I also wanted to add that during my testing, I found flying this aircraft to be a real joy. I’d flown it a bit when it was released with the 40th, but not to the extent I flew it yesterday. I didn’t utilize any of the modern avionics systems since I’m a vintage systems kind of person and loved that it hand flies extremely well.
Obviously, so much of its flight characteristics are theoretical, but I really like how it feels big and heavy. It is so cool to be able to fly around this virtual museum piece.
I took off from the San Francisco Bay, flew directly over the Oakland/SF Transbay Bridge turned west toward Half Moon Bay and followed the coast to the south. I did a low pass fly-by at Hearst Castle and landed in San Simeon Bay. It was a great flight and I’m definitely going to be flying this aircraft more often.
I kept wishing that more of its systems were modeled — mainly propeller speed adjustments and mixture settings. I also wish we had an old-school radio navigational system. I keep looking at those red & green radio navigation needles wishing they were operational.
One small thing I noted is that the APUs’ on/off switches are non-op and I had to cycle the starter switches to shut them down, which was a little weird.
I really hope we can see some means of starting seaplanes in a C&D state. The sim desperately needs improvements to how seaplanes are handled both in terms of available parking/docks and water handling characteristics.
I have an axis on my joystick assigned and it works just like in other aircraft.
Confusingly I can even here a squeeling sound of some rotaty control in the virtual cockpit although the prop RPM was controlled by switches/butons in the original aircraft…
I’ve got no propeller action here, at all. None of the controls on the model react to mouse clicks/manipulation, either. If I turn on tooltips, they don’t have callouts, other than the Flight Engineer’s station where the prop switches are labeled “Inoperative”.
Yes I understand that the appearance of modern avionics can mar the vintage look of the aircraft.
Unfortunately, a lot of people do not read the information that can be found in the cockpit. That’s why by default I have left the avionics displayed, (feature which has been much requested), to show that it has been added.
This can be quickly hidden from the clipboard in any case. If it is really annoying I could hide it by default in the next update.
Concerning the management of the propeller, I was waiting for some explanations from the museum. I think that @EightyApollo104 , our expert , will be able to bring me the necessary informations to add the desired features in next updates.
Thank you so much for your hard work. The plane was amazing to fly even before the update. Now with the implementation of the Autopilot and the other features… WOW! the sky is truly the limit. A HUGE THANKS!
Perhaps a quick fix in the future to enable the propeller controls in the current version as they were in the previous version could be considered. For myself I’m flying an extensively modded Goose so my milage is a bit different.
Did my first flight after SU12. And yes: Prop control is not functioning anymore.
But the cowl flaps on engine 2, that I reported here, were fixed.
Another thing I noticed is that some temperatures are now higher the pre SU12, I think. Until now I could fly with cowl flaps fully closed (as noted in the checklist someone provided) and all temperatures were very low (I´m not an expert, but they seemed to low IMHO). Now cylinder temperature is at max when I close the cowl flaps completely.
Oil temperatures were also to high, as far as I can remember, but as the oil cooler flaps don´t work there is no chance to change that.
, will be able to bring me the necessary informations to add the desired features in next updates.