifts.

[Chips86]

I cannot find a lock tail wheel command...is it the same as lock tail skid?

[whoarmongar]

You trim left rudder coz when you spawn its auto trimmed right.
You left rudder with taping brakes coz wheel brakes are on your flight yoke
simple works every time.
you dont need flaps they just slow you down.

[justme262]

I think the key is to very slowly open the throttle as you move down the runway. Only getting to full throttle as you reach the end of the runway and lift off.

I open the throttle just enough to get the Blenheim rolling. Once I'm fast enough for the rudder to have an effect I deselect one engine and go to full power with the other engine. This gets me going quit fast and as I reach the end of the runway I am finally going fast enough to open both engines to full throttle and lift off.

I have never tried without CEM ON though.

I have no idea how realistic this amount of torque is. Seem excessive to me but if it's realistic then fine. It is certainly an achievement to take off!

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by brando

Lock tail-wheel? Trimming the rudder only has an effect when you have enough speed (air over wing) to affect the control surfaces. Try a different method:

1. Lock tail-wheel
2. Start engines (Remember to use Select all Engines once they're both running)
3. Extend flaps as required.
4. Ease throttle(s) up to 60% and roll, holding the stick back to keep the tail wheel on the ground
5. Once you're rolling smooth ease the throttle(s) to 75% and push the stick forward to raise the tail. At this point you will need to correct any tendency to wander by using the rudder.
6 Keep easing the throttle(s) on until the plane lifts.

Many aircraft in the sim don't have lockable tailwheels, if the real thing didn't have it it's not in the sim either. I didn't try locking it in the Blenheim, but chances are it has a free castoring tailwheel with no locking capability, like most of the other aircraft.

Also, the flaps only have two positions: full up and full down (too much drag, only for landing). This the reason the AI maniacally flips between up and down flaps if you set the autopilot on, it's the only way to get partial flaps


On another note, the stock cross country mission is unsuitable for the Blenheim: the runway is short and there's also a crosswind pulling you to the right (same way as the engines) which exacerbates the torque problem.

I can take off fine with the default loadout that has nothing in the bomb bays, but try it with four 250lb bombs and you'll see exactly what i mean

[whoarmongar]

In cross country mission with full bomb load in blenny
Engine heat managment is crucial
You have to be warm enough for power, but get too hot and your engine blows.
Oil temp is not a problem
Its them dials over your right shoulder you have to watch
also starting the engines sometimes takes a few goes (CEM)
I ALWAYS start the port (left) engine first, the reason is it is less needed for takeoff
The strbd (Right) engine has to use a bit more throttle and if you start it first it can overheat.
Tapping your brakes full left rudder will keep you inline until your fast enough for your control surfaces to work.
Stupid to keep tapping your brakes whilst trying to speed up I know, what can I say it just works.
once your rolling and tail up slide the prop pitch a bit coarser to reduce your revs
Wheels up and throttle back to save engines ASAP
once airborn it flies quite nice, 210mph level @sealevel, loops easy. rolls 360 in about 8-9 secs
If you plod along at about 75% power, coarse pitch (not quite full coarse) nothing will ever blow, shes good as gold, just watch for clouds and be ready on your heat buttons.
Landing is so easy flaps, fine pitch,throttle back just drive her into the ground and flare late.
Im actually wondering if whilst flying this bird if you were attacked from behind/below by 109 you could loop it giving your top gunner an angle and I maybe with the 109 proppitch problems could it get a shot at you ? would like to try that sometime.

[Blackdog_kt]

Actually the props are not fully variable, they are two-speed props. The slider animation is wrong (it should snap between top and bottom position like it does in the Spit Mk.I for example) and this gets many people confused, but if you fiddle with the prop pitch while the engines are still off you can see the blades changing pitch and you'll see it only has two positions:
The bottom of the pitch slider's travel range corresponds to full coarse pitch, everything above that is full fine pitch.

In other words, setting pitch about 50% of the way has no effect whatsoever, it's still running at full fine.

Mixture should be similar, it's only normal (auto rich) and weak (auto lean), but i don't know if it works like that and it's just another slider bug, or if it works like a fully adjustable manual mixture control which would be wrong, since i have no way of knowing/confirming what mixture i'm running.

Also, the flaps should be more like the Hurricane with up, down and center positions for the flap controls, meaning that we should be able to get partial flaps. When the outboard fuel tanks are loaded 15 degrees of flaps is recommended.

The following are subject to how close the in-game CEM and FM is to the real thing:
Cowl flaps should be open on the ground to prevent overheating during taxi, about half-way open during climb and fully closed during cruise/level flight because they still allow enough airflow through at higher speeds to provide sufficient cooling. The Mk.V manual i managed to dig up via google even goes as far as specifying fully closed cowl flaps for take off.

Changing from fine to coarse pitch should be done almost immediately after take off at a speed of 120 mph IAS, while keeping the aircraft level (no climbing) to accelerate as fast as possible and help with engine cooling.

Climbing speed is 150 mph IAS up to 10000ft (subtract 10mph for every 5000ft above that), and single-engine safety speed is 120-140mph (manual says 120, a vintage article i once saw says 140, you can probably climb with some care if you get 140 to run the circuit and land).


This is all straight from the pilot's operating handbook which i sadly can't link here for copyright reasons (wouldn't want the forum admins getting in trouble).

I do however have a thread where i copied some of the Blenheim Mk.V manual parts, i will go and update that one with the corrected information: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=23192

[whoarmongar]

Excellent research and info on RL aircraft Blackdog
However the crux of the matter is what is implemented and working in game
The flaps are wrong
the prop pitch is wrong
If I try to fly with the cowl flaps closed I fry the engine
So its just another broken bird
This game hardly deserves such a dedicated knowledgable fan base
It certainly doesnt deserve the title "sim"
Its more a sin