Picked this one up and really enjoying it so far. Definitely a lot easier to take off and land than the Spitfire, thanks to those counter-rotating props!
Startup was a little tricky, had to set everything correct (like it says in the manual!) and prime a little, and until then got some smokey results. Handles ok enough on the ground, for me as a non-taildragger-expert to manage to get it around to and from a parking place, but I tend to turn wide when using rudder pedals and get much tighter turn radius from using differential braking.
Feels maneuverable yet weighty; I configured my input devices (in spad.next) to simulate a yoke with 90-degree range instead of the 180-degree range of the Honeycomb Alpha, and that makes it feel more responsive in the ailerons than dragging it out to the Honeycomb yoke’s full range. No problem doing barrel rolls.
Climbed very nicely out of KSNA, wandered around over south Orange County and over the hills closer to Riverside. At about 10,000 feet the engines started to lose power, which I suspected from glancing at the manual before taking off was due to losing fuel pressure at altitude; I engaged the emergency boost and things cleared up quicky.
Slowly descended towards the east, and ended up landing at Palm Springs with no difficulties.
Sound seems ok as far as volume, though I didn’t do a full check of open/close cockpit conditions etc.
Got the plane today, and it looks gorgeous, and flies nicely as well! Loving it so far!
One issue is that the ground handling seems rather twitchy. During take off it suddenlly lurches to one direction, which seems odd for a non-taildragger. It’s not tracking very well in any case.
Also the sound seems a bit weird. I do like how it sounds in low rpm, but then when you apply more RPM, there’s this low humm that just kindof fades in, as if they’re crossfading between samples. It sounds unnatural to me in any case.
Still flying this plane is a cool experience, expecially in VR
Really loving the P-38, excellent job FlyingIron! One thing I can’t figure out – when flying straight and level, I hear the outside airflow continually slowly changing in pitch, up and down, as you’d associate with speed changes; but I’m not. Is that an airflow noise, or something else?
For takeoff it helps to add some up elevator trim and lift the nosewheel off lightly when you hit 80mph. With the nosewheel steering so sensitive it gets really hard to control any faster than that. It feels almost like slow-motion but the plane gets to that speed very quickly.
It also says in the manual that if you wanna skip the reading and just start flying the in-game checklist will get you up and running, but I couldn’t get it to start following those steps
This sounds like the behavior I dealt with during a xwind takeoff. Will be trying calm winds tomorrow to see if there is any difference
Yes I noticed too on ramping up the throttles to takeoff power the engine sound seems to not transition smoothly
There is a bit of a trick to starting the engines, which isn’t immediately apparent from the manual or the checklists. Here’s the scoop:
Prime the engine (L or R, whichever you’re starting first) a little bit. Couple of shots should be enough.
Get an angle where you can see the L/R prop you’re starting. HOLD the energizer switch until the prop rotation is visibly constant. At that point, release it and immediately hit the starter switch.
It’s the holding part that the manual doesn’t really fill you in on. Since the switch springs back to center automatically (which it does not do in the real plane, I believe), it seems like you just flick it, wait, then hit the starter. That might work, but it’s pure luck. Holding it to get the engine up to speed is the key.
Excellent -plane. I know the autopilot is basic, does it follow a flight plan on the garmin? I can flick it over to gps but I can’t find anything that’ll make the plane follow it.
If those switches don’t spring back to the center in the real aircraft, doing it that way would be a lot more convenient. That said, the way it is right now kinda gives the plane a charm. It’s beautiful and flies really well, but this is what I remember it for right now - a quirk that’s unlike anything else.
I didn’t recall any missing switch sounds but I just opened her up in the sim and pressed everything I could and all the switches made sounds for me. They are a bit on the quiet side though so with the engines on they could be drowned out a bit.
There are some things without sounds though like the engine control levers are very silent and the flap lever too. In other planes those have a few sounds especially when hitting the limits but it’s pretty minor. The canopy and windows don’t make any sounds when opening or shutting for me and neither do the locking latches which is something I’d quite like to see (well hear but you know what i mean).
Very impressed with the plane ! The bar was set high with the Spitfire, but you managed to raise it again !
Edit: removed a question that may have looked not entirely unlike a support question, and therefore relocated it to the FlyingIron Discord.
Thanks, and congrats again on a great plane !
(Oh btw I was a bit wet-eyed seing “California Cutie” as one of the liveries … I witnessed it in an airshow in 1995 (IIRC) and it stole the show ; only a few months before it was destroyed at Duxford )
Yes correct, the missing sounds include the canopy handles, very annoying
I was debating with myself whether to give Flying Iron a try and which plane to buy first but with this issue on cockpit sounds i’m not persuaded to buy the spitfire
For a plane to qualify as high fidelity, such basic sounds are mandatory really, i am quite upset, i rather pay more and have milviz standard than pay less for an arcade bird
Definitely a lot easier to take off and land than the Spitfire, thanks to those counter-rotating props!
Handles ok enough on the ground, for me as a non-taildragger-expert to manage to get it around to and from a parking place, but I tend to turn wide when using rudder pedals and get much tighter turn radius from using differential braking.
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