Flyable until next patch by Asobo, presumably.
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LEARN PHYSICS WITH MSFS2020
I partially just enjoy flying, but I also learn physics, technology and aviation in flight simulators. Now I âownâ a Mooney M20R Ovation in MSFS2020 and I decided to check the performance. I read the Pilotâs Operating Handbook (PoH), watched several real life videos and performed long test flights.
At first I learnt about Lean of Peak (LoP) and Rich of Peak (RoP) for mixture control. When starting with lean mixture (the mixture knob is pulled out) and slowly pushing it back to enrich the mixture several parameters are changing in a characteristic manner. It is fairly correctly simulated. Exhaused gas temperature (EGT) is increasing. Together with it the engine power is increasing and thus speed as well. At some mixture setting EGT reached maximum and starts declining. Engine power and speed is still increasing as the EGT is decreasing on the rich side and reaching maximum at around -75F EGT. This point is called -75EGT RoP (Rich of Peak) and that is the maximum power setting point at a given throttle and propeller speed setting. The problem is that at this setting the fuel consumption - as measured by fuel flow (Gal/h) - is rather high. If fuel cost and range/endurance is important, a similar EGT on the lean side of maximum EGT is more optimal. The PoH recommends -50F LoP (Lean of Peak). Starting from lean mixture, you push the mixture knob until you reach peak EGT, then pull it back until EGT drops circa 50F. You lose some 2-3 kn speed compared to RoP setting, but the fuel consumption drops relatively more thus resulting higher fuel efficiency and longer range. On the other hand the cylinder cooling effect of the extra fuel of the rich mixture is missing here resulting a higher cylinder head temperature (CHT).
You can play with this at different altitudes to see the fuel saving effect. There are at least two other factors you can play with:
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Change the total mixture volume with the throttle to set the basic power setting. When doing this, you see many parameters changing, including the manifold pressure (MP), that is closely related to the mixture flow volume, i.e. how much air-fuel mixture is flowing into the engine.
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Change the target propeller RPM in this variable pitch aircraft between 2300 and 2500 rotation per minute. This is not effecting the manifold pressure, but effecting the efficiency of te engine, thus again modifying range. A lower RPM results reduced CHT and longer range.
I attach my measurement data and charts drawn based on those data. The first shows how mixture setting is influencing the EGT and IAS curves with maximum at different points. I could not measre the mixture knob position so I used the fluel flow as a proxy for it on the horizontal axis.
On the next picture you see the engine power relative to the selected EGT around Max EGT. I displayed the curves for six different flight parameter settings.
Based on the tests, the simulated Mooney Ovation from Carenado has parameters comparable with the ones defined in the Pilotâs Operating handbook both during climb, cruise and descend. You have the highest freedom in selecting the parameters during cruise. I attach the official table from the book and also my table based on the simulator flight.
I checked several altitudes between FL200 and altitude 6000ft, power settings between 45% to maximum, RPM between 2300 and 2500. I checked each combination using LoP and RoP EGT points for best economy and best power respectively.
As an extra bonus, made a non planned tests as well. I made nearly all tests using clear skies settings as it is resulting standard density altitude environment with standard temperatures and no wind. Also relative humidity is low which means the sky is empty blue. When testing lower altitudes I added some higher clouds for entertainment. I was fling with AP (generally I fly manually, but this time I had to record many gauge readouts continuously) and I had not checked the outside world regularly. During scanning the various gauges once I realized that the speed (thus engine power) became significabtly lower compared to the expected value on the given throttle-prop-mixture-altitude combination. I relaized that I was flying through thin clouds and the carburetor gathered some ice and that reduced the air-fuel mixture flow. At this point you should either turn back to clear areas or to descend to warmer altitudes. This time I had to continue testing and changed weather back to clear skies and waited some time until ice melted.
I should add that climbing to FL200 with the Mooney Ovation is only possible in clear, dry conditions as the aircraft is not rated for icing conditions. At FL200 the standard temperature is -25C, so the Ovation can survuve only if relative humidity is really low.
This was a real fun and I learnt a lot about aviation.
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This is good stuff! Thanks for sharing.
I love that the Mooney really responds to mixture changes much more obviously than any of the other piston planes in FS2020. I donât know how realistic it is (not being a real pilot), but I do love that I can tweak that mixture to get the most power out of the engine, especially when climbing to higher elevation, and I actually love that if you donât have the mixture lean enough at high elevation airports when doing a cold start, you just canât get the engine started.
In spite of the CTD issues weâve had to work around with this plane I sure like it!
Thanks very much for those precious elements. Do you know where itâs possible to find a POH corresponding to the Carenado airplane ?
How are you guys flying the Mooney in 1.11.6.0? Which buttons should I avoid, or rather, which buttons donât cause CTD?
I bought this plane right before the US world update in anticipation for all the sightseeing Iâll be doing, just to have the plane get completely borked. I loaded it up, acknowledged the master caution warning, then CTD. I have not tried it since for fear of frustration lol.
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Simple answer? just donât use it at the moment because it canât be used anyway.
Even if you only operate everything via keyboard shortcuts, etc., without using buttons in the cockpit, you may still get a crash to desktop.
