High idle problem

[Dave D 0]

In idle, my F-16 will not sit still. i haven't let it go to see how fast it will taxi but it's well above idle. In the air, I have to set speed brakes to start reducing speed so it's not just on the ground.

I've recalibrated my Thrustmaster HOTAS-X three times, and no help. I've also tried it on two separate computers. One thing I've noticed, after calibration, the throttle doesn't move in the

test section but everything else does. Any ideas? This is my favorite jet and it's a mild to moderate irritant. Any help would be much appreciated.

[fox18e 2]

Hi Dave. I'm a long-time user of this great model. I would say I've experienced the same issues, and if I remember correctly, early flight test of the actual F-16 suffered the same problem. Idle thrust was estimated to be over 800lbs, they de-tuned to about 600 or so, so funny thing, FYI.

Lucky to have had friends fly the real world aircraft and I asked them about these things. First, real world jets really bleed speed off in turns, pulling G in dry power. Even with a lot of speed and no burner, a hard pull can bleed  50 to 100 knots a second...I'm told. 

I fly the Aerosoft F-16 with the boards out... a lot, especially around the landing pattern or the jet will run away from you at 80% power and up...so the brakes make it much more like real life.

Couple things taken from my discussions with a friend; he flew a block 25 at Luke, the lowest thrust to weight model the USAF had at the time and he never flew it slick, always with 1 or two tanks. He said the only time he ever saw it flown slick, was coming out of maintenance. The guys all would have loved a maintenance check ride because they could take off and point the nose straight up in a power climb. Doing that as a line pilot, he said, would make you well known to the CO for all the wrong reasons :-) Even with a draggy jet, belly tank, dummy sidewinders and amraams, my friend experienced a descending turn in full burner with the block 25 holding 9 G and 400 plus knots. He was quite amazed by that.

I tried de-rating military thrust in the config and it fixed the taxi speed problem, but made the jet laggy in the air. I think frequent speed brake use is the best answer.

The real world F-16 is a hot rod, so I didn't enjoy losing that power in a reconfigured thrust model for FSX. I've had best results using more speed brake airborne...and tapping the wheel brakes taxiing.

paul

[Dave D 0]

Hi Paul,

First of all, thank you for the fast, thoughtful and detailed reply. Yes the 16 is definitely a hot rod. You have convinced me to leave the thrust settings alone. I'll just deal with the high taxi issue. It's not that big of a problem. As far as in-flight, I will just start relying more on the speed brakes and tight turns when I need to pull in the reigns. I'll also make sure to dirty it up with some ordinance. I think I've been flying the clean one. That 400 knot  descending turn at 9 gs is incredible! I'm now surprised that you can slow this thing down at all :-)

Just FYI, I was an F-106 and F-4G crew chief and have been around fighters since I was 17. I went to FTD school for the F-16 but never actually worked on them. I was at Spangdahlem,GE and we had the first mixed squadrons, with the F-4G and F-16s, so they had some of us get certified on them. The vastly different maintenance required (and hours worked) caused a lot of animosity between the flights but I personally liked being around the 16s.

Once again, thanks a lot for your help. Hope to catch you in the virtual skies sometime.

Dave

[fox18e 2]

I Remember a video with Egyptian block 52's buzzing a riot crowd during the Arab spring, all passes featured the boards out. 

Dave, achieving crew chief, pretty cool. Congrats for your service and making the right choices :-)

The -106 and the Weasel F-4 are favorites. Mass ANG out of Cape Cod used to bring -106s to Shearwater Nova Scotia's air show. I love the century series fighters. We had F-101B's in Canadian service.

If you can find on Code One, Lockheed's web magazine, early columns from the late Joe Bill Dryden, dedicated to teaching the line pilot, "Bubba's" he called them, about transitioning to the F-16. Probably the coolest info you will find anywhere about that jet's early days. It will make the Aerosoft F-16 more alive to you.

Dryden got a test A model Viper with an F110 motor over 900 knots on the deck. Felt he could have gone faster, set records, but the USAF wouldn't allow it. They were pushing congress for F-15 money at the time.

Take care.

paul

 

 

[Victory103 24]

Linked the articles, also most know F-16.net has tons of Viper info.

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/f16_articles.html?category=4