For the immediate future, yes, I want to keep both versions updated, but I know managing two branches isn’t going to be something I will want to do long term.
Moment by moment…
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I have well documented my struggles with MSFS 2024 here on the forum.
Right now, in SU1 Beta flying the Stratoliner (modded, of course) along the coast of California from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara at 5500’ I have to say I’m having a bit of a blissful moment here. After the recent rainstorm here, we have blue skies and the natural scenery in 2024 truly is an upgrade from 2020.
Even the free liveries that AH supply for Pan Am, TWA and Airnautic are working in 2024, so I’m able to be happily back in NC19909 again.
I’ve not, yet, tried a VOR-based IFR flight plan via BeyondATC in the Stratoliner, but I think it is time. If that works out, then I’m going to be having very little left to complain about here.
Sure, I’m using none of my airports/scenery, I don’t have all my favorite 3rd party aircraft available and/or updated, and with BATC not engaged I don’t even have traffic, but this is absolutely working for me.
It’s about time.
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Nice to read you’re enjoying FS24 finally. I hope the other required mods (Duckworks, Denarq, etc.) all make their way to FS24 as well.
I’m just glad to hear the sim is starting to be usable. Hopefully the launch of the marketplace doesn’t ruin all that progress Asobo has made.
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There is a patch file available on the Duckworks Discord channel that fixes the issues with the carb heat in 2024.
I know Alex posted on his Denarq thread that he is working on 2024 fixes, has addressed some issues and was feeling positive about the progress.
Perhaps there is a faint light at the end of the tunnel for the modding community for 2024.
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Does this work in 2024 and where can I buy/download it?
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I am currently in the midst of working on compatibility and improvements for 2024.
It will be available on flightsim.to for free when it is ready.
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I wanted to share this document for those that are like-minded individuals.
Know that the B-17 and the 307 share many similarities. The 307 derived from the B-17 and they share a common wing and similar engines, although the B-17 has turbochargers and the 307 does not.
What I really love about this document is the way it is written. When you think of the myriads of individuals that needed to be trained and moved through the process of becoming competent pilots, you can understand why the USAAF chose to write their documentation with a familiar and friendly tone of voice.
I love reading this over and over. Every time I do, I gain new information and insight. The entire section on piloting the B-17 from startup-through cruise-to landing or go-around is simply one of the best written documents on flying an aircraft I’ve ever read.
Anyhow, I feel a fair amount of this is applicable to the 307 and since Boeing is being economical with sharing their documentation, I lean on this to get a feel for how we ought to fly the 307.
(I find it highly amusing that a once Restricted technical document of an actual machine of war is now in the public domain, and yet Boeing won’t share a similar document with me on the 307 due to “National Security” reasons. The irony.)
Enjoy!
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The B-17 always fascinated me as a kid, but it also makes me sad.
My grandfather was a Staff Sergeant in the USAAC, and served as the tail gunner on a B-17F named Hunk O’ Hell. It was shot down over Germany in 1944. He and one other crew member survived, and they were sent to Stalag 17 for a year.
He never talked about his time in the service, and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life because the Nazis fixed his broken ankle by fusing it. I don’t blame him. I only learned any of this by searching online museum and archived records.
War is a terrible thing, even when there’s a clear right and wrong side. Thanks for sharing that manual.
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can u please give me some instruction how work the gyropilot, its not as the gyropilot of dc3?
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I have this weird fascination with the B-17. I’m not really into this sort of thing, but there are times when I believe my soul was a part of a B-17 radio operator lost on some sortie.
I’m so weird about it, I even have a pristine WWII USAAF radio operator’s dress uniform that I used to wear to swing dances on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien docked in the San Francisco bay.
Sometimes, I even dream about it.
That experience must have been insanely traumatic for your grandfather. Those men are my heroes. I cannot fathom how they mustered to do what they did.
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It should behave in a similar fashion, however the switch to turn it on/off is on the pedestal behind the First Officer’s throttle levers. It is incorrectly labeled “Autopilot”.
See:
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ok very kind thanks and the another question please..how i set weight and balance or fuel load in fs 2020, i hanvent a profile
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You use the basic Weight & Balance sheet in 2020 to make changes.
As far as a profile for SimBrief or the like, I don’t have one. I’ve got it on my To Do list to figure out how to make a profile for it, if possible.
For the record, my mod sets the load to 1500 lbs. of cargo in each hold, a full passenger (170 lbs.) manifest and, I believe, 50% of fuel in the Main and Inner tanks.
Be advised, at this weight you will need to be mindful of your climb rate. Around 6000’ the aircraft will begin to rapidly lose climb performance and you will need to reduce your climb until the second speed of the superchargers can kick in around 10000’.
Do you have the 307 Flight Manual that is available?
Note that this is for the Pan Am single speed supercharger model, so the performance figures are going to be roughly similar to the modded 307 until ~10000’. Also note that the manual is defining how #2003 was configured in 1954 when it had been outfitted as a Presidential Transport for the Haitian Air Force. Some of the information there will be a bit different to how these aircraft were configured when introduced in the late 1930s.
I’m currently working on getting these performance figures closer to reality as I’ve been revisiting the mod for 2024.
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ok so it’s better not to go up to 50% load? oh thanks for the manual i will give it a look
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No, it is fine to fly it at MTOW, you just need to understand the dynamics of the aircraft’s performance. It’s not a jet, nor a fighter and has pre-war radial engines.
Take a look at the climb performance on page 43 of the manual. You can see how your rate of climb is going to falter significantly after 6000’. Again, though, that chart is representative of the single-speed supercharger (Pan Am) version of the aircraft and you’re going to see a major increase in climb performance at 10000’ when the second-speed supercharger (TWA version), that I’ve modeled, kicks in.
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I fully believe my interest in aviation was inherited. I’ve never doubted that in my mind.
Unfortunately, I’ve never been in a financial position to pursue it, and I have a vision issue that disqualifies me anyway. Flight simming scratches the itch though!
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It’s been an interesting exercise coming back to work on this mod after an extended period.
As I stated at the outset, I’d never done any development work in MSFS prior to this, so everything was extremely overwhelming. I knew that I didn’t fully grasp how some of these variables would affect the performance characteristics of the aircraft.
I put a fair amount of pressure on myself to get the mod released. Not having that same level of pressure, now, has given me some space to review a number of things that I’d have like to have understood more from the outset.
This is still pretty challenging to do. One of the hardest parts of modding is the way in which you aren’t able to utilize the sim’s development tools in the way you would if you were building a project (in this case, an aircraft) from the ground up. 2024 has the added frustration of having to reload the sim to see a change. 2020 has a reload function in Developer Mode that seems to have been removed for 2024.
I still really wish I understood the SDK more. I get certain concepts conceptually, but when it comes to trying to customize them, I struggle at times.
There is so much more I’d like to do with the mod, but the process of figuring out how is often daunting.
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It seems icing in general on several aircraft even in good weather conditions has been broken recently. I’ve actually had to turn off icing because I couldn’t even fly my GA plane in clear skies without the window’s being completely covered.
I guess what I’m saying is that you might not be able to do anything about it, and probably should just turn off icing effects and enjoy your flights.
