Changing aircraft.cfg proving to be a bad idea!

I should mention that on the DC10 fuel changes, I adjusted all the tanks to 60% of their original capacity.

Anonymous wrote:

1st modification was to try to increase "elevator effectiveness" on my Opensky 737, which I had poor pitch control over (there was almost no nose lift when pulling my joystick back and adjusting joystick sensitivity didn't do the trick). This thing would never flare on approach and it would typically slam into the runway...

...and all you really had to do was to adjust your Fuel and Payload. Why reinvent the wheel? 😂

The following is from the Posky Forum re FDEs:

Q) Why are the planes overweight by default? When I load the airplane
in FS2004, why is it overweight?

A) plane is overweight by default because MSFS maxes all
capacities on loading/startup. It is up to you, the pilot, to
remove the weight (payload vs fuel for capacity vs range).

I create the FDEs based on the expected performance of the planes
at their MAX weights. What you see in the FS2004 Payload and fuel
editor is the maximum weights for stations and fuel based on Boeing,
Airbus, or Bombadier's specifications for a typical trip. This way, as you
know the MAX value, you can reduce weight. This is easier than starting
at a lower weight, and everyone in the world wondering what is the
max rate.

You must fuel plan -- only take the fuel you need. You're not a KC-135
tankering fuel from one location to another. Remember you are an airline
pilot, and to save the company money, you only carry/use the fuel
necessary for your trip.

To me this has always made a lot of sense. Feel free to disagree, in any case, if you need the DC-10-30 .cfg in original form, just say so, I'll dig it out and post it here.

Thanks, Tailhook. Yes, now I wish I would have just taken the time to adjust the amounts in the fuel/payload setup window vs. trying to change the aircraft.cfg. What I was hoping to do was make it so I didn't have to change the settings every time.

One thing I did not know, however, was that the Posky 737 was also overweight (although a warning does not appear in the fuel/payload window like on the DC10-30). I looked at the weights of the default 737 and they were considerably lower. The default 737 also starts with fuel at 70%. I dropped the Posky's fuel and payload closer to the default 737's level and it is flying much better now. I still don't have a lot of stick left to pull back on, but it's doable now.

I guess all is not lost in my attempts to alter the aircraft.cfg. I have installed the DC10-30's panel in a few other planes, including a 737, 767 and the Eric Cantu 727, and have adjusted the wingviews for each plane with good results. While the panel may not be correct for these other planes, the awesome over-the-wing views are a good trade-off. The Posky 737's wings and Cantu 727's wingls look exceptioanlly good! 😀

Oh, and thanks for offering to send an unaltered version of the DC10-30. It seems to be working OK now, although I have to set it up differently now for some reason.

Glad you're having fun! I too use that panel for some of my DC-10s not at least because of the unusual wingviews.

For some other of my airliners I use wingviews.zip available at avsim. Each panel.cfg has to be edited separately - but that seems to be no problem for you. In fact, the author of the file makes it really easy, all you have to do is copy and paste the already prepared lines into the right place.

Are you using any particular soundset for your DC-10s?

😀

No particular soundset. Can't remember what I did for sound. Good tip about the other panels, I'll look intot aht. Won't be able to post replies until Sunday now. Thanks for the feedback!