How to Takeoff in the Dora

[Cpt Cuckoo]

17 hours ago, Art-J said:

@Cpt Cuckoo- If your problem with Fw takeoffs is related to loss of directional control on the ground, keep in mind that although both Dora and Mustang share the same method of locking the tailwheel (by stick), there is an important difference - the transition point from locked to unlocked state happens in the middle of stick movement in the Mustang, but 3/4 back in the Dora. Thus, it's easy to unlock the wheel in the latter by mistake by pushing the stick a bit forward too early. Keep it back until your're sure the rudder is effective enough and then move it forward.

I think I was doing that.....letting that stick forward too early. 

[Cpt Cuckoo]

17 hours ago, grafspee said:

Recorded my take off in Dora, maybe it will help a bit.

 

 

I wait till I have the same speed as you and begin forward movement of stick, but as soon as plane leaves the ground the left wing dips and hits the ground and we crash no matter how much rudder I use.

[grafspee]

5 minutes ago, Cpt Cuckoo said:

I wait till I have the same speed as you and begin forward movement of stick, but as soon as plane leaves the ground the left wing dips and hits the ground and we crash no matter how much rudder I use.

Let of the stick as about to pass through 150kph mark, then apply little pressure forward as soon as you pass 150kph, speed climbing quite quickly so you need to be quick.

Left wing drop because you want to climb to hard or you lift the plane too early.

Try small trick, set little nose heavy trim before take off but not too much, when you fill the plane is going to lift, apply small amount of right aileron. Watch careful of my inputs on video, some are very subtle but they counts.

[Cpt Cuckoo]

On 6/16/2021 at 10:56 PM, grafspee said:

Let of the stick as about to pass through 150kph mark, then apply little pressure forward as soon as you pass 150kph, speed climbing quite quickly so you need to be quick.

Left wing drop because you want to climb to hard or you lift the plane too early.

Try small trick, set little nose heavy trim before take off but not too much, when you fill the plane is going to lift, apply small amount of right aileron. Watch careful of my inputs on video, some are very subtle but they counts.

Well, thanks for all your advice but after extensive trying I found that this aircraft, the FW 190 Dora was not going to work out for me. However ,I did try the Spitfire......and with Take of Assistant I found it dead easy to taxi and take off but impossible to even taxi with out it! Worse that the Dora.  Interestingly......I did not notice a difference in the Dora with Take off Assistant on or off.

[grafspee]

1 hour ago, Cpt Cuckoo said:

Well, thanks for all your advice but after extensive trying I found that this aircraft, the FW 190 Dora was not going to work out for me. However ,I did try the Spitfire......and with Take of Assistant I found it dead easy to taxi and take off but impossible to even taxi with out it! Worse that the Dora.  Interestingly......I did not notice a difference in the Dora with Take off Assistant on or off.

In Dora you can lock tail wheel in spitfire you can't. Taxing in Dora is super easy, taxing in spitfire is challenging, at least for me.

I have never used take off assist or auto rudder features, so i cant comment on that.

Edited June 22, 2021 by grafspee

[jfri]

On 6/15/2021 at 9:27 PM, grafspee said:

Recorded my take off in Dora, maybe it will help a bit.

 

 

 

I see that in your take off you set RPM to max. But the take off tutorial says 2600 rpm. I feel that 2600 rpm is a little to weak like making it difficult to get airborne

[grafspee]

Which tutorial ? One included in with DCS ?

No matter the plane, with some exceptions, all available power is used for take off.

In Dora you can use 3000-3250 rpm,  going as low as 2600 provide  way not enough power for safe take off.

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by grafspee

[jfri]

1 hour ago, grafspee said:

Which tutorial ? One included in with DCS ?

No matter the plane, with some exceptions, all available power is used for take off.

In Dora you can use 3000-3250 rpm,  going as low as 2600 provide  way not enough power for safe take off.

 

 

 

Yes the second voiced training tutorial (there are five). He says increase power to 2600 rpm during take off run. I agree that is to little

[grafspee]

6 hours ago, jfri said:

 

Yes the second voiced training tutorial (there are five). He says increase power to 2600 rpm during take off run. I agree that is to little

If i remember correctly, it goes like that.

Hold brakes, increase rpm to 2600 and release brakes and add more power, cant remember what rpm exactly.

I did that long time ago, it could be changed since  i saw it.

I did check it and indeed, tutorial shows 2600rpm as take off power setting. Which in my opinion is a bit too low, it makes take off much harder.

Another issue is that tutorial say that plane lifts at 200kph when it lifts at 180 kph 

This is from Dora manual, for take off advance throttle into take off position. Which is throttle full on.

Edited July 11, 2021 by grafspee

[JimBo*]

On 7/10/2021 at 11:25 PM, grafspee said:

If i remember correctly, it goes like that.

Hold brakes, increase rpm to 2600 and release brakes and add more power, cant remember what rpm exactly.

I did that long time ago, it could be changed since  i saw it.

I did check it and indeed, tutorial shows 2600rpm as take off power setting. Which in my opinion is a bit too low, it makes take off much harder.

Another issue is that tutorial say that plane lifts at 200kph when it lifts at 180 kph 

This is from Dora manual, for take off advance throttle into take off position. Which is throttle full on.

