I am a big fan of the Britten Norman Trislander and have many as authentic AI traffic flying around the Channel Islands.I recently watched a Just Planes DVD on the Channel Islands airline AURIGNY and noticed that the "real-life" performance of the Trislander is nothing like the performance of the FS model (nothing new there then;-)Has anyone successfully modified the AIR file on the Trislander (Marcel Kuhnt developed it originally I believe) to reflect real-world performance? If not would be great to hear from anyone who knows of some freeware I could use to improve the general handling and performance of this fabulous three-engined English workhorse!Adam

Hi Adam,What exactly is wrong with the existing air file?.I have flown on Trislanders many times, and the dynamics of marcels does not seem too far away.I too love the trislander, also make sure you have the great panel by Ken Mitchell.Dan.

Hi DanI found it much too powerful. Real world climb performance with full aircraft is around 500 fpm @ 80kts - I appear to be getting around 120-130kts in the climb even throttled back above 500ft at suggested rpm/prop values.This could easily be a FS2002 > FS2004 issue (as with many aircraft) so just wanted to fine-tune it for FS2004.Are you running 2002 or 2004 Dan?Other than this I love Marcel's aircraft and Ken Mitchell's panel. Addon Lycoming engine sounds are a must too! Have flown IN a Trislander with Aurigny in the late 80's. Fantastic aeroplane.CheersAdam

Hi,Interesting that you find it to powerfull, it is widely known that the trislander is a very powerfull plane, as you can apreciate having flown on one.I am always amazed at the force with which they take-off and also the amount of noise ;), anyways, I have just had a quick look at the trislander files, I would say that it shares the dynamics with the islander also by marcel, due to the information in the air file.If anyone wants to make some more realistic air files I would snap them up in an instant, although as I said before I dont think the the current ones are too far away.I will do a little research into this and see if I can come up with anything.EDIT: Britten Norman state that the climb rate is 1000 fpm, maybe thats whats causing the problem?CheersDan.

I'll also continue research this end. I was using the Aurigny flight notes to compare against the FS version - by the sounds of it they are trying to conserve engine life/fuel so the 80kts @ 500fpm climb would sound quite logical. 1000ft is preferable (call me impatient;-)Someone has done Aurigny repaints (4!) for the Trislander which is great - my EGJJ UK2000 scenery looks most realistic now (apart from the BEA Viscount;-)Let me know how your research goes Dan. After the RealAir SF260 and PMDG 737-700 it's my "most flown" aircraft in fs2004Adam

Greetings Adam,<>As far as I can tell the only BN3 FDE circulated in the last two years were written by me and were distributed in the FS8 Trislander release by Roger Guy. Roger is an Air Traffic Controller at Guernsey and the files were developed with the co-operation of Aurigny. The flight dynamics were written from the Aurigny manuals and full handling notes are provided in the relevant release. Marcel Kuhnt has never circulated either BN3 flight dynamics or a BN3 panel as far as I know.Roger Guy's Trislander website is here;http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rogguy/trislander.htmlbut it only explains that there will be no FS9 update.Aurigny Virtual is here;http://www.aurignyvirtual.org<> Marcel's BN2 FDE are for AI use only when used in conjunction with the BN3. They are not suitable, or presumably intended, for first person flight simulation. They relate to a different aircraft.<>The FS8 Trislander by Roger Guy remains available for download from Avsim. Use the Avsim file Library search engine to locate it using rggjoey2.zip as the target. I believe some additional textures may also be available from Avsim.The flight dynamics are realistic when used correctly, (in accordance with the Aurigny handling notes), in FS8. If the panel is not bundled with the aircraft release at Avsim it should be available from the site above.Unfortunately FS9 has a different flight model from which a number of key variables have been deleted. Among these is VAR 506 which among other things controls inlet manifold pressure drop in normally aspirated piton engines. As a result of this deletion it is not possible to model the Lycoming 0-540, or many other vintage piston engines, with any accuracy in FS9. The BN3 flight dynamics will therefore remain FS8 only. Cartoon animation for AI use in FS9 is possible but first person flight using the real world power inputs to create the real world performance is only possible in FS8. Imaginary flight dynamics, and imaginary handling notes, for use in FS9 could be created, but I do not see the point. If you are interested in finding out what the Trislander is really like to fly download the FS8 version and fly it in FS8 using the real world cockpit procedures.The real Aurigny climb procedures, extracted here from the released handling notes are as follows;****************************Expedited climb:FULL THROTTLE2700 RPM.80 KIAS.****************************En route Climb below FL50:25 inches MAP.2500 RPM.100 KIAS.Check CHT < 450FPlan 55 USG per hour****************************En route Climb above FL50 or GO AROUND:FULL THROTTLEPROPS FINE90 KIAS.Check CHT < 450FPlan 50 USG per hour****************************These real world procedures will only work in FS8, and only when used with my flight dynamics. Since FS9 cannot produce realistic manifold pressure from normally aspirated piston engines, fake input values would have to be employed to manage power correctly. My FDE can of course alias any Trislander MDL and textures within FS8, but FDE only drive the panel whose gauges they were designed to drive. The only BN3 flight dynamics available drive the gauges in the Trislander panel by Roger Guy. If used with any other panel the gauges are likely to misread making it impossible to make the correct real world inputs. Inappropriate performance will probably result even in FS8. Inappropriate performance is bound to result if anyone tries to use FS8 piston engined flight dynamics with the FS9 flight model. Some of the problems Microsoft caused by deleting variables from within the FS9 flight model can be patched by third party authors. The deletion of VAR506 cannot. In theory it should be possible for a talented gauge author to create manifold pressure gauges that rectify the flight model deletions using gauge code to display the correct values, but to date no one has bothered to update any of the freeware aircraft afflicted. Each type of normally aspirated piston engine requires engine specific gauges within FS9. Code that was once written by the FDE author to point the needles of default or generic gauges now has to be written by the project gauge author and included within the gauge.The Trislander is not the only aircraft that cannot be updated for use in FS9 without new gauges being produced. There are many others that will remain FS8 only so far as realistic flight simulation is concerned.I hope that explains the situation in full.--FSAviator

Thanks for detailed info has explained alot.I would use the GJOEY aircraft more but like the VC in the other Trislander. Will fiddle around and see if I can get it to work in GJOEY.Thanks againAdam