- Yes
- No
The Premise
I’d like to make a very hopeful suggestion that we can set a speed limit for Instructor to automatically turn off at while flying aircraft. Meaning, once you reach a certain speed in IAS, set in say increments of 100km/hr, Instructor will automatically turn off. If you go back below the preset speed, it automatically turns back on.
Why?
The main reason is I have discovered that Instructor is particularly limiting at high speeds in many, if not most, jet aircraft when it doesn’t need to be. However at lower speeds, many of those same jets will still wing stall which makes them harder to fly with Instructor permanently turned off.
Instructor is good for stopping wing stalls, and in some planes it’s also good at stopping you from wing snapping by pulling too many Gs. Which is why I still like using it, I just wish I could have it turned off automatically when I don’t feel it’s needed.
I have recorded some brief videos to try and illustrate it. I fly by joystick, not mouse aim, but I imagine the effect is the same for either control scheme. In each video, I tried to replicate a flat turn, full pull max G until I either blacked out, wing stalled or made a 180 degree turn (sorry, some of these planes are uncrewed). One flat turn has Instructor on, the other has it off. You will notice I pull higher Gs and much more instantaneously with Instructor turned off.
F-111C flat turn with Instructor turned on from 1400km/hr IAS. You’ll notice at first it is very unresponsive, before slowly building up to 11 Gs, which takes 7sec.
F-111C flat turn with Instructor turned off from 1400km/hr IAS. This time it is much more responsive, and within 2sec I am already pulling 11 Gs before peaking at 12 Gs which totally wipes out my uncrewed pilot. I can attest that under 700km/hr IAS an F-111 will start wing stalling however.
M.D.452 IIC flat turn from 900km/hr IAS with Instructor turned on. This plane is very unresponsive at high speed with Instructor turned on, and it pulls a max static 10 Gs during the turn.
M.D.452 IIC flat turn from 900km/hr IAS with Instructor turned off. It is suddenly very responsive at high speed and momentarily hits 13 Gs which would really help for gun solutions at high speeds. However it already starts to wing stall badly at ~750km/hr IAS. Having Instructor turn off automatically above, say, 800km/hr, while having it turn on automatically below that speed, would make this plane much much nicer to fly.
G.91 pre-serie flat turn from 800km/hr IAS with Instructor turned on. Pulls a static 10 Gs during the turn.
G.91 pre-serie flat turn from 800km/hr IAS with Instructor turned off. More responsive/instantaneous turn that holds 13 Gs for a few seconds. I could actually fly this aircraft with Instructor permanently turned off as it practically doesn’t wing stall. But it again illustrates how having Instructor off can be beneficial for performance.
