In november 2004 I uploaded the Piper Warrior6_PH_KAX.zip. It was a repaint of the Warrior by Rien Cornelissen, even though the real PH-KAX of the KLM Aeroclub in fact is an Archer II. In the weeks after my upload Rien was kind enough to supply me with an Archer model and flight dynamics so here it is....the new and better PH-KAX.
All credits for the aircaft should go to Rien; I only did the KAX repaint and panel.
Here are some of the more noticable improvements Rien has implemented:
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Visual model reworked to Archer II
Flight dynamics: added a healthy 20 horsepower to total 180. Sideslip behaviour has been improved. It is better possible now to make crosswind landings.
The stall horn will sound 5-10 kts above stall speed. Most MSFS aircraft sound the stall warning at the actual stall. Stallspeed is made to be related to weight; the Archer with just a pilot on board will sound the stall warning at a lower speed than when fully loaded.
From the cockpit views except the one straight ahead, the aircraft's inside is dressed now; the interior is shown and one can look outside through the aircraft windows.
I made a completely new 2D panel and virtual cockpit for the PH-KAX; Rien's Arrow II panel is included as well. You can choose either in the "select aircraft/variation" menu.
In both 2D and virtual cockpit all the gauges are moving and clickable. With the annunciator panel this is not really obvious as the press-to-test button is not visible. In both panels it is located just left of the annunciators, at the exact spot where you would find it in the real plane.
The directional gyro has the random drift built-in in FS 2004, but Rien added an extra drift in steep turns; its absolute value is proportional to the rate-of-turn-squared. The gyro can be reset pressing the key, but also, more realistically, by turning the knob using the mouse. When selecting the Warrior the gyro will indicate a wrong heading; like in the real thing it has to be adjusted before flight.
The annunciator panel is functional, as is the audio panel, on which sound of markers, nav 1 and 2, and ADF can be switched on and off. For my panel I included the Bendix_king_radio20.gau which have their bitmaps removed for NAV and COM radios. This way the digits fit right over the photoreal radiostack.
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A special word about the P-effect:
Rien placed the engine slightly to the right of the midline in the flight dynamics (aircraft.cfg and Archer-II.air) to simulate the P-factor:
In the real aircraft the propeller turns clockwise as seen from the pilot's seat. Therefore, the propwash will take a spiralling trajectory along the fuselage. It will collide with the vertical fin, pushing it to the right, thus causing the aircraft to turn left.
This so-called P-factor is compensated in the Cessna 172 with a bent strip of metal at the trailing end of the rudder; in the Warrior by the rudder trim, but the degree of correction will depend upon airspeed.
In situations in which engine power is high with respect to airspeed (takeoff, climb, recovery from stall) the pilot has to apply "right rudder".
This is the case in almost all single engine propeller aircraft; most engines (but not all) turn clockwise.
The P-factor adds to realism, but there are a few prerequisites:
1. The simpilot must have rudder control (pedals or twistgrip).
2. The pedal mechanism should have no mechanical play: the potentiometer should follow the feet's movements exactly.
3. In the settings menu the null zone for the rudder must be set to zero. If the software that comes with the pedals/joystick allows for a null zone, it should be set to zero too.
If you don't have pedals ot rudder control, there are two options:
1. engage the autocoordination option in MSFS, delete or backup the file "Flight Simulator 9\aircraft\Piper Archer-II PH-KAX\aircraft.cfg", replace it by the file "Flight Simulator 9\aircraft\Piper Archer II-\aircraft.cfg.no_pedals", renaming it to aircraft.cfg, and the engine will be in the midline, not causing a P-effect.
2. Easy fix would be to set the realism sliders in FS9 to the left.
Installation:
Unzip ArcherII_PH_KAX2.zip into your Flight Simulator 9 directory.
Most of the files were revised so "yes" to overwrite.
To prevent FS 2004 from crashing, the file GaugeSound.dll must be present either in the Flight Simulator 9 or in the Windows\system32 directory. Also, the file r_c_PA28stall.wav must be in the Flight Simulator 9\Sound directory. Both files are in this .zip and will be in place after unzipping it into the Flight Simulator 9 directory.
Make sure that in FS2004 menu:options/controls/assignments/select aircraft commands/select exit is assigned to
, and that 'reflections' are activated in FS2004 menu:settings/display/aircraft.
All of these files are public domain; you are allowed to do with them whatever you please without permission,
though it is much appreciated if you notify the original author of this aircraft (Rien Cornelissen) and myself of major changes.
Keep in mind, though, that Rien's user license for EasyGauge is for non-commercial use only.
For those that are interested the model and gauge source codes are available at Rien's email address.
Arjan Harmans Rien Cornelissen
PH_AJH@hotmail.com mwcornel@sundancer.demon.nl
Deventer Badhoevedorp,
The Netherlands The Netherlands
