Brake Release?

[Feldgrun]

I'm having difficulty taking off in a SP mission. I'm sitting on the runway, engine running, ready to take off. I've been cleared for take-off, the chocks aren't in, wheel brakes are at 0%, but I still sit there, engine at full throttle and still not moving. What's wrong? To this point I've only tried air-start missions.

This guy from this forum, and another from Steam seem to have had the same problem, but I don't think prop pitch is the answer to it not moving an inch. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Feldgrun

[Josp]

Hi Feldgrun,

 

have you tried to release brakes? It is the Full Wheel Brakes command in Options - Controls - Keys - Aircraft.

 

Some planes are spawned with their brakes engaged. You need to press the key or button for engaging brakes shortly to release them. It is described in the aircraft Flashcards.

 

Have you read the Flashcards? If not, I recommend you to do it. You can learn there how to start the engine, how to take off and land a particular aircraft. It is very useful because some aircraft require specific steps to do this successfully.

 

The Flashcards are accessible through the Manuals option in the game main menu. They are located in a subfolder called aircraft.

 

Josef

Edited August 19, 2023 by Josp

[Feldgrun]

I have read the flashcards, which can be quite helpful.

 

I've mapped a key to releasing the brakes, and I've found that it allows me to take off in Axis planes, but not Allied. I'm not sure why. 

 

I wish that there were preset keys, instead of having to map them all myself. While mapping your own allows customization, it would really be nice to have them preset with the ability to change, like GB. I can also understand that it's really cool to be able to interact with the aircraft & manually lower the undercarriage (landing gear) as we can in DCS, but for things like brakes which you cannot control with a mouse, it would be nice to have them pre-mapped. 

[FTC_Karaya]

By releasing the brakes... do you mean the chocks? Because those are used to keep aircraft in place in SP and MP when spawning in.

[Feldgrun]

7 hours ago, Karaya said:

By releasing the brakes... do you mean the chocks? Because those are used to keep aircraft in place in SP and MP when spawning in.

 

Throttle at 100%, chocks out and brakes off, but still stuck on the runway.

[Bf109Ace]

Hi Feldgrun,

I play SP exclusively and always start from a runway take off due to the loss of force feedback with air-starts.

I have set a 'toggle' key for each [ brakes on/off and chocks on/off ]

I have set 'scroll left' and 'scroll right' keys for the individual left and right brake used when taxiing or slowing down after landing.

Sometimes when taking off only the brake key needs entering and other times both brake and chocks keys need to be entered [ don't ask me why... another one of those CloD funny bugs I guess ]

 

When all else fails I find toggling the Autopilot key on/off quickly, often solves the problem.

[Ghost666]

RPM/Pitch? Axis fighters have this automated Allied don't. Just a thought.

 

Good Luck!

[Art-J]

@Feldgrun Attach this mission of yours so we can test it. Otherwise we're running in circles here.

 

The screenshot does paint a puzzling picture, though.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Art-J

[Buzzsaw]

7 hours ago, Feldgrun said:

 

Throttle at 100%, chocks out and brakes off, but still stuck on the runway.

As another player mentioned, what was your pitch setting?

 

Remember the German aircraft have a manual pitch adjustment which moves the opposite to the Allied aircraft.

 

If you are at 0%, (full coarse pitch) nothing will happen, the aircraft propellor needs to be at 100%.  (fully fine pitch)

 

You should set this prior to engaging the throttle... and gradually roll on the throttle so you track straight and level... don't jam it forward fully instantly.

[Feldgrun]

7 hours ago, Buzzsaw said:

If you are at 0%, (full coarse pitch) nothing will happen, the aircraft propellor needs to be at 100%.  (fully fine pitch)

 

You should set this prior to engaging the throttle... and gradually roll on the throttle so you track straight and level... don't jam it forward fully instantly.

 

Much to my surprise, it was the propeller pitch setting that was the issue. I'm able to take off now. I was admittedly in a GB mind-set, where if the aircraft was on the runway with the propeller turning, all you needed to do was add throttle and flaps, and you'd take off. I guess not.

