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Post by kronzky on Nov 19, 2013 22:09:38 GMT -5
Ever since the first race on BPRL I wanted to see if the legs could be done in a DC-3. As much as I like the C185 as a bushplane, my "real" love is still the DC-3, and now that the official part of the race is nearly over, I'm going to give it a try, and see if I can perhaps redo all the races in something a bit bigger... Anybody up to join me??? So — since I already had trouble starting in Talkeetna in a Cessna, finding a take-off spot for a DC-3 would be even more tricky. But moving over a few streets, and taking the clearing around the railroad track finally worked out. The first landing was pretty straightforward, but, of course, the endless margins of error like I had with a C185 are now gone for good...
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Post by kronzky on Nov 19, 2013 22:13:29 GMT -5
Nice relaxing run for the second leg (I didn't try to go for any minimum altitude, as I'm still getting used to that big bird). Everything just looks so much nicer in a DC-3, doesn't it? I think I finally have to get some real camera addon for FSX, to be able to shoot from some different angles.
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 20, 2013 3:48:20 GMT -5
LOL ! I'm in !
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Post by kronzky on Nov 20, 2013 13:50:41 GMT -5
Great news, Teson! You'll LOVE IT! It's a whole different ballgame, and REALLY puts the challenge back into flying! I just did the "rescue the climber" leg, and this will have probably been the toughest landing for the whole series, as we're going backwards. I didn't realize how fragile the gear of the DC-3 is, compared to the Cessna, so you really have to pussyfoot around, while trying to find a somewhat level landing spot on that tiny ledge. You mentioned that there were no crevasses modeled in FSX, Teson, but I'm seeing all kinds of humps and bumps, all of which are trying to rip the landing gear off my plane! Well, I did survive, and even made it back (even though I slid a bit too far down, below the landing threshold of 6,500ft, but since this is a "just for fun" thing, I didn't worry too much about it).
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Post by kronzky on Nov 20, 2013 15:22:57 GMT -5
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Post by kronzky on Nov 20, 2013 15:30:15 GMT -5
And now for a STOL landing in a DC-3! ;D The approach was quite funny, actually: Even though I was already scraping the treetops, the VASI lights told me I'm *still* too high! Well, excuse me... Then cut then damn trees off!!!I'm coming in a bit to the side, as the highest trees are right in line with the runway!
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Post by kronzky on Nov 20, 2013 20:06:17 GMT -5
BTW - I have no idea why I'm reaching these crazy speeds here. I'm using the MAAM DC-3 (the R4D-6 variant), and apart from removing the speed limit itself no modifications to the performance were done.
When I do the standard speed test for this plane I reach about 186kts, but in this terrain I easily reach 230! (With the standard MAAM DC-3 cargo version I reach 210 here - which still is too high.)
Very strange...
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Post by kronzky on Nov 21, 2013 16:28:10 GMT -5
Hmmm... Looks like something more than just my DC-3 speed is off. Now, a whole bunch of my planes have become invisible as well: Strangely, not all of them, but about 2 out of 3 (even the C185 that I still flew a few days ago). The DC-3 does have textures, but several others (by different publishers) are all blank. I did recently install the new Manfred Jahn DC-3, and tried to install the "WheelCam" utility (which didn't work), but I can't imagine that either of those would've screwed up my aircraft textures or performances. Good thing the race is over, and I can do some serious troubleshooting now...
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 21, 2013 18:22:09 GMT -5
I was wondering what you're putting into your tank. That DC-3 is on Steroids. Good luck with your troubbleshooting. It is strange that aircraft performance would be affected... Btw, I don't know whether it's only due the DC-3, but your screenshots do look very nice indeed.
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 21, 2013 18:51:54 GMT -5
And now for a STOL landing in a DC-3! Short field landing Landing distance 973 ft from threshold. (Touchdown 189 ft from threshold, ground roll 784 ft) Well done.
