I own both of these aircraft and I'm amazed that they operate quite differently.

 

My biggest bug bear is with the throttle controls.

 

Power response in X-Plane although delayed, isn't anywhere near as bad as it is in P3D. In P3D it's almost like you're driving and old steam tanker. You ask for power. Then a chap in the engine room hears the tinkling of the power bell and gives the engine more coal and opens the taps. I know there's delay in turbo props, but it seems overly pronounced in the C90B - of course I have no experience of the real thing!

 

Additionally, in P3D, the feather controls seem to do little to nothing until the power levers are adjusted. In X-Plane you can hear the props feathering when the feather controls are moved - no power level adjustment is required.

 

I work in an office that's right on the Apron at EGLF and we get King Airs (350s) in daily. I LOVE listening to them and watching them, but the P3D experience seems a little ............meh. I'm hoping one day to "bump" into one of the pilots in the cafe so I can give him/her a friendly grilling.

 

So, which one is "more" realistic? Anyone care to take a stab at an answer?

No one care to chip in with their experience?

I am confused by your statement that "you can hear the props feathering when the feather controls are moved".

 

There is actually only a feathering switch, per se (prop levers in the feathered position). No feathering controls. When you move the prop levers into the feathered positions at that point the blades will feather. Otherwise they never get past the low pitch stop which is at 12°.

 

Now, perhaps what you are talking about is actually the ground fine range... which adjusts the prop between 12° and 3°. Reverse is from 3° to -10°. Feathered is at 85.8°.

 

If it is the ground fine range that you're actually talking about... yes, it's a known issue with FSX/Prepar3D. Good developers know how to get around it so that things work and sound correctly.

Ahah YES! Now that's the kind of knowledge I was after.

 

I only wrote up my experience and was looking to find out which sim/acft was "more correct". So yes in X-plane the pitch levers produce an audible (and instrument) difference when they're moved at idle. I wasn't getting the same in P3D. The power lever lag seems very pronounced in P3D, but it's much less pronounced in P3D.

 

As I don't have any real world experience of these aircraft, I don't know what is right/realistic, I don't know if what I'm doing is a cause of my inability to correctly do a flow/procedure or it's a limitation/bug with the sim/acft. My post is trying to get some clarification - your post has filled in one of those small holes. For that I thank you.

At idle the prop levers should have pretty much zero effect unless they're moved into the feather position.

 

There is no mechanical link between the prop levers and the blade angle, but rather the blade angle is controlled by a hydraulic speed governor on the prop shaft.

Ahh so in this case it appears the X-Plane model isn't quite so accurate. The procedure I use in X-Plane is to keep the prop levers at feather and power levers at idle until I want to taxi. When I want to taxi I bring the prop levers full forward and that brings them out of feather and I start moving.

 

In P3D/FSX If I do the same thing then the props don't appear to come out of feather until I adjust the power levers. I'm using the change in prop sound to determine when the props come out of feather.

Well, first... you should use the brakes/parking brake to not move. Second, you use the ground fine range of the throttles to control your taxi speed combined with brakes. The brakes on the real aircraft are strong enough to hold the aircraft in position for an engine run-up check.

 

Feathering is not something you typically do.

 

As for which sim is correct... I suspect both are incorrect, but not necessarily in the same manner... which is typical. LOL

 

However, the accuracy is completely limited to the efforts of the aircraft developer, not the base sim.