AirWrench, Copyright (C) 2004-2006, GWBeckwith

 

AirWrench is a new Windows-based flight dynamics ‘editor’ written entirely in C++.  It has been designed to create and tune flight dynamics files for fixed wing aircraft in CFS2, CFS3, FS2002, FS2004, and FSX with point and click simplicity.

 

The code and logic in AirWrench are derived from the aerodynamics formulas and equations used in the Flight Dynamics Workbook.   It calculates aerodynamic coefficients based on the physical parameters – lengths, areas, weights, etc. using the same methods used in the spreadsheet, but since it’s a standalone program it’s able to read and update both aircraft.cfg and ‘air’ files automatically.  This should allow just about anyone to create accurate, realistic performing flight models for CFS2, CFS3, FS2002, FS2004, or FSX without purchasing Excel and manually entering data in the ‘dreaded’ Flight Dynamics Workbook.

 

When AirWrench loads a set of flight dynamics files, it functions initially as a ‘read-only’ flight dynamics analysis tool.  When it opens an aircraft’s flight dynamics files, it does a performance analysis of stall speeds, maximum speeds and climb rates and displays the results on it’s main tab. 

 

 

AirWrench  can generate air files from scratch using only the information found in FS2002/FS2004 aircraft.cfg files.  If the aircraft.cfg file is as sparsely populated as the CFS2 files are, AirWrench can also extract the parameters it needs from the air file and automatically transfer them to the aircraft.cfg file.  Although all stock MS flight dynamics files are complete, not all third-party flight dynamics files are, so there may be times when you may have to enter missing dimensions manually.

 

Although AirWrench will allow you to manually enter most of the parameters it needs to calculate flight dynamics, it is not an aircraft configuration manager.  AirWrench will not modify flap configurations, landing gear contact points, scrape points, station loads, fuel tank locations and capacity, engine locations, reference datum position, or center of gravity location. The utility program Aircraft Container Manager by dvdata is highly recommended for these tasks, but Microsoft’s free FSEditor (an FS2004 SDK) can also be used to enter all the information AirWrench needs – just be sure to use FSEditor first and never use it last.

 

AirWrench estimates engine performance and allows you to configure and fine tune the engines.  AirWrench displays three different tabs for piston, jet, and turboprop engines.

 

 

 

The Maneuverability tab has simple inputs and a graphic display of predicted roll performance and displays estimated climb and turn rates as a function of airspeed.

 

 

 

 

The Air Foil tab provides a graphic display of the data contained in the lift and moment coefficient tables.

 

 

 

Click here to Download the AirWrench User's Guide

airwrench_users_guide.zip (1.1 mbytes)

 

 

Click here to Download the AirWrench Piper Cherokee Tutorial

airwrench_tutorial.zip (1.2 mbytes)

 

 

Please note:  AirWrench does not work with helicopter flight models!

 

AirWrench Terms of Use:

AirWrench, Copyright (C) 2004-2007, GWBeckwith.   AirWrench is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties.  AirWrench is licensed, not sold.

By installing, copying, or otherwise using the AirWrench, you agree to the following Terms of Use.  If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, do not install or use AirWrench.
  • You may install and use AirWrench for personal use only.
  • You may not use AirWrench for developing commercial products.
  • You may not sell flight dynamics files created with AirWrench.
  • You may not charge third parties for creating flight dynamics files with AirWrench.
  • You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble AirWrench.
  • Webmasters may upload the AirWrench to their web sites with written permission from GWBeckwith. At no time may AirWrench be placed on a web site or BBS which requires financial access to download files or be a member.

Disclaimer:

AirWrench is supplied on an as-is basis. The author offers no warranty of its fitness for any purpose whatsoever, and accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage incurred by its use. The author accepts no commitment or liability to address any problems that may be encountered in using this program.