Can PMDG add some spoilers to the DC 6?

yeah, i just finished my first DC6 flight, amazing! all went well until i noticed that i could slow down! i was awarded of this challenge by looking at Roberts tutorial on YouTube, but i totally underestimated! this planes is pretty hard to slow down! we need to spoilers! :wink:
i surely need to check my technique here. I wonder also that because of this issue is will probably not be possible to fly this aircraft with certain SID or STAR due to altitude restriction that simply wont be possible to follow.

what technics are you using to speed your descent?

I am guessing that the DC6 donā€™t have spoilers in real life? If so itā€™s not reasonable for PMDG to add a makeup to the study level product IMO

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lower bepm top around 80 keep same level, it slows down to 174, takes time, then use flap, drop wheels, etc.
did they have sid/stars then? you need to plan ahead with this aircraft, and no spoilers.

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No, they wonā€™t add spoilers becuse they didnā€™t exist in the real plane, you need to learn how to handle the plane as it is.

The key is very simple: low & slow.
Descend early, fly low, fly slow.

With BMEP in 90 and flying level the plane will slow down, if you miss-calculate you can always do a 360 turn as you slow down. Once you reach 174kts you can add flaps to flaps 20 and that will help you reduce speed to the 150-140 range. Let it slow until the final descent and as you descend to the runway you have flaps 30,40 and 50 plus the landing gear to introduce more drag and slow to Vref.

As you have noticed the DC6 is very difficult to slow down and because of that it is also very difficult to stall, you can just fly low and slow the approach and final descent and everything will be fine.

Modern SIDs and STARs are not for the DC6 if you fly on Vatsim make sure to use the proper aircraft equipment (/W in vpilot) and it is also useful to write ā€œNo RNAV capabilityā€ in te observations.

I fly all my flights on Vatsim, controllers are very very good to excellent and know exactly how to handle a DC6, a little help from the pilot is also appreciated like asking for vectors with a long final for the approach.

Final notice: If the plane is light is is even more difficult to slow it down, so plan carefully.

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yeah i know, i was kidding :wink: with this aircraft you really noticed the advance of modern systems!

Thanks for that nice summary! yeah i was pretty light and i had to do like three 360 turns haha!

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you do have reverse thrust however!

You always can do a gliss :wink:

Spoiler alert!

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If you donā€™t get your descent complete early enough (me, very often) get the flaps and gear down early and perform some hard left/right turns along your approach track. Thatā€™ll burn off some speed. Works equally well in the Spitfire too when learning that.

But once you get the hang of the cruise, to descent, to landing phases it is quite rewarding. But I think the secret is to get everything done early as there is a lot to do, then you can spend the last few miles concentrating on getting the perfect touchdown and having the headspace and time to adjust.

Very different from what Iā€™m used to but Iā€™m really enjoying it.

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Just make sure your passengers wonā€™t get sick :wink:

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Another great piece of advice :joy:

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Do what planes do that donā€™t have flaps sideslip which creates drag. How do you do that he asks?

Cargo configuration on my DC-6A :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

lol beside all the jokes here (nice chuckles btw :D)

start to slow down early. Bring your propeller RPM up (within reason !!) and if you need to just level off, blow off speed to get below 174 knots and drop gear and flaps.

This is no RNP airplane, precise RNAV STARs are often just not possible. Fly radio navigation approaches, fly circuits if possible, keep altitudes, keep speeds when necessary. No point in flying coninuous descents and noise abatement approaches if you end up too high or too fast and have to overfly the houses again :smiley:

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If you sre using the auto copilot/flight engineer thing, he doesnā€™t fully configure the aircraft for landing. Thereā€™s more flaps available. But this plane does take a while to slow down.

Xbox players came to the forum alreadyšŸ˜‚

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Iā€™m having my fare share of difficulties with this plane, and my landings are atrocious, but slowing it down isnā€™t one of them. So not sure what Iā€™m doing differently, apart from using the AFE. I just establish the right height to capture the ILS quite far out. Then when the flaps come in (20) and the gear goes down, it drops to 120 - 140.

Sounds like either the engines arenā€™t configured properly or the descent is too steep.

It would appear you are configuring your aircraft for ā€œBefore Landingā€ much too early. A DC-6 at 70K lbs should be travelling at 138 kts on approach, 110 kts vref and then 78 kts touchdown. It takes getting used to because it behaves very different than jet airliners. Itā€™s large straight-wing design allows for low and slow flying which is why it is still in operation in places like Alaska delivering tons of cargo over dirt strips.

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