Software throttle delay for training in EDFs?
 

Is this a thing that people do? Google came up with a couple results but the threads were from 16 years ago.

I am in training for working up to my turbine I'm slowly assembling. But it occurred to me last night while flying, has anyone ever used a software programmed delay in the throttle to simulate turbine spool up time in EDFs for trainning purposes?

I've seen the delay in the channel options of my TX and at first never really understood why anyone would ever want that, but then it kinda hit me.

From what I've read spooling times for increased thrust is much quicker than they used to be, so what would be a realistic delay for say a Kingtech K85? Like 2 seconds? I'm thinking about trying it after I get a couple flights on my new 80mm EDF.


Edit: something else I was thinking... Because of the lower wing loading on foam EDFs it seems like most of them can be landed on a dead stick much further than turbines. I was wondering if maybe creating a throttle curve for the throttle just to get in the habit of keeping the throttle on until flaring. I was trying this yesterday and keeping the throttle on a bit on final but it made my plane a bit too quick and had to be pushed down a bit. Might this be good for muscle memory?

Yes, I have recommended adding a throttle delay (it's easy on most modern radios) to get used to the idea of turbine lag.

Newer engines are better and in general smaller engines are faster in spool up and down than larger ones because they have less inertia but there's still a noticeable delay in throttle stick movement to power output. EDF guys are used to instant power and that's just now how it is with a turbine.

Not sure what transmitter you are using …. May your transmitter has a speed option for each channel…. Like slowing down flap deployment or gear door closing.. you need to delay both side of the travel…. You need a slight delay in acceleration and a small delay in deceleration

Jeti transmitters has that option for each output channel..

Good luck

Yeah the x20 does have the option. I was just wondering if it's a real thing people do to train on EDFs that I just hadn't come across yet, and if so how much to slow it down.

Thanks!

I'd try 1.5 to 2 seconds.

EDF idle
 

One of the things that I do teaching a new turbine pilot. If they are flying EDF's, I have the idle end point changed so that there is a constant low idle. Not enough to move the EDF on the ground. This simulates the turbine idle, just like you were trying to do with a delay. Besides the lag of a turbine, the other major areas of issue is proper airspeed control on final. Most new turbine pilots over shoot, because they aren't used to the idle. Another issue that I see is the turbine pilot flies it like a glow engine or EDF. What I mean by this, is the approach is high on final. Chop the power to idle, diving to the runway using the flaps as speed brakes, which they aren't!

Ok so I wasn't just imagining things! I was definitely stimulating the low idle on my EDF the other day but I was doing it manually. Would make much more sense to program it in.

Cool, thanks!