I was trying to create a "super long range" version of the default FSX learjet 45, something along the lines of the Gulfstream G550 which can go 6000 nautical miles on full tanks. To do this, I increased fuel quantity in the aircraft.cfg file to 30,000 lbs (and I moved the centre tank position about 4 feet forward to get the center of gravity back in the middle)So far so good. The plane flies, but it was taking almost 10,000 feet of runway (namely LMML runway 32) to take off, so I tried to increase the thrust of the engines.Basically, I tried two methods: I edited a line in aircraft.cfg so that instead of reading "thrust_scalar=1.0" it read "thrust_scalar=2.0". It worked like a dream, the aircraft was handling beautifully, but the problem is that with fuel tanks almost empty, and no flaps or gear, it would maintain 260kts at 2000 feet with the throttles at idle! I tried to return thrust_scalar back to 1 and then I modified "static_thrust=3500" to read "static_thrust=7000". It had the same effect on performance, but still the same problem with too much thrust at idle throttle.So, how do I fix this problem? The plane even accelerates on the ground with the throttles idle, the instant I release the parking brakes... I want the plane to:1. Not move on the ground if the throttle is at idle2. Not accelerate in the air if the throttle is at idle.Any ideas?

I think you have taken the wroung approach to making the a/c longer range.To make the plane longer range look for thrustspecificFuelConsumption variable and reduce its value by how much you want to increase range.Basically this way, fuel quantity remains the same, but the plane burns less fuel, thus increased range.

Could the brakes be edited to not completely release?

I think you have taken the wroung approach to making the a/c longer range.To make the plane longer range look for thrustspecificFuelConsumption variable and reduce its value by how much you want to increase range.Basically this way, fuel quantity remains the same, but the plane burns less fuel, thus increased range.

Sorry what you need to chnage is fuel_flow_scaler not whta in my earlier post.reudce this value to reduce fuel burn rate.this kink explains the stuff in cfg incase you need the infohttp://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:8pWl3...=clnk&gl=uk

Could the brakes be edited to not completely release?

I don't quite understand what you mean, but the problem also manifests itself in the air, so modifying the brakes won't fix the problem once it's flying...

Sorry what you need to chnage is fuel_flow_scaler not whta in my earlier post.reudce this value to reduce fuel burn rate.this kink explains the stuff in cfg incase you need the infohttp://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:8pWl3...=clnk&gl=uk

That's a good idea! However the reason I chose to increase the fuel quantity was to maintain a little realism. Basically I kicked off all the passengers and put a gigantic 24,000 pound fuel tank in their place :). Nothing that you can't do in real life hehe. Joking aside, that was what Lindbergh did to fly non-stop from New York to Paris in 1927. His plane (the "Spirit of St. Louis") was so packed with fuel it could barely take off, and he had to look outside using a periscope because there were fuel tanks in the front of the plane too.Putting 6 times as much fuel on the plane is more realistic than having engines that take one sixth of the fuel consumption since all the fuel affects the handling of the plane and makes it harder to fly too, just like it would on the real thing.I have however found a solution to the problem. Instead of doubling the power output of the existing engines, I doubled the number of engines! I added engines 3 and 4 in exactly the same place as engines 1 and 2 are respectively. Now I have twice the power (and fuel flow) when I need it, but when fuel load is light or when I need to land, I simply switch off engines 3 and 4. I also added the 747 EICAS to the panel as a separate window, so that I can monitor the extra engines too (but the learjet's original EICAS showing only engines 1 and 2 is still in exactly the same place in the main panel). Now the plane can take off in the same distance as the original learjet, can reach Mach 1.02 if you leave it straight-and-level at 2500 feet with 4 engines at full throttle (and full fuel), will climb at 9,000 feet per minute up to 20,000 feet, and I did an 8,000nm flight from LMML to SCIP at 500 knots groundspeed, and I still had 5000lbs of fuel (out of the original 30,000 lbs) after the flight. This aircraft is awesome for travelling the world!So, what do you think of my solution? If you're interested I can upload the aircraft.cfg and the panel.cfg file for you to try it out :)

update: just finished a 10,241nm flight from Christchurch Intl to Heathrow airport (London)... the plane had 1500lbs left after the trip. It took 20 hours (actually about 15 minutes at 128x simulation rate :))

Ok now i see what you mean , increasing fuel and engine capacity is a more elegant solution.By the way , how do you control the plane at x128 simulation, cause i think AP only active till x16 or so.I use simrate on most jet flights, but always with AP on.crashing is definate at x128 with AP off. So how do you fly it.

Ok now i see what you mean , increasing fuel and engine capacity is a more elegant solution.By the way , how do you control the plane at x128 simulation, cause i think AP only active till x16 or so.I use simrate on most jet flights, but always with AP on.crashing is definate at x128 with AP off. So how do you fly it.

