The flights depicted here are flight simulation for entertainment purposes only and are not to be construed as flight instruction for actual aircraft. Consult with an FAA Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) for proper flight instruction and your Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) for appropriate flight procedures for your particular aircraft.

Click for larger image.



The two magneto switches are mounted on the left hand side fuselage, outside of the cockpit. Slew your camera view to the left to see / access the switches or bind them to approrpiate keys using the Controls Options screen.

Click for larger image. This example shows a set heading of about 290 degrees.

To use the compass -

• Set your desired heading by rotating the bezel until the heading is set along the aircraft x-axis.
  
• Slowly turn the aircraft until the magnetic north needle is within the north indicator lines.
  
• With the magnetic north needle steady, you should now be flying your set heading.

MIXTURE CONTROL MUST NOT BE USED UNDER 5,000 FEET.








Maximums for -


% DROP IN RPM - NIL

For the best experience for this aircraft, and to match the settings that this guide was developed for, it is highly recommened to set the realism to REALISTIC.


The Tiger Moth does not have an engine starter. The propeller has to be cranked by hand usually accompanied by the familiar "Contact!" call indicating that the magnetos were on. In today's modern general aviation aircraft, the call is "Clear Prop!" and the engine is started from inside the cockpit using a starter system.

For this reason, you need to set a key binding to simulate someone cranking the propeller. It would be recommended to set the following parameters to keys of your choice:


When everything in the cockpit is set and the engine is ready to start, pressing the key for "Toggle Selected Engine(s)" should start the engine. If you don't see the propeller turn, you may have to press the key for "Select All Engines" to select the ♥♥♥♥♥ Major engine for starting.


First, plug your joystick in before you launch the game. It seems to only pick up controllers when they are plugged in prior to launch. Next, look towards the top of the Controls Options screen and you should see 2 tabs: 1) Keys 2) Axes. For joystick controls, you want to select the Axes tab. The Keys is primarily for your keyboard.

In the Axes section, you should see the primary flight controls 1) Aileron 2) Elevator 3) Rudder and further down is Throttle. At a minimum, these are the controls you should bind. Double click on the parameter to bring up the binding screen. Then move your joystick. The control should bind. Don't forget to click "Apply" before you leave the screen to ensure the binding sticks. It would be recommended to "Save As" your control settings in case you need to load it back later.

For a typical joystick controller that has an integral throttle tab, aileron would be left-right, elevator would be forward-back, and rudder would be twist left-right. The throttle tab can be set to control the throttle. You might have to click the "reverse" option for throttle if it seems to be going in the wrong direction. For trim, I would bind those to one set of buttons on the controller (one for trim nose up and one for trim nose down).

For some reason, not all of the button bindings work. For example, I could not bind for mixture so I just use the keyboard. I'm guessing it has something to do with a "repeat" loop which I notice other controller drivers have and this one apparently does not.

Recommended Set-Up:

The following are some key points for basic flight operations. For a step-by-step procedure, along with real-time demonstration of the steps, see the corresponding videos.


Just after the engine is propped and it begins to fire, slowly advance the throttle to keep it from stalling out. When the tach comes alive, adjust throttle for about 900 RPM to warm up the engine. Be careful, without brakes or chocks the aircraft may start to roll. Be ready to steer with the tail rudder if it does.


As airspeed comes alive, push the stick forward to lower the nose. Do not nose over too far or you risk a prop strike. As the tail comes up, work the pedals to keep steering with the tail rudder. Rotate at around 60 MPH.


The Tiger Moth has leading-edge slats but no flaps so it is important to always stabilize your approach, particularly your airspeed. Pitch / trim to establish an airpseed of about 60 MPH. Watch your airspeed, do not stall! Your visibility of the airstrip will be very limited by the nose. Perform s-turns to see the airstrip or establish appropriate reference points just to the left or right of the nose to track. It is preferable to do a wheel landing where your main wheels touch first. At around 10 feet AGL, try to hold it off as long as possible to bleed off airspeed and let the main wheels settle onto the airstrip. As is typical with taildraggers, you must be constantly on the rudder pedals to steer with the tail rudder to prevent a ground loop. Let the tail drop by itself as the aircraft slowly rolls to a stop. While wheel landings will allow you to make consistent landings, keep in mind that this landing configuration will require a relatively long ground roll so be prepared to use up as much of the airstrip as possible to allow for a proper full stop.


Sometimes, you will find your aircraft positioned too high from your landing strip. In this situation, you can utilize the forward-slip technique to lose altitude quickly without gaining significant airspeed. Essentially, a forward-slip is a cross-controlled configuration where you bank the aircraft and then apply opposite rudder to prevent the turn and track straight with the nose of the aircraft at a slight angle to the forward flight path. This landing configuration presents the aircraft's fuselage into the airflow thereby creating large drag which reduces the aircraft's airspeed and rapidly drops the altitude at the same time. For taildraggers, an additional benefit of this technique is that the skewed angle allows for better visibility of the runway which would normally be obscured by the nose of the aircraft. Used appropriately, the forward-slip is another useful tool in your flight toolbox to employ for safe landings.


The aircraft appears to stall at 30 MPH indicated airspeed. In general, if you keep on top of things, the aircraft stall is rather benign and standard stall recovery techniques apply. However, there is one particularly nasty situation if you enter a flat spin. In a flat spin, the tail does not have enough authority to stop the spin. As you will see, it made for quite an interesting ride! To break the flat spin, you have to push the stick full forward and rock it from side to side to let the ailerons disrupt the flat spin until it transitions to a diving spin. Once this happens, normal spin recovery can be performed.

Stall Recovery -

• Push the stick forward to lower the nose.
  
• Slowly add power to gain airspeed.
  
• Recover.

Spin Recovery -

• Cut the throttle.
  
• Neutralize the ailerons.
  
• Opposite rudder.
  
• Push the stick forward to neutralize the elevator.
  
• Recover.

The stall / spin conditions and their respective recoveries shown in the video are:

• Power-Off Stall
  
• Power-Off Spin
  
• Flat Spin