There are definitely some issues with the aircraft, but mostly it is working fine.
There are no issues with it which is stopping me from actually flying it, I have yet to have an engine failure knocks on wood so far…
The main issues I am aware of is that persistence is a little finicky (some things are not in the correct position and I have to flick all the switches to make sure they are set correctly)
And oil burn seems to be a bit random. As in, the same exact flight with the same exact parameters can give me widely different oil consumption.
A more subjective matter is that I don’t like the sound of the engines, the phasing effect is particularly bothersome.
I think what worries most of us is the fact that the aircraft is likely to become broken in one update or the other without the support of the developer. Combine that with the fact that the remaining issues with the aircraft could probably be fixed a long time ago and you have some less than satisfied customers.
Totally understand the worry about updates and the guy ghosting after release which is definitely not cool. Personally I haven’t had the oil randomness.
It’s a fine airplane without any show stopping bugs. But it has some little things to be aware of and the engines are probably more sensitive than in real life. Nothing that can’t be worked around and I still enjoy the plane immensely. But I will be more hesitant to buy Otmar’s next product due to lack of updates of communication.
Ok so my first experiences:
Read the manual … Check
Started the engines … Check
Run-Up… No information aviable, downloaded checklist from the internet check
Takeoff … Ok
Gear … Wont go into neutral, removed my gear binding works (In the DC-6 you can select neutral without having to remove your button binding)
Climb … Literally no idea what to do with the oil temperature and mixture (manual and checklist provide zero information)
Cruise … Ok got the assumption that 12oclock position means normal reading
Oil temps drops to 50, oil pressure rises to 120+ … close the oil shutters
… nothing happens, oil temps stay low, engine temps stay below 200F
Playing around with mixture and carb heat to try to get the temps up … no response whatsoever
After 15 min I find myself head down in the cockpit, as Im looking out the window I realize im in a vertical dive
I hit the ground and die.
Conclusion: Its really frustrating to fly a plane where you are supposed to watch the temperatures, when you dont know what the correct temperatures are like.
Also during the flight it felt like the oil shutters and mixture control levers are just for aesthatics and do nothing.
Now Im aware that everything going wrong might be induced by myself, but looking back, I dont see what I did wrong. And missing information from the manual and checklist concerning correct oil press/temp and mixture setting are certainly not helping analysing what I maybe did wrong
Engine oil — specifically conventional non-synthetic engine oil — as we can presume we are utilizing in this vintage aircraft modeled to be period correct — should be operated in the 195°-220° F range.
I don’t have the sim installed on my PC, currently. Are the oil temperature gauges in C? If so, ~100° would be your target temperature.
The shutter controls won’t instantly change the oil temperature. You have an oil tank that contains a fair amount of oil and it will retain heat.
I’m not sure how much of this thread you’ve read, but there are known issues with the oil pressure/temperature system, which all of us would like to see fixed. Unfortunately, the developer has deserted us.
I think the trick (search some of the semi-recent threads here) is to chase pressure rather than temperature. If you can keep the oil pressure in safe range, then you can — given the issues with the system — ignore the oil temperature to an extent.
Question 1 - did you load the proper oil type for the temperature where you were flying? Question 2 - did you maintain proper Manifold and pressure settings (cruise 30" and 2100 rpm)?
They dont work so you have to tap them. Thats why I didnt see any changing indications. I just remebered this from a yt video. it would be nice if the manual statet that tapping the dials is possible
Yes, I discovered that you can tap all of them, recently, by total accident. I’d just happened to notice the little hand/finger cursor and was curious.
Note, too, that some people here in this thread have had a very hard time not having engine failures/fires.
Others, like myself, have never had one.
Some surmise that they aren’t doing anything wrong and still have the failures/fires. Knowing there are issues present with the model, it’s hard to know what the reasons are for this. Is it user error or not? That is unknown.
Btw guys. Is there a code for vatsim? and is there a virtual app that enables radios with better channel spacing OR MAKE THE VHF holds their position ion between two positions. I discovered that works as well
It’s funny, I usually don’t forget anything, however I’m having a hard time recalling what I use for a reference when leaning that aircraft.
I want to say I’m looking at engine RPM/manifold vacuum and tuning for performance there. I tend to fly with “Headphone Simulation”, so I’m not tuning them, by ear.
Right, but is SAE 30 correct for your current ambient air temperature at altitude?
One other thought here: the last I flew the 247 was during SU10 beta and I found no issues with it. It’s possible something was changed in SU11 that could be affecting the plane. I had such poor performance with SU11 beta on my PC I removed it and have been flying only on my Xbox, so I can’t test it for you right now.
