In a recent magazine article profiling the pilot ops of a Saab340B at REX, it was mentioned that as expected in order to maintain rear traffic seperation the pilot would fly to the outer marker and slightly beyond at a clip pretty near cruise. He would the "flat-blade" the prop to get near immediate aero prop braking to slow the Saab to an acceptable near Vref for the last stages of final.I tried that in FS9 with an FFG model and found that it was not working too well. Perhaps I misunderstand the phrase "flat-blade" or how it is accomplished, but I assume it is full-up on the prop lever at max rpm with the condition still at flight. Am I wrong here or is this just another inadequacy of the FS9 turboprop model dynamics.

>He would the "flat-blade" the prop to get near immediate aero>prop braking to slow the Saab to an acceptable near Vref for>the last stages of final.>>I tried that in FS9 with an FFG model and found that it was>not working too well. Perhaps I misunderstand the phrase>"flat-blade" or how it is accomplished, but I assume it is>full-up on the prop lever at max rpm with the condition still>at flight. Am I wrong here or is this just another inadequacy>of the FS9 turboprop model dynamics. The FS Prop has no 'flat plate' drag. That is, when it's stopped, it adds no drag, regardess of the blade angle. However, the prop tables and friction table can be adjusted to give windmilling drag, which is even higher than 'flat plate' drag. As engine torque drops, the windmilling condition is approached, with a dead engine (no fuel or ignition) full windmilling is in effect. Ron

Thanks for your reply. I suspect they mean a windmilling prop but with a flight idle condition or even if the Saab Throttle Lever works this way with ground idle condition -- whichever results in the most drag. However I would be leary of using ground idle on final in case a go-around is needed and it would take a tad longer to spool up on a turbo-prop.

>However I would be leary of using>ground idle on final in case a go-around is needed and it>would take a tad longer to spool up on a turbo-prop.Yeah, never use idle on final in a turboprop - at least it is specifically forbidden in something like Pieper Meridian. There is too much danger of going to beta with unwanted consequences. They want you to keep a target (small) power setting throughout landing until actual touchdown.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

Hi,how we are doing research is by finding engine manuals where we can reverse engineer the turboprops performance and then recreate it in MSFS. I have obtained good data from a maintenance guy who works on single spooled TPs and this allows us to make more progress.But finding these people with the right information is a hit and miss affair. What we need it to get out the message that those of you with performance manuals or maintenance manuals are a very valuable resource and can provide a lot of help in modelling not just one specific a/c but those of a similar type.So if you have this info lets know who you are and what you have got. You can e-mail or message me if you are shy.:-)Ian