It’s very hard for me to admit this and swallow my pride given my massive knowledge as a builder of sports/racing car engines, but I’m struggling to understand some basic concepts surrounding the following: As I fly the DC-6 and, now, the Staggerwing, I’m trying to understand what, specifically, th…

[image] NixonRedgrave: I cannot do this in the Islander, for instance, the engines will fire and die, if I don’t have the propeller levers forward. When I first got the Islander, I went so far as to point this out on the official thread as an issue, which the devs pointed out is by design. I’…

anon50268670: I can’t find anything that indicates it works any different from other types of engines. I’d had a similar experience. After I was told it was by design, I’d tried to find a reference to it, but couldn’t. Could I trouble you to take a look at post #49? I’d asked you for some c…

The whole purpose of the constant speed prop is to achieve a high propulsive efficiency over a wide speed range. A fixed pitch propeller is only efficient over a very small speed range. A fixed pitch propeller optimized for climb will have good performance during take-off and climb but during cruise…

Your knowledge of this is absolutely astonishing. We are so much the better for it!!

Thank you, once again. I’ve learned so much here over the last couple of days and your explanations have very much helped me round out much of what I’ve tried to understand on my own. I’ve never been able to be content doing something because I was told to do it, I really need to have a fundamental…

Ah, the engine failure section explains quite a bit. It is very interesting to learn that a multi-engine aircraft is more than just another engine or more, but it also incorporates a rethink on the propeller system. That is pretty clever thinking. I purposely shutdown and feathered an engine on th…

The throttle is the equivalent of the accelerator pedal in a car or truck. The propeller pitch control is the equivalent of the gear lever. The engine has a fairly narrow band of speeds that it runs efficiently and effectively. To get the best performance from the engine, the pitch of the prop nee…

Yes. None of that which you’ve explained was what I was confused over. I’m professionally familiar with power band, performance characteristics and gearbox gearing setup — in vehicles meant to traverse the road and track, of course! :slightly_smiling_face: My confusion was brought about because of …

I also wanted to thank @NixonRedgrave for the original question and @anon50268670 & co for the answers. As someone with no mechanical knowledge at all I would not have been able to frame the question but it has covered what I have also been trying to understand at a much more basic level. I know t…

Regarding fuel mixture. At the most basic level, a petrol burning engine needs a ratio of air to fuel(petrol) for combustion to take place. The ideal ratio is 14.7:1, which is referred to as the “stoichiometric” air to fuel ratio. So, 14.7kg of air to 1kg of petrol. If you’ve got that ratio, then …

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Help Understanding Piston Engines w/Constant Speed Propellers

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