Hi AirRabbit,
You should take a look at the link provided by XPMorten to see someone else's "take" on the limitations of "look-up" tables.
I did, it's bit of a rant by X-Plane's designer. Not exactly an independent view.
However, and, please feel free to correct me if I am in error, once generated and applied they certainly do modify the outcomes of those EOM – and, though I may not have done it very well, that IS the reference I was making
You will always have to calculate aero coefficients in any aero model, good or bad. It is how they are modelled which makes the difference. Without modelling coefficients how would you construct an aero model? Even X-Plane must use them.
For example, a major US airline had an older version of the A300-600 / A310 simulator (and now I don’t remember which cockpit was actually replicated) in which a pitch-up and bank angle combination beyond a certain point would simply “hang” the simulator at that pitch/bank attitude with no control input from the pilots
If this were really true I'd be amazed the airline's FAA POI allowed them to continue to use the sim without correcting the problem, which I have never seen the like of in thirty years in flight simulation.
In fact, what you are refering to is a training scenario for unusual attitudes, not a defect due to problems in a look up table. The sim is driven to the preset unusual attitude selected by the instructor. While going to the attitude pilot inputs are ignored. The pilot controls are then unfrozen and they are expected to recover using the methods they have been trained in. Apparently the simulator in question needed some rudder during recovery, which may have lead the F/O to use rudder primarily.
Whether or not unusual attitude training is completely valid in an FFS is arguable, but if properly constructed it can be useful.
There is no mention in the NTSB report of the simulator itself being suspected as a cause, only the airline's training program which emphasised rudder use at high AOA.
I have personally “flown” this particular simulator and it DID what I describe here.
I'm sure you have, but was there someone on the IOS who maybe decided to throw you an unusual attitude to deal with?
Finally, I'm still puzzled by this statement of yours:
Several decades ago the simulation industry went to the aerodynamic model; and quite frankly, I think that is why X-plane has a pretty nice product.