One reason I got the simulator (AFPD) is to learn to do things with sailplanes I haven't done in real life yet. Like use flaps.

What do you use "flaps up" for? "flaps down"? I currently have the flaps tied to a 3-position switch -- they are either up/down/neutral.

Both "up" and "down" seem to cause the plane to drop faster. How is this different from using the spoilers?

Thanks for any help!

- Eric

Well Eric I am no expert but flaps up would definitely act similar to a spoiler. Flap down should change the attitude of the aircraft slightly to a nose down attitude. Basically also slowing it down. Flaps down would be used to create a much lower stall speed and can be used in thermalling for tighter turns closer to the ground or well get more use out of low level not so strong/big thermals. I wish my electra had a full moving TE so I could use the low level bubbles better. I keep having to turn too big diameter circles and that results in flying into and then out of the thermal the whole time. Really hard to make use of the lift that way.

Just remember that any airfoil has a certain speed range to create enough lift and be efficient. There's graphs and theories etc which will explain this better than I can. Every airfoil just like a car's engine like to be at a certain speed or well rpm (in the engine's case) where the thing will be most efficient. If you are going to apply too much flaps in the down position you will slow the plane down too much and cause it to loose too much lift. Becoming very unefficient and that's the last thing you need when thermalling. Try changing the values of the flap deflection less and less untill the plane simply slows down and doesn't lose altitude faster than it would have without the flaps. The airfoil will have a range where the drag and lift/sink relationships will come together and work together best. But now to throw another spanner into the gearbox. Remember that when you start adding flaps then you are effectively altering the shape of the airfoil! So there comes some more interesting things to bare in mind. Effectively there should be a sweet spot for the flap full deflection where sink will be minimal in relation to the cause. You will have to adjust this and experiment to find it. So having the flaps on a slider would have helped but on the sim it will be kinda hard to determine exactly where it should be.

Just a couple of thoughts. A full on glider expert I am sure will be able to write page on page about this. Sit and think about it for a while and then go out and experiment. You will have to figure out what you are after with the flaps first before you can do anything to make them work for you. I hope some of the stuff I said are relevant and true. Otherwise just hand me a beer and send me along my merry way

Eric, Spacey,

Good day fellows.

Eric, basically what Spacey has said is all true :-) The most critical point that Spacey made was about the amount of deflection of the flaps. Airfoil sections have a certain limit of "angle of attack" after which the flow will break down rapidly into a highly energy sapping turbulent flow. Essentially flaps will give you more lift at a lower speed, meaning you'll float longer but cover less ground. As for the reflex position I'm not so sure about using that other than as purely a spoiler situation. With a 3 position switch you really should have it set as neutral, half and full flaps. You will also probably want to couple in some elevator with your flaps to counter the pitching effect.

Paul.

Hey Paul!

Good to get fresh bunch of brain cells in here. I know you have some more experience with the whole airfoil thing so I appreciate somewhat of an expert confirming my theories.

Eric: Paul has a good point on the switch. I wouldn't really bother with it set up as a spoiler as well. Maybe add that to another switch and focus on using that switch for different amounts of flap deflection. Like Paul said either full or half. What radio are you using? Maybe you can assign the option to a gimble or slider of some sort so you can get maximum efficiency out of the function. Then maybe adjust the slider and figure out the maximum deflection point and adjust EPA so you can not dial in more than that? You know limiting the flap travel to the extreme yet still efficient point?

This is great information guys, thanks. I am using the Game Commander that comes with AFPD (my real TX is a Profi 3030). There is a "knob" which currently works "on/off" for me, but another member says he has it working "variable". i will try getting that to work for flaps. Also I will skip the "flaps up" position (now I know what "reflex" is!) and focus on using partial flap down to slow down the plane.