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ricklovin93

Conflicting heading readings?

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Well, the magnetic compass will have an error to it depending on where you are. Typically in real life there is an error correction card that helps you out with that. The GPS works off of satellites and is unaffected by the earth's magnetic field.

 

I'd put my money on the GPS.

 

BTW, it's not uncommon for a reply to take a lot more than 2.5 hours...

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I would say, follow the Magenta track. Wind will try to blow you off course, so your heading will have to compensate for that.

 

Magnetic heading is where your airplane is pointing.

 

Track is your actual course over terrain.


Bert

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Oh look, a DC-3! :D

 

Ok, the magnetic compass reading is the direction your nose is pointing. The 227 on the GPS is the direction you're actually moving due to winds blowing you off course. If you don't want to steer back to the magenta line on the GPS, steer until you are on the same course on the GPS as the BRG reading on the GPS, and don't worry about the magnetic compass. Ignore the Course To Steer on the GPS as it's a dramatic change to get you back to the magenta line.

 

Hint: You can change a line in the aircraft.cfg file to get a better speed without running the manifold pressure and RPM that high.

 

thrust_scalar = 1.5 //Propeller thrust scalar // originally 1.0

 

Recommended cruise RPM is 2050 and manifold pressure is 28. The change above will give you about 145 knots cruise without messing anything else up. Just make a backup copy of the file before you change it. It's in \Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\Douglas_DC3.

 

Hook


Larry Hookins

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

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Thanks guys I was up in Alaska at the time, didn't realize fsx was that realistic, the only reason I had the engines running so high was because I was still climbing. One more question on the dc3 what are the engine cowl vents for? I'm guessing its for cooling maybe?

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why dont i have a "engine stress causes damge" in the realism section?

 

You only see that if you have Acceleration.

 

the only reason I had the engines running so high was because I was still climbing. One more question on the dc3 what are the engine cowl vents for?

 

Climb speed is 110-120 knots. Maximum continuous power is top of green on both RPM and manifold pressure. Normal climb power is 2350 RPM and 36" manifold pressure. Use full power for no more than one minute when taking off.

 

Cowl flaps are for cooling the engine. They keep the cylinder head temperature in the proper range. Open on the ground, half open during climb, closed for cruise and descent. That's rule of thumb; you almost can't overheat the engine with the values the air files use. If you have AirEd, change "CHT scale" from 1.0 to 1.16 and you'll need to use the cowl flaps to keep the cylinder head temperature below red line, preferred CHT is about 200 C and under 205 C. In FSX the cylinder head temperature goes up with RPM (but not manifold pressure), and down with airspeed and outside air temp.

 

Pretty cool airplane, isn't it?

 

Hook


Larry Hookins

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

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One more change to the aircraft.cfg file:

 

beta_max= 40.0 // originally 30.0

 

Without this you can't get the RPM down to the recommended 2050 at altitude. I think at 10,000 feet it won't go below about 2300 RPM.

 

There were surprisingly few changes I had to make to the DC-3. There are a couple more graphics changes, but they're not important. The left RPM needle is too dark at night, but you can lighten it in Photoshop. The airspeed indicator should have the yellow line start at 158 knots and redline at 190.

 

There is lots of good DC-3 information at these sites:

 

http://www.theaviatornetwork.com/

http://www.douglasdc3.com/

 

Enjoy.

 

Hook


Larry Hookins

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

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Can i change the CHT setting through the config file or do i have to use aired?

 

Has to be done in AirEd. The Air file is a binary file and there's no convenient way to edit or view it without a special program. The good news is AirEd is easy to use.

 

Hook


Larry Hookins

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

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your right aired is pretty simple

EDIT: well maybe now not so simple after changing the cht value now the plane wont load on the fsx menu it says

"Failed to startup the flight model" now what did i do lol?

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"Failed to startup the flight model" now what did i do lol?

 

Restore your air file backup and try running FSX again. If it still doesn't work, restore your config file. If it *still* doesn't work... PM me.

 

Make sure you made a copy of the original air file and didn't just rename it and try to edit that one.

 

Edit: PM sent.

 

Hook


Larry Hookins

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

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