OldCrow47

The elusive wheelie I have no idea what proper procedures are but I have finally succeeded. I keep airspeed around 120 with the tail a bit low. Exercise patience and back off power slowly as I 'feel' for the runway. As the wheels lightly find earth back off power steadily and let the tail come down. Then plant the tailwheel firmly and all the while stay on the rudder. It's that sense of lightly touching the runway that's important to me. I guess the hard part is knowing where the surface is and NOT drop onto it causing the bounces. I have only done this so far with default fuel load. Sure is cool when you realise you just did it!! -Jim

This from Dudley Henriques, P-51 pilot This was posted over at A2A's forum so please forgive the A2A references. Mr Henriques is a modern day P-51 pilot and the insight he gives us will be no surprise to many but I am hoping it will benefit others. I find it a very good study. ...Jim "I've been reading a lot of posting concerning the function of rudder trim on the Mustang as that relates to its takeoff behavior. After reading some of the posts I realize that this subject might need some clarification. I hope the following information proves useful and helps toward a better understanding of what is involved in a Mustang takeoff. There is one overwhelming point about the rudder trim on the 51 that should be completely understood by everyone. That 6 degrees of right rudder trim is NOT pre-set before takeoff to solve the forces acting on the aircraft during the takeoff run. You do that with rudder and aileron used in conjunction with a COMPLETE understanding of airspeed and how increasing airspeed increases dynamic pressure on the control surfaces. What that 6 degrees right trim ACTUALLY gives you is an optimally trimmed out airplane at 46 inches and 2700RPM which is your first power reduction AFTER takeoff. The takeoff roll in a Mustang is a very complex event control wise. There are several forces in play and they vary in intensity at various airspeeds as your speed increases. To get it all just right in FSX so that the result is a realistic experience for the sim pilot has been a daunting task for the A2A flight model team. In my opinion they did a super job on this! You begin your takeoff in a Mustang with the stick aft of neutral to lock the tail wheel but this doesn't last a long time because as the airplane accelerates the tail wants to come up naturally and you don't want to keep that stick back too long because at the angle of attack that produces, lift is developing VERY fast as speed increases and you can easily reach a rotation point on the lift curve where the airplane will fly before you have sufficient airspeed. This situation in a Mustang is extremely dangerous as power is high, angle of attack is high, and you don't have enough airspeed yet to develop the dynamic pressure on the control surfaces you need to deal with the tremendous forces attempting to both yaw and roll the airplane. This is the exact situation that causes torque roll and has killed many a P51 pilot who didn't have a working knowledge of this airplane. So pitch wise you have to play your takeoffs by starting with the stick back, then GENTLY FLYING the stick forward EASILY to bleed off some of that angle of attack and keep rotation from occurring before reaching rotation airspeed. Now while all this is happening in pitch, you have other forces acting on the aircraft as POWER is increased so you have to deal with this AS you are dealing with the pitch. The 51 is a whole new airplane as it passes 30 inches. In the real Mustang I always treated takeoff in two distinct segments but blended them together smoothly at the transition point. I powered up slowly to 30 inches with the stick back and let the aircraft accelerate. During this period P Factor is the highest due to the 3 point attitude asymmetrical difference between the right and left halves of the prop disk in operation with a relative wind NOT in line with the airplane's fuselage reference line. This is where you begin to feel the need for a right rudder correction. It's important to note that the spiraling slipstream being created by the prop at low airspeed is very tight and maximized on the side of the vertical stabilizer and rudder. As speed increases the slipstream elongates out a bit and the force its producing lightens somewhat…………but not by much! As the tail begins to feel light and you have some airspeed over the control surfaces you are now ready to begin dealing with gyroscopic precession. This occurs as the propeller disk is in ROTATION in PITCH as the nose comes down. (It also occurs as you rotate the nose UP at rotation but is not as noticeable in reverse due to your higher airspeed). You CAREFULLY allow the nose to come down while ANTICIPATING a right rudder correction for any left yaw. Of course while all this is happening you also have a tight slipstream spiral against the vertical stabilizer helping induce MORE left yaw. Same correction; right rudder. Now here's the rub. As you get the power on up past 30 inches you begin to pick up TORQUE. Since torque is a ROLL correction NOT a rudder correction, you will need right aileron to take some of that extra load off the left main gear strut as the engine torque tries to flatten the left main gear tire against the runway. Of note here as well is the fact that your left main gear wheel is actually helping you with torque correction. Understanding this has saved a few lives in the 51 when pilots found themselves in a go-around situation running out of runway. "holding it down" with high power applied till the last moment allows that wheel to help the pilot as he claws for needed airspeed before rotating the go-around. The kicker with aileron correction is that you need dynamic pressure on the ailerons to correct for the torque and if you reach a power setting that starts feeding in torque to your takeoff equation that your airspeed in the takeoff run (dynamic pressure AVAILABLE to the ailerons) isn't sufficient to handle, you won't have aileron available to help with the torque. It's notable that the amount of required right aileron for torque correction will vary somewhat in the A2A Mustangs as the inertia forces are changed a bit between the mil and civ versions. So don't just throw in a lot of right aileron. Let the airplane TELL YOU what it needs then give that to the airplane. This goes for BOTH aileron and rudder correction. The AIRPLANE will TELL YOU what it wants!!!!! Fly this way and you'll do just fine. So as you can see, the name of the game in a Mustang takeoff is complex control input based on you completely understanding the power/airspeed equation. As you can see, the P51 is NOT your vanilla GA light airplane. The A2A flight model team worked long and hard in seeing to it that all of you who purchased the Mustang were given as close to a realistic experience as possible. Torque roll is modeled so be careful out there. You screw up on takeoff and there just might be a price to pay ))))) I hope this small tutorial helps all of you to a better understanding of these highly complex issues. A2A has invested a LOT of effort in your Mustang development. I sincerely hope you use your P51 not only as a fun machine but as well as an educational tool designed to give you a better understanding of the world of high performance flying."

