Real A-10C G pull

[Doum76]

Greetings guys,

 

Anyone knows for sure the mac G an A-10C can pull ? Is it really 3-4 Gs as it is in DCS? I'm having a hard time to believe an aircraft that can get hits badly and still fly, not able to pull at least 8 Gs

[Depth]

Wouldn't it stall at high G? 4G's is easily 50 extra tons of aircraft that needs to be countered by uplift. And remember it's a lot slower than F-16's and the likes.

[Frostiken]

Yes, it really is. The shape of the wings, the intakes and engine power (or lack thereof), and the position of the stores mean that the A-10 can barely even reach 8Gs, much less survive it without wings snapping off.

 

The A-10 keeps almost every external store on the wings, so under 3-4Gs, it's actually rather amazing that they don't break off already - especially given their straight and relatively flimsy nature.

 

The A-10 doesn't really have an overload warning system ("Over-G! Over-G!") specifically because it's so slow and cannot handle high-AOA maneuvers to such an extent that it's not really a problem. Except for extreme maneuvers at the edge of the envelope, it's almost impossible to actually hit the G-limits - the A-10 will deviate catastrophically from controlled flight before that happens.

[Doum76]

Thanks,

 

I was just curious, but with all that said, it does make sens and makre smy question looks a bit stupid. :) But i wasn't still used to the plane loosing control around 3-4 g maneuver with almost nothing on stores.

 

 

thanks for the answers. :smartass:

 

Yes, it really is. The shape of the wings, the intakes and engine power (or lack thereof), and the position of the stores mean that the A-10 can barely even reach 8Gs, much less survive it without wings snapping off.

 

The A-10 keeps almost every external store on the wings, so under 3-4Gs, it's actually rather amazing that they don't break off already - especially given their straight and relatively flimsy nature.

 

The A-10 doesn't really have an overload warning system ("Over-G! Over-G!") specifically because it's so slow and cannot handle high-AOA maneuvers to such an extent that it's not really a problem. Except for extreme maneuvers at the edge of the envelope, it's almost impossible to actually hit the G-limits - the A-10 will deviate catastrophically from controlled flight before that happens.

[Frostiken]

The loss of control has less to do with Gs and more to do with both AOA and wing shape - there's a reason fighter aircraft ditched the straight and flat wings 60 years ago. Straight wings provide very high levels of stability at low speeds and low-AOA but are useless as tits on a bull for anything that operates at performance levels outside of that. When you start pulling high-AOA maneuvers the wings lose almost all their lift, which is why the plane flops around wildly when you yank the stick around.

 

High-AOA maneuvers can also shut down your engines due to their position above and behind the wing surface. This is why the variable ramp was added on the leading edge of the wing, to stop it from falling out of the sky in a hard turn.

Edited June 12, 2011 by Frostiken

[159th_Viper]

Is it really 3-4 Gs as it is in DCS?

 

In-SIM (quick test):

 

Empty - sustained 6.5G - 7.5G in turn.

 

Loaded - sustained 5.7G - 6.3G in turn.

 

[Snoopy]

Even real world g limits very because of various variables. Weight, loadout, etc. The -1 lists these for various weapon configurations....

[gear_monkey]

The loss of control has less to do with Gs and more to do with both AOA and wing shape - there's a reason fighter aircraft ditched the straight and flat wings 60 years ago. Straight wings provide very high levels of stability at low speeds and low-AOA but are useless as tits on a bull for anything that operates at performance levels outside of that. When you start pulling high-AOA maneuvers the wings lose almost all their lift, which is why the plane flops around wildly when you yank the stick around.

 

High-AOA maneuvers can also shut down your engines due to their position above and behind the wing surface. This is why the variable ramp was added on the leading edge of the wing, to stop it from falling out of the sky in a hard turn.

 

wings don't lose lift by performing high AOA manuevers...they lose lift when you exceed the critical angle of attack NO MATTER how fast or slow you are going.

 

The big ol fat wing of the A-10 creates a tremendous amount of lift and stability.

 

Straing "hershey bar" wings were replaced by swept wings for one reason......SPEED. Non-swept wings reach critical mach much sooner than swept wings.

 

When you exceed critical mach really bad things like Mach Tuck, Control Buzz, Control Reversal, and lots of other things happen that cause the aircraft to loose parts or become uncontrollable.

 

Of course the high wing sweep and built in negative stability is why most modern fighters are kept in controlled flight by the aid of computers.

[Iceman2011]

It looks like light A10 is +7.4/-3.0 to heavy +4.6/-2.1 the numbers go down with altitude but I don't think it is constant with TAS.

 

When I fly DCS I seem to pull 5.5-6.0 only briefly after weapon runs. Most of the time I keep it to 3.5 max. The less hard you pull, the faster the airplane goes which is usually best tactically.

 

It looks like any time you have a TER/LAU-88 it's limited down to +5.0/-2.0 symmetrical. With external tanks its 2.5/-1.9 and only 275 knots!

 

Those look like pretty right numbers