What triggered off this Quest was the thought that I should rationalise the aircraft kept in my FSX Airplanes folder, so that it would hold only those I use, plus those required as AI. The others were moved to my FSX Hangar.
So, I finished up with a restricted fleet of 4 GA aircraft and 8 others. The "others" were
CITATION II B1900D, PDMG DASH8 Q400, Dreamwings CRJ900, POSKY A320 (BA), IFDG ERJ145, Dreamwings A350, CamSim A340-313, AerodesignsMost had a Vspeed gauge with speeds related to published weight and V number data but I decided to run all of them through the checks I'd carried out on the A350, so that Vspeeds reflect the simulated aircraft. I also threw into the tests the Default A321.
Main criteria for selecting the fleet was what seemed to be acceptably realistic performance, although the Dash8 doesn't behave as well in FSX as it did in FS9.
The results showed slight discrepancies between the takeoff speeds and those of the real aircraft; with two exceptions. I do the tests at MTOW and a minmum weight, so that the gauge has a range to use. In the case of two of them I didn't bother with the lower weight. At MTOW and just the 12 degrees of flap deployed the A340 lifted off at 108 kias! Since I normally fly it with elevator trim set at 10, instead of the 80 I use for these tests, I would rotate, at this weight, at the more realistic 156 kias and not spot that it would have been able to lift off much earlier, particularly since its acceleration is what would be expected. I can't think of a simple way of altering the lift off speed, without suffering knockon effects where I don't want them. So it looks a though the A340 is heading for the Hangar.
The Default A321, at max weight and just the first degree of flap set, takes to the sky at a slightly unbelievable 95 kias! It's used by AI or it would be dustbin bound.
The expression "can of worms" starts to surface. Gerry Winskill I
