Really excited for this. Spent a lot of time at the controls of a 310R back in the early 00s flying from W29 all over the Baltimore/DC/Philly and into central PA. Excellent twin with plenty power and speed. Too bad Cessna doesn’t make anything similar anymore.
Same for you. We’re taking 310R pilots for testing. DM me if you want in
Downunder at least, all of the passenger transport carrying contracts for various organisations that used to require a twin engine aircraft for safety reasons are steadily being replaced with single engine turbine powered aircraft. I guess the lack of demand could be the reason for production ceasing, despite it being a delightful aircraft to operate in the real world!
If you’re referring to Dutche’s youtube video, I’m guessing it might have been 193 groundspeed? (Which depends on how much tailwind is being experienced on the day of course). If you’re referring to cockpit shot from my previous post showing the ASI- that was captured during a -500fpm descent.
Either way, we’re doing extensive testing of the aircraft speeds at various altitudes in accordance to the PoH tables. As a point of interest, I used to plan for a cruise speed of 160 KIAS when filing IFR flight plans on the 310Q I used to fly, around the same altitude range as yourself.
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Handling is more challenging specially when tip tanks still have plenty of gas in them. It amplifies yaw momentum with the weight added to the wing tips. It is mostly noticed at slow speeds, like approaches and more fun if you have gust cross wind component to add.
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Here’s another teaser for you guys, this time with motion:
A short video of a circuit from takeoff to landing off runway 06 at Shoreham with a fair bit of wind (don’t judge my rollout onto final too harshly!). This circuit was flown with 50% fuel in the tip tanks- lovely and stable, even with the real world weather trying its best to blow me off course.
In other news: I’ve just had what might be one of the most immersive experiences in a flight simulator to date from my latest 310 test flight. I was aiming to go sample icing conditions so loaded up in Corsica with a preset stormy cold weather package. After starting on the apron and taxing out for departure, I had a nice normal takeoff, then set up autopilot for a steady climb in VS. Through 4000 feet the left hand engine started shuddering with all the engine needles fluctuating wildly before winding down. I wasn’t expecting an engine failure as I had the tablet set to ‘rarely’ under failure modes, but assumed that was what was happening so ran my engine failure drills, feathered the prop, turned away from high terrain, retrimmed the plane and re engaged autopilot.
It completely took me by surprise, felt very realistic and gave me a great feeling of satisfaction afterwards having managed to keep the aircraft upright and return it to stable flight. As I cleaned up the cockpit making sure all the associated systems with the left engine were shut down, I realised that I had flicked the left hand engine fuel pump to HIGH instead of OFF by error during my after takeoff checks and had actually flooded the engine, which was the reason for the failure (as opposed to a randomly generated mechanical failure). After hitting my head in a Homer Simpsoneske ‘doh’ manner, I reset the engine 1 levers back up for an inflight windmilling start and got engine 1 running again smoothly to continue my test flight on 2 engines. Huge kudos to you Milviz for enabling this level of realism- I am very very impressed!
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Oh wow, it looks and sounds fantastic, and as much as I can tell through a video, I bet it feels fantastic. Can’t wait!
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I have one question watching those videos. Are the engines not supposed to reach full rpm when stationary in the 310? It looks like the only reach about 2000rpm. Which is weird for me because all the constant speed propeller aircraft I fly IRL reach full or close to full rpm when stationary on the ground.
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Standard takeoff technique for the 310, and pretty much all light piston twins, is not to hold full power against the brakes, unless operating from a reduced length runway using short field takeoff procedures.
I get that. That’s not really the question though. My question is. If you’d do that. Wouldn’t the the engines reach full rpm?
I’m not quite sure I follow, sorry. At the beginning on the take off rolls from our videos, when the engines are still low RPM, the CSU governor isn’t controlling the propeller blade angle yet so you wouldn’t see static RPM.
Alright I’ll try to explain what I mean.
The C182T I fly IRL has a constant speed propeller. If I put the brakes on and add full throttle (aircraft renewing stationary) the rpm will reach the maximum of 2400rpm. That’s also the maximum governor rpm.
With the videos of the 310 it looks like the pilot is adding full throttle but the rpm doesn’t go up to red line. It’s only when the aircraft accelerates to a certain speed that the max rpm is reached.
Thus my question. Is that correctly modeled or should the engines reach red line rpm when the aircraft is stationary and full throttle is applied.
Thanks
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In which videos does it look like this? In my circuit video, I released the brakes and fed the throttles in slowly over a few seconds as is standard procedure. Bit confused about what you are referencing?
The one hour introduction video posted earlier in that thread.
The manifold pressure in that video is up to max. The fuel flow is up to max but the props ain’t
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This video is an example of a maximum performance takeoff from Nelson, British Columbia, Canada in the Selkirk Mountains. POH indicates the brakes to be held till an engine RPM of 2700. Maybe a tester can try this?
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That’s exactly what I meant
We’re looking at this…
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Thanks! Sounds good. I’m really looking forward to the 310z from the looks of it the most immersive GA for MSFS2020 up to now
I’ve spoken with the FDE dev on this and he says SU8 has changed many things, including this. The people watching this video need to remember that it’s marked WIP for a reason… (work in progress).
That said, we are ALWAYS on the lookout for real world pilots (especially Type/Rated) for our testing team. As part of the team, you get unprecedented access to ALL of our consumer products, including those still in dev.
So, if you’ve got provable hours in a C310R, hit me up by msg or email oisin @ milviz dot com and we will put you on the team!
Thanks.
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Kudos to the developers! The updates are a nightmare for 3rd Party Developers in many aspects of the sim. That said, the features and characteristics of this model will set the bar for all other aircraft development teams.
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Nice right hand circuit! I must say the interior sounds are as good as they get! I have never flown my Van’s RV off grass. Too worried about damaging the wheel pants as they only have about 2 inches of ground clearance. With the sound I heard in your video, rest assured I will be seeking out some grass strips now and then! PS We have all been blown a tad past the final alignment once and awhile! Lots of fun on final!