Chapter 3: Aircraft Specifics
From X-Plane Wiki
Note that the takeoff speeds listed in the following sections assume that 1/3 flaps have been pulled in. It is a good idea to add five to ten knots to this number as a "speed cushion" before pulling the aircraft's nose off the ground during takeoff (called "rotating").
Note: When your aircraft crashes, go into the Settings menu and select either a new airport to take off from or a random flight. This will reset the airplane after the crash, giving you a brand new one to fly again.
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General Aviation Aircraft
The following general aviation aircraft are included in X-Plane for iPad/X-Plane HDEF 4G:
- Cessna 172
- Columbia 400
- Piper Malibu
- Cirrus Vision
- Piaggio Avanti
- Beechcraft King Air
- Eclipse 500
The Cessna 172 is the most basic of the available craft, while the Columbia 400 is a high performance, turbocharged piston (that is, propeller-based) aircraft. The Piper Malibu is a piston-engined craft with a maximum speed very close to that of the Columbia 400. The Beechcraft King Air is a twin-turboprop craft, and the Cirrus Vision is a next-generation personal jet still being developed. The Eclipse 500 is a six-seater, business-class very light jet (VLJ). Finally, the Piaggo Avanti is a super-efficient Italian turboprop business aircraft.
When flying the Cessna 172, if the Show instructions in flight if in Cessna 172 button is enabled in the Set menu (which it is by default), the simulator will give on-screen, step-by-step instructions for taking off, flying, and landing the aircraft.
Reverse thrust capabilities are available in the Piaggio Avanti and Beechcraft King Air. As with other reverse thrust-capable aircraft, the throttle slider in these aircraft will sit by default about 1/3 of the way up the screen. Drag it to the bottom of the screen to give the aircraft full backward throttle, or drag it to the top of the screen to give it full forward throttle.
The table below lists the approximate minimum takeoff speed for each of the general aviation aircraft.
Approximate Takeoff Speeds Aircraft Approx. Takeoff Speed (knots) Cessna 172 60 Columbia 400 95 Piper Malibu 90 Cirrus Vision 80 Piaggio Avanti 95 Beechcraft King Air 90 Eclipse 500 85
Airliners
The following airliners are included in X-Plane for iPad/X-Plane HDEF 4G:
- Boeing 777
- Boeing 747
- Airbus A380
- Boeing 787
- McDonnell Douglas MD-88
- Boeing 737
- Airbus A320
- Boeing 757
The Boeing 777 is the standard for modern airliner design and efficiency, while the 747 is a double-decker, four-engine craft, known as the original “Jumbo Jet.”
The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest airplane (nicknamed the Super Jumbo), complete with two passenger decks and fly-by-wire controls. It was entered in to service as recently as 2007.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a new carbon-fiber, high-bypass, ultra-efficient airliner due to enter service in late 2010.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and the Boeing 737 are twin-engine, medium-range craft that are (relatively) small. The Airbus A320 is slightly larger than the 737 and was designed to challenge both it and Boeing's 727 on the market. With its narrow body and medium size, the Boeing 757 is of a similar design also.
The iconic Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde is one of two supersonic commercial airliners ever flown. Its ability to cruise at Mach 2 at 60,000 feet allowed it to make the trip from New York to London in under three hours. Note that the Concorde has no flaps or speedbrakes—when you’re descending for a landing, you’ll have to plan very well to come in at a proper speed.
Reverse thrust capabilities are available in all eight of the airliners listed here. As with other reverse thrust-capable aircraft, the throttle slider in these aircraft will sit by default about 1/3 of the way up the screen. Drag it to the bottom of the screen to give the aircraft full backward throttle, or drag it to the top of the screen to give it full forward throttle.
Listed below are the approximate takeoff speeds for the airliners.
