FSR500 is the one you maybe looking forš
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The manual for the BS 850 is freely available. On p.65 it explains the restrictions of theturbo prop simulation and beta range.
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Iām in the PC-6 now, ready for taxiing.
Power lever on idle, condition lever on low idle, prop lever forward. Releasing the brakes the PC-6 moves forward. Pulling the power lever back the prop goes into reverse immediately. So, whereās the beta range? The manual is not very helpful.
The beta range has still not been properly implemented in the sim so all turboprops suffer from this to some degree. Some people have developed workarounds using spad or As and Os, etc. with variable success. Hopefully, this sim limitation will be eliminated in MSFS 2024.
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Correct. I should have specified.
I successfully mapped Beta and Reverse in the FSR500. It seems to work very well.
Shouldnāt it be possible to move gradually through the pitch range using the power lever from flight idle all the way down to full reverse?
If Iām not mistaken there are three possibilities to pull back the power lever and into beta range:
- pressing F2 continuosly
- assigning a button to Hold Throttle Reverse Thrust and then pushing the lever forward
- assigning a button to Toggle Throttle Reverse Thrust and then pushing the lever forward
A 4th one doesnāt work with the PC-6 for some reason, that is, move back the power lever using the mouse.
With all three methods once the power lever goes back from flight idle reverse thrust immediately kicks in.
Does this work correctly with another turbo prop aircraft?
Thatās what I want to do using scripting in FSUIPC. There I have all possibilities.
So, you say the beta range is working correctly in the FSR500? Can you control the pitch using the power lever? That would probably be a reason to get this aircraft.
There are much better methods than using Hold/Toggle commands. Adjusting the āNeutralā position with the THROTTLE 0-100 mapped will allow you to access beta range on a normal axis. You can even use deadzone to create a software detent.
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Is there an image somewhere how to adjust it?
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Thank you, this works for the PC-6, just without reverse.
Which hardware throttle do you use so you know where to stop for flight idle? Or do you use a marker?
I use a HC bravo. You can always map reverse to the button below the detent you get on most TQ devices. For the flight idle detent i just have a marker, but I also have an LED that comes on amber once the prop pitch enters beta range (programmed via SPAD)
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Great!
Anyway, I do not use the in sim axes assignments. I do everything in FSUIPC. I decided to use a second lever for the beta range. I use a Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog. It has 5 axes. Those are throttle engine1, throttle engine2, a slider and 2 additional joystick axes.
I already scripted this in FSUIPC. If throttle 1 is on flight idle the slider can be used. It will traverse through the beta range from flight idle to full reverse. This works perfectly.
Still the prop pitch jumps from flight idle to reverse thrust without going through the feather position. It should go through the feather position, right? Or am I misunderstanding the beta range? How does this work on the FSR500?
Thank you for hinting me to the extended axis range for the beta range.
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There is a patch in the BSQ King Air thread for beta range - I donāt have the hardware to do it ( or, well, I do but itād be too awkward ) so I donāt know how functional it is. I know BSQ is working on an update for several things ( thatās all, I donāt know what or when ) so maybe that will make it in too. I havenāt sat down to work out how much custom engine code if any is in the Transall yet, Iāve been too busy abusing it 
the team working on it is very enthusiastic, so I suspect at some point itāll probably get as near as they can manage.
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Yes, the beta range is fully modeled on the FSR500. It is custom coded to work properly. There are instructions in the manual for different ways that you can control it. I use a separate axis with AAO just to keep it simple and to enjoy the fine control of prop pitch that is offered. Of course, you are only controlling pitch when in beta because otherwise the prop is governed to 2000 rpm and there is no separate prop lever as you would find in a Caravan or King Air. Single lever control like you would find in a PC-12.
But yes, you have outstanding control over the beta range through full reverse. The aircraft will record higher brake wear if you habitually taxi with the prop full forward and ride the brakes for speed control instead of using beta.
Really cannot recommend that aircraft enough as the developer has gone to the extreme of what is possible in this current sim. Even bird strikes are a possibility when flying it.
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The FSR500 does have beta simulated. Speaking in MSFS terms, itās technically the first portion of the reverse range that acts as beta.
There also seems to be some misunderstandings about how beta range works. The power lever is controlling blade angle directly to attenuate the idle thrust of the engine. Outside of beta (forward) you will see the RPM continue to change but this will be a result of the engine speed changing. It will continue to increase as you push the power forward until the governor picks it up and holds it at max RPM by increasing blade angle (which leads to increased torque).
This will be the basic behavior whether there is an RPM control or not in the aircraft. In the case of the FSR500, Newer TBMs and older PC-12s, once the prop is on the governor, thatās where it stays until power is reduced low enough again. PC-12NGs now have a quiet cruise button that brings the prop back to a lower RPM, 1600 IIRC.
One thing that the FSR500 doesnāt have is torque bloom, where you see an increase in torque as speed increases, most notably on take off. As air passes through the prop at a higher speed, it causes it to spin faster which the governor compensates for by increasing blade angle and thus torque. Torque on take off in the FSR 500 actually decreases slightly during take off roll. Thatās the one thing so far that Iāve noticed that doesnāt seem right but it does everything else really well.
EDIT: What I left out was that beta is still positive pitch down to 0Ā°. Reverse starts when the blades through 0Ā° and engine speed will increase again.
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The Kodiak also does have Beta, at least to some degree.
And using a second throttle lever on the HC Bravo, I have full control over it.
It is a bit less intuitive of course, having to close the normal throttle first and then opening the Beta, but after a few flights it becomes second nature.
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Unfortunately thereās no appropriate throttle quadrant on the market I know of that features a detent and an axis spanning from full power to full reverse.
VirtualFly have their new TQ neo throttle which features beta and reverse range: TQ neo | Virtual Fly
I have just got the older and simpler TQ3+, which only has reverse range. The VirtualFly software (VFhub) provides some pre-configured input for MSFS, but I use AxisAndOhs instead for better configuration of different planes.
Great! But rather expensive.
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