I can assign a lever axis to the propeller pitch and when I look in the cockpit, I can see the associated lever move as I move the lever on my controller so, that seems to work just fine.

 

The thing is that whether the lever is at 0% pitch or 100% pitch, the aircraft responds exactly the same to throttle...like it's stuck at 100% all the time. If I try to take off with the lever set at 0%, I can do so easily even though I do get a warning light.

 

So, it would appear that I either do not understand prop pitch or I have not properly configured my controls...

 

This is with P3D default aircraft like the King Air 350 and such... all the propeller aircraft I have tried respond the same so far.

First... there's no such setting as 0%. Really.

 

There is low pitch to high pitch. Low pitch doesn't mean no pitch. There is no reason you can't take off with the prop in low pitch... though it will take more runway. As the prop RPMs increase... the prop governor is going to adjust the pitch. The prop won't stay at the lowest pitch, if it did... you'd exceed mechanical limitations and things would break... to put it mildly.

Thanks WarpD... I can see how things could get bad with high, unopposed, RPM. But, I noticed this mostly during taxi to runway. At first, I thought it was a throttle issue that I could not regulate my taxi speed without basically cutting the throttle completely, letting the airplane slow a bit, the barely apply throttle until it neared 20 knots and cut it again.

Then, I figured, if I can reduce the prop pitch, then the throttle would have less immediate effect and perhaps I could taxi at a respectable 10 knots instead of 20. But, no matter where I have the prop pitch lever, the airplane is soon taxiing at 20 knots with barely any throttle at all.

Are you talking about all airplanes or just one in particular.  At low throttle I'd guess the prop angle while taxiing might have less effect than you might think.  Can't say I ever tried doing that RW but I don't have many hours with a constant speed prop.

 

Gregg

Prop pitch will have very little effect taxying. Try a dab of brake every now and then to regulate taxi speed. Use fully fine for takeoff and pull back the lever to set the RPM you want in the cruise, then set the power (throttle) to what you want. Ignore the engine sounds from the sim, as they vary with throttle opening, not actual RPM!

 

Remember prop fully-fine for finals.

Prop pitch on the ground will stay very, very close to minimum prop pitch when you're not advancing the throttle much.

 

In a 350, you would normally use the ground fine range on the throttles to control taxi speeds. Unfortunately the base sim doesn't simulate that.

OK, guys, think I got it now. thank you! I guess I had it a bit wrong on what the prop pitch control would do for me and also how the sim would react... tapping the brakes during taxi it is!

If it's a turbine, you can pull the condition levers back to help it go slower...if it's not already back.

 

Gregg

So much to learn! I'll be busy for the next year and a half...which is actually what I want.