P51 Artificial Horizon???

[fiddlinjim]

My P51 Sim artificial horizon is reversed, when the right wing is down the artificial horizon shows left wing down and vice versa and when turning it shows the opposite turn.

 

Pitch is showing correctly on the artificial horizon.

The turn and bank is also performing correctly.

 

Has anyone else seen this problem and is there any way to correct my artificial horizon????

[Magic Zach]

I'm away from my computer, but isn't the line actually representing the horizon line? So if you bank right, the artificial horizon turns CCW. Pretty sure that's how it goes. I scarcely uncage the thing any more.

[Bun]

Has anyone else seen this problem and is there any way to correct my artificial horizon????

 

 

Correct as is - the answer is in your question. If it bothers you leave it caged or cover it with electrical tape. Old Tappet Brothers joke...

:)

[Andrew8604]

P-51D's artificial horizon is working correctly...at least as of v. 2.5.3.23954...and I expect the same on the current version.

The horizon line should match the angle of the horizon you see out the window. That is: If your aircraft is banked 45-deg left, you will see the out-the-window horizon as appearing in the upper left of your screen and running down to the lower right of your screen. The horizon line of the instrument will also run from the upper left of the instrument face down to the lower right. The airplane symbol of the instrument remains fixed in a position which is parallel to your aircraft's wings. Works that way on all American aircraft since at least as far back as the 1930's, I would say.

As the others have said, I too seldom uncage that instrument as I fly in visual daylight conditions and just look out the window for attitude reference. You only need it at night or in poor visibility, such as in clouds...or maybe if engine oil covers your windscreen...in which case you may be bailing out anyway.

[Lixma 06]

Was the artificial horizon really as bad as the one we have?

 

Like others here I'm having trouble justifying un-caging it.

[Mars Exulte]

It works fine afaik. It's just different..so like... learn and stuff. Get used to it. -currently flying 51 and 109 a lot

[Lixma 06]

By 'bad' I meant the constant need to re-cage it due to drift. It barely lasts a single turn before it's useless again.

[Magic Zach]

By 'bad' I meant the constant need to re-cage it due to drift. It barely lasts a single turn before it's useless again.

Yeah. I only use it when flying through low visibility weather. I use it, in tandem with the climb indicator.

[Captain Orso]

From what I recall reading about the giro, way-back-when, they do tend to tip when flying an extended curve, like over 180°, they would go off by 5-10°, depending on how tight the curve was. But I could never find anything more exact than that.

 

Going from that statement, what we see in DCS is more extreme.

 

That being said, you generally are not going to be in a situation where it makes much difference. In situations where you need the artificial horizon, you are not going to be using long hard turns, and in situations where you are going to be making long hard turns, you should have good visibility and not need the artificial horizon.

 

In a worst case scenario, I use the Rate of Climb Indicator, the Bank Indicator (Ball), and the Turn Indicator to determine if I am on a straight and level flight. In fact, if I want to set the artificial horizon after takeoff, I use these to get absolutely straight and level, and then cage and uncage the artificial horizon.