Dont forget, its a regional airliner, and therefore is made cheaper for small, fast routes for the commuter airlines. It wont be as "friendly" as a 737 for example regarding autopilot.

If you are willing to spend a little more money you can get FS2Crew which helps a little and i would also recommend the Airline2sim videos...

 

Best money I've spent towards learning an aircraft and systems, looking forward to their Airbus and Boeing series...... Chris there are numerous tutorials on the Q400 and pretty well any other aircraft on all SIm platforms on Youtube,

FS2Crew also adds a whole new dimension of simming. Instead of flying as a solo pilot, you get a virtual First Officer to help you with your cockpit flows (and also to make sure you don't miss anything!) 

 

The virtual FO also does cockpit preparation tasks such as the Auto-Feathering of the engines right after engine start so you can focus on preparing for taxi while leaving the small (but important!) tasks to him. 

 

Highly recommend it! 

 

(note - I speak from my own personal opinion of the product, not from my Beta affiliation with FS2Crew) 

Best money I've spent towards learning an aircraft and systems, looking forward to their Airbus and Boeing series...... Chris there are numerous tutorials on the Q400 and pretty well any other aircraft on all SIm platforms on Youtube,

Yeah I've watched a few. Some weren't as detailed as I'd like. I found one that explained the VNAV entry in the FMS really well. It didn't gloss over the details as much as others. Each video has its own highlights where some things are explained really well and others are kinda ignored. Likely due to not really knowing the system that well themselves. This guy is a pilot, albeit not a Q400 pilot, but at least he understands things better in that regard. In mind mind, based on the videos I've watched, I do feel like I understand the FMS well enough to accomplish a full flight without getting too lost. It's just so different than the Boeing which I find very easy. Each page on the Boeing IMO is almost self-explanatory. This odd submenu system and number selection is a weird way of doing things. JMO.

 

A few more trips in the FMS and I'll likely have it down. Eventually I'd like to learn a little more but some procedural items I'll never use. Kinda like the Boeing. You can customize the routes and change things up but I have no real need for that.

 

Once I am able to figure out why the radio is acting abnormal I'll be in much better shape to truly learn the plane. I sat on that apron forever trying to tune the ATIS. Really annoying. It worked fine the first time which I where I'm confused.

 

So the airline2sim videos are good? ~30 for the entire set? Are they designed to explain things appropriately? The preview videos are overdone and too "edgy". They're high production value and look nice but they aren't giving me an idea of how they truly play to the audience.

 

I'm going to compile the tutorials and probably make my own personal flow sheet, which I've never done before. lol

Try finding a Dash Q400 checklist and work through the flows by yourself. Its a handful but the sense of achievement feels greater compared to handling the NGX by yourself. 

Yeah I've watched a few. Some weren't as detailed as I'd like. I found one that explained the VNAV entry in the FMS really well. It didn't gloss over the details as much as others. Each video has its own highlights where some things are explained really well and others are kinda ignored. Likely due to not really knowing the system that well themselves. This guy is a pilot, albeit not a Q400 pilot, but at least he understands things better in that regard. In mind mind, based on the videos I've watched, I do feel like I understand the FMS well enough to accomplish a full flight without getting too lost. It's just so different than the Boeing which I find very easy. Each page on the Boeing IMO is almost self-explanatory. This odd submenu system and number selection is a weird way of doing things. JMO.

 

A few more trips in the FMS and I'll likely have it down. Eventually I'd like to learn a little more but some procedural items I'll never use. Kinda like the Boeing. You can customize the routes and change things up but I have no real need for that.

 

Once I am able to figure out why the radio is acting abnormal I'll be in much better shape to truly learn the plane. I sat on that apron forever trying to tune the ATIS. Really annoying. It worked fine the first time which I where I'm confused.

 

So the airline2sim videos are good? ~30 for the entire set? Are they designed to explain things appropriately? The preview videos are overdone and too "edgy". They're high production value and look nice but they aren't giving me an idea of how they truly play to the audience.

 

I'm going to compile the tutorials and probably make my own personal flow sheet, which I've never done before. lol

 

Once you get your head around the logic of the FMS it makes a lot of sense. Head over to youtube and type in a guy named Marshall Arbitman. His preferred aircraft is the 'Mighty Dash', his videos focus on varying flights and he provides an entertaining video showing "how to's", while undertaking an actual flight, another channel is Ehviator, who also provides Q400 tutorials, there many more.

Chris,

 

To get the GPWS to stop ######ing, just set it to whatever final flaps you anticipate. So if you land with 15, set 15. As for the radios, you can do it directly on the ARCDU, or with the FMS Tune function. Just make sure you flip the selector on the ARCDU (The radio control panel) to FMS or Both.

 

As for my videos, well, if you want to hear me yammer about planes, politics, Polish sausage and quantum mechanics, then give 'em a try!

 

Otherwise, give the plane a chance, on its own terms. It's NOT a 737. It's NOT an Airbus. It is, however, when you get in the groove, a very satisfying machine to fly and, especially, hand-fly.

 

Best,

 

Marshall

I'm slowly coming to terms with the Q400.  Airline2Sim videos have been a huge help.  So have Marshall's.  Can also highly recommend the checklist by Toby23.  I can't seem to link directly to it but if you go to the Majestic forums, on the main forum page you'll find it stickied under the title "Revised Q400 Checklists for the Dash-8 based on the Airline2Sim training - DOWNLOAD HERE." it's for single-pilot ops, covers all the important items but it's stripped down to essentials (e.g. no 24-hour tests) so it gets you going faster.  I haven't yet tried FS2Crew - reading through the tutorial flight, it seems to add to the workload, not reduce it (i.e. you've got to look after your flows and also manage the pilot monitoring). I'm not sure how much it reduces the switchology.  But maybe that's just my lack of familiarity talking, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

I love the Q400 for its mission (45-60 minute flights fit perfectly into the rest of my life) and they way it runs on my system - much, much more fluid than any of the other heavy iron.