 

Thanks for the help.

[Buzzsaw]

1 hour ago, Feldgrun said:

 

Much to my surprise, it was the propeller pitch setting that was the issue. I'm able to take off now. I was admittedly in a GB mind-set, where if the aircraft was on the runway with the propeller turning, all you needed to do was add throttle and flaps, and you'd take off. I guess not.

 

Thanks for the help.

Also in the case of the Kittyhawk and Tomahawk... remember these have three types of pitch settings.

 

You can be in fixed pitch...  (don't recommend unless you are cruising at low fixed throttle) variable pitch, (works like the Bf-109E-1/E-3 variable, not recommended unless you are trying to do a takeoff at more than the recommended rpm) or constant speed.  (works like the Mk Ia/IIa Spitfire pitch... this is recommended for 99% of use)

 

Default I believe it is set to constant speed, but if you switch it inadvertently you could find yourself destroying your engine if you are not careful.

[Volant_Eagle]

Why do aircraft spawn in at full coarse pitch anyway? If that is historically how these aircraft were “left cold”, then I guess I don’t have a problem with it. But it sounds rather unlikely to me. As far as I know, nearly all piston aircraft are started at fine pitch, taxied at fine pitch, taken off at fine pitch, climbed at fine or nearly fine pitch, set to fine pitch for landing in case of a go-around, and then taxied to parking and shut down in fine pitch. Why in the world would a plane be sitting shut off at full coarse pitch then? Not to mention the likely historical inaccuracy, it’s very easy for a new player to miss or not know about this. If the planes started out in fine pitch instead, then even someone with no clue what prop pitch is could start, taxi, takeoff, and fly an airplane. (They’d just have a higher chance of over-speeding the engine and have a reduced top speed.)

 

Given my experience with real constant speed props, the fact that so many planes spawn in at full coarse in this game has always baffled me. Some even spawn in with the engine running at coarse pitch and it promptly shuts down! Many engines won’t start in coarse pitch and most modern engines are hydraulically controlled by engine oil. So if the engine is off you can’t change the pitch anymore. In such a plane, it would be rather stupid to set the prop to coarse and then shut it off. How would you start it again?

 

I admit I could be completely wrong here though. Modern light piston engines are not the same thing as the massive monsters from back in the 30’s and 40’s. I don’t have any experience with real piston engines anything like that size. So my knowledge may not transfer properly. Does anyone here know in what settings these engines would have been shut down and left in?

[Bf109Ace]

Hi Volant_Eagle

 

Some years ago I worked on Griffon, Lycoming and Wright aircraft engines.

All of those fitted with a C.S.U. [ constant speed unit ] would park on the mac in FINE pitch as there was no hydraulic pressure to activate course pitch.

I imagine in WWII, the early aircraft would have had manual prop pitch control and so could effectively be parked in course pitch.

Once fitted with C.S.U's I am pretty sure they would go to fine pitch automatically once parked. [ the setting for landing, being fine pitch ]

The Griffon engines were fairly similar to the Merlin [ altho' some major differences too! ] but the C.S.U. operation was the same.

[9./JG52_J-HAT]

Add this to the list of improvements new players would benefit from. I've answered quite a few questions on Steam on "why my plane won't move" and the answer was prop pitch in many of these cases. The other being the invisible chocks that you can't know are there. 

[Volant_Eagle]

Thanks @Bf109Ace.

I think the issue is whether the pitch is controlled hydraulically or electrically, not whether it’s constant speed or only variable. Constant speed or manually variable, a hydraulic prop cannot be set with the engine shutdown since it works off the oil pressure. Constant speed or manually variable, an electric prop can be set with the engine off as long as electrical power is available.

So an electric prop could be left in coarse while parked since it could be set to fine again before engine start. However, that would seem rather pointless to me. Why go through the effort of setting the pitch to course after shutdown when you know you’ll need to set it to fine again before starting?

A hydraulic prop with only manual pitch control and no CSU will still go to its default position once oil pressure is lost. (Admittedly hydraulic props without constant speed are not that common).