Contact Point Description

[NachtPiloten]

I once had a document that defined each type (class) of the contact points in the cfg. Alas, I have lost it. Thanks for your help.

[Moparmike]

Here ya go. From the FSX Aircraft CFG docs:

[contact_points]

You can configure and adjust the way aircraft reacts to different kinds of contact, including landing gear contact and articulation, braking, steering, and damage accrued through excessive speed. You can also configure each contact point independently for each aircraft, and there is no limit to the number of points you can add. When importing an aircraft that does not contain this set of data, the program will generate the data from the .air file the first time the aircraft is loaded, and then write it to the aircraft.cfg.
Each contact point contains a series of values that define the characteristics of the point, separated by commas. A contact point has 16 parameters, described in the following table:

Contact Point Parameter (and example) Element Description
1 (1) Class Integer defining the type of contact point: 0 = None, 1 = Wheel, 2 = Scrape, 3 = Skid, 4 = Float, 5 = Water Rudder
2 (-18.0) Longitudinal Position The longitudinal distance of the point from the defined reference datum (feet). Positive is forward (out the nose).
3 (0) Lateral Position The lateral distance of the point from the defined reference datum (feet). Positive is starboard (right, as viewed from the top with the airplane pointing “up”).
4 (-3.35) Vertical Position The vertical distance of the point from the defined reference datum (feet). Positive is up.
5 (3200) Impact Damage Threshold The speed at which an impact with the ground can cause damage (feet/min).
6 (0) Brake Map Defines which brake input drives the brake (wheels only).
0 = None, 1 = Left Brake, 2 = Right Brake.
7 (0.50) Wheel Radius Radius of the wheel (feet).
8 (180) Steering Angle The maximum angle (positive and negative) that a wheel can pivot (degrees).
9 (0.25) Static Compression This is the distance a landing gear is compressed when the empty aircraft is at rest on the ground (feet). This term defines the “strength” of the strut, where a smaller number will increase the “stiffness” of the strut.
10 (2.5) Ratio of Maximum Compression to Static Compression Ratio of the max dynamic compression available in the strut to the static value. Can be useful in coordinating the “compression” of the strut when landing.
11 (0.90) Damping Ratio This ratio describes how well the ground reaction oscillations are damped. A value of 1.0 is considered critically damped, meaning there will be little or no osciallation. A damping ratio of 0.0 is considered undamped, meaning that the oscillations will continue with a constant magnitude. Negative values result in an unstable ground handling situation, and values greater than 1.0 might also cause instabilities by being “over” damped. Typical values range from 0.6 to 0.95.
12 (1.0) Extension Time The amount of time it takes the landing gear to fully extend under normal conditions (seconds). A value of zero indicates a fixed gear.
13 (4.0) Retraction Time The amount of time it takes the landing gear to fully retract under normal conditions (seconds). A value of zero indicates a fixed gear.
14 (0) Sound Type This integer value will map a point to a type of sound: 0 = Center Gear, 1 = Auxiliary Gear, 2 = Left Gear, 3 = Right Gear, 4 = Fuselage Scrape, 5 = Left Wing Scrape, 6 = Right Wing Scrape, 7 = Aux1 Scrape, 8 = Aux2 Scrape, 9 = Tail Scrape.
15 (0) Airspeed Limit This is the speed at which landing gear extension becomes inhibited (knots). Not used for scrape points or non-retractable gear.
16 (200) Damage from Airspeed The speed above which the landing gear accrues damage (knots). Not used for scrape points or non-retractable gear.

[NachtPiloten]

Appreciate it!