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Post by kronzky on Nov 22, 2013 11:45:04 GMT -5
Well, looks like there's nothing wrong with this plane after all. It's just the combination of flying it empty, at full speed, and with the speed limiter removed that's causing this perfect storm... When I used to fly this plane before, I never flew it at full speed, and it was always loaded, so, of course, I never experienced these extreme speeds. I always had the speed limiter removed on this plane, since I find it silly for FSX planes to just "explode" once they exceed the limit by even a few knots (which can easily happen when you're on autopilot). But, due to the more realistic flying parameters I used before, I never got it up to full speed. The R4D-6 is sort-of a DC-3 on steroids (the MAAM documentation lists it as having 1,350hp, as opposed to the regular DC-3 with 1,200). But I guess the effect of no load, constant full throttle, and no limiter isn't very realistic, so I'll probably use a regular DC-3 for the next runs. (Not that the higher speed made the landings any easier — probably the opposite. But 250kts is just not right for such an old lady...) The thing with the transparent planes was totally unrelated, and was caused by a corrupted FSX.CFG file (probably caused by the aborted WheelCam install), and all the textures showed up fine once I restored a backup.
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 22, 2013 13:19:14 GMT -5
Good to hear you've figured it out. I have to check out the R4D-6 some day - that plane has some punch! We could fly with Realengine. This would essentially force to reduce engine operating parameters to METO (RPM and MP), as well as well as respect gear and flaps speeds (and watch CHT for v1.4) - in case we're still running this as kind of a race ... are we ? If we're both flying the same planes we could directly compare flight times and not worry with the handycap system I do like the challenge of having to optimise all parts of the flight for efficiency (even though it does not promote realistic flying). No worry though if you rather want to take this easy, and just enjoy the scenery. What do you think ? There are two versions of RE: Darrel Woodhouse has a preconfigured version for for version 1.1 for the DC-3 at DC-3 Airways with dedicated installation instructions : www.dc3airways.com/our_fleet/real_engine.htmLatest version is v1.4. www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?do=search&fname=realengine_v14.zipIt's probably easier to use v 1.1 as everything is preconfigured and thus installation is slightly less complex. The only thing that's missing is the CHT module in the context, but I don't think that would make a large difference to us. RE takes a little effort to install, but it's nothing I wouldn't trust you to manage (and the main effort, i.e. configuring for the aircraft is already done for the DC-3).
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Post by kronzky on Nov 22, 2013 17:36:48 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm familiar with your RealEngine project (I actually played around with it long time before this series even started!), but I'm not sure if we should make participating here even harder... I was thinking more along the lines of anything goes for our "return trip". Any plane, any route, any weather. Just some no-pressure, fun flying; and for those who do look for some more challenges perhaps doing it in a more demanding plane (like we're doing it already). I don't think we should worry about handicaps and times anymore — but just do whatever feels like fun. For me that would be to see if certain things (like doing it in a DC-3) can be done. I will probably even use autopilot for some of the more routine stretches, and don't worry too much about competitiveness. Perhaps some people who were too scared off by all the rules and requirements will join us after all, using their favorite plane, or trying some daredevil maneuvers. (C-130 Hercules anyone? Or how about a glider? Or doing a course upside-down!?) I think we have a really nice collection of courses now, that we should try to utilize them somehow!
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teson1
Commercial Pilot
Posts: 243
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Post by teson1 on Nov 22, 2013 18:11:17 GMT -5
Oki doki. Anything goes Very fine with me !
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Post by bushflyer on Nov 22, 2013 22:27:36 GMT -5
(C-130 Hercules anyone? Or how about a glider? Or doing a course upside-down!?) I think we have a really nice collection of courses now, that we should try to utilize them somehow! You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm glad you started up this "return trip" thing. I made a few attempts with a Alphasim C 130 (and some other turbo aircraft) in a few of the early legs. Pretty fun. I got the CaptainSim C130 now, so count me in for doing the return trip too. With a plane like that, it might get tough on some of those runways, so I might end up flying by some of the impossible ones. One way to find out...lol...will start it up after the Don Sheldon event. Thanks K.
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