Well, I thought i would do my first full flight today but I got an engine meltdown and don't know WHY.So first, when I loaded the a/c on the airport it had engines running, I wanted a cold and dark cockpit. My default flight had stopped engines but somehow when I start with J41 it always has the engines running. Anyway, I followed the SHUTDOWN procedure and they shutdown properly, no smoke. Is there perhaps a guide that I can use to have my J41 completely OFF (cold & dark) ?Then I initiated going through the checklists, PREFLIGHT, EXTERNAL, COCKPIT, WEIGHT & BALANCE, FMC SETUP.Now here things get hairy. I went through the ENGINE START procedure and the propeller (left) started turning but it made a strange noise, not the usual running. I had the TORQUE set to 72% (Taxi condition) and the CONDITION lever to TAXI, THRUST to IDLE. Propellers where unfeathered and unlocked. When I look out the left window I see some smoke starting to come out. What is wrong here????[OH] Overhead, [CI] Center Instrument PanelPreConditions: - Fuel pumps where ON - GPU was present - BATT Switches where ON - EGT below 200 - No strange lights in the CAPENGINE START===========[OH] START MASTER to LEFT GND[OH] Select LEFT ENGINE START[CI] Confirmed EGT below 770Did not click back to AIRI went twice through the entire sequence and got the same results. I think it would be nice to have a "Always start with Cold & Dark Cockpit" checkbox function on the PMDG J41 Configuration Manager that would put all the JS41 state into a real c&d.

Start the flight with a default aircraft and shut every thing down into a cold and dark state (as best you can with the default AC), then switch aircrafts to the J41 and it should load with the engines off.If you load the aircraft directly sometimes it does some odd things. I agree there really needed to be atleast a initial panel state for it as without it has caused a lot of problems.Oh and make sure the engines are locked on start latches, you said they're unfeathered but you also said unlocked. When you start the aircraft after the default plane it wont be on start latches so you will have to use the unfeather pump. :)

I did so and then I switched to J41 and set all the other switches to what I expect them to be in a cold & dark. Then I saved THIS as a default flight.Then next day I loaded THAT J41 and I noticed that even though I saved it, it doesn't quite save ALL the panel state as advertised. Several switches where back to their ON position.Anyway, at least this time I went past the engine start and no fires! yeehaa!!! I made sure to have the propellers in their start lock.I hope next time it goes well without fires too. However see my other post regarding another problem.

Start the flight with a default aircraft and shut every thing down into a cold and dark state (as best you can with the default AC), then switch aircrafts to the J41 and it should load with the engines off.If you load the aircraft directly sometimes it does some odd things. I agree there really needed to be atleast a initial panel state for it as without it has caused a lot of problems.Oh and make sure the engines are locked on start latches, you said they're unfeathered but you also said unlocked. When you start the aircraft after the default plane it wont be on start latches so you will have to use the unfeather pump. :)

Always make external check before starting up engines, or at least look through the window to check if the propellers are unfeathered and locked. Sometimes even if You save your flight with props locked on start latches, it may load incorrectly, FSX has it's issues.

I did so and then I switched to J41 and set all the other switches to what I expect them to be in a cold & dark. Then I saved THIS as a default flight.Then next day I loaded THAT J41 and I noticed that even though I saved it, it doesn't quite save ALL the panel state as advertised. Several switches where back to their ON position.Anyway, at least this time I went past the engine start and no fires! yeehaa!!! I made sure to have the propellers in their start lock.I hope next time it goes well without fires too. However see my other post regarding another problem.

Yeah it's best not so save the J41 as default at all, it doesn't save much of the config you had it as including the start latches (always check them). I used to do it your way but after a few issues with autopilot and navigation issues I gave up on it ad start with a default aircraft everytime and havent had a problem since.