I would like to mention and put up for voting the issue of prop drag and prop feathering.
Currently (tested after SU8 on the King Air) testing prop drag is difficult. KA350 (no mods installed) seems to have two differently simulated engines.
Test case:
fuel cut for both engines
constant speed glide
wings level
When I feather the left prop and keep the right unfeathered - the aircraft banks (to the right). This is correct - that would happen with asymmetric drag with the right engine causing more drag than the left.
When I feather the right prop and keep the left unfeathered - nothing happens.
Seems like prop drag is being simulated after SU8 but the implementation of this feature is inconsistent. Or the simulation is buggy.
I think the underlying physics that causes critical engine effects still apply even with no power to either engine. The left is the critical engine on the B350i, so I would expect feathering the left prop to cause a greater effect on the aircraft than feathering the right prop.
Hopefully someone with relevant real-life experience can clarify the true behaviour.
The operating right-hand engine will produce a more severe yaw towards the dead engine, thus making the failure of the left-hand engine critical.
Operating.
An inoperative engine does not produce thrust. So the effects associated with this thrust do not apply.
And to preempt any doubts - the drag asymmetry of a windmilling prop would be easily offset by the huge difference in drag between windmilling and feathered prop.
Looking at the most recent dev update blog, I don’t see any indication anywhere that this issue is even on their list of things to improve. Which is rather disappointing.
This is from the developer of the recently released overhaul of the C208 Caravan:
Turboprop Engine Simulation
As many users of MSFS are aware, the native turbine engine simulation is flawed. This product
makes numerous adjustments to the natively driven turbine values displayed on the cockpit
instrumentation to provide a more realistic experience, but still not without its flaws. Mainly,
users will notice the following:
â—Ź ITT does not become as limiting as it should when approaching critical altitude
â—Ź No torque bloom on takeoff as the aircraft accelerates
â—Ź Ambient temperature has a larger effect on idle ITT than it should
â—Ź Beta range not properly gated or simulated
â—Ź Propeller drag is insufficient at flight idle
This is definitely NOT fixed and should be higher on Asobo’s list (IMHO).
After a testing session at St Barts yesterday this issue is if anything worse than ever. We get no discing when power comes to idle generating the large amount of drag turboprop pilots use so well in short field situations.
After multiple approaches its very clear Asobo it seem either need to hire someone to fix the horrendous state of the turbo prop model but as importantly the propellor dynamics in MSFS right now arenot even close to reality.
It really needs a complete rebuild from the ground up as the engine and propellor are intimately linked on any turboprop but especially a free turbine.
Any enjoyment from places like the visuals at St Barts are immediately lost when at flight idle you sail down the runway at 3-5’ not losing speed making a mockery of the laws of physics.
