I’m continuing to explore the high-RPM-on-engine-start issue with PMDG. It’s possible, as @Riverrover suggests, that excessive RPM on an engine can trip the autofeather mechanism and trigger a shutdown. But for me - and for several others who’ve reported - the high RPM problem itself sets in earlier, on startup. I’d thought it was related to noise in my throttle hardware axis, but it’s not - was able to eliminate that possibility over the weekend. Now looking at whether there’s an issue in the way the throttle axes are initiated on loading the flight. Have some more testing to do on that. I’ll report back.
Let me get this straight … you teleport outside your aircraft and magically levitate all around it until you teleport back inside, but the needles updating a little late after your supernatural levitation and teleportation act is what breaks the immersion? 
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Please don’t try to get me into a pointless discussion.
I can show you 1,000s of videos how a plane looks from outside, for example from a chaseplane. Show me 1 where the instruments jump to the correct position the moment a human enters the room.
Yes, but usually the pilot of the DC-6 doesn’t jump out of the plane, onto a chase plane, shoots some footage and then jumps back into the DC-6 to resume the flight. 
You were talking about “immersion” and my point (made in a tongue in cheek fashion) was that you should stay inside the plane when you want full immersion as a pilot. When you use the external camera some gauges updating late are the least of your problems as far as immersion is concerned.
Anyhow … lighten up! I didn’t try to attack you. Hence the emoji.
Ok, fair.
But this is about software principles not about personal preferences how to play computer sims. Just like we use double buffering in computer graphics so the user doesnt have to look at how the screen content is built, the instruments in a plane should be up to date before the cockpit becomes active. I also don’t think I’m the only one who is bothered by this.
As it is now it feels like really bad design, in fact who knows what else is going on and if there are not 2 separate models of the simulation that are just loosely synchronized.
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Stop taking him seriously… although it has made me chuckle
This happens in all of the aircraft I’ve “flown” in the sim. Glass panels are especially funny, watching all the little planes scramble to get back to their assigned positions. It’s like in the third grade when the teacher walks back into the room, and everyone scrambles back to their desk.
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The flap ballooning is really hard to control, I’ve found landings the hardest. I’ve tried to land using gyro pitch wheel but try to come off autopilot before flaps 50, go to flaps 50 and rate gallons to c400 feet per minute which then leads to overcorrecting pitch.
I wonder if we’re throwing in the flaps too early? Not the 20, but what’s added later… I don’t know… I’m also quite confused about the throttle control, although @AlanA4643 had some good tips. I think most of the time my power is at 90 - 100. So lowering it first, then when the plane is slowing down already, add more flaps. Maybe that way the ballooning will be less… and perhaps anticipate by trimming down at the same time… will have to experiment.
It’s definitely not easy, cause at the same time you’re trying all that, you have to watch that vertical speed, keep it on the glideslope etc.
This was posted a little over a week ago by Bruno Boyer over on the PMDG forum… it’s very well done, and answers some of the questions being asked in the last few posts, especially with regard to the use of flaps…
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Hmm yes, I think I’ve been trying with too much power. It’s just very hard to control with my slider. Still the same problem.
I think they should add a calibration tool in the tablet.
I’ve just rewatched the last lesson 19…using drag. He switches off the gyroscope and watched really carefully when moving from flaps 30 to 40 no ballooning whatsoever, neither at 40 to 50… I can only think it’s how the trim is originally set in terms of the plane being balanced. The vsi definitely doesn’t balloon which I can only think it’s an initial trim issue.
Lesson 19 is definitely worth a watch as it demostrates how to manually manage the glidescope using flaps and abit of trim whilst bmep is fixed at 100.
In a nutshell it means only one thing…more practice
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Really useful diagram, in terms of phases I’m good all the way up to the 3k ft mark, it’s the ballooning using the flaps and manually setting descent for the glide path
For those that use vr … if you haven’t used the freeware electronic flight bag it’s really useful, the diagram above can be pdf’d and then it can be pulled up in the vr cockpit for reference.
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I think you may be. Hard to tell without looking over your shoulder(s), but if you guys are getting a lot of ballooning on flap deployment, that suggests you may be carrying too much speed when you let the flaps out.
In addition to Bruno Boyer’s excellent chart (linked by @Seven7Tango just above), it’s also worth taking a look at the chart on page 319 of the POH. It’s an old-school traffic-pattern diagram that shows correct speed and flaps settings for all phases of departure and arrival. It calls for 20 degrees of flaps and 170 knots on arrival in the airport area. Then slow to 130 knots before turning base. Then gear down on base. Then 30 degrees of flaps and 120 knots as you turn final. Only after that do you begin letting in more flaps, slowing to 105 knots over the threshold.
Obviously those speeds are somewhat generic - not adjusted for landing weight - and you won’t often be flying a classic traffic pattern. But the main point is that you want to hold off on flaps beyond 20 degrees until you’re really slowing down for final approach. The additional point is that the landing gear is your speedbrake. If you’re fast coming down the slope, throw the gear out first, and only after that, when your speed is coming down, get the rest of the flaps out. And always, always watch your speed, not just the power setting.
Last thing for this round is that you may find it easier to hand-fly the last stages of the approach than to leave it to the gyropilot. The gyropilot will give you a stable approach - but if you do anything to destabilize the approach, like big pitch or power changes, it will have a hard time catching up. If you do get a pitch-up on deploying flaps, it’s easier to push forward on the yoke than it is to manage the gyropilot trim wheel.
It’s a lot to look after, especially in a big airplane with a lot of mass and inertia. Comes together, though, once you start playing with the pitch/power/speed relationships and get the feel for it.
Hope this helps.
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I land with Flaps 20, tbh.
never ocurred to me that is wrong, as it works very well. I usually do a long approach and have slow airpeed at the landing. I’m always amazed how short of a runway the DC-6 needs to land.
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That’s been my method, and it seems to work quite well. I have the Gyropilot disengaged before I start my pattern, usually with only ten or fifteen degrees of flaps deployed. Once I’m at twenty the Gyropilot is usually off. Mixture is Full Rich, Props are at 2400 rpm, and BMEP is between 90 and 100. It seems to be very, very stable at that configuration.
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As long as you’ve got the runway length you need, no reason why not.
Something I’ve had to get used to is that the DC-6 doesn’t like to slow down after initial level-off - it really needs the 20-plus miles that the PMDG tutorials call for. But in the last stages, when you’ve got gear and flaps out, it sheds speed really fast. I got caught out and got behind the power curve a couple of times in final before I learned how to time the flaps and power on final - and that you’ve got to keep a sharp eye on airspeed.
You’re right that even with partial flaps, the landing distance is much, much shorter than anything you’d see in a jet.
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Yes thanks for that, I think it’s practice, I’ve pretty much flown ga for 9 years and stayed away from the bigger planes but really liked the dc6 and also how well it’s been put together, I’ve been doing circuits around Green Bay for last two week trying to get the handle of each phase of flight and at moment it’s the last part that I’m finding difficult… probably panic a bit also as I float down the runway…or bounce…or yesterday pop a wheelie as I got all carried away and was too aggressive with reverse thrust.
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Works perfectly for me. One place where I diverge from the tutorials a bit is that, when I’ve pulled the power back to 70 BMEP too early, the airspeed comes off a bit too fast. I leave that for the last stages now.
Yesterday I managed the River Visual to 19 at KDCA. That’s the graduate course. Took me a couple of minutes to unclench my hands from the yoke and throttle afterward. But it worked.
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And let’s not forget the wind… I do make the cardinal sin on a regular basis to land with a tail wind… then all bets are off…
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