When RD4 1st came out i bought it way back when. Now i just bought it for FSX. I just finished watching most of the videos and am impressed. Here's what i'm writing about. I'm making the transition from the Cessna 172 ( real world ) to the Cessna 210. The engineer is giving me training on proper engine management and is real fussy and hard on me to do it right which i like cause i am getting some real good training and he has showed me a pile of jugs in the garbage can at 1,100 bucks a jug cause of improper engine management and said " you pilots don't fool us , we know how you fly when we do inspections". At 20 miles back he has me starting to slow down , and you don't dare chase levers with this guy.If i am at let's say 7,000 ft and the mixture is set to the proper EGT temp he get's me to turn the mixture in 1/2 a turn no more- and then bring back the manifold pressure from 28 in. to 27in for one minute and he times it on his watch while we desend to 6,000 ft. and so on till we are at circuit height 3,500 ft. I know the 210 is turbo and the DC 3 isn't but how does the model handle engine management? cause if i know how this out fit operates it must be pretty close unless they got hung up on limitations by micosoft. LOuis

Hi LouisInteresting post, thanks.The real world Pratt & Whitneys should have the same care that your instructor seeks from you in your 210. We have a few real world C-47 pilots in our gang over at DC-3 Airways (www.dc3airways.com, where you'll find the skies filled with MAAM-SIM aircraft!) and they are very insistent about the need to reduce power gradually - in pretty well all conditions - to avoid shock cooling and the possible disastrous consequences of that. Having cracked engine hardware flung at you by your mechanic is not condusive to good health.Your virtual R4D-6 will not - to date - fall out of the sky if you mismanage your engines in this way, but we're working on further refinements for the dedicated FSX version in due course. Many have asked for "engine failure" possibilities to be built into the models. As you'll know, the likes of prop RPM, mixture, icing/carb heat, cowl flap drag and so on work realistically already; but we know there's more we can do with FSX. Give it time.In the meantime, most of the virtual flyers I know try to operate by the book to get the practice in!Good luck with your R/W transition.Mark Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cx.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/avsimlogo.jpg[/a]

Hi Mark i'll go have a gander at your site. I'm pretty heavy in FsEconomy and FSairlines right now.I'm gonna go over the videos a lot more but from what i see practicing engine management these guys sure know how to build an airplane. For the new guys who might read this always remember -- prop's up throttle down-- and always control airspeed with aileron and altitude with power when coming in on approach. You can practice this in the sim and when you go over to real world you'll be miles ahead. Louis BCNorth 2488