I just did a short hop from liverpool to newcastle. Started from cold and dark. No trouble starting engines. Set up FMS with just one waypoint and no SID or STAR. Almost crashed on descent as I forgot to arm hltitude hold :). But no problems apart from that. Aircraft captured glideslope without problems. Great landing on my part. It is a bit different than other planes but I just have to get used to it, overall I'm happy.Just one question. When I start from dark and cold cessna the props are feathered. I use unfeather before starting engines and it works fine. But how do I keep them unfeathered for longer? I thought putting into reverse and then unfeathering will engege the locks but it doesn't seem to work, is that correct?Greg

Sounds like a great flight! When starting the engines, they have to be locked (unfeathered).When you start them, the props will still be unfeathered, so you have to remember to remove the start locks (engage full reverse slowly on each engine until you hear the audible "Start locks removed!").To engage the locks by applying full reverse requires the engines are spinning. In other words, you unfeather the props when shutting down and applying reverse once the RPMs drop below 50%. If you forget to do this step, you'll be required to use the lock switches.

I know all of this, but when I load it for the firs time from dark and cold cessna, the props are already feathered with engines not running. I click unfeather they unfeather OK but after a moment they feather again. So how do I engage lock with engines off?

Greg,I don't know why the props return to a feathered condition. :(

I know all of this, but when I load it for the firs time from dark and cold cessna, the props are already feathered with engines not running. I click unfeather they unfeather OK but after a moment they feather again. So how do I engage lock with engines off?

Same here. I have to unfeather via the switch, and if you don't start fairly soon they will feather again. I don't think they are actually locking, because I have never heard the unlocked callout.

Before you unfeather the props, pull the power levers all the way to full reverse and leave them there until the prop is unfeathered.

I had this issue at first. My Condition Levers were in Feather/Cutoff. Make sure you have the condition levers in Ground/Taxi position. This prevented the props from returning to the feathered position once the Start Lock Pumps were used.Worked for me, hope it helps you too. :(

What you should actually do is, load the Cessna (running), shut down the J41 according to the checklists, puttting the props on the locks etc, then create a Cold and Dark saved flight - this will load correctly with the props on the locks etc.