There’s been a lot of posts online claiming that the CL-415 is bugged, or that it can’t be taken off with a full load, or that the engine damage is excessive. This then seems to be ‘confirmed’ when others report the same thing.
In reality, you/they just need to fly better. Part of this involves not always listening to the admittedly limited instructions in the sim. When things are going right, a good scoop should be under 30 seconds from on the water to off the water with full tanks. A really good scoop should be under 20 seconds.
Disclaimer; A good scoop requires very fine control skills. I’ve not tried it with a gamepad.
#+First - Planning
Pre-scoop prep is your highest priority. Wind direction, length of the body of water, obstructions, and a clean area to take off are all important factors. The sim will currently suggest lakes that are smaller than real world limits and you will need to plan to scoop elsewhere. The US Forest Service Guide suggests lakes that are at least 1-2.5 nautical miles in length.
Tip: If you aren’t able to properly measure the lake, fly above it at 120kts. If it takes you less than 30 seconds to go from edge to edge, it’s under 1 nautical mile.
#Second - Aircraft Controls
You will at least need thrust, flaps, and the mission action button (Z on PC) to be bound but adding bindings for manual probe control and trim can make a huge difference. In the real world, probes are dropped before touchdown, so scooping starts immediately. This is a huge advantage in sim as you don’t have to wait until 60 kts to be allowed access to the action button.
The trim speed is set to match the movement of the flaps. It also happens to be timed beautifully for use with changing weights during scoop. You will need a lot of it. When I start taking on water I can freeze my stick and hold nose up trim right from start scooping to 50%, with liberal addition of trim after that. If you aren’t fighting with pitch corrections the plane becomes much easier to control.
#Third - Technique
Your technique probably sucks. If you’re bouncing, if you’re touching down fast, if you’re letting the speed decay too far, or if you’re missing getting the controls at the right time: you’re going to have a bad time.
Touching down fast or late will be the first problem. Through the flare/round off you’ll be around 90kts, but for touchdown you want to be closer to 70kts. By touching down slower you will have less initial drag on the probes, and you can accelerate through the scoop. You don’t have to wait for full tanks to get the power on.
With 15 degrees of flaps (flaps 2) The aircraft will come unstuck with the barest amount of nose up attitude. If you try to pull it off the water you will drag the tail and likely get pulled back down. At full weight the 415 takes off very level.
While I haven’t confirmed this, I believe you get about 20 seconds of continuous +100% torque, but ITT will cook things much faster. This may behave differently in colder or warmer OAT’s.
#Order of Operations
- Plan your approach with due considerations
- Create a stable approach. Lots of drag once you get flaps in. With Flaps 2 the 415 loves to wallow around 110kts, which gives you more time with your descent planning.
- Full flaps and 90kts through the flare. This is a round off to a low and level attitude, to where the aircraft can then settle onto the water. Nose up trim through the flare and while in ground effect will help how it settles.
- Probes down
- Touchdown should occur around 70kts, scooping will start, you can bring in a good amount of power back in and reduce to flaps 2. Be ready to add lots of nose up trim.
- If you haven’t slowed down too much you can add full power before the tanks are full. Bring the probes back up if you can. Hold the nose essentially level, you’ll see the AoA begin to rise.
- When AoA comes through the white and into the green you can relax and allow a bit of nose up pressure. This is more like letting the plane come off rather than pulling.
- If you haven’t been too long on the power you can clean up the flaps before reducing power while in ground effect, otherwise bring the power back into the green then carefully pull the flaps in while building speed.
Safe speeds
138kts - Flaps 1/2
117kts - Flaps 3, gear
Climb Speeds
100kts - Empty
110kts - Midweight
115kts - Full
I hope Microsoft opts to add even a static firefighting mission into the Activities, as this is an aircraft that demands practice opportunities. I also hope it gets some love for multiplayer use as large scale aerial fire attack would be amazing.
Give the 415 another chance. If you learn to fly it, you’ll likely be able to fly anything else the sim throws at you.
