Sideslips

[JimAttrill 24]

Sorry, a bit of newbie to flight simulation and to OFF. The pilots of that era often referred to sideslips as a means to take off height without increasing speed as in a dive. Is this possible in the simulator?

[Creaghorn 10]

Sorry, a bit of newbie to flight simulation and to OFF. The pilots of that era often referred to sideslips as a means to take off height without increasing speed as in a dive. Is this possible in the simulator?

 

yes, with pedals. i do it always when landing

[Bullethead 12]

Welcome aboard! New guy buys the drinks

 

Yes, you can sideslip in the game just as in real life. Here's how you do it...

 

1. Reduce power to however much you think is appropriate

2. Hold a fair amount of rudder to whichever side you prefer

3. Hold in enough aileron in the opposite direction to keep yourself level.

4. Use enough up elevator to keep the nose from getting too low.

 

The control surface movements are all interrelated, in that the more rudder you use, the more aileron and elevator you need to maintain the wings level and nose not quite level. You also have to factor in the throttle enough to keep from stalling despite all these drag-inducing control deflections and yaw.

 

The amount of all this you do depends on where you're trying to go in the airplane. As you note, the purpose of this is to lose height fairly rapidly without picking up speed, such as if you're making a landing approach and find yourself too high. As you come down, you've got both horizontal (forward progress) and vertical (down) components to your plane's movement. The downward part is pretty constant, but can be reduced by using more throttle. The horizontal part is controlled by the amount of rudder. The more rudder you use, the more sideways you get, so the more drag you have from the fuselage side.

 

So say you're on fire and need to come down RIGHT NOW, but are over woods and the only clearing is pretty close to you, but you're too high. Then you use a lot of rudder to minimize your forward progress (plus it helps blow the flames out sideways away from you). OTOH, if you're just marginally too high on a normal landing approach, you use less.

 

The other main reason to do sideslips is to see ahead on final approach. In some planes, you sit so far back, or the wings are in such a position, that you can't see straight ahead at all when you're at low speed and the nose is pitched up somewhat. So in planes like these, you use just a small amount of rudder on final approach to angle the nose just out of your way so you can see the runway coming. Then just before you touch down, you release the rudder so you hit the ground rolling straight.

[JimAttrill 24]

Thanks guys for your wonderful help. You remind me of myself because I am a mod on two forums which have nothing to do with computers or flight simulators, but I do try to help the new guys.

 

Unfortunately my 2 week old joystick now gives me no joy as the ailerons only work to the left but not much to the right so I have returned it to my supplier. The warranty thing could take ages. I don't really want to try OFF with only keyboard controls. Most of the time I crash anyway without any help from the enemy! I need to learn to fly first.....

[Olham 164]

If you are a fighter, you'll learn it. Flying first, fighting second. If not, you'll give up.

I don't know anyone who managed to give it up for longer than two days.

So, welcome to the addicts' mess, Jim.

Rudder is essential on these crates. So you either get a good twist stick, or pedals.

And one day, after many crashes, you won't understand anymore, why it first was so difficult.

That's when the lady allows you to imagine, that YOU fly HER...

[rayfer 0]

Excellent question JimAttrill...I'm a newbie as well and was unaware this tactic existed...I'm OFF (pun intended) to try it out now.

[Speedski 0]

Yes it is an excellent question and a much used technique.

 

Side slipping is used when you want to loose height without building up speed. You don't need to use your engine, in fact if you are using a side slip it is often because yours has stopped. Let's say you have lost your engine. Pick your landing field and set up your approach with a bit too much height. Once you have turned on to final approach you should still be too high. Lower the nose and boot in enough rudder and opposite aileron. It is a co-ordination of all three controls to adjust your glide path. use your elevator to help control your speed. The more height you have to loose, the more forward stick with more rudder and opposite aileron. Don't keep the wings level, use enough aileron to lower the forward wing then you can see where you are going also. Uncleal is right of course, you cant land sideways. When you are at the correct height, smoothly release the rudder and use your ailerons to level your wings while easing back on the stick to bring the nose back up to normal glide angle. Then land as usual.

 

I hope this helps, it's actually fun to do once you are confident with it. Definitely very useful.

 

Cheers,

Speedski

Edited May 15, 2009 by Speedski

[Baywing 0]

I've been sideslipping for years, though in the early M$ flight sims, it didn't seem to be modeled. In addition to scrubbing off speed, it often helps with visibility, especially in the older crates. I used it all the time in CFS2 with the Corsair, it was impossible to see over the cowling in straight flight.

I've kept it in my bag of tricks for combat as well. In a WW2 a/c, I would lower the flaps and almost stall out if I had a Zeke on my 6 and he'd fly right by. In OFF, I have successfully sideslipped with an enemy a/c on my tail and he flew right by. I straightened out and had him for tea. If you try it, just be sure to watch your airspeed, it's very easy to stall in which case you'll likely be starting a new pilot.

Edited May 15, 2009 by Baywing

[Womenfly2 0]

Just for reference, Side-slip vs. Forward-slip.

 

Good topic!

 

Cheers,

WF2

[Speedski 0]

Ahh.....now why did I kind of expect a visit from our lovely aviatrix on this one.

