Please use this thread to provide general feedback and impressions about this aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. For all bug reports, please create a new topic (or upvote an existing topic) in the Aircraft & Systems section of the forums. Please use the full bug report template when creating a new bug report.
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best), how do you rate the Flight Model and Aircraft Systems?
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On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best), how do you rate the Interior and Exterior Graphics?
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On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best), how do you rate the Audio and Aircraft Sounds?
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On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best), how do you rate your Overall Enjoyment of this aircraft?
Took this up for a spin earlier. My VKB stick doesnāt get any default bindings so I had to bind everything myself which took some trial and error as I had no clue what I needed bound for this. The cockpit has an actual regular yoke in it that rotates left/right as per normal but you have to use the rudder axis binding to do that which is odd, but whatever. Also thereās thrust vectoring commands to tilt the engines which I bound to my stick.
I tried to follow the checklist but got a bit lost on the way and ended up with half the things not powered on properly. Also it didnāt tell you about disconnecting from the mast, didnāt notice that. Itās in the ATC menu BTW!
The checklist tells you to open and close this or that valve during startup and everything but then later just tells you to trim it off which Iām not sure I did properly but after some fumbling about I ended up in the air.
At first it was really weird to control, just rolling from side to side, pitching up and down and struggling to maintain any sort of level flight, itās a real lumbering beast. But after some trials and tribulations I ended up flying around New York at about 40 knots and keeping roughly level. You have to kinda think ahead, move the controls and wait for it to respond and donāt jerk it about too much. But also relesae the controls earlier than you think or itāll go too far.
Things went a big haywire at one point and I bounced off a few towers, full throttle is not a good idea here. Then I landed at Teterboro, well more like a controlled crash. I slid across half the airport before coming to a stop. couldnāt connect back up to the mast again.
Despite not really knowing what the hell I was doing and struggling a fair bit I enjoyed the flight. Itās certainly something quite different from the norm. I just wish they wrote up a manual explaining things better like the valves and trimming and piloting techniques and procedures.
Elevator and rudder for the yoke. The engine vectoring is done via buttons, no axes, but for some reason I had to use the horizonal thrust vector commands instead of the vertical ones.
Makes sense, youāre changing the angle of fans that point straight back (i.e. horizontal) when the vector angle is zero.
Iād love a manual too, took me ages just to work out how to get into it, and I still canāt work out how to turn the power on. Auto engine start for the win.
I love flying the Skyship. Of all the aircraft in MSFS 2024 this was actually the one I wanted to fly the most. But I have some suggestions.
First an official manual would be nice. Iāve fumbled around with the air valves for trimming but I donāt have a really good grasp of what they are actually doing.
The sounds are close but lack that musical Porsche note that the real thing had.
I really wish we could open and close the door and use it to enter and exit the blimp.
Being able request the mooring mast truck and use it to maneuver the airship around on the ground would be awesome since maneuvering the airship on the ground as it is is impossible.
But I think the biggest issue is the turning radius. It seems very excessive. Between 15 to 30 knots it should be able to maneuver and turn much better but thatās my opinion based on what Iāve seen in videos of the Skyship 600.
There are some bugs as well such as the landing gear not retracting that I hope they address ( I really hope the Skyship 600 gets some love and attention and isnt just abondonware).
On the center console between the pilot seats there are two white switches and two red switches under a transparent cover. Near that (above the throttles I think) are two dials showing the propeller position. I tried playing with the switches and it doesnāt seem to change anything so I think its bugged at the moment.
You could try using the prop pitch hot keys to see if you can adjust them but I havenāt tried myself yet.
Always been an airship fan so Iām thrilled to have it, and seem to now understand it well enough to get it under control. That said, does anyone elseās Skyship crash instantly if started cold and dark? Apologies if this is a known problem, but google-fu has been failing me.
Starting on the runway Iāve been able to get it to work. It still noses down aggressively, but I figured out a way to balance it with the air valves. The checklist keeps mentioning ballonet trim, though. Iām not sure if what Iām doing with the valves is trimming the ballonets or if thereās a more proper way to be doing it that doesnāt involve the air valves directly. Iām also not very clear on how to use the dampers correctly to control descent. Anyone have a rundown on that stuff?
I think I have ballonet trim kind of figured. Any of the valves can be open, closed, or auto. If you open a valve, air will move out of it and increase buoyancy at that point. Iām not clear on the particulars, but I found running with dampers in auto and valves in auto, you can āpull on the side you want to riseā. If you open the front valve in that configuration, the bow will rise. If you pull the rear valve, the aft will rise. It is pretty easy to trim and fly this way, and it seems to be favorable to using aerodynamic trim even in cruise. I am not certain what the function of auto is though, or what role the dampers play. If there is a way of achieving neutral buoyancy I havenāt found it, but I think negative buoyancy might be by design?