That's right, autopilot is only active up to 16x. I use the keyboard to control the plane at that speed. What I do is that after I program the GPS I take the plane up to cruising altitude (normally 35,000 to 45,000 feet because of the full fuel tanks) using the autopilot, at 16x speed. Then I lower the speed to 8x and turn off the autopilot. At this point normally the plane violently pitches up or down, so I correct with elevator until the vertical speed is almost zero. Then I trim up or down (I set the keyboard shortcuts as u for up trim and d for down trim) until the vertical speed is zero. At that point I increase sim rate to 16x and trim if necessary. Then I take it up to 32x and trim again, then 64x and 128x. The plane should be pretty stable at the higher simulation rates by now, but sometimes it starts to oscillate up and down. If it starts to oscillate you have to trim in the opposite direction to stop the oscillating (i.e. when it pitches up, you trim down, then when it pitches down you quickly trim up). The oscillations will get less and less until finally you can stop them with just one notch of trim. From that point on the aircraft will be stable. What tends to happen then is that as the fuel level gets less, the plane will climb to higher and higher altitudes (for example if I start at 45,000 feet I end up around 55,000 feet after a 20 hour flight). This shouldn't be a problem because the aircraft is more efficient at high altitudes :). If you decide it's going too high and you trim down to reduce altitude, it might start oscillating again so be prepared to counteract with trim if that happens. Just remember that you have no hope of keeping a constant altitude at 128x speed :) Just keep the vertical speed stable (i.e. not oscillating up and down) and you'll be fine. The learjet has a very good vertical speed indicator because you can tell that the needle is not horizontal and therefore it's easy to trim even small deflections. The boeing 747 for example has a line so it's much harder to tell if the VS is not zero.So, once you have the altitude sorted, you'll have to sort the heading. This is because the plane keeps flying straight but the path on the GPS will curve to the left or right over very long distances. To do this, you have to apply a little rudder so that the aircraft roughly follows the line of the GPS. I have keyboard buttons < and > set for rudder, and letter c to center the controls. What you do is use the rudder like you'd use the ailerons at normal speeds, but generally tapping the key once or twice is sufficient (you shouldn't hold it down like the aileron button), then center it (by pressing the "center ailerons and rudder" key) when you reach the desired heading. Look at the compass on the GPS to see when you should stop turning (the aircraft won't roll so the artificial horizon won't help you). You'll have to periodically give it some rudder (about once every 1000nm) to keep it on track. Don't worry about deviating too far from the line on the GPS... I sometimes let it get 50nm from the line (the GPS reading "XTK" tells you how far you are from the line) but then I meet the line some time later.If you need some practice, I suggest the mooney bravo. Take it up to 25,000 feet at full throttle and full RPM, and it should be perfectly stable at 128x speed (it will slowly climb to 28,000 feet). Once you've mastered the mooney you can move on to the learjet and the boeings...Hope this helps :)

A Noble Endeavor indeed. But just curious why you don't use the FSX's built in (keypad) controls for aerlions, rudder and 'center', etc?Chuck BNapamule

Wow thanks for the tip, i see you fly with trim at x128. Ok that makes sense at x128.I have experimented with very long flights before above 3000 miles. Problem is too often i get bored i turn pc off before i get half way. that is even with x8 simrate.This days i never attempt flight above 2000 miles at x8 simrate.In my fsx flying style cant use x128 cause i tend to live the thing flying while i watch tv , so need AP onWhat i would really want to know is a tweak to get above x16 but still with AP on, or even x32 with AP on. Ill pay some good money for that tweak.Going at x8 at cruise altitude with some high altitude clouds is fantastic. i use REX clouds.I dont mind flying x128, but got to be with AP for me. I only hand fly takeoff, and approach from the point where loc is captured , but before GS capture.Commercial pilots say they avoid handly as much as possible cause the AP fly smoohter.

Wow thanks for the tip, i see you fly with trim at x128. Ok that makes sense at x128.I have experimented with very long flights before above 3000 miles. Problem is too often i get bored i turn pc off before i get half way. that is even with x8 simrate.This days i never attempt flight above 2000 miles at x8 simrate.In my fsx flying style cant use x128 cause i tend to live the thing flying while i watch tv , so need AP onWhat i would really want to know is a tweak to get above x16 but still with AP on, or even x32 with AP on. Ill pay some good money for that tweak.Going at x8 at cruise altitude with some high altitude clouds is fantastic. i use REX clouds.I dont mind flying x128, but got to be with AP for me. I only hand fly takeoff, and approach from the point where loc is captured , but before GS capture.Commercial pilots say they avoid handly as much as possible cause the AP fly smoohter.

OK, if you want an autopilot that will work at any simulation rate, download FSXpilot (www.FSXpilot.de). It's a stand-alone program that takes control of the plane. You run flight simulator and you have to run FSXpilot too (so you can't run FSX on fullscreen because otherwise you can't see the FSXpilot window). It has tons of features. It works perfectly up to 32x, but it's a bit sloppy at higher simulation rates. Also it can't follow the GPS line automatically, but it does have a heading-hold mode so you can sort of use that to keep the plane pointed in the right direction. And it also works for helicopters :). It even has a mode that flies the plane inverted, and can do full autolandings etc. Look at the website for all the details. It used to be payware but a few months ago they made it freeware for non-commercial simulators (i.e. people like us :). You get the serial number when you download the file.

OK, if you want an autopilot that will work at any simulation rate, download FSXpilot (www.FSXpilot.de). It's a stand-alone program that takes control of the plane. You run flight simulator and you have to run FSXpilot too (so you can't run FSX on fullscreen because otherwise you can't see the FSXpilot window). It has tons of features. It works perfectly up to 32x, but it's a bit sloppy at higher simulation rates.

LMF5000, do you know how does FSPilot work with detailed aircraft like the Level-D, PMDG and PSS birds? (Luckily, Wilco's Airbus fly fine at 16x)Best regards from Colombia,Luis Miguel

LMF5000, do you know how does FSPilot work with detailed aircraft like the Level-D, PMDG and PSS birds? (Luckily, Wilco's Airbus fly fine at 16x)Best regards from Colombia,Luis Miguel

According to the website, it works fine but, quoting from the website:"for the PMDG 747: You MUST set the ILS frequency manually. Howto's are found in PMDG's forums. Unfortunately, this can only be done in the FMC."I've never actually used something along the lines of PMDG or other payware aircraft though, so I can't tell you first-hand how FSXpilot works in these...

WarpAir,I don't remember flying 100,000 ft but might try 3,000 MILES one of these days when I'm bored. How long does it take to get up there? Days? (hehe).Chuck BNapamule