Taxi the DC-3 w/o pedals

[ZackPlonk]

Is there a good way to taxi with the DC-3 (classic) when no rudder pedals (or joystick with a twist axis) is available?

I understand, that the most realistic way to do this would be the use of rudder pedals but due to space constraints, I am not currently able to use them. I am using a Logitech ATK3 Joystick, so I have normal X/Y axis and an additional vertical axis for throttle. I'm would be fine with assigning something on the keyboard for the purpose of taxiing but so far I have not found anything that wouldn't adversly effect usability during flight.

Other aircraft with a nosewheel steering work fine with just the joystick but obviously, the DC-3 is more special. I enabled differential breaking and differential thrust for ground handling in the settings and played around with various sensitivities.

As long as nothing is assigned to the rudders in my setup, X-Plane will apply automatic rudder based on the aileron. (see also https://developer.x-plane.com/article/rudder-auto-coordination-in-x-plane-12/). Note that this "auto rudder" will cease to work once the rudder is manipulated through any other means (e.g. keystrokes assigned to rudder left/right/center). While auto-rudder works, 100% aileron will result in 20% rudder. However, that does not control the direction of the plane on the ground regardless of the differential breaking or differential throttle settings and tailwheel locking status. I can get some control when assigning rudder to keystrokes but then there will be no auto-rudder in flight which makes flying the aircraft very difficult.

I also tried using keystrokes for reducing or increasing power on engines individually but that interfered with the throttle assignemnt on the joystick (once the keystrokes are used, controlling both engines with the joystick no longer works)

Maybe there are other things to try...

[ilias.tselios]

I don't have any good solution to offer, but I'll try myself to find what's possible to be done with that kind of setup. If nothing good turns out, I'll see if I can add some kind of option, in the next update, to help you.

[hi_nihaozaoan]

On 4/7/2024 at 7:52 PM, ilias.tselios said:

I don't have any good solution to offer, but I'll try myself to find what's possible to be done with that kind of setup. If nothing good turns out, I'll see if I can add some kind of option, in the next update, to help you.

Hi Ilias,

I also notice that. I do have a rudder pedal, but it’s a helicopter-style rudder that doesn’t include toe brakes.

It only supports rudder (yaw) left and right, and doesn't have any braking at all.

I’ve tried enabling "Control differential braking with rudder" in settings, but it still doesn’t work correctly. 

If I apply left rudder, the aircraft turns left as expected.

But if I apply right rudder, the aircraft doesn't turn right at all.

It just goes straight or slightly responds, making it impossible to taxi properly.

So i can't without toe brakes to control the DC-3 on the ground.

Right now, my solution would be to buy a new rudder pedal with toe brakes integrated, but I’m hoping there’s maybe a workaround or setting I missed.

I’d really appreciate any ideas or updates on this!

Thanks a lot! 

[ilias.tselios]

On 7/7/2025 at 9:32 PM, hi_nihaozaoan said:

I’ve tried enabling "Control differential braking with rudder" in settings, but it still doesn’t work correctly. 

If I apply left rudder, the aircraft turns left as expected.

But if I apply right rudder, the aircraft doesn't turn right at all.

May be it is a set up issue? Can you check is the joystick settings, when you press the right pedal, you see movement on the yaw axis?