Hi All,I am doing a round the world flight in the Duke. One of my legs is roughly 2000 nm - way out of range for the Duke. Now, in real world flights - pilots will add a extra fuel supply, obviously I can't do this - so my question is, how do I edit my the amount of fuel my tanks can have in my aircraft cfg file?Thanks for your help!Blake

Hi All,I am doing a round the world flight in the Duke. One of my legs is roughly 2000 nm - way out of range for the Duke. Now, in real world flights - pilots will add a extra fuel supply, obviously I can't do this - so my question is, how do I edit my the amount of fuel my tanks can have in my aircraft cfg file?Thanks for your help!Blake

The easy way is to just select 'unlimited fuel' in the FSX settings :-)

I know I can do that, but I would like to simulate having an extra supply so I can manage the fuel on a 2000nm trip over water myself. I see the point in the cfg thats labelled under "Fuel", do I just increase the usable fuel value of 116 to 225? While this actually effect weight, cog and moments if I do so? Blake

A simple cfg edit will work.. but there are complications.Yes, the weights will be correct, but the CoG stuff can be tricky. It all depends on how realistic you're trying to be.You can't realistically just expand existing tanks.. So what you want to do is add a center tank. Like simulating removing seats and strapping a tank back there.For reference, visualize a 55 gallon drum, and if you think you could squeeze that in there, go ahead and make the new center tank 60 gallons or so.. and give it coordinates near what the replaced seats have (they'll be in the weight-station paragraph)Next complication involves gauges. I'm not familiar with the Duke's fuel gauges.. I suppose you could "pretend" that the new center tank has a visual gauge on it,, and just fly it till it's empty and then rely on the existing gauges... or maybe the Duke has a 'Total Fuel' gauge.. I just don't know.As for the cfg editing.. it all depends on the stock configuration. Again, I have no idea. Does it have two, three, four, five existing tanks ? If there is an exisiting center tank ? .. that will dictate how you have to name the new center tank. And of course the configration for the tank selectors comes into play. The stock Baron has two selectors that allow you to plumb either engine to either of the two tanks.Assuming you work this all out.. will 60 additional gallons do the trick ? Have you had the Duke up in thin air with the mixture leaned as far as you can without losing power; and the prop RPMs as low as the manifold-pressure will allow ? .. to see what your fuel-burn / true-arispeed is ?

Yes, altering it will affect flight characteristics in FS, but depending on the position of the tanks that might just make it sluggish to get off the deck, or it could affect the CoG. So you might have to emulate what would probably happen in reality for such a flight, which would be to temporarily fit ferry tanks in the cabin area where the passengers would normally sit.You can do that by adding another tank to the config file and placing its position based on passenger load coordinates, but you might also have to alter the number of fuel cocks and the way they switch and/or add an FS key assignment to enable you to select them, since there would be no cockpit switch to allow you to do so by default.I would recommend looking at some of the many config files kicking about for the default FS DC-3, since there are lots which alter the fuel tank selectors to make them more realistic; comparing those to the default DC-3 config will help. Another possible source for info would be a Boeing 737-700 or 737-900ER aircraft, such as the ones from POSKY, since both those 737 models should have two additional fuel tanks over the normal three tanks a 737 has, and comparing that config to the default 737 might prove also useful.You might also want to take a look at how I noted the way I messed around with the fuel config in the Lockheed Electra which comes with the Around the World in 80 Flights add-on. I wrote about doing that in my review of that add-on for AVSIM. That might also provide some pointers with regard to CoG.If you are really seeking lots of info on it, you can check out FS Insider or the FS SDK, which has more info on what value does what in config files, but you might just be able to wing it by deducing things from looking at a few other config files.Don't forget you might also want an additional fuel gauge in the cockpit, or you might find yourself doing an Amelia Earhart, which would be a bad thing. Make sure you do a few short test flights to ensure all tanks feed properly before you set off too, and don't forget that hitting shift+Z a few times will give you total fuel percentage on screen!Al

Wow. Thanks for those great responses. I'm going to do some research from the DC-3 and try to deduce a working solution. At FL230, mixture fully leaned and the RPM's around 27.5 - my TAS is around 140 knots. Most of my long legs are in the south pacific - so I'll have to get this figured out by the time I hit Australia. Right now I'm just about to Crete - so I have some time! I've been flying almost of the same route as the two guys that did it in real life - in a Baron I think. Check out their website, really really neat stuff: aroundtheygo.comOk, I'm going to mess around with that config file. Keep you posted.Blake

140 knots TRUE airspeed ?? (I think you mean indicated airspeed).True airspeed would be your ground speed, in zero wind.. The Duke should be WAY faster than that.Chock has a good idea. The fuel paragraph from the DC3 has three tanks.. and the DC3 has tank selector pop-up windows that allow for, three-tank / two-engine plumbing. That paragraph edited so that the two wing tanks use the Duke's coordinates and capacities.. withe the center-tank placed in the Duke's back seat, and edited to 60 gallons or so, might do the trick. The DC3 also has a single fuel gauge and a selector that allows for monitoring each tank.How you fit all of this onto the Duke panel, and/or pop-up windows, will be the fun part.