 

then hopefully fly till engine loses power  or just quits.

[spacemishka]

My take off after watching some YT-tutorials....

 

 

[grafspee]

@spacemishka Couple mistakes here, first when you want to turn plane on the ground put stick in to neutral this will unlock tail wheel,

second thing you need to put stick to neutral or slight forward once you pass 100kph mark, you waited way too long.

If you replicate what i did, 100% take off succes.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by grafspee

[konyanyachiwa]

On 2/2/2022 at 8:20 AM, spacemishka said:

My take off after watching some YT-tutorials....

 

 

I hope this helps you.

 

DCS FW190 D-9 Takeoff & Landing.trk DCS FW190 D-9 Takeoff & Landing.acmi

[grafspee]

What is wrong with this sound, it sounds like failed ball bearing or something.

[spacemishka]

vor 6 Stunden schrieb konyanyachiwa:

I hope this helps you.

 

DCS FW190 D-9 Takeoff & Landing.trk 2 MB · 0 Downloads DCS FW190 D-9 Takeoff & Landing.acmi 1005 kB · 0 Downloads

mhh i thought this should be neutral. 

[grafspee]

@spacemishka you can set it as you wish. Nose down trim helps a bit but you need to let the stick go, you cant hold it full aft once you get some speed.

[konyanyachiwa]

 

DCS FW190 D-9 - Crosswind Takeoff & Landing -.trk DCS FW190 D-9 - Crosswind Takeoff & Landing -.acmi

[Ironious]

How not to land.

Don't forget to invert those toe brakes if needed like I did.

 

[TWC_SLAG]

Set the flaps, set the trim, pull the stick full back to lock the tail wheel, advance the throttle, and hang on.  It’s like driving a dragster.

[Doughguy]

Some advice for the people having a hard time from what ive experienced: 

Make sure you roll out straight a few meters prior to t/o.

Then step on both brakes, throttle up past 2500u/min. Let go if brakes and push throttle quickly forwars until the end.

Hold stick back and right. The outer part of the stick should somewhat allign with the edge of the front panel just next to the bomb switch box.

Hold.

Slam rudder right until you notice the dora to yaw right as you gain speed.

Release rudder continuously until you straighten out. Eventually a back and forth motion with right rudder helps to figure this out.

Keep an eye on the speed.

If you approach 100kph get ready to ease on the rudder and stick.

At 150 kph ease stick forward but keep to the right. Ease on the rudder aswell to avoid crabbing and drag on the plane. If you center the stick to quickly from thr right pos the torque will make the dora roll.

The part just before t/o is tricky as you have to keep track of several things at  a time.

 

[PluckyUnderdog]

Out of all the Warbirds, this is the one that causes me the most headaches on takeoff haha.

I've learned through (painful) trial and error that it's similar to the 109, in that it seems to need right aileron in addition to aft stick. Where it differs from the Kurfürst to me is it's unpredictability, sometimes it will veer left, sometimes not, I think possibly I am applying too much power sometimes. I try to keep it around 2800rpm on take off.

 

My learning curve continues.

[PluckyUnderdog]

As a small aside (and slightly off-topic) it's criminal this beast does not have a proper campaign. Or some more updated missions. I know it's not historically accurate in terms of setting but hopefully the new Normandy map will provide some impetus to someone (Reflected haha).

[Doughguy]

Do you start with wind?

If you look at my post above thered only few things you need to keep track of.

Rudder to the right and stick back and right.

I sometimes even apply mw50 if pressed. No problems.

The key is to not overdo the inputs.

The required inputs come in a sequence. Ruder takes effect first. Apply full rudder until you notice you start drifting right. Then release bit pressure until you are straight. Technically it would be the same as with the mustang w/o trim.

Then when approaching 150 kmh gently center the stick but keep slightly right. Once the dora gets airborn which happens quickly she can flip over abruptly if you have stick full back. So a bit too much stick right will hurt less than stick full back.

Power isnt really the problem. Shes a bit of a dive for the start. You have to guide her. Then she'll purr *lawnmowersounds*

[PluckyUnderdog]

1 hour ago, Doughguy said:

Do you start with wind?

If you look at my post above thered only few things you need to keep track of.

Rudder to the right and stick back and right.

I sometimes even apply mw50 if pressed. No problems.

The key is to not overdo the inputs.

The required inputs come in a sequence. Ruder takes effect first. Apply full rudder until you notice you start drifting right. Then release bit pressure until you are straight. Technically it would be the same as with the mustang w/o trim.

Then when approaching 150 kmh gently center the stick but keep slightly right. Once the dora gets airborn which happens quickly she can flip over abruptly if you have stick full back. So a bit too much stick right will hurt less than stick full back.

Power isnt really the problem. Shes a bit of a dive for the start. You have to guide her. Then she'll purr *lawnmowersounds*

I forget sometimes how sensitive the stick can be, so yes I can occasionally be guilty of overdoing stick input, yes

[Art-J]

I still think frequent issue is - novice Dora users forget that in both Focke-Wulfs tailwheel unlocks already at 1/2 stick movement aft, NOT in the middle position like in Mustang. So, being used to Mustang, they neutralize the stick too early (unlock the wheel without realizing it) before the rudder becomes effective... and the drunk rodeo begins. Been there, done that :D.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Art-J