If you want to fly something similar to the Mooney, grab the Beechcraft Bonanza with the Turbo Mod, which works without problems, has almost the same flight characteristics and is also fun.
The only downside is that it uses the g1000 instead of the clock instruments.
Given the weather and temperatures at the moment and the overtuned ice charakteristics in this sim, it would probably make more sense to fly something with anti-ice capabilities, like the Turboprobs: Beechcraft Baron 58 or Diamond Da 62.
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Iâve been continuing to fly the Mooney with 1.11.6.0. In a nutshell, I have found I can still adjust all dials with the mouse wheel with the exception of dial used to set the VS and ALT for autopilot.
The other things to stay away from right now are clicking to open the window by the pilot, the co-pilot door and clicking on the visor.
I agree with @Onimanius that the Bonanza Turbo mod has a similar feel and is fun to fly, but I have still been continuing to fly the Mooney while we wait for the update (hopefully soon).
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I can still adjust all dials with the mouse wheel with the exception of dial used to set the VS and ALT for autopilot.
Yes I do that too⊠but it is âhazardousâ !! The room to select vs by click is so small that you can easily click to turn the knob and then⊠CTD !!
I just tried and it didnât work for me. Rats!
Can confirm the aircraft is unusable at the moment. The majority of dials and buttons when clicked with the mouse will cause a ctd. Before the latest two updates everything was working fine. Friendly advice DO NOT BUY this aircraft until carenando and Asobo have got their â â â â together. When working the aircraft is an absolute dream to fly. Shame.
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Can confirm CTD everytime I attempted to input an altitude by turning the altitude adjust knob.
Iâve compiled a little list of places not to click/scroll:
- Chrono (both buttons)
- ALT/VS selector (donât scroll)
- Sunshades
- Doors
- PIC Window
- Master Caution Light
- Boost Pump (switch doesnât move anyways | could click in the air, CTD when on the ground)
- Elev Trim switch (switch doesnât move anyways | could click in the air, CTD when on the ground)
- Defrost (doesnât move anyways | could click in the air, CTD on the ground)
- VENT rotary switch in the ceiling
So, nothing essential (except maybe for the ALT/VS selector), still a clusterf***.
Feel free to add any I havenât found yet.
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Although far from ideal, you can use keyboard controls to adjust course/heading. You can also map keys to select VS in AP, and then map keys for increase/decrease VS reference speed. Once at the desired altitude, you can hold with AP. It may require some trial and error before you get the feel of it. With that said, I am appalled at the deficiencies that allow broken payware to be sold with no upfront discloser that it does not currently work. Not so patiently waiting for an updateâŠ
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If you read elsewhere in this thread, I think, and others this is the result of an Asobo update, and they have not authorised a âfixedâ version of Carenadoâs planes to the Marketplace yet. As soon as Asobo push the button, youâll be able to download it, and hopefully it will resolve the crashes.
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I think that was for the CTDâs caused by the 1.10.11.0 update. My interpretation from Carenado on the 1.11.6.0 update crashes was that Asobo found the issue in their code, and it will be fixed in the ânextâ update. Implying thereâs not much Carenado can do to fix their plane. Of course, they didnât specify which ânextâ update.
The next main update is slated for 12/22. I donât know if Asobo is planning on a hotfix in the meantime for the variety of issues that 1.11.6.0 has caused.
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@ZidentRAS! Just txpe in âmooney ovation pohâ into Google. But here is one hit:
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@FlyingsCool5650, I think we havenât seen the Carenado plane update in the Marketplace yet. The updates only included the flight sim, not the marketplace items. Earlier Carenado wrote that they had already delivered an update to Asobo and wainiting for the release which is not up to them. I have the feeling that someone along the chain had realized that the Carenado update is not complete or that the new Asobo sim update destroyed again something.
To be honest I very much donât understand what is going on. As a former software developer who had even made aircraft developments for FS2004 I canât imagine what could cause such basic issues. I have the feeling that Carenado started releasing its aircraft too early, before the interfaces had been stabilised and documented by Asobo. They tried somehow to guess and maybe reverse engineer how it was working. Meanwhile perhaps Asobo is still changing the underlying system drastically.
Of course I understand Carenado that after the official release of the sim they had tried to appear on the market as soon as possible. And I am happy with their approach as I was lacking these type of aircraft (mainly the analogue gauges). Well, they took the risk and failed. The only hope that Asobo is completing its interfaces soon, documenting it correctly and that Carenado is redoing the code afterwards.
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As I promised, I made extensive testing of the performance. I published the results in the other topic: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/mooney-m20r-basic-information-currently-broken/277840/807?u=hahrg
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I could add the VFR MAP to your CTD list. It was working earlier, but new crashed for me 2 time when invoking during flight. This was a general problem with the MAP at the very beginning, but then Asobo solved it. It would be interesting to check it with default aircraft also. This seems to be very much not a Carenado issue.
In those early days you could safely open the VFR MAP as soon as your flight had started and âstoreâ it minimized and use it with restoring the window size. But opening it during flight caused CTD. As it is doing it again.
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I used the VFR map in the Seminole over the weekend without any crashes.