CelNav for MSFS - Celestial navigation sextant
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Anyone know why the airplane wouldnât move using reverse thrust when on the apron prior to takeoff if Iâm performing all start up procedures myself? Reverse thrust works when I use the plane with the AFE. Just curious as to what steps Iâm missing; Iâm following a well-written and complete guide on cold and dark startup that I found on flightsim.to. The rest of my flight, including reverse thrust at landing, works fine and Iâve got this plane pretty well down, just this one weird issue.
Reverse thrust on the ground at a gate/parking spot can, at times, be problematic. If you review the Cloudmaster sub-forum on PMDGâs forum, you will see a number of posts discussing this.
Itâs entirely possible you did everything correctly, but the place you had the aircraft parked was preventing the reverse from happening.
Iâd try again in an alternate location or even the same space in a different session.
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Thanks, wasnât sure Iâd get such a fast reply on such an old thread. Appreciate you -
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I saw somebody else with the same problem (different plane I think) and this was the issue. The gate they were parked at. They restarted at a different gate and reverse thrust worked fine (might have been the ATR). When you have the problem in the future, maybe turn on slew mode (Y key by default), back up a bit, and see if it works?
Good call, just starting to play around with slew mode more. Seemed dangerous for CTDs and messed-up flights but the sim honestly plays pretty nicely whenever I end up slewing.
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Reverse thrust on the DC6 and the C118A was not designed for backing up off a gate!!! It was for slowing down on the runway after landing, thats what towbars and tractors are used for. Lets get realistic with this airplane and treat her right.
This Douglas promotional film would indicate differently:
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As does PMDGâs official tutorial series.
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Imagine being so sure of something when being wrong.
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Yeah, I was just rockin with the tutorial vids and doing what Robert was telling me
I watched that video also and it is very good advertising. I said prop reverse was not designed for backing out of a parking area but for landing and aiding the brakes for stopping the aircraft. Keep in mind the the DC6âs R2800 engines arecooled and once the props are reversed there isnât any cooling air so any prolonged reversing could harm an engine.
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ââŠan advantage in parking and storing.â
And hereâs the United States Army Air Forces risking the entirety of the Manhattan Project by reversing the Enola Gay Bockscar over the bomb loading pit in the heat of the day at Tinian in the Marianas around ~18:35.
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Well, if you want to build your defense on playing with words then letâs not forget that @Red81Trekker was asking about actual use of prop reversing and not about its design (you may be right on that one, of course; only that was not the question).
Also, in my opinion, the excessive use of exclamation marks was perhaps not appropriate.
Yep. Being wrong is okay (we all are sometimes) but if you use excessive amounts of exclamation marks you have to be 100 % sure of your thing.
Heâs right though. It wasnât designed for it, itâs simple physics that it works. Neither is it recommended today nor is it a good idea regarding wear of the engine. They might have been proud of it in the 50âs, today youâd probably have a date with your boss after doing it.
Anyway, as said a couple of times here: itâs a sim bug and has to do with the wind.
To be fair, in period âgatesâ werenât the same, youâd park at an angle & just taxi away ( as still happens at London City ).
Many low cost airlines today do that as well, many airports have hard stands that I would typically use with the DC6. I donât park at gates if I donât have to and would even prefer any open area on the apron to a jetway 
Regarding the reversers: obviously any reverser can reverse the airplane, thatâs the whole point of the thrust being reversed. But in MSFS propeller reverse thrust has a bug where it depends on the relative direction of the wind. As long as you land and move quickly the reversers brake you down. But if youâre parked and try to back out of a parking place it depends on the wind, whether it comes from the front or the back.
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Looks like someone, today, has a date with his bossâŠ
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Yeah I wouldnât exactly consider any Military a cost efficient handler
The bearings on the propeller shafts are made to absorb and transmit pulling forces. Itâs not healthy for the engine to do that at all. They wonât obviously wonât burst into pieces but doing it regularily will definitely increase maintenance cost. And with radial engine spare parts not becoming cheaper over time itâs a consideration how you want to treat your fleet.
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