Hello friends :)I just got the very cool-looking Dreamwings (DW) Dash8 Q400. Unfortunately there is something wrong with its FDE - a fact DW have very graciously acknowledged on their forums. Tips & tweaks are flying around over there from users & I have tried them all but nothing works :(I came on here wondering if any of you had done your own tweaks etc and have gotten this nice-lookin propjet to fly properly!?...and if so...would you mind sharing them?...please! :)For those of you on here who may not know; the problems are (in order of magnitude):1. *Extremely* long takeoff roll - almost till the end of the runway.2. It rotates and climbs vertically -no matter what the fuel & payload weights are. Once in the air the nose refuses to come down.3. In the visual model the nosewheel rotates backwards when the plane moves forward.Thanx :)

The control problem (I designed the original FDE and made one rather poor mistake) is the .air file, which I just identified and fixed over the weekend after running into a similar problem for another tprop FDE file I've been working on.I based the original .air file on MSFS's default Dash 8, but found it was missing several entries which aided elevator control and responsiveness. I'm retesting both, but as I replied recently in the Dreamwings forums, I'm not in any big hurry to release--in part because of the rude and "I've waited so long for a fix" remarks that have surfaced there by some of the more immature members. However, if *I* am happy with the results, I will release the new FDE sometime between today and Monday here at Avsim.-John

Thanks John!Hey...you are human :) Anyways *I* couldnt create an "FDE" to save my life so I wouldnt feel bad about it!Im in no rush to have a fix! I was just curious wether anyone had theirs flying hee hee :) I know the hard work that goes into these things and considering you guys make it all available for free we have no business moaning!!I totally understand you being miffed at those lot who keep whining on about when you are gonna do this and that! I would be too! To make yourself feel better you can email them the FDE for an Antonov AN-2 (but name it "dash8q400") http://www.nextgenerationrecords.co.uk/boa...s/icon_razz.gif

John thats good news. I really cant understand why folks have to be so rude. I have enjoyed the Q400 knowing that you were working on a new air file.Thanks for your work and look forward to the release.Bill

Hi John,Thanks for the good news! 'Tis a shame the immature kiddies can cause such a ruckus. "Spare the rod & spoil the child" still has some merit, perhaps.Looking forward to new 'air' file whenever it's ready.JackD

Just to update on my progress:These items:1. *Extremely* long takeoff roll - almost till the end of the runway.2. It rotates and climbs vertically -no matter what the fuel & payload weights are. Once in the air the nose refuses to come down.Are fixed using the new .air file. I'm just down to retweaking the aircraft.cfg for flap lift and fuel burn, and I'll probably hit a couple of more tables in the .air file while I am it.The aircraft no longer overrotates and will lift off nicely with no tailstrikes if you trim her for takeoff and rotate at the correct speeds. I still haven't found good reference material for this aircraft however--I would love to know what the V1, V2 and stall speeds (clean and dirty) are. If I have those specs, I can deliver them in the flight model update. Anyone familiar with the '400, please feel free to chime in! The bad news, is I have to work overtime this weekend due to a project deliverable I have to meet. So that will delay my post of the cfg update here in the file library. The third item is a visual issue, which I can't fix via the FDE update. The FDE update will be a small download, <100K -John

John-I came across these, have a look :) :http://www.despair.ch/staff/hangar/thc012.poh.html..and a flight-analysis here:http://cf.alpa.org/internet/alp/1999/mayQ400.htm

Those are outstanding--thank you very much!-John