Approximate Takeoff Speeds Aircraft Approx. Takeoff Speed (knots) Boeing 747 155 Boeing 777 140 Boeing 737 120 Airbus A380 170 Boeing 787 150 McDonnell Douglas MD-88 120 Airbus A320 130 Boeing 757 120 Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde 190
Fighters, Racing Planes, and Other Extreme Aircraft
The following are a list of the fighters, racing planes, and other extreme aircraft found in X-Plane for iPad/X-Plane HDEF 4G:
- F4U Corsair
- P-51 Mustang
- F-4 Phantom
- F-15 Eagle
- F-86 Sabre
- Gee Bee Super Sportster
- F-22 Raptor
- SR-71 Blackbird
- B-1 “The Bone”
- B-2 “The Jet”
- B-52 Stratofortress
- North American X-15
- A6M "Zero"
- MiG-21 Fishbed
- F-14 Tomcat
- F/A-18F Super Hornet
A. Pre-WWII-Era Planes
The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster was the aircraft racing king of the 1930s. With a top speed of nearly 300 mph, it was untouchable in its time. Be careful, though—its small control surfaces make it a bit of an unruly ride!
B. WWII-Era Planes
The F4U Corsair is a World War II-era fighter with a top speed of over 350 mph. Because of its taildragger landing gear configuration, it is very tricky to land. The pilot must land in a full-stall, nose-high attitude. Be sure to hold the stick at full aft (meaning the iPad/iPhone is tilted all the way back) on the takeoff roll in this plane in order to hold the tail wheel down for steering authority.
The P-51 Mustang was the premier fighter of the Second World War. It must be taken off and landed with the same technique as the Corsair due to the taildragger landing gear.
The nimble Japanese A6M “Zero” was a favorite opponent of the F4U during the Second World War. Though it is much slower and less powerful than the Corsair, it is a great deal more maneuverable.
Note that both the F4U and P-51 have very powerful engines and very large propellers. As a result, the torque delivered by the engine and propeller will try to roll the plane to the left. This is most noticeable at very low airspeeds (when taking off, for example), when the aerodynamic forces created by the ailerons to counteract this are at a minimum. Thus, be prepared to roll hard towards the right (by rolling your iPad/iPhone right) as the plane lifts off and the wheels are no longer supporting the weight of the airplane on the ground. As the craft’s airspeed builds you will be able to use less and less right aileron to counteract the torque from the propeller and engine.
Korean War-Era Planes
The F-86 Sabre saw a great deal of action during the Korean War, where it battled the Soviet MiG-15s. In the late 1940s, the Sabre was the fastest jet aircraft in the world, reaching a speed of 570 mph in 1948. It eventually saw speeds as high as 680 mph.
The C-130 is a versatile military transport plane, used across the world as a gunship, airlifter, search-and-rescue craft, and even firefighter. Its six turboprop engines give it a top speed of 320 knots. It holds the record for the longest continuous production run among military aircraft, and the record for the heaviest aircraft to be landed on an aircraft carrier.
Vietnam War-Era Planes
The F-4 Phantom II, the king of the “Jet Age,” held fifteen world records during the 1960s (listed near the bottom of this page), among which were a number of fastest times to altitude, the fastest time across the continental US, and the highest zoom climb. With over thirty-two thousand pounds of thrust, four air-to-air guided missiles, and guns if those fail, the F-4 is a force to be reckoned with no matter the application.
The fast, agile MiG-21 Fishbed was a strong opponent of the F-4 Phantom II during the Vietnam War. Its light weight and tight turns make it an interesting adversary.
The XB-70 was a prototype bomber designed during the 1950s, able to exceed Mach 3 at 70,000 feet. Like the SR-71, it diffuses the vast amounts of heat produced by friction when flying at Mach 3 by circulating fuel through its outer skin.
This high-speed, high-altitude design worked well for avoiding the threat posed by interceptor aircraft. With the advent of Soviet anti-aircraft missiles in the late 1950s, though, this strategy fell out of favor, replaced by low-altitude aircraft that could only be detected (and fired at!) at much shorter distances.
Post-Vietnam War-Era Planes
The F-14 Tomcat
The F-14 Tomcat was introduced by the US Navy as a replacement for the F-4 Phantom II. In X-Plane for iPad/X-Plane HDEF 4G, it gets pitted against its own replacement—the F/A-18F Super Hornet.
