Classic British Flight Sim

I carried out two VA flights yesterday from Teesside to Newcastle. Before setting off I loaded 550lbs of fuel for my thirty minute flight into my DC3. At 14nm from t/d at Newcastle my fuel was zero so I baled out!

Minutes later I repeated that flight with the same weather but this time loaded 640lbs. I completed my flight at 17:23hrs having used 323lbs of fuel thus having 316lbs remainining in the tanks!

My DC3 does not have leaking fuel tanks and I have noticed that my average fuel consumption has been increasing since the last program change back to 6.4b.

Has anyone else, besides DaveB, suffered with this 'premature running out of fuel' problem?

My second quirk concerned my just completed VA flight from Newcastle to Dublin. On landing I had a head wind of 13kts and all went well until I turned off the runway to taxy to the ramp. Wind now blowing at 13kts tailwind of course. An AI acft was taking off towards me on the runway on which I had just landed, I thought 'well, that is no great deal, quite normal really and just what one would expect at 09:34hrs Z', then my computer hicupped for a second or less as the AI came towards me, I had not altered my controls so was continuing to taxy at about 10kts G/S along the taxyway toward the ramp. Recovering from the hiccup my computer placed me suddenly further along the taxyway accompanied by the most unwelcome 'Bong' and a voice announcing that I had exceeded the 25kts taxyspeed.

So at the hiccup I was running, FS9, ASv6.5, RC4.2, AI, and Flynet.

The easy solution seems to be to finish the landing run with all wheels in contact with the runway and the speed on the runway at less than 25kts and then apply the brakes wait for the FlyNET bell and record the program details. But this effectively finishes the flight in a somewhat unrealstic way-it is most unusual to full stop an aircraft on the runway, unless you are a BA 747 at Miami, and effectively create a situation 'PIC abandons acft and all inside on the runway!!'

Does anyone else bother to taxy to and from the runway for a VA flight?

Hi James,

Your first flight sounds odd with that high fuel useage. I take it you are using the MAAM a/c which I don't use at the moment. The client should have no affect on the fuel remaining in your tanks as it just monitors your current fuel remaining using FSUIPC. Having said that, some FlyNET users have reported fuel being 'drained' from tanks during a flight with certain payware models but that could be a quirk with the payware model if fuel switches/pumps are not operated correctly. That aside, the last two flights that you completed, the figures do add up OK with your stated 640lbs on departure EGNV, 147kgs used EGNV-EGNT, 401kgs purchased EGNT for the Dublin flight with a 381kgs burn leaves 163kgs in the tanks which is G-AMPY's current status.

Re the taxi overspeed, what are you using to monitor your groundspeed?

Rgds

John

Nothing much to add really, other than the fact that I always taxi from and to the gates. My flight completes when I apply Parking brakes at the gate not a second before....

Must admit that I have applied parking brakes at RWY exit in the beginning, but not now. Also read over at the FN forum that the client has some difficulties of separation nearby weather stations from the airports thus making it more secure to avoid the "wrong airport bong"

Hi John

I use a modified default DC3.

The mods are basically an acft.cfg and AIR file from avsim or flightsim.com purporting to give the default DC3 a more relaistic performance together with another file which allows the DC3 to be easily taxied providing that the tailwheel is unlocked and auto co-ord is switched off during taxying. Together with my 'seat raiser' see later, the easy taxy file is a real gift. I also use an excellent panel from Norman Hancock, downloaded from DC3airways.com to which I have added a Concorde GMT clock and a file which raises my viewpoint for taxying. I modified Norman's Electrical apnel to carry a gauge which measures IAS and groundspeed simultaneously but I retract the full electrical panel during flight, only checking the groundspeed every ten minutes to keep my nav log notes up to date.

During taxying I use the 'shift+z' to monitor my taxying speed keeping a watchful eye on the relative wind velocity.

I have always kept the g/s gauge retracted on the electrical panel simply to give me the max forward view. I may now be forced to shift my IAS/GS gauge to the main panel to more closely monitor my taxy speed. The panel I use already comes with all sorts of goodies built in by Norman, a working 'whiz wheel' - which is why I kept my AIS/GS gauge out of sight so that when I manage to begin non VA Pacific island flying I shall be able to use the 'whiz wheel prior to checking out the answer I calculate with my 'hidden' gauge. This panel also includes a working driftsight and working bubble sextant so there is quite abit of potential to practice 'old fashioned' air navigation.

ATB, James

I have found that the most reliable measure of GS while taxying is the default GPS. When using FlyNet, its worth having the GPS window available for that reason alone! And I always stick to about 16kts down the taxiway anyway, rattling along at 24-25 can make stopping and steering difficult sometimes