Question for Blue Foam

[aflyer]

Re: Question for Blue Foam

The 40 lb figure comes from interviews conducted by Aviation Week and Space Technology and was published last summer. The T-birds use nose down trim and have a pre-set point that they fly with. The F-18 control system has some auto trim features that cannot be defeated, so the Blues fly with a spring that pulls the stick forward. The reported "neutral" force was also ~40 lb. The stick force gradient (increase in force vs. G) was not reported.

Sharp's "vertical pendulum" reported here is an interesting idea. It would specifically increase stick force gradient vs. G, but not stick force gradient vs. speed. Thinking about the pylon racing mission profile, it sounds like a good idea. Does anyone else use a system like it?

After Tommy Rose's accident in the Questair Venture, my neighbor did some investigating (he also owned one) with the new owners of the company. The Venture apparently also had such a sytem, with bob-weights on the control cables to artificially increase the backpressure on the stick with increasing G's. It was the company's contention that Tommy, and possibly some other racers, removed, or reduced the size of the bob-weight to make it easier to fly around the pylons, and that this change affected the stabilty of the aricraft, and that this reduced stabilty caused the PIO that caused Tommy's accident. I knew Tommy, and talked to him on the morning before the accident. He expressed a severe lack of confidence in the flying qualities of the airplane, and also in the way the nose gear worked. We saw the results of the latter when the other two Ventures suffered landing damage.

Alas, my neighbor died in his Venture about 6 months later at Carefree airpark in AZ.

John

[Nemesis]

Re: Question for Blue Foam

Hi Again,
Paul, I don't know if Hot Glass is happening again this year. I hope it does as it has potential to grow to be another big flyin. About the stick force thing. Our NXT training sim does not have the force feedback feature. There are currently, on the market, "joy sticks" that have force feedback. We tried to integrate one into the the NXT sim, but we were unable to make it work intially, so it went on the back burner. The sim has been a very valuable tool in the training for the builders before they hop in their NXT, but force feedback is the one thing that is missing. We have lots of fun in the sim. One really cool feature is that you can fly it around the race course, dial up the HP, change pretty much all the fight perameters, fly cross country, do lots of fun stuff, but you really miss that stick force thing. And yes the sim is available for sale to the public. When you purchase the sim package, you get a FREE NXT kit of your very own! RRR!

[Apteryx]

Re: Question for Blue Foam

When you purchase the sim package, you get a FREE NXT kit of your very own! RRR!

That goes for the t-shirts too, right?