The F-14 uses variable wing sweep to allow the plane to fly at high speeds (its top speed is over Mach 2 at altitude). When the wing sweep slider is moved down (as in the image below), the wings will slowly move to their aft position.
This causes the center of lift to move aft, forcing the nose down. Thus, the craft must be moving at a very high rate of speed, close to Mach 1 before the wings are swept backwards. Sweep the wings rearward slowly and carefully and let X-Plane automatically add trim to hold the nose up. Move the SWEEP slider a bit (thus moving the wings back a bit) and wait a few seconds as the trim automatically pulls the nose up a bit. When things have stabilized, sweep the wings a bit further and wait for a few more seconds. Do this three or four times to get the wings swept all the way back.
The F/A-18F Super Hornet
The F/A-18F Super Hornet is a larger redesign of the original F/A-18, built originally to replace the Navy’s F-14 Tomcats. It is a versatile fighter still in production.
The F-15 Eagle
The F-15 Eagle is a tactical fighter designed to maintain air superiority for the United States in the years following the Vietnam War. With a maximum speed over Mach 2.5 at altitude, it has proven a very successful design.
The F-22 Raptor
The F-22 Raptor is by far the most maneuverable and powerful fighter in the sky. Nothing else comes remotely close.One of its more interesting features is its ability to move its thruster up and down to steer the craft, known as thrust vectoring. This lets the plane pitch the nose up and down with full authority even at zero speed, simply by vectoring the thrust—it can even hang (nearly) motionless on its engines. This comes at a cost, though: when the pilot cuts the power, the craft loses that lift and maneuverability.
To see these thrust vectors, select an external view and turn on the visible force vectors (see Chapter 2). Give the craft full throttle and pull it into a sharp climb or push it into a sharp dive. Then, watch the thrust vectors tilt up or down, respectively, as seen in the following image.
The SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest jet aircraft in the world, able to exceed Mach 3 and break 70,000 feet. It still holds several world speed records set in the 1970s and 1980s. Many users wonder why it is, then, that the F-22 has a higher acceleration and top speed than the SR-71 at low altitudes. Simply put, each plane is designed for a different mission and operational envelope. The SR-71 was designed as a spy plane and is absolutely untouchable (even 40 years later) in high-altitude, straight and level flight. In 1977 a Russian MiG-25 (Russia’s premier interceptor and attack aircraft) made an attempt to intercept an SR-71 at nearly 70,000 feet. The Russian aircraft completely trashed its engines trying to keep up, though it could momentarily hit Mach 3. The Blackbird simply pulled away. The SR-71 at 50,000 feet or higher will leave any other aircraft in the dust, even the mighty F-22.
Users may notice that even in the SR-71, the craft's indicated airspeed will be very low (on the order of only 100 knots or so). This is expected and is due to the fact that the air at such a high altitude has a very, very low density. Thus, there are very few molecules of air that are getting rammed into the aircraft’s instrumentation system, as compared to flying through the very thick air of low altitudes. Once again, the aircraft's gauges display the indicated airspeed, not necessarily the true airspeed.
Flying the SR-71 is like balancing three checkbooks at once. The pilot must maintain control of the craft's speed, altitude, and flight controls at once in order to reach the craft’s maximum speed of Mach 3 at over 70,000 feet.
The B-1 "Bone"
The B-1 bomber (known as “The Bone”) has almost full-span flaps (that is, the flaps cover nearly the full wingspan), leaving very little room for ailerons. Thus, spoilers must be used for roll control, as well as differentially deflecting all-moving stabilators (the horizontal tail surfaces) to aid in roll control. Despite the huge flaps and multiple roll controls, this huge, ungainly bird still has terribly high stall speeds and a limited roll rate due to its high weight. If pilots can get this plane around the sky and down in one piece, they are doing well!
Use the B-1's SWEEP slider to bring the wings from their low-speed position of full forward to a high-speed position of full aft, just like in the F-14 Tomcat (as described above).
