Ok I see the problem..... when I started this I made followed the james's specs, "The rotors turn at constant RPM"...... "Roll is induced by differential collective pitch in the left and right rotor systems,"
Now all the way through my creating this flight model I used a much more power rotor motors, as it's a lot easier to work out the control system if you're not having to deal with insufficient lift/power to do the job in the first place. The correct size turbines were fitted days before release, rotor motors de-rated from 8MW each to 2MW, rotor blades redesigned etc...
So James Cameron says this about the turbines... "The power plant consists of two turbine generators rated at 1,970 shp, 1469 kW,"
Problem is these aint big enough, and if I make them bigger then they drink fuel like a fish drinks water and you have 15minutes of flight time.
James Cameron says this about the rotors... "In combat or emergency flight conditions, throttles may be positioned at 120% for extra power, but this puts the blade tips near sonic speed in the Pandoran atmosphere"
Problem here is that at 1770rpm blades are near supersonic in earths atmosphere as it is.... in Pandora's they'll be even closer... but what it does show is that there is some possibility that blade speed can be varied...
So what I'll do is revisit the flight control system and add a +-20% variable blade speed into the damping system, this will take the workload off the blade angle adjust part of it, preventing them from hitting their stops and maxing out the damping,,, at which point you've probably noticed it rolls over onto it's back..
What I'll also do is limit the max rate of climb to "Maximum rate of climb is 545 meters per minute, with full fuel and ordnance load."... as this is also a control system feature and not an actual airframe of power limitation.....
So expect an update.... might take a day or two.... or more.
The bottom line is that James Cameron makes films... It's a fantasy plane and some of the numbers might not stack up when using real physics.... but I'll see what I can do as it does need a greater ceiling height than 4kft
In the spirit of total confession this is the only 'cheat' within this vehicle.. it's within the rotor file and is because of all I've explained above
Code: Select all
<ct_factor> 2.0 </ct_factor>
<cp_factor> 0.8 </cp_factor>
Simon
"If anyone ever tells you anything about an aeroplane which is so bloody complicated you can't understand it, take it from me - it's all balls" - R J Mitchell