Better flight model?
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Hi all,
Sorry for my late contribution to this thread.
I'll start by clarifying the situation as the nature of FS development can be somewhat confusing, especially when compared to less hobbyist industries where you have large teams working full-time etc. We've worked closely with Paul for many years now, from our Canberra PR9 for FSX through to our latest MSFS aircraft, but as he points out above he is not an employee and does not work full-time in his role as a flight model developer, which is a very common situation in this industry (particularly prior to MSFS). Paul isn't our only flight model developer - just like with our artists, coders etc, we have different developers working on different aircraft, some full-time, some part-time and our team continues to expand. However the complex nature of flight models, especially for a constantly evolving and sometimes poorly documented platform like MSFS, means that if at all possible we try to avoid switching or having multiple flight model developers attached to a particular aircraft, and therefore Paul has persisted in trying to track down the causes of these issues.
As Paul rightly points out, for a significant period following release the PA28s all behaved very well and were considered some of the best GA in terms of flight models, but one or more Sim Updates introduced issues, most noticeably the 'pitch jerking'. I understand the temptation to refer to other developers who aren't experiencing these issues (but no doubt have some of their own challenges), and it should be noted that some of our own aircraft such as the 146 are 'jerk free' too so this isn't a Just Flight bug, but the MSFS FDE means that each aircraft type and airframe has its own quirks which aren't applicable to others. The problem we face is finding what causes the issue on the PA28 family so it can be addressed.
We’ve spent months working with Paul to find a solution, including trying to get help directly from MS/Asobo, but we've yet to find an adequate solution. Paul’s personal situation is obviously a factor in his availability but to be clear it’s not the reason for the lack of a solution. And I should also be clear that we of course don't expect our paying customers to consider our staffing when rightly expecting fixes for our products. Hopefully it's apparent from our many regular MSFS updates for all aircraft that we are very proactive in fixing any issues and communicating directly with you about them, with Paul's detailed explanations and honesty above highlighting just how frustrated we too are about this.
At no point has work halted on our flight models and this has always been a priority for us. Most recently we've been assessing the changes introduced by the final SU10 build so we can go back to MS/Asobo with our latest findings. Additional staff and resources have also been brought in to help.
We really appreciate the understanding and patience shown here and will continue to update you on our progress.
Thanks,
Martyn -
@martyn Thank you for these explanations and we keep our fingers crossed for further work on the amendments. As a community strongly involved in their development, we are available to not only criticize but also support our experience, often with real aviation and impressions of the simulator.
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Hi all,
A quick update - work continues on the flight model updates following the final release of SU11 and we are aiming to send a new test build to our kind volunteers (https://community.justflight.com/topic/3924/flight-model-updates/1) and testing team this week. If that goes well then we can proceed with releasing those.
Thanks again for your patience,
Martyn - Just Flight -
@martyn Great news. I just bought this aircraft at the MSFS Marketplace, based on great reviews, and was a little let down by the flight model deteriorating after some sim updates. I am glad to see you are actively working to fix this.
Will the update be available within MSFS, or will I need to visit here and download it? Thanks.
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It's been a journey regarding this topic, but with v0.3.6 just around the corner, I am really excited to get back into the JF PA28s! Big thanks to Paul and the rest of the JF team for moving this towards resolution.
Had I been paying attention to the forums I'd have jumped at the chance to test, but seems we're days away from release. Fingers crossed!
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After some further tweaking I'm happy to report that the PA28 updates are now being processed for release, with release currently planned for Monday. The final change log can be found here:
https://community.justflight.com/topic/2476/update-change-logs-v0-3-5-released-edited-20-3-23
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Hey guys,
I'm no expert, nor a real life pilot, but has anyone looked at this recently to see if something needs adjusting/tweaking again? I went to fly today, and winds were 300 at 12G28kts. Even just taxing around, as soon as I started any forward movement there was some severe weathervaning and required a LOT of rudder input to correct, and on takeoff (runway 34), once I hit about 40 knots or so IAS, again with the severe weathervaning and it just careens into the wind.
This is on a fresh install of everything, from Windows to the sim to the plane. I checked and all assists are off.
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@NickD27 said in Better flight model?:
In 28 knot gusts I would absolutely expect the plane to be basically uncontrollable on the ground and to weathervane significantly when airborne
I had the same issue today. Reported winds were 280 at 16 while taking off from runway 34. Once I hit 40-50kts indicated, just careened left into the wind and off the runway.
That's a crosswind of only 10 knots.
The airport doesn't have its own weather station but is about 8 miles from two larger ones that do. The one had the reported winds, the other was reporting 270 at 11G22.
That shouldn't be too much, right?