From the thread it sounds like other people have been able to cold and dark this thing, or at least make use of the mooring tower. Any tips there? For me it nosedives and crashes within about a second of spawning of I spawn cold and dark. Spawning on the active it starts moored, but usually bucks the mooring before the cutscene finishes.
Non rigid blimps are designed to be āflownā heavy. After loading fuel and passengers they would perform a āweigh offā and basically make sure the blimp was heavy enough to gently sink to the ground before take off.
Blimps mostly use aerodynamic lift rather then their static buoyancy to fly, which means they fly more like airplanes then balloons.
So no it shouldnt be able to rise using its boyancy alone.
Yah I think your right. The valves are just the pitch trim. Give valve 1 a pull for a second or so to make the nose lighter, give valve 4 a tug then return to make the tail heavy, etc.
Check in your assistances menu if you have the option for balloons to start moored. I had this and for the hot air balloon it prevented it flying away with the wind before inflating but for the Airship it resulted in a mess as it already starts moored to the truck.
Indeed.
Can you tell me which position is open-close or auto? Levers up or down?
And why do I sometimes get 0 pressure? Is there a way to recover it?
Check above, if you have the balloons start moored thing in your assistences.
WIth this disabled it is still hit and miss for me, if you start in a windy airport the airship will be a mess.
Also check if your MAC is about 45% and start it heavy, load it with passengers and fuel, it canāt fly empty, it is just too light I think.
Valve positions
Up is closed, middle is auto, down is open.
Zero pressure
If the dampers are open (or all the vents, I think) and the engine is at low power and/94 the ballonet fans are off, that happens. You can rebuild pressure quickly with the ballonet fans on, the dampers closed, and some engine power. I think the ballonet fans have to be on for this to work but Iām not certain. They definitely help.
Hello all, new user here. I had posted this on a YouTube video earlier and it dawned on me that forums still exist, so here I am.
This blimp alone was the reason i got msfs again after many years so Iām happy to share what Iāve found a of launch week.
The biggest issue we have here is that there isnāt a tutorial, and the checklist is huge as far as finding all your cockpit controls, as well as the default keybindings not being intuitive, especially for those who just want to get in and go. I know this is what will put many off, but donāt fret, Iāve learned a few things. I donāt think that this aircraft was released broken.
It was trial and error for my first 2 days, but i can say that this blimp does work well and is a joy to fly.
Hereās some things Iāve figured out to help others interested get going
1.The Dampers are directly above you. They are set to auto, which is problem #1 and itās why you are falling back to the ground right after taking off. Set them both to Unlocked so you can balance your pressure properly.
Right above you are 2 switches - your Ballonet fans, youāll want to use these for take off, hovering/slow speed cruising and landing.
The box to your left with the 3 gauges is your pressure, from left to right they are your Rear/Middle/Front pressure
To your left are 4 air valves, while grounded you can test them out and see how the blimp will respond without ever leaving the ground, again, make sure your Dampers are unlocked and your ballonet fans are on and watch as the pressure in the gauges change.
While there are 4 air valves, i have had a lot of success by just using the middle two, #2 and #3
Also - air valves are default in āautoā but this also has the same effect as them being locked.
Things Iāve noticed about the 3 gauges while flying.
Again - Rear/middle/front %%%
0/50/50 - nose up and ascend
0/25/0 - balanced for cruising
50/50/50 - balanced for hovering/ slow speeds
50/50/0 - nose down and descent.
Your engines (vectors) rotate up and down but default bindings arent good at all.
45 degrees up for takeoff.
If you go full down they will point slightly behind meaning you can keep yourself from moving forward on the ground after spawning in or landing. They will also slow you down in the air but remember they will be pulling you down to earth.
Also, while ātrimā is displayed on the ui it is 100% useless, you need to ignore it. I got around this issue by going into the keybindings and using elevator (pitch up and down) on my dpad so i can make the adjustments in small increments and avoid thumb fatigue on my left stick.
This is a long winded comment and there is more to figure out about this aircraft but for anyone who is truly interested in it, this a place to start and Iāll be waiting for someone with even more knowledge to put their info out there as well.
Your wisdom is much appreciated. Iāve done a few multi-hour flights with it now and Iām really enjoying it. Itās about time there was a decent dirigible simulation somewhere.
Another issue I found with the Skyship 600. The left CYL TEMP gauge shows a reading while the right side does not. Even though both engines are running.
