So I almost bought one of these airplanes for real (I still might for the right deal). Unfortunately, the engine was shot in the particular plane I was looking at, and I realized I don’t have enough cash currently to maintain one at this time to get it back up and running, especially when the plane isn’t local to me. $50,000 base cost for an engine overhaul, plus more for any parts that need to be replaced. Basically, in the end nearly the full value of the airplane just in redoing the engine. Overhaul shops do not like taking responsibility for overhauling the Lycoming GO-480 series geared engines when it’s so easy to break them with improper handling, so there’s not many shops that will overhaul them.
In the process of researching everything I could about the G0-480 engine, I came across these tidbits I thought others might be interested in. Overall, I’d say the authors seem to have done a pretty decent job modeling how the GO-480 operates, and it made me appreciate this plane and the MSFS model even more…
How to operate your geared Lycoming aircraft engine
Engine Theory: Direct vs Geared
Notes on GO-480 Operation and fuel consumption
Ultimately, the GO-480 and other geared Lycomings have a not so good reputation, but it is a powerful solution in a small package, and is quite liked by the people who use them properly. Hopefully this gives you a bit of an appreciation of what it’s like to operate the engine in this plane, and what a good job the authors did of modeling its behavior.
Below are a couple of checklists I put together that I use when flying the FWP.149D:
Detailed Checklist (I may need to go back through this for consistency)
The key points are:
- Always move the throttle verrryy slowly (30 seconds from 1500 rpm to 3400 rpm and the same in reverse, slow and constant motion)
- Never ever let the air turn the propeller - keep the MP high and keep the engine turning the propeller all the way to the ground.
- 3400 RPM is ONLY for takeoff and emergencies, no more than 5 minutes at this speed. Normal operation always between 3000 RPM and 2600 RPM when flying.
I’d love to see the authors put some A2A engine wear parameters into the model 
Edit: Hmm, should I make this a separate post so it doesn’t get lost?