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 Bug Reporting Hub > 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?
First of all, first! And secondly what a joy. The water effects are amazing. And the ability to start from anywhere on the water shut down is a plus. Two things only at this first viewing: The eight engines four controls is still present. I will continue to beat this drum officially and unofficially. Clicking throttles is fine but how about just the engineers throttles and give us the correct four the pilot has. Secondly the starter sound plays no matter what when you switch views. But those are both minor things. Wonderful aircraft.
More testing with some interesting results. Empty the aircraft acts as expected. But if you put any sort of load into the plane it all goes out the window. At around 50% capacity ~50klbs of cargo the speed will not go above about 40 knots indicated and as such we refuse to fly. I did learn you can ruin the engines attempting as the manifold pressure bounces pass the end of the dial. Disappointing but perhaps more testing is needed. Admittedly anything beyond the first flight is theoretical but a lot of work went into the hydro and aerodynamic modeling of the Hercules.
From Howard Hughes and his Flying Boat "The hull design was only part of the work done at Langley. The wing section was recommended by NACA’s Eastman N. Jacobs and use was made of Langley’s low-turbulence wind tunnel. Carl Babberger believes that the result was “one of the finest low-drag, high-lift sections that was ever put together.” Parkison says that even unpublished ideas were applied to the nacelles so that they and their associated internal cooling systems represented the latest and the best in low-drag design. “All superior,” said Parkinson. “We had high hopes of using it after the war as a research airplane simply because it did have such outstanding aerodynamic and hydrodynamic features. It had probably the largest Reynolds number I’ve ever heard off. We could have gotten a lot of aerodynamic data off of it. It had a finish just like a piano-probably the smoothest airplane that was ever built. That was one dividend from the Duramold plywood.”
It seems the H4 suffers from LOD issues - from the outside view you cannot see the cabin at all even if zoomed in completely which is a shame. However I guess it’s a general bug within the simulator as all large aircraft suffer from similar issues.
Did some water handling testing today. Winds 15kts gusting 17kts at Long Beach. Boat handles the chop very well, as expected. What was surprising was the turning radius and handling during turns was very good. The use of moused throttles did the trick and the rudder was effective. Not as intuitive as using a quadrant but usable. No problems noted with striking the water to end the flight as was the case in MSFS 2020. Loaded taxi testing will be next in similar conditions. There are some graphical glitches, you can see right thought the airplane and windows on certain angles. Would be nice to get pilots in the cockpit as well. But I’m sure if the desire to have these addressed exists more time with this simulator is all that will be required. And man do those spray effects look good.
The H4 had a quite big upgrade on SU4 which fixed the LOD issues and other things. I noticed that the thumbnail now shows some kind of a transportation rack below the aircraft which however is not used on the aircraft preview screen. Would be nice to have it at least in this case
Speaking of lights - did the H4 not feature any fluorescent instruments or some kind of instrument lighting other than the dome lights? I ask because the flight deck is pitch black whenever the dome lights are turned off.
Yes. According to the manual “The pilot’s instrument panel is mounted under the port windshield, forward of the control wheel and directly in line of the pilot’s seat. Pointers, numerals, and main graduations on instrument dials are yellow fluorescent coated and become illuminated under fluorescent lighting.” Flight deck lighting consisted of
Two spotlights with switches attached located on each side of pilots overhead instrument panel
One dome light over pilot’s pedestal
One spotlight over pilot
One spotlight over copilot
There are further lights for the flight engineer and navigator. You can find these lights listed in Sec. 1 Chapter 1-11.3 in the Flying Boat Manual. As a note this IS a post flight publication so what was available on the day of the flight is to this poster unknown. Hope that helps!
Just took the updated Hercules out for a quick spin in Long Beach. The 2024 version has never looked better. No longer can you see all the way through the aircraft and looks like Mr. Hughes is back where he belongs. Bravo Zulu for the update.
It’s what was included in the most recent Sim Update. My version finally updated and it was worth my wait. Still no proper throttle controls, advanced mixture, true dark start, better fuel logic but it’s still a fun plane to fly.
And the little things continue. Your copilot is now there, the spray effects are wonderful, the lights are all there and visible and the water handling is far better then what it was. Does look good for sure.
