How to Takeoff in the Dora

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

today i noticed online on teamspeak, how many people have autorudder and takeoff assistance turned on, without even knowing it!i think this is the main problem for many of the complaints in this thead...

just today i met an old friend, who is flying dcs now for 2days.he told me about his problems with taking off in the dora, so i asked him whether he disabled both those settings...he didnt even know where to find it, neither what they are supposed to do...so after following my advice, disabling them, he took off as he had never done something different....

 

i think it would be clever from ED, to switch both those features to off by default!

[Konrad Friedrich]

Are you sure you didn't turn the arcade mode off by mistake and put it to simulation?

 

Taking off, flying and landing the FW-190 D9 is not in any way harder than doing so with the P-51D or with TF-51 at the same level of simulation. Try doing some takeoffs and landings with TF-51 and after you are good enough, switch to Dora.

 

You can forget about that post.

I accidently had the rudder help switched 'on' in the options menu - and was fighting the 'helping hand' of the simulation. Which led to unwillingly overcompensation of my rudder input.

 

I always was able to take-off the Mustang without any trouble.

So I was a bit angry because it felt so awkward...

'twas my fault :blush:

 

After someone pointed me to the 'rudder help' and I switched it off I never had any problems again.

I can take-off and land very smooth and easy now :smartass:

[Konrad Friedrich]

today i noticed online on teamspeak, how many people have autorudder and takeoff assistance turned on, without even knowing it!i think this is the main problem for many of the complaints in this thead...

just today i met an old friend, who is flying dcs now for 2days.he told me about his problems with taking off in the dora, so i asked him whether he disabled both those settings...he didnt even know where to find it, neither what they are supposed to do...so after following my advice, disabling them, he took off as he had never done something different....

 

i think it would be clever from ED, to switch both those features to off by default!

 

+1

 

That's what I have experienced.

[Nedum]

Are you sure you didn't turn the arcade mode off by mistake and put it to simulation?

 

Taking off, flying and landing the FW-190 D9 is not in any way harder than doing so with the P-51D or with TF-51 at the same level of simulation. Try doing some takeoffs and landings with TF-51 and after you are good enough, switch to Dora.

 

Oh man!

You and many others are not in arguments that much, are you?

Do you never thought about that the FM of the P51D isn't that good, so the whole landing/starting part needs some advanced "love"?

What's wrong with you guys? It's hard to master so it's right because a simulation must be hard to master? And if it's hard to master it's right?

Sorry but some of you should think about some arguments and not of this nonsens... hard isn't always right!

There is something extrem wrong with the landing and starting. This has nothing to do with sim or arcade.

I have tried some belly landings and after some landings till full stop, suddenly the plane was jumping like a wild horse till a big explosion. So there ARE some bugs and it must NOT be hard to do something to be a SIM!

Edited September 17, 2014 by Nedum

[mjeh]

Three things gave me proper "Aha!" moments in regards to surviving takeoff in the Dora, I'm sure they've been stated in this thread already but I'll share anyway in case it helps anyone.

 

1. Pull stick really far back, otherwise tail wheel isn't locked at all

 

2. Give good amount of right rudder _BEFORE_ you increase throttle. This will counteract the nose twist to the left when you start rolling, which was what sent me swerving from the get go and caused me to crash 9 out of 10 takeoff attempts. If you do this then some small but firm rudder adjustments when yaw occurs are all you need.

 

3. When tail wheel starts jumping ease the stick almost all the way to neutral, but keep it a little to the right of center so left wing doesn't dip. The plane is eager to get off the runway and if you pull stick too much you will stall and crash.

 

For landings I find that you really need to hold her firmly on approach. Also, Wags' vids helped a lot for me.

Edited September 17, 2014 by mjeh
stick to neutral, not forward :)

[JST]

Why bother locking the tail wheel? If anything, I find the plane harder to control with it locked.

[mjeh]

To keep the plane straight during initial phase, but if you can manage without then more power to you. I find it helps :)

[ht-57]

The one thing that I found that made the difference for me. as well as adhering to the 3 steps that mjeh has posted,, was to use the MBG pull handle. That bit of extra power really helped me to control the aircraft from throwing the left wing down into the ground just after lift off. a snippet from the manual "Power Settings

Emergency Power (increased take-off power) 3,250 RPM only below 1,000m on 213A-G1 by pulling the MBG-emergency. At the latest 3 min after takeoff, reduce to combat power and slightly push flight stick forward."

Now to learn how to have a successful landing......I will say this, the more I crash the dora the more I want to conquer it!

[Buzzles]

Interesting point Buzzles. I have full trim and some back stick on top of that to keep altitude or a reasonable descent at approach speeds (below 300kph). Perhaps it was not meant to be trimmed for landing but one thing is certain, a lot of up elevator is necessary to keep it from diving into the ground with gear and flaps down in the approach. You do not see that in the video but, again, that's an A model not a Dora. The amount of stick back necessary smacks of bad design - not very likely I'd have thought, especially from Kurt Tank.

 

So tell me please, without trimming do you find you need a lot of stick-back when approaching for a landing and at what speed do you approach and then touch down.

By the way I have no trouble landing it, it's just the way I have to land it that concerns me.

