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FSXA Why the Splash??!!

Hangar32

Hangar32

Messages
315
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us-virginia
Greetings,

I'm working on a little something that requires a plane to make a forced water landing - i.e. like the "Miracle on the Hudson"

There are a coupe of planes out there like LHC's outstanding Lear 24B and RealAir's Duke so I know it can be done. I thought I'd start out small and see if I could get the default Beech Baron to do a successful "belly flop"

Of course I've done my due diligence in FSDeveloper Forum searches before posting this question. The most valuable thread I could find was http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/cannot-get-floats-to-take-hold.433000/#post-716622

I read through it several times and I think I get the general ideas - use four float contact points, the float contact points (the 4's) need to be below the scrape points (the 2's). Make are you have one float to hold the nose up. Everything is relative to the empty CoG - to wit

"The model's behaviour in FS is governed by the reference centre, which is at 25% MAC – 25% back from the leading edge, that is. This is where FS places the empty weight CoG." (Hairyspin)

So I tried to do that using the aircraft's measurements. I got something that works for a while but as it slows down get the "Splash" ad don't know why. After all if it was able to stay afloat that long (I've had a few where I was probably around 20-30 kts)…


Code: 
//GEAR
point.0 = 1,  0.82,  0.00, -3.77, 1600, 0, 0.633, 40, 0.42, 4.0, 0.90, 3.0, 3.0, 0, 152, 180
point.1 = 1, -8.04, -4.79, -3.93, 1600, 1, 0.886,  0, 0.50, 2.5, 0.85, 4.1, 4.3, 2, 152, 200
point.2 = 1, -8.04,  4.79, -3.93, 1600, 2, 0.886,  0, 0.50, 2.5, 0.85, 4.3, 4.1, 3, 152, 200
//SCRAPES
point.3=  2, -6.20,-18.91,  0.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.4=  2, -6.20, 18.91,  0.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.5=  2,-24.04,  0.00, -0.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.6=  2,  0.40,  0.00, -1.24,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0
//FLOATS
point.7=  4, 0.00, -6.00, -2.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.8=  4, 0.00,  6.00, -2.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.9=  4, -8.0,  0.00, -3.00,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.10= 4,  1.5,  0.00, -2.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

Gear and Scrapes are all per the original model. The only thing I did was to up the ft/min for a crash on the scrapes.

Am I missing some key concept? Is there somewhere else where I am supposed to say, "BTW, this is an amphibian now"? Is this a trial and error kind of thing? Or do I need Captain Scully to make it work?
 
What is the reference_datum_position value in aircraft.cfg? I think it's not 0,0,0...

I'm also a little confused: does the aircraft sink when coming to a halt or did you want to have it float higher in the water when it settles?
 
Thanks for the reply. :)

hairyspin said:
What is the reference_datum_position value in aircraft.cfg? I think it's not 0,0,0...
Click to expand...

I did to think to look for that…I shall do so presently…

Code: 
reference_datum_position     =   6.96, 0, 0     // (feet) distance from FlightSim Reference position: (1/4 chord, centerline, waterline)
empty_weight_CG_position     =  -6.06, 0, 0     // (feet) longitudinal, lateral, vertical distance from specified datum

The plane is the default Baron and all I'm looking to do is tweak it a bit for to see how I could develop an "Over Water; Out of fuel; Out of Altitude and Out of Ideas" scenario mission.

I admit that had no idea were to get datum info other than the explication you provided in the cited post, so I "eyeballed" it from the little plane CG diagram that comes up with the Fuel and Load screen…guess that wasn't the best method.

hairyspin said:
I'm also a little confused: does the aircraft sink when coming to a halt or did you want to have it float higher in the water when it settles?
Click to expand...

What I would like is it to sink about to the wing line when incomes to a stop. That is what I would like. I will take plane "hovering" a couple of centimeters above water or plane up to the cockpit under water.

I have not been able to get the plane to stop before a "Splash". On the video the splash occurred about 40-50 kts. I've had it down to less than 20 kts. I have never gotten to full stop
 
D'oh! Maximum number of contact points... If there's more contact points than specified, FS will ignore extras added on. You'll need 11?

If the number is not specified, FS defaults to 10, so would be ignoring your last float contact point anyway. Glug glug.

edit: yep, number not specified in the default Baron's config. Add a line to the config, just before the line //GEAR like this:–

Code: 
max_number_of_points = 11 

//GEAR
point.0 = 1,  0.82,  0.00, -3.77, 1600, 0, 0.633, 40, 0.42, 4.0, 0.90, 3.0, 3.0, 0, 152, 180
point.1 = 1, -8.04, -4.79, -3.93, 1600, 1, 0.886,  0, 0.50, 2.5, 0.85, 4.1, 4.3, 2, 152, 200
point.2 = 1, -8.04,  4.79, -3.93, 1600, 2, 0.886,  0, 0.50, 2.5, 0.85, 4.3, 4.1, 3, 152, 200
//SCRAPES
point.3=  2, -6.20,-18.91,  0.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.4=  2, -6.20, 18.91,  0.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.5=  2,-24.04,  0.00, -0.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.6=  2,  0.40,  0.00, -1.24,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0
//FLOATS
point.7=  4, 0.00, -6.00, -2.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.8=  4, 0.00,  6.00, -2.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.9=  4, -8.0,  0.00, -3.00,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.10= 4,  1.5,  0.00, -2.50,  15000, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
 
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That worked! Well, It got me to where was able to slow down a bunch but I was still splashing at the end. However, I was hot on the trail.

Once I understood how to get all the contact points working, and remembering Milton Shupe's wise words
The scrape points really confuse the issue of setting float points so you are better off setting up floats and gear first. then setting any scrape points. Scrape points will definitely alter the way she sits in water without telling you
Click to expand...

The Scrape points were already there so I wold have to adjust what I had. I systematically went through and looked at the relationship of the Landing Gear, the Scrape Points and Float points. trying to make sure nothing interfered with each other.

After a lot of trial and error, Success! Well rough success - I can tweak it later.

Thanks to all! Hairyspin, et al :)
 
Last edited:
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