Flying the Beaufighter.

[DogTailRed2]

Hi,

Dave G's Beaufighter is very enjoyable to fly.
Having those big radials each side of the cockpit is so immersive unlike any other aircraft
I've come across for FSX (I do love my Aerosoft Beaver but with a max speed of 135knots, well...).

I'm having some difficulty trimming the aircraft for straight and level flight but have almost got that one cracked.
Landings are quite problematic with about a 50% attrition rate so far. Anyone have any tips for a good landing.
Perhaps I'm adding too much flap (I'm going for full flap) or I need to manage power more carefully? I guess eventually I will get the
hang of it providing the ground crew can keep fixing her.

I would also be interested from anyone who understands how to set the autopilot (I have no instructions for this aircraft, are there any?).

Happy simming,

Ted.

[DaveG]

I assume you've read the enclosed ref files, checklist and pilots notes?

The autopilot was only really added for testing, so I could keep her straight and level to check speeds etc.

[DogTailRed2]

Hi,

ah, no. Had forgotten about the pilots notes pop-ups.
1 inch down trim on take off. That should help a bit.
I've been doing circuit and bumps and starting to get the feel of the Beaufighter.
Seems as long as you trim her and keep the airspeed +100 mph you do okay.
Come in high for landing.
Unfortunately a faultless flight from Scampton to Biggin Hill was marred when I hit some invisible obstruction
on the grass taxing to parking. Oh well. Sometimes the sim wins!

BTW are you planning to upgrade your lancaster to work with FSX with a VC cockpit etc?

Thanks,

Ted.

[DaveG]

BTW are you planning to upgrade your lancaster to work with FSX with a VC cockpit etc?

Eventually

[DogTailRed2]

Hi,

found out what was causing the automatic gear retraction.
Saitek throttle quadrant has a detent for each lever. When you pull a lever past this detent
it activates whatever is associated with that switch. The detent for prop pitch was set to gear retract.
So when I was cycling the prop lever before my flight I was inadvertantly selecting gear up.
If you select gear up while on the ground and then take off, the gear retracts.

BTW how is fuel burnt from each tank.
I used all the fuel from the outer tanks and then switched to inner tanks.
After a while the starboard motor quit.
When I checked the fuel page it showed the right hand tanks as empty.
Is this a limitation of FSX?

Thanks,

Ted.

[SkippyBing]

I think the fuel tank thing is an FS limitation. It only seems to recognise burning fuel from left or right tanks not outer then inner. It should be possible to work around this by defining the groups of tanks so that say the outer tanks are leftmain, aux etc and the inner are rightmain, aux etc, but position them in their actual positions in the aircraft. You'd then be able to cycle through the tanks in the right order physically, not 100% sure how this will work on a multi-engine model but I'm considering doing it on the Wyvern so the fuel selector is functional.

[DaveG]

I've just double checked my coding, and everything seems correct there, so it looks like it's an FSX-ism. :roll:
I'll delve a bit deeper and see what I can come up with.

[DogTailRed2]

In lew of a nice Lanc I flew the Beau to the Dams using the same route as wave 1. East of Scampton, across Holland and into the Rhur Valley (in several chunks otherwise it upsets the missus). She made it all the way there (the Beau not the missus), three simulated attackes on each dam and returned and only lost the right motor 5nm from Scampton. Flies okay on one engine though so got her home but had to kick in plenty of rudder. According to the gauges she had about 150 gallons left.
Do you simulate prop feathering. I didn't bother to feather the prop but wondering if it would makes things easier?