140 knots TRUE airspeed ?? (I think you mean indicated airspeed).True airspeed would be your ground speed, in zero wind.. The Duke should be WAY faster than that.

Sorry, typo. Definitely meant 140 IAS. I really have no idea where to start on this project. I have no idea how to mess with pop-ups, or edit the cfg. Can any of you guys point me to a good place to read up on editing the cfg file? Thanks!

If you have FSX deluxe (or Gold).. you'll have the SDK..I seem to remember a website that had all the SDK documentation on it... You can Google that.. If I come across it, I'll post back.That aside.. it's not too difficult.. you just gotta study.. and remember the GOLDEN RULE... MAKE BACKUPS !I'd take on the task, but I don't have the Duke.

I had this problem with f18, it flies fast, but burns too much fuel to do longer flights.There is setting inside aircraft.cfg that allows you to reduce fuel burn rate.Now i can now do 7 hour flight with my F18 at some outragiously low fuel burn rate i set. Ofcourse i always use time acceleration. Dont bother messing with fuel capacity, just reduce fuel burn rate.

I had this problem with f18, it flies fast, but burns too much fuel to do longer flights.There is setting inside aircraft.cfg that allows you to reduce fuel burn rate.Now i can now do 7 hour flight with my F18 at some outragiously low fuel burn rate i set. Ofcourse i always use time acceleration. Dont bother messing with fuel capacity, just reduce fuel burn rate.

Those type of cfg edits defeat the whole point of trying to sim realistically. Heck.. while you're in the cfg.. you can increase prop-thrust scalars.. reduce drag scalars, increase max speed, and make it across the ocean in a super-sonnic Duke :( For your F-18, you could just do what was suggested earlier in this thread.. go into Realism Settings and turn on unlimited fuel.What he's trying to do, is simulate actually flying a Duke around the world. He WANTS the challange of planning the long legs.. dealing with headwinds.. managing the fuel. He wants to make modifications in a realistic way.

Yes, I am trying to go for the most realism possible here. Messing with the fuel burn properties would throw everything off. I have added a center tank in the cfg and made it about 270 gallons. Its quite heavy, but thats what I need for the 2020nm trip from Hilo to Oakland. The problem is now I'm roughly 600 pounds over max allowable weight. I don't know if there is another way around this - perhaps dropping the empty weight a little to compensate for "taking out the seats".Also, now that I have the center tank, it appears the engines are drawing all three tanks at the same time. So that means the two main tanks will empty first, then will only draw from the 270 gallon ferry tank in the back.Blake

You've got the right idea.. but I dare guess that the weight of the empty tank would cancel out the removed seats... so that's a wash.I'd wonder if a 270 gallon tank could even fit back there.. I'd guess not.This project has me intrigued. I'll assume that the RealAir Duke, is pretty realistic.. Their models have a good reputation. I'm going to research real-life Duke performance.. see what I come up with..

Brett,Check out this website: aroundtheygo.com. Two guys took a Baron the same route I'm planning and they added a ferry tank in the back which held about 240 gallons. The tank is qutie interesting, its a soft tank that expands when filled. I know that I added a 270 gallon tank, but its what I need for that specific range I'm looking for. The Duke is a thirsty girl.Thanks for the help. Let me know what you find!Blake

OK.. right off the bat, I find that a good economy cruise configuration for a Duke is aprox. 180knots TRUE airspeed burning 30GPH.180/2000 means you'd need 11.1 hours of fuel to cover 2000nm. That's 333 gallons.Even if you decided to cook the engines.. running extra-lean and pulling prop-rpm low enough to brutalize the engines.. you might cut that to 300 gallons.I'm gonna believe it can be done.. because it was done in a Cessna 210 ..http://www.aroundtheworldagain.com/Their longest leg was 2454nm 259gallons of fuel. If a C210 can carry two people and 260+ gallons of fuel.. A Duke should be able to carry 330 gallons.Being over gross takeoff weight for a specialized mission is OK. Just takeoff from LOOOOOOOONG runways, and plan for a slow climb until some of that fuel burns off.In the spirit of realism.. I'd say that you could strip it of interior amenities.. to the tune of about 150lbs... So you can lower the empty weight by that much.Since you ARE striving for realism.. be sure to do lots of testing. See how much runway you need for a full fuel takeoff.. Spend several hours up at high altitude experimenting with differrent: throttle/prop/mixture settings... see what type of TAS you can get at different GPH..*****ADDED****I'll check out that site... As a real pilot, this stuff fascinates me !Also.. if you look at his route.. I'll bet he planned it to avail prevailing winds aloft. A 50 knot tailwind will do WONDERS for your range..