I love the DC3 for getting into those remote, short dirt strips in AK. But I have trouble stopping on the rwy. The brakes seem too weak. Any suggestions for stronger braking? Thanks!

That's what those trees at the end of the runway are for ;-).

Hi GW,The secret of a Gooney Bird is to slow down before the landing. Most folks land this aircraft way to fast. Try this, reduce the fuel load to 30 percent, cuz aircraft never land with full tanks, well, not normally. Start your approach at 100 kts, over the fence at 90 kts, you should have full flap by now, hold her level/flat, pull the throttlrs off slowly, not to slow, and let her wheel on, NO three point. Your touchdown should be around 75/80 knots. Get on the binders, and get the tail down as soon as she will let you. The steep fuselage angle increases the drag signature, and she will slow down faster. Let us know how you make out. I can stop the default DC3 in FS9 in 2500'.Bob IAlias=Layabout

>That's what those trees at the end of the runway are for>;-).LMAO!! good one Bill!you could try to change the braking strength in the airfile, this might make a difference.Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

I've read somewhere that you land the DC3 "nose high" but not a 3 point landing. It took me a good bit of practice to get her slow enough to land in that fashion. I shoot to be at 90KTS to put the mains down. I also try to reserve the last notch of flaps untill just before touchdown. If you can get in that attitude and at that speed with an extra notch of flaps, the extra will help slow you down.I also fly with only a half full load of cargo/pax when I practice landing in the DC3.

Thanks for your suggestions! I find that airspeed is key - if I can get down to 80kts on the approach (with a highish deck angle) then I can stop, although the brakes still seem weak. How do you edit the airfile?

I've not edited my airfile.Considering the brakes hold the DC3 still at full throttle I dont believe there is a brake issue. But I've never flown a real one to be able to compare

You don't need to fiddle with the airfile in FS2k4. You can add the line:brake_scalar=1 in the aircraft cfg file. Work's great. =1 is the default value. I set one aircraft to =1.5 and about got thrown through the windshield when I hit the brakes.

In my aircraft.cfg the default brake scalar was 0.3 - I changed it to 1.0 and now braking is quite good. Thanks bigshot!

I tend to usually land with full flaps for quite a long distance at a steady ~80-85 kts and then closer to runway chop the throttle to idle and carefully raise the nose up as the runway closes, which slows down the speed more and aim for around 65 kts on touchdown.If the speed seems to drop too rapidly, then I throttle up carefully, while trying to maintain sufficient glide slope for soft landing and keep speed to minimum upon touchdown, which usually is ~65kts.After the touchdown I gently pull on the stick to bring tail wheel on the ground.It isn't quite 3-point landing, but it will land a bit tail low.This will stop the plane somewhat quickly.On the old planes like DC3, the brakes aren't anywhere on a par compared to modern planes.Adding powerful brakes isn't really accurate for it.

I have another question that goes along with this. How do I steer the dc3 on the ground. I should beable to steer it without differential braking. When I try to steer it without holding down the breaks it doesnt want to move. But as soon as I hold the breaks down and use the rudder to steer it goes in the direction that I tell it. The tailwheel only moves then the brakes are held. Is this a bug? This cant be how it really works.

It has traversed well for me with left/right engine.However I usually initiate turning with differential brakes, then let off the brake and the plane keeps nicely turning.Try sometime this for practice:make sure tailwheel is unlocked, then throttle up for taxi, not a fast one, then hold rudder to left and use left differential brake.The plane should start turning and soon after release the brake and it should keep turning at a sufficient rate to cut corners at taxiways.Basically no need to touch on the throttle after you get it to a steady roll.If you're reluctant to use the brakes, then do it with the right engine instead, bit more challenging though.This has shown to me the tail wheel works fine as long as it is unlocked.When locked during turning, the plane almost immediately straightens out.I'd suspect you might have the tail wheel locked?

Nope I dont have it locked. You shouldnt need diferential brakeing to steer if the tailwheel moves.

And why are you so sure of that, prithee? Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

I have no experience in a dc3. I just got to reading the learning center. Its a free swiviling tail wheel. If it has a powered tailwheel it will not need differential breaking.