Cessna 172P
Type | Civilian aircraft |
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Author(s) |
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FDM | JSBSim |
--aircraft= | c172p |
Status | Advanced production |
FDM | |
Systems | |
Cockpit | |
Model | |
Supports |
The Cessna 172P Skyhawk is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing fixed-wing aircraft. First flown in 1955 and still in production, more Cessna 172s have been built than any other aircraft.
A C172 has been the default aircraft in FlightGear since 2000, when it replaced the Navion. It has had a long development and includes a wide variety of simulation features. In 2015, it went through a complete refresh, including engine options, various tire sizes and floats, as well as a complete cockpit texture makeover. This new detailed version of the plane has become the default aircraft since FlightGear 3.6.
Features
The new C172p has a much better 3D model and is now fully textured (including the interior). All the buttons in the cockpit are clickable. It also has an improved FDM, more complex procedures and new realistic checklists, new sound effects, and damage modeling. The aircraft can get damaged if mishandled (e.g. gear collapse after a hard landing).
The airplane currently has five variants, all available from the aircraft menu:
- regular wheels
- 26" bush tires
- 31" bush tires
- pontoons
- amphibian
A sixth variant, snow skis, is currently in development.
Also, from the same menu, the user can select two different engines:
- 160 HP
- 180 HP (recommended when using pontoons or amphibian variants)
The airplane now can get damaged from collisions, crashes, hard landings or overload while in-flight, and the modeling includes wheel collapse, wings breaking, etc. The damage can be turned off in the aircraft menu, which also contains an option for repairing the aircraft.
The windows now can get foggy or frosty, depending on the combination of interior and exterior temperatures. The pilot must then use the Cabin Heat and Cabin Air levers (on the right of the flaps) to control it. Alternatively, it's possible to disable the effect in the "Aircraft Options" in the "Cessna 172P" menu. This effect depends on the new ALS effects found in 3.5 and above, and will also have the side effect of producing grey windows in versions prior to 3.5.
The FDM has also been modified. The aircraft may enter into a spin in case of an asymmetric stall (a particularly dangerous situation when turning to final, in which case the aircraft is at low speed and low height). The FDM has also been tweaked to include hydrodynamics effects while taking off or landing on water, as well as adding a new 180 HP engine.
There are several liveries available, some of which have higher resolution than others, which are marked as HD in the liveries menu. Each of the HD liveries also has unique cockpit and interior textures.
The aircraft has a simulation of the Bendix/King KAP140 Autopilot.
Also, if the user has enabled ALS (Atmospheric light scattering) in the Rendering Options, then it's possible to activate the flashlight by clicking on the "Cessna 172P" menu and selecting "Flashlight". Select it once for the white flashlight, select it again for a red one and select it one more time to turn it off.
Handling The Aircraft
Engine Start (manual and complex startup)
- Priming: prime the engine at least 3 times
- Mixture: Rich (Red all the way in)
- Throttle: Open 1/8 (Black almost all the way out)
- Parking Brake: Applied (⇧ Shift+B)
- Prop Area: Clear
- Master switch: Both on
- Magnetos: Both (Press } three times)
- Ignition: Start (S)
Engine Start (automatically with Autostart)
- Click on the menu "Cessna C172P", select "Autostart" and then simply hold the key S in order to start the plane.
Takeoff
- no flaps
- full throttle
- rotate at 55 KIAS
Climbout
- no flaps
- full throttle
- 75 KIAS
Cruise
- throttle 65%
- mixture rich of peak
- speed around 100 knots
Landing
- full flaps
- 60 KIAS
Airspeeds
- See also Aircraft speed#V speeds
The information in this section is based on external resources.[1][2][3]
Airspeed | CAS |
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Stall speed, landing configuration, VS0 | 33 kt |
Stall speed, clean, VS1 | 44 kt |
Rotation speed, VR | 55 kt |
Best angle of climb speed, VX | 59 kt |
Best rate of climb speed, VY | 76 kt |
Maximum flap extended speed, VFE | 85 kt |
Maneuvering speed, VA | 96 kt (floatplane) |
99 kt (landplane) | |
Maximum structural cruising speed, VNO | 127 kt |
Never exceed speed, VNE | 158 kt |
FAQ
Here are some of the frequently asked questions about this aircraft:
Q: Why does the aircraft keep turning left?
A: Please see understanding Propeller Torque and P-Factor.
Q: Why will the engine not start?
A: You can start the engine automatically by clicking on the menu "Cessna C172P", selecting "Autostart" and then simply holding the key S. For a manual start, please follow the checklists available by clicking on the menu "Help" followed by "Aircraft Checklists". As seen above, the engine must by "primed" before starting.
Q: Why does the engine die immediately after startup?
A: Probably because the throttle is being incremented too fast after startup as the engine needs a few seconds to stabilize itself.
Q: Why can't I start the sim with the engine running?
A: You can! Go to the menu "Cessna C172P", select "Aircraft Options" and tick the option "Start with engine running".
Q: How can I switch to the bush tires/pontoons/amphibian?
A: By clicking in menu "Cessna 172P", selecting "Aircraft Options" and then selecting the other landing gear options.
Q: How can I switch to the 180 HP engine?
A: This is also done by clicking in menu "Cessna 172P", selecting "Aircraft Options" and then selecting the engine power option.
Q: Why I can't take off from the water without crashing the plane?
A: Taking off and landing on water can be quite tricky. Try applying a little bit of back pressure on the yoke while accelerating to 55 KIAS. It's also recommended to use the 180 HP engine instead of the default 160 HP, as the extra weight of the pontoons make it really hard to climb with the default engine.
Q: Why is the simulator lagging so much?
A: As with any complex 3D model, this new version of the c172p is a bit more demanding on the computers than the older one. If you are having troubles with performance, try using non-HD liveries which use textures with lower resolutions, as well as other solutions that can improve performance (disabling certain graphical options in the Rendering Options, lowering the resolution of FlightGear, etc.).
Q: Why the windows are getting foggy/frosty?
A: If the combination of interior and exterior temperatures is right, the windows will get either foggy or frosty. Use the Cabin Heat and Cabin Air levers (on the right of the flaps) to control it. Alternatively, disable the effect by going to the menu "Cessna 172P", selecting "Aircraft Options" and checking the option "Disable frost and fog". If you experience grey windows, you do not have the correct FlightGear version. This aircraft requires 3.5 or above.
Q: How can I click on a switch which is being covered by the yoke?
A: You can hide the yokes by going to the menu "Cessna 172P", selecting "Hide/Show Yokes".
Development status/Issues/TODO
This aircraft is undergoing a constant development, which can be followed on its repository, where a list of issues and future enhancements can also be found.
Gallery
External links
References
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