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Viper Charlie F-16 Flightsimulator

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Rufus:
Not really...I know how they felt, but not so much about how they actually functioned.  And the one I fly at work now has a mechanical backrest - at least they finally took my advice and fixed it so it pulls you into the seat on accel, instead of pushing you like it first did when they installed it...much more natural, but still not as good as air bladders.

But the principle of operation is pretty basic - you need inflatable seat cushions for the seat pan and seat back.  At one G and not moving they should be fully inflated, or inflated enough to only feel like cushions. Each cushion needs a vent valve and servo or solenoid to actuate it.

The tricky part comes in developing a curve to control the deflation - i.e.; open/close a vent valve vs acceleration, and/or proper selection and staging of the cushion venting.  You sort of have to do that based on feel...and you have to use a pneumatic pump that will keep up with the transients.  The one that runs our seat at work is a simple DeWalt pump that you could get at any good hardware store - it doesn't run continuously, so I'm thinking it's regulated to supply a constant pressure.

The G suit setup is easier, if you can get your hands on a real G suit Service panel and valve.  You just have to supply pressure and open the valve as it would work in flight based on normal accel and RL valve operation.  (I think in RL this valve is just a weighted ball on a calibrated spring that pulls open under actual applied G - you'd need a servo to simulate the G to pull it open.)

The only issue have with doing the G suit for an F-16 is that having now had the opportunity to fly with one in both our Trainer and a RL airplane is that it's only relevant to flying the sim if you have a center stick.  With a center stick the inflated chaps can limit your ability to move the stick - mostly in roll - but with a side stick that's not going to happen.  And if you've ever felt real G forces simply having the chaps inflate doesn't "feel" like G.  On top of this, for the GWTs that I generally operate at there isn't enough G available to even get the chaps to inflate - I have to be shed of all my A/G stores and/or at RTB fuel state before I can even pull enough G to make a difference.  So for our Viper purposes a G suit may be cool, but I can't say it's "necessary" from the standpoint(s) of cost and complexity.

tiger-31:
Thanks @Rufus  :thumbsup:

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