 

So we are going sideways when we forward slip but we are going forwards when we sideslip :)

 

Greetings to you Womanfly2,

 

Speedski

[rayfer 0]

I've been practicing this tactic but finding it difficult to coordinate the various components. I'm new to this flight sim genre so I'm using a $50 logitech extreme 3d pro joystick....without any other add on's like the Trackir I've been reading about. But I would think it should still be doable?

[Speedski 0]

I don't have Trackir either rayfer. I do have rudder pedals but I haven't always. Yes it is doable. You are trying to co-ordinate 3 controls at once with one reversed so you will get better with practice. You will master it I am sure just keep at it. You will use it often once you do master it.

 

Cheers,

Speedski.

[Womenfly2 0]

Great to see you back Speedski!

 

Yea, the old forward, slide slip posting, comes once every full moon! .... LOL.

 

Cheers,

WF2

Edited May 15, 2009 by Womenfly2

[griphos 0]

I wondered if anyone would mention the diff between the two. Thanks WF2. I think it might help newbies to understand that one usually uses the side-slip (although lots of pilots call ANY kind of slip a side-slip) to land straight down the runway in a cross-wind. It's much harder to do correctly, I think. You basically control the three inputs to exactly offset the amount the wind is pushing you to one side of the runway in a crosswind landing. I don't do it well. I usually crab, with the exciting kick her straight with rudder right before landing ending!

 

The forward slip is the one most of our sim pilots will use (and they can call it whatever they like :yes: ). And it's important to know, as several have pointed out, that your nose will NOT be pointing where you are heading. Basically, the nose will be pointing to whichever side of your "track" that you've got rudder input. So, when you set up for this, coming in high and maybe a little hot, you chop throttle (or I do, since speed is always controlled in landing by attitude of nose...up for slower and down for faster...and rate of descent by throttle, and since you're too high, you don't need throttle to control descent...you do that with how much slip you crank in). So, you point the nose to one side or the other with rudder (doesn't matter, but I tend to slip right) and drop the opposite wing enough to keep yourself flying straight down the line to land. This means you will be looking sideways a bit over the nose at the track you are flying and as you get to the flare, you let off rudder smoothly to bring your nose back in line with your track and straighten the wings and land. Tada! OFF models this very well. It's fun. For the whole family. Try it!

 

That was intended to help clarify things. I hope at least I didn't confuse things. It would be a lot clearer with a little video. Maybe this will be the impetus I need to finally download FRAPS and try it out. A little slipping tutorial video would be nice. Maybe we can build a set of tutorial videos! I'd like to see some gunnery videos. That would help folks out.

Edited May 15, 2009 by griphos

[Womenfly2 0]

A Slide-slip ....

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>">

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350">

 

A Forward-slip ....

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>">

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350">

 

The basic difference is .....

 

A Slide-Slip is use to descend quickly or to loose altitude with minimum forward travel such as in a high obstacle approach into a short field.

 

A Forward-Slip is used to compensate for crosswind. This technique uses aileron only so the nose will point off center-line some.

 

There is also a Wing-Down technique used in crosswind conditions which is preferred. In which you keep the nose pointed straight down the runway using aileron and rudder, landing, if need be, on one wheel. Wing-Down technique keeps you from what happens in a Forward-Slip when transitioning from the forward-slip to kicking the plane straight to line up with the center of the runway. At the point of flaring to land, what happens is the plane will drift sideways off the runway center-line and the crosswind will lift the wind-side wing. Usually used by light aircraft.

 

Enjoy,

WF2

[griphos 0]

Great videos! (Although they seem to demonstrate the opposite of what is described on the wiki entry you list above...but like I said, what you show in the video as a side-slip is what most pilots call a side-slip, I think.) At any rate, it's the top video that demonstrates what I think most sim pilots will find useful for getting the crate down from too high and shows just how far to the side your nose can be pointing from your track across the ground. This is a pretty sharp slip where a lot of altitude is lost rapidly without increase in speed. Try to make your crate look like this. As you can see in the video, rudder is applied first (well, in this case, applied while banked in a turn...so the same thing), and then aileron thrown in to achieve the track you desire. You drop quickly and stay slow. This is also useful for when you're not too high, but are coming in too fast. You pull the nose up more and use the slip to bleed speed quickly.

 

And isn't that a pretty little L-4?!

Edited May 15, 2009 by griphos

[Speedski 0]

Thanks for the welcome back Womanfly2. Nce videos, we will have the sky full of people having fun practising slipping all over the place I'm sure.

 

I have a vision of closing time down at the local.

 

Cheers,

Speedski

[Baywing 0]

I've been practicing this tactic but finding it difficult to coordinate the various components. I'm new to this flight sim genre so I'm using a $50 logitech extreme 3d pro joystick....without any other add on's like the Trackir I've been reading about. But I would think it should still be doable?

 

I have the same stick and it's just something you have to practice. If you are new to flying, I'd suggest keeping it simple for a while and as you get used to the flight controls and the way they respond, you can add in advanced stuff. There's a reason they don't teach you sideslipping on your first flight in a real plane!

[JimAttrill 24]

Thanks for all your comments - I will get my joystick back tomorrow and will have a go. They said it needed 'calibrating' and I am certain I tried that to no avail.

 

Very nice video of the Piper Cub - brought back memories of one I serviced a couple of times back in 1976, though I never got to fly in it.

[Olham 164]

Great video examples, WomenFly2!

Now I know, that I often used sideslips for landing, without knowing they had a name. Lol!