Effte's point is that the P-51 here should be somewhat easier to operate than it is. It would certainly seem so. Pilots in WWII transitioned to new fighters in very short time. Something like here read this, take the test, then we will give you a verbal exam and BTW take-off is Thursday. But, don't make broad sweeping generalizations like he did. Example, the F-104 is a military aircraft. Do you think that statement applies? Was it not, as were all MDS, designed for a specific mission? Certainly not dumbed down to lowest common human denominator. (F-104 is an MDS...mission design series in the jargon of the military.) I have struggled for hours learning to handle this P-51 on taxi and take-off. Pilots in WWII had their hands full if the sim is accurate!!! I would not have survived the training. Now, it's not so tough after learning not to overdo the control inputs and keep up my timing with the aircraft. Once in the air, I never lost an aircraft. Landing is easy if you pay attention and fly by the numbers. The patch hasn't changed much for me beyond better taxiing control. Just first impression, I need lots more time. -Jim

NOT that it matters but, I think this statement is ridiculous. Nice thought though.

I don't wish to defend nor attack the flame effect but unless you are very close to the exhaust you shouldn't see it under normal daylight conditions. My opinion, while it is a cool effect to watch, wouldn't the video resources be put to better use somewhere else? Perhaps a little of this effect at engine start then cut it out until light levels are low. But then that takes more code and resources doesn't it? Above all, this is a beta and our devs are just showing off aren't they. Giving you all something pick at. Kind of fun wouldn't you say. Cheers and regards, Jim :pilotfly:<<---I like this silly thing

My 2 cents Now isn't the P-51 laminar flow wing design even more sensitive to AoA and accelerated stall? I have read where it will stall and roll over with next to no warning. If true then a RW pilot just has to know and feel the airplane. Waiting for an instrument to tell him he is stalling would be useless. Since we sim pilots sit in a RW chair we are at a big disadvantage in that we can't feel the aircraft (enter FF). So, no substitute for experience and stick time. Just like TO and landing...practice and more practice. So many combat sims had aircraft you could yank the stick around like crazy and fly like something out of an old arcade game. NOT any more, we have to fly much more intelligently and let go of the yank and bank mentality. It really is a challenge to fly the Mustang, isn't it? Jim

My trim wheels are mapped to hat switches with rudder trim and trim reset on same hat. Also fuel selector switch is on a hat. Feels good to me and makes my flying very enjoyable. If you want to work it any other way, that's just fine too. I find myself looking down and watching the controls move anyway and find that odd of me. Loving the Mustang and DCS! Jim

Go to "free flight" so I can try the lesson objective again on my own. I was wishing I could last night!! Jim