 

But it's a workout to get up to speed on it, no question about that...

I don´t find the Dash 8-Q400 worse to operate than the PMDG 737 - It´s just different.

 

Different means of propulsion, requiring different controls.

Different FMC, that is as intuitive as the Boeing/Honeywell, once You get the hang of it.

VNAV is different and cannot be compared to the larger Airliners VNAV.

 

Otherwise it is operated much like every other airliners

 

FinnJ

Chris,

 

To get the GPWS to stop ######ing, just set it to whatever final flaps you anticipate. So if you land with 15, set 15. As for the radios, you can do it directly on the ARCDU, or with the FMS Tune function. Just make sure you flip the selector on the ARCDU (The radio control panel) to FMS or Both.

 

As for my videos, well, if you want to hear me yammer about planes, politics, Polish sausage and quantum mechanics, then give 'em a try!

 

Otherwise, give the plane a chance, on its own terms. It's NOT a 737. It's NOT an Airbus. It is, however, when you get in the groove, a very satisfying machine to fly and, especially, hand-fly.

 

Best,

 

Marshall

That's what's odd.  I did just what you said. The flaps warning was set to 15, my landing flap.  The radios were tuned via the FMS and ARCDU.  Something wasn't right, loading error or something.  I am starting to think the Taxi scenario isn't initializing things right.

I'm slowly coming to terms with the Q400.  Airline2Sim videos have been a huge help.  So have Marshall's.  Can also highly recommend the checklist by Toby23.  I can't seem to link directly to it but if you go to the Majestic forums, on the main forum page you'll find it stickied under the title "Revised Q400 Checklists for the Dash-8 based on the Airline2Sim training - DOWNLOAD HERE." it's for single-pilot ops, covers all the important items but it's stripped down to essentials (e.g. no 24-hour tests) so it gets you going faster.  I haven't yet tried FS2Crew - reading through the tutorial flight, it seems to add to the workload, not reduce it (i.e. you've got to look after your flows and also manage the pilot monitoring). I'm not sure how much it reduces the switchology.  But maybe that's just my lack of familiarity talking, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

I love the Q400 for its mission (45-60 minute flights fit perfectly into the rest of my life) and they way it runs on my system - much, much more fluid than any of the other heavy iron.

 

But it's a workout to get up to speed on it, no question about that...

I agree completely about the short hops.  I want to be in the flying phase, from runway to runway.  Apron time is nothing exciting, nor is planning.  And I don't have time to play for hours.  I'll look into the forums there and find that checklist.  I'm pretty sure I can access the read-only portions.  I haven't found a way to register there.  It wants an invitation code.  Where does one obtain that??  I bought it from Simmarket, so I don't get the "invitation" deal.  NVM, I finally see the process about emailing them with the order info.  Ok, I'll do that, lol.

 

Thanks, I just downloaded it. :smile:

I want to be in the flying phase, from runway to runway.  Apron time is nothing exciting, nor is planning.

 

The Q400 gives you a couple of extra hoops to jump through compared to the NGX or Aerosoft Airbus or similar modern airliner.  You have to calculate the V-speeds and enter them in the PFD yourself - the FMS won't do it for you.  (You can get the numbers from the Aurasim app or from the paper tables included with the aircraft).  You have to do your own loading (no random setting) and fueling - but you can ballpark the fuel, figure 2600 pounds for the first hour, 2000 pounds for each hour after that, and something set aside for alternate, holding and reserve, and you're good to go.  So a couple of extra tasks before you get airborne, but once you're used to them you can get through them quickly.

 

In terms of the flying experience, it may be more satisfying as a step up from GA (which is how you'd actually encounter it during a flying career) than as a step down from an NGX or equivalent.  The main flying gotcha for pilots used to automated tubes is the lack of an autothrottle.  Speed needs a lot of attention - you can easily overspeed in descent or stall in a descending level-off if you're not on top of the speed and ready to adjust the throttle.  And the FMS, as others have noted, is more than advisory (as it was in the PMDG Jetstream) but less than fully automated (for example, the rudimentary VNAV).

 

To me, it all works - as I said above, I love the short flights, and I like the hands-on aspects.  But then, I've been mainly a GA sim flyer 'til now, so that's part of the story.

 

Hope the Toby23 checklist helps - made a big difference in my Q400 transition.

For me the Dash is extremely good realistic and complex but after 2 or 3 flight, the VNAV and the learning of how manage your speed, will become slowly.

 

 

 

It's not a plane for kids, it's a plane for who like really the mechanic and the planes.For exemple take an aerosoft airbus is boring.

Hey Orlaam, I can understand why you might think that our preview videos are overdone and edgy, but frankly most FS tutorials do little other than send you to sleep. There are some gems out there as others have pointed out but most are poor visually, presentationally or just plain wrong.

 

Flying a Dash 8 in the wild is a pretty adrenalin inducing thing to do and we try to capture a bit of that. In the FO course we repeatedly try to kill ourselves (fire, engine fail at V1 into terrain, RTO, circle to land in the Alps) and it's all pretty exciting stuff.

 