 

Yes, of course there's a bit of stick back going on, but it's never a problem because on consideration, I generally land with a low alt military break approach (ie, this one by Sceptre), which means trimming in pretty unnecessary as a nose down attitude is what you want for most of the landing.

[JST]

This is how I do it:

 

 

- Fully raised flaps

- Stick in the middle, no locked tailwheel

- Full throttle!

- Only adjust with rudder

- Pull up at around 200km/h

Edited September 18, 2014 by JST

[lennycutler]

Airfield Location Impact on Take Off Stability

 

I have noticed that I have no problem taking off, using some right rudder at startup of my take off run....except when I have tied to take off from Senaki. I find it almost impossible to get off the ground in one piece there.

 

I have not tested yet at all the airfields,....but I suspect the runway composition is modelled in such a way as to severely impact the DORA.

 

I would appreciate others trying to see if Senaki, or other airports have a negative effect on the DORA's stability at take off.

 

If so...then perhaps this is a bug, that the developers need to deal with...or may already know about.

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

never noticed a difference in runways except of course the lenght of them...maybe your frames are suffering while beeing close to that base, and thats why you have a harder time to taking her off there?

[lennycutler]

senility take off issue

 

It is odd..When I tried a take off on my beta install...everything was fine.

On my standard install..With no mods on

...still..not like the beta install.

 

I tried a repair

But that didn't solve it

[lennycutler]

Take Off Instability

 

I have figured out the cause of take off instability.

 

I had set the weather for dynamic, which produced a strong 9 m/s wind. I could see the smoke stacks with the smoke column at a 90 degree angle.

 

So....I learned something.....some planes can handle the wind on takeoff better than others...and watch the smoke stacks....

 

I wonder if any of the airfields have wind socks?

[derekb1948]

Do any of the experienced "Old Hands" have any specific special techniques or tips that they would advise when taking-off or landing the Dora with the external 300litre drop-tank attached?

[Roadrunner]

how to take off, well, thats pretty simple after all.

 

i highly recommend that all who can take off, go try it with different weather each time and see if it still works ;)

 

so thats what i do on take off, and it works every time:

 

initaly my stick is full back and a bit to the right, rudder right as well.

 

i move the throttle slowly to the takeoff RPM, and the rest of the time i almost exclusivly watch the Artificial Horizon / Turn & Bank Indicator.

 

i adjust rudder left when the vertical needle goes right, and the other way around. dont correct to fast, do it with "feeling".

 

essentialy thats all you need to go straight ahead in ANY but the harshest weather.

 

ca. at 120 kph i center the stick with a bit right aileron, and again giving rudder as before.

 

for me thats the trick.

 

regards,

RR

Edited September 24, 2014 by Roadrunner

[kestrel79]

What are you guys using for your rudder curves? I think I have 20 right now, I thought that would help. I'm using CH pedals.

[klem]

What are you guys using for your rudder curves? I think I have 20 right now, I thought that would help. I'm using CH pedals.

 

Virgin straight responses on all axes.

 

I assume YoYo designed the FM using conventional, linear, Windows controllers and their output range.

[tflash]

Yes, indeed linear; the FW-190 is very responsive and extremely precise in flight. A joy to fly.

[kestrel79]

I'm still having trouble taking the Dora off from the runway in the training missions.

 

Just for fun I went back and did the P51 training takeoff tutorials and with the same exact stick and rudder settings managed to takeoff really easily with the P51 compared to the Dora.

 

I must be doing something wrong.

[Lizzard]

I'm still having trouble taking the Dora off from the runway in the training missions.

 

Just for fun I went back and did the P51 training takeoff tutorials and with the same exact stick and rudder settings managed to takeoff really easily with the P51 compared to the Dora.

 

I must be doing something wrong.

 

 

uhm..post a track from a take off attempt..so we can have a look

[Ball_Hog]

The standard training mission has you taking off from Vazani, where the runway is a bit narrow. For me, it helped to make my own runway takeoff mission from Batumi, so if I went too far to one side, I would be able to correct it before rolling into the dirt and spinning out/cartwheeling.

As for the aircraft's tendency to flop over to the left upon leaving the ground, I learned quickly that I needed to watch the needle, like Roadrunner said.

I agree with Roadrunner that it's a good idea to have the rudder set to the right; additionally, I have my ailerons already off to the right before I even begin to roll. I refer to it as setting my "trim". I raise my flaps up all the way, because I'm not in that much of a hurry to get off the ground- there will always be plenty of runway.

Personally, I prefer to just push the throttle up to 100% and let the Kommandogerat do its job. If I have my "trim" set too far to the right and my plane begins to bank to that side, I can simply move it a little closer to center until it evens out, instead of having to frantically fight the plane to keep from flipping over. I'm not perfect yet, but my success rate is around 90% and my survival rate is around 98%.

[kubanloewe]

i slowly increase power to max 2500rpm to reduce this dancing, runways are long enough and this gives me more time to counteract some stupid plane behaviour.

[NineLine]

A student learning to drive a car, crashes his car into a tree.... stupid car behaviours...

[SilentGun]

I dont know what all the anger is about... I got the fw while the sale was still going on, havent watched much videos on how to takeoff and land and i havent crashed once...