Flight Modeling vs. Flight Handling.

[ACE-OF-ACES]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

His assertion is that (or seems to me to be that) just knowing the numbers and having the virtual aircraft meet them is not enough, you need the actual pilot's input on how the aircraft behaves in your hands, how it feels, how easy or hard it is to fly and operate.

The 6DOF 'Flight Models' can be very accurate wrt performance values..

Note I said can be..

But to capture the 'quarks' and or 'personality' and or 'characteristics' of a plane.. What you call 'Flight Handling' can be very subjective sometimes..

Because the 'Flight Handling' can be affected by so many variables, one key one being the INPUTS from the pilot. Read different pilot different characteristics

The first PC game I remember making an attempt at simulating the 'Handling' was EAW..

Where the P51 flight manual stated to recover from a stall, you had to put the ailerons into the spin and the rudder opposite of the spin..

There are other types of characteristics.. For example take the Fw190 and P39's tendency to flip over onto its back in an accelerated stall.. Where some 190s pilots actually started to use it as an evation manuver.. Another example would be how some planes will buffet or give the pilot some sort of clue before it stalls.. Like a vibration in the seat or stick.. Where as other planes gave no warning what so ever.. Or take the classic 109 slats that sometimes opened up un-evenly can caused the plane to jerk around.. The list is endless!

So a lot of those kind of things could be added to the 6DOF flight model.. But they would be a 'wrapper' (think mission trigger like) to the 6DOF not really part of it..

Maybe in the near future when the average PC is capable of running a Fluid Dynamics version of a 'Flight Model' than and maybe only than will you get both 'Flight Modeling' and 'Flight Handling' characteristics

Originally Posted by ElAurens

This is what, to me, is missing in most simulations that I have experience with.

The good news is most of these characteristics have no affect on the performance.. So even though you may be able to recover from a stall in a P51 without following the procedure in the P51 flight manual does not mean the you can not still have a very realistic experience and apply realistic tactics..

To put it another way, most of those 'characteristics' go unnoticed because most of the time your not at that point in the envelope