The B-2 Spirit
Next is the B-2 Spirit, otherwise known as the “Stealth Bomber.” The B-2, quite uniquely, has no tail. At all. There is no vertical stabilizer, no horizontal stabilizer, and no flaps. Instead, ailerons on the wingtips split open to add drag on the left or right side of the plane to give yaw control.
A fly-by-wire system coupled to multiple flight control surfaces makes this aircraft manageable, and really rather nice to fly. Actually, this aircraft is literally unflyable without the flight control computers, which continually make small inputs to keep the plane flying the way (and direction) the pilot commands.
The B-52 Stratofortress
The B-52 Stratofortress (informally known as the BUFF—the Big, Ugly, Fat ––––) is a huge eight-engined bomber, originally designed during the Cold War to carry nuclear weapons.
This monster of a plane needs about 230 knots (with one-third flaps) to get off the ground, and it has a maximum speed of about 650 miles per hour at 20,000 feet.
The X-15
The North American X-15 is a rocket-powered speed demon. With a top speed of Mach 6.72 (4520 miles per hour), it is the fastest manned aircraft in the world. To begin flight, this craft is dropped, uniquely, from the B-52 "mothership." Its top speed is over double that of the SR-71 (the world's fastest jet airplane), and its maximum altitude of over 50 miles qualifies its pilots for astronaut status.
The craft's absurdly high top speed requires a blast shield to be installed over one side of the windshield—without it, the windows would burn up. The X-15 pilots would fly the high speed portion of the mission with the shield on the right side, looking out the left side only. After the craft slowed down (and the left window was sufficiently charred), the pilot would jettison the blast shield and move to the right window in order to land.
When the X-15 is selected from the Settings menu, X-Plane will load up the B-52 to drop it from. Go to the HUD view (if desired) and touch the screen as instructed. Drag the throttle to the top of the screen, take the flaps up, and watch its airspeed "rocket"—that is, until it gains enough altitude, at which point its indicated airspeed will drop to maybe 15 knots, while it is actually moving at Mach 6.
Approximate Takeoff Speeds
Approximate Takeoff Speeds Aircraft Approx. Takeoff Speed (knots) F4U 85 P-51 85 F-4 175 F-15 150 Gee Bee 115 F-86 185 F-22 115 SR-71 145 B-52 230 XB-70 200 C-130 110 B-1 170 B-2 110 X-15 N/A A6M 70 MiG-21 145 F-14 180 F/A-18F 200
Helicopters
The following helicopters are found in X-Plane for iPad/X-Plane HDEF 4G:
- Robinson R22
- Bell 206
- Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk
- Sikorsky H-3 Sea King
- Sikorsky S-76C
- Boeing CH-47 Chinook
- Bell AH-1 Cobra
Four of the helicopters are primarily used by civilians. The R22 is a twin seat, two-bladed, lightweight helicopter used for pilot training. The 206 is a turbine-powered mainstay of many helicopter fleets. The H-3 Sea King is a huge land/sea rescue helicopter. The S-76C is a twin-engined, mid-sized commercial craft.
The other three helicopters are primarily for military use. The UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine massive military cargo and troop mover. The CH-47 Chinook is a twin-engine craft from the 1960s designed for heavy lifting, moving cargo and troops. The AH-1 Cobra is a helicopter gunship, designed in the 1960s to defend American ground troops in the Vietnam War.
Gliders
X-Plane for iPad/X-Plane HDEF 4G contains the following gliders: a Schleicher ASK 21 composite trainer, a high performance Schempp-Hirth Cirrus, and a PZL Bielsko SZD-45 Ogar powered glider.
The Space Shuttle
The shuttle Orbiter is a reusable spacecraft driven to orbit by solid rocket boosters. Despite the fact that its own three engines (not counting the boosters) put out over 375,000 pounds of thrust each, by the time it reenters orbit, the Orbiter is purely an oversized glider—its fuel is spent. It poses quite a challenge to fly by hand back into the atmosphere and safely down to Edwards Air Force Base.
With the shuttle selected, users can sit back and watch the Shuttle’s launch and entry into orbit, or take control of the complete re-entry (from nearly 200,000 feet), the full approach to Edwards, or the final approach.
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