FW-190D handling very difficult

[LeCuvier]

I find it very difficult to handle this aircraft. getting it off the ground is a real challenge as it tends to break out to the left and tip over. I have a 50% chance to manage a takeoff with the "takeoff assistance in options set to about 50%. At 100% and at 0% I don't succeed at all.

Landing is a mission impossible and I have never managed to land without breaking the gear. I have read the flight manual and I have used the traing missions, but I don't get anywhere.

Also the in-flight behavior is difficult. I never managed to survive a dogfight against a Mustang.

I cannot imagine that the real thing behaved like this.

Any help?

PS: I have only run it in Sim mode.

[Flagrum]

I find it very difficult to handle this aircraft. getting it off the ground is a real challenge as it tends to break out to the left and tip over. I have a 50% chance to manage a takeoff with the "takeoff assistance in options set to about 50%. At 100% and at 0% I don't succeed at all.

Landing is a mission impossible and I have never managed to land without breaking the gear. I have read the flight manual and I have used the traing missions, but I don't get anywhere.

Also the in-flight behavior is difficult. I never managed to survive a dogfight against a Mustang.

I cannot imagine that the real thing behaved like this.

Any help?

PS: I have only run it in Sim mode.

 

How to take off with the Dora

 

How to land the Dora

[Echo38]

What kind of joystick & pedals are you using?

[Crumpp]

I find the FW-190 easier than the P-51.

[Trubshaw]

For me it was the 'Turn indicator' that helped me crack taking off.

 

You are right the Dora tends to try to twist, as a result of torque, from a very powerful engine, you try to compensate with rudder, over do it and you crash.

 

Keep an eye on the turn indicator...keep it centred using gentle rudder inputs and the Dora will take off for you.

 

Hope that helps.

[shagrat]

First of all: NO Take of assist! I really mean it... 0% do not turn it on, it will cause more trouble than good!

Then read the threads Flagrum linked and really train. It takes a while to learn to anticipate the planes behavoir. I've just gone through the same with the Bf-109 K4 and it was very frustating until I understood, what is going on and had trained enough.

 

Most important thing is, to understand why you roll and finally flip and crash.

 

1. the propengine induces massive torque that tries to roll your plane to the left, more power, more torque

 

2. the propeller blows wind over your tail (where the rudder and elevators are) so to counter the roll you need right rudder (a lot of right rudder) and the right amount of wind from the propeller

 

3. as soon as the plane is fast enough it will try to take off! Worst thing you can do is pull the stick now, as it will stall immediately and lose airspeed, thus no more control, but only the torque rolling the plane left until you are 90° or upside down and crash!

 

So what you need to train is:

Speed up quickly with right rudder to counter the yaw and roll tendency

Now as soon as you gain some speed push the nose a bit down(!) just enough to lift the tail, yet not pushing the nose onto the runway, and hold that until the plane lifts itself from the runway

Only if you gained enough speed and are well airborne advance the throttle to max and gently(!) pull onthe stick...

 

Now, clean up the plane (gear, flaps, trim)

 

The rest is practice. Be patient it takes a while...

[Djent33]

^^ Nice advice.

Dora is not difficult it’s actually nice with that speed and acceleration.

My tip for training is to place it on a long runway and run it on the runway all the way without taking off, doing it a number of times.

LANDING approach set in ME to practice the min speed 2m above the runway.

LOCK the TAIL WHEEL because without it can be difficult indeed.

[weta904]

I think most of us have had the same issues with the FW190 initially. So it is not just you. Checkout the threads mentioned by other posters. Pay attention to the posts mentioning torque, take-off moment, etc. Once you understand the basics it will make more sense.

 

With landing make sure the "ball" in centred and your approach speed is as recommended in the manual.

 

Have fun with it! It really is a nice plane to DCS "fly". I find it hard to go back to the Mustang after the FW190 experience.

[Anatoli-Kagari9]

There are only 3 things one has to know in order to be able to perform uneventful takeoffs in the Dora and the Kurfurst...

 

1) Before starting the takeoff run, roll straight for a couple of meters and lock your tailwheel, in the Dora that means pulling the stick ( preferably ) all the way back and keeping it there bellow around 80 - 100 Km/h. Advance the throttle smoothly but to the wall;

 

2) Use your rudder ( NOT YOUR BRAKES !!! ) to steer, mostly right rudder input will be required, unless there's a wind from your starboard side ( right );

 

3) At around 100km/h bring the stick to neutral, and around 180km/h be prepared to start pulling to get airborne - in the K4 the pull will be minimal, the aircraft wanting to get airborne pretty much by it's own...

[BitMaster]

It`s challenging but you can master it without rudder pedals as long as you have a twist stick as I have for now.

 

I admit, it is far easier to take off than to land successfully. Keeping her straight after touchdown requires some differential braking with CTRL/ALT + W with the keyboard but it does work.

 

Training, training and more training to train your senses and muscles to keep ANY aircraft tracking down straight, it is more or less the same skills you need on all taildraggers with high torque engines. I raise my seat all the way up and orientate not on the ball but on a landmark, that keeps my eyes on the track and not inside the cockpit. Use modest rudder and softly help with the aileron to keep the wings level. Fluently apply power to take-off setting and let the tail come up

at around 100kmh, once the tail is up you have sufficient speed to control the Dora with rudder only, soon after you will lift-off and FLY :)

 

It does take some skills but don't give up, skill comes from doing it, not writing or reading about it.

 

Bit

[BFBunny]

I don't know. Fly the 109 for a while and then come back to the 190. The 190 lands perfectly every time if you follow the manual. Be sure to read the 190 flight manual pdf and go to the lading section. If you hit the landing speed then the dora will land perfectly almost every time.

 

Use the bank and turn indicator to help you work out how high the nose should be.

 

I have to admit I usually crash each aircraft the first time when taking off.

 

But it takes a lot of time flying it to be perfect every time and I still have the landing section of the pdf at hand to make sure I get to the right speed. You need to be super smooth controlling the descent. You do not want to drop the dora on the ground like a brick which is whats probably breaking your gear.

 

Also use the full power takeoff method for the dora. Get it rolling with some power and then blast it down the runway. It might try and get away from you as you take it into the air and flying into high wind will have an effect.

 

I remember when I was playing this game just using the frogfoot and the free mustang I got really good at the frogfoot and then the mustang. I must have crashed it 30 times and when I finally did I was so proud. Now I find it the easiest one and can usually get it on the ground without damage even after a few weeks away.

 

These are hard planes to fly initially. It's one of the hardest games I've played in a while, but it's pretty rewarding when you can takeoff, take out of some mustangs, rtb, land, re-arm / repair and go for another run. Soon you'll be playing with the random failures to see if you can still rtb safe. As for being real. I think the real thing is probably a little easier in some ways because you have that 'feel'. I can drive a car just fine, but give me a driving sim and I'm crashing into everything because I can't feel what's going on.

 

One last thing is to have a play around with your joystick curves (affects the sensitivity of the joystick input) so for instance you can make the initial twitchy aiming on target and taking off bits of the stick movement more numb, but still enable you to pull quick high g moves using the full motion of the stick. I went from struggling hard to hit moving planes in the dora to feeling like an ace.

Edited January 11, 2015 by BFBunny