[MSFS2024] Cessna 408 SkyCourier

I must be doing something wrong then because I’ve pulled all the levers back and still have just under (I think) 400 RPM on the engines and still I have to ride the brakes to prevent climbing to 20kts+ in about 5 - 10 seconds. Pulling any throttle or condition levels back further, even slightly, means I end up having no forward thrust at all or even reverse thrust.

Any suggestions?

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I’ll check it out again next time I’m in the sim but it’s one of the few a/c where I don’t need to use reverse. I generally operate out of grass strips though so that could be affecting it.

I’ve definitely noticed it is much more sluggish on dirt as well. Check it out on a paved taxiway or runway.

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Pulling the prop back is just as likely to create more thrust. The way a prop governor works is the blade angle is adjusted to maintain the selected rpm with the torque available (if the prop is spinning faster than desired the blades flatten vs the relative wind which increases resistance and slows rotation, spinning slower the behavior is reversed). Given that the 408 idles at a very sprightly ~74ng you probably are getting quite a lot of angle and moving a lot of air. Of course you could end up at an RPM that is so low that the blades are so flat that they are stalled and not creating thrust. I can’t really get into that because I’m not an engineer. I can say though that is not the way you handle the issue in the real plane. In the real thing you have the props at max RPM until the after takeoff checklist- and you taxi almost exclusively with the power levers in ground fine- which is the setting between idle and reverse. Some of my previous posts in this thread talk about taxi technique and ac tendencies. Granted my observations and commentary are based on the real aircraft not the Carenado module. If the sim doesn’t behave like the real aircraft that’s on them!

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Actually I take it back. You aren’t on the governor at idle so the prop RPM lever position probably won’t vary thrust produced much. Whatever you gotta do to get the power handles into ground fine without engaging reverse that’s what needs to happen.

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My first flight today and can confirm most of the bugs already posted here.
The weirdest thing was the autopilot not properly holding alt but sinking, inspite of enough power/speed. Never seen a plane do that.

Cockpit shading is pretty bad, making it lacking visual depth.
But all in all, a nice plane.

One definite visual bug not posted + 1 question:

  • bug: outer wing beacon lights shine into the wing:

  • question: is it correct, that the wing insp. light only illuminates the left wing? On the right wing it only spotlights the propeller

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The staggered/uneven lighting for the ice inspection light is accurate.

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I cant send the flight plan to the avionics, anyone else or is there a different step with this aircraft that ive overlooked?

Doesn’t matter anymore …UNINSTALLED…I’m DONE!

I just hope they don’t break 2020 too

So I recently found out that using the only current method of getting the 408’s PT6s to fire at all (starter ‘on’, auto-ignition ‘arm’, fuel boost ‘on’) lets you both start and then continously run them without ever bringing the condition levers out of ‘off’ position. (Just let NG run up to ~16% and a fuel flow of a steady ~156 pph appears.)

Am I correct in thinking that shouldn’t be possible?
That the condition lever’s ‘off’ position is a definitve fuel cutoff, regardless of the status of the starter and fuel boost switches?
That, at the very least, returning starter, boost and auto-ignition back to their default positions should kill the engines while condition is remaining in ‘off’?

Or in other words: Am I missing something or is this thing bugged beyond belief?

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So… I have only done one flight in the 408 and I might not ever do another. The groud taxi power is frustratingly over done even at low idle on the CL. Way over powered with my flight and 90% fuel in tanks.

Speaking of the Condition Levers… why do they not control as CL’s. The axis I have set do not work as do the Keyboard settings for the CL’s. They dont move. I have not spent enough time in it to find out what they have been mapped too… but I am not expecting when flying this in Career mode that I am flying a Beta.

Speaking of over powered… there is so much extra power in this aircraft that in the flare it just does not want to touch down when at Idle even with full flaps… just floats and chews up the available runway. Reverse thrust is like hitting a brick wall the a/c stops in about 250ft once you do get on the ground.

All in all not a pleasurable flying experience outside of cruise… but I will try one more flight in it to see if it was ‘me’, :wink:

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IIRC the condition levers do work, but they are not affected by the mixture axis as most aircraft are.

I ended up using SPAD to have a virtual axis, and denoted three ranges that set the appropriate simvar to either 0, 1 or 2.

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Where would I get the 408?..I have MS 2024—Aviator Ed.
and it is not there…what to do?

If you are in free flight, search for “408” and it should show up unless maybe there is an issue with your installation. If you are in career, it should show up under Buy New for the Cargo -Medium missions and/or the Cargo company if you have one.

I have looked and it is not there, at least in free flight…my installation is solid…I do have plenty of 2020 planes that 2024 has let me install…what to do?..

It’s ridiculous, in idle you’re at taxi speed. And the reverse is a matter of luck, sometimes it does something, others are like if you touched nothing.

Check and see if your My Library in the Marketplace has the 408 Skycourier Cessna listed as Streamed.

The plane typically isn’t taxied in idle irl due to the abundance of thrust at idle. Once the aircraft has started moving ground fine is enough to keep it going. Sometimes you even have to tickle the reversers a bit to keep it at normal taxi speeds too.

Do they ever do single engine taxi?

Not that I know of

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