I struggle with a couple of things while taxiing: making sure the plane doesn’t overspeed and… well, basically finding my way around.
I normally use small prop planes, often the TBM, but regardless of model I have trouble moving them in a consistent smooth manner, without sudden increases of speed that force me to brake every now and then to stay under 20 knots. It just seems like you need rev them up quite a bit to move at all, forcing you to slow down afterwards, then repeat, in order to keep moving. This can’t be right.
And then there’s the directions issue: I can often find my way toward whatever runway I’m assigned to from the parking spot, but rarely by getting there through the proper taxiway as described by ATC. I just don’t know what they’re referring to when the say something like “taxiway 12A” or how to find it. Runways are easy enough to figure out since you can take a look at the satellite view in the world map menu before you go, and they are also clearly marked with surface paint and red signs. But the proper route to go through in order to get there, without in-game assistance? Beats me. Especially if I’m in an unfamiliar airport.
I’ve found Little NavMap a valuable tool for getting to grips with taxiways, if you’re on PC.
You can zoom right into the airport and see clearly the way to go, and make sense of the ATC instructions.
That’s the way it is IRL as well with most turboprops and jets. They accelerate at idle power.
If that’s the case you let them accelerate to 20-30kts and then you use the brakes
(or reverse on turboprops and small jets) to slow down to ~10kts.
Repeat as necessary.
Btw, IRL the TBM starts to move on its own at idle pretty fast.
Huh! I guess I figured I was doing something wrong from watching the AI Pilot do it, cause they are pretty good at keeping a constant speed. Then again, they’re a machine.
I’m on Xbox. But there’s gotta be something for the iPad I could use. If it’s a matter of having a map by your side and not just that I’m terrible at reading the airport signs, at least that’s good news.
You could keep a constant speed, but IRL you would quickly run into a brake temperature problem!
Important lesson IRL for these aircraft: Don’t ride the brakes!
Is it normal for the TBM to have an audible alarm going off in the background every time the parking brake is active? I don’t remember it doing this before. Maybe a bug?
Known and due for fix next update November. It will also not stop after shutdown(oil pressure).
Temp work around > set park brake off.
Battery off for the oil press or turn volume down until running..
I had the same problem several months ago with the Longitude while taxiing (slow down, speed up, repeat). I asked around on the forum and was told exactly what PZL104 said - it’s that way IRL because they accelerate at idle. It seemed odd at first, but then cars are pretty much the same way (except for cruise control, and I’m not sure if planes have that or should have that).
It seemed (although this may be a placebo) that when I filled the plane almost to capacity that the speeds remained consistent for a longer stretch, but I can’t verify that. Maybe give that a try.
I’ve been noticing the lights seem to be bugged too.
Last night I almost crashed on landing during an approach on stormy weather at night, because the landing lights/taxiing lights wouldn’t turn on. It was a small airport and I couldn’t see a thing once on the ground.
The lights seem to turn on before take off, but the pulse light setting hasn’t been working for some time now. Then landing/taxiing lights won’t turn on either after landing.
For variable pitch props, set the pitch to the fine setting instead of coarse. (less thrust)
For Turbo Props, set the condition lever to low idle, set the prop pitch to fine, and use the inertial separator when taxiing. The inertial separator has an effect on how much air enters the engine.
RPM should always be set to full forward on ground but not for the reasons you state. The position of the RPM levers make absolutely no difference on ground as long as they are out of the feather position. the propeller is already on its fine pitch stop as the prop governor tries to maintain selected RPM (but can’t at low power settings generally used during taxi). On turboprops with a reversible propeller the propeller pitch is controlled by the power lever position whilst in “beta” not the RPM levers. Similarly the inertial separator has absolutely zero effect on taxi speed.
I have been a powerplants instructor for ATPL(A) students and classroom instructor for a couple of turboprop type rating courses, variable pitch propeller is an old concept and is not used in any aircraft I’m aware of, certainly not on any MSFS aircraft and I think I know how a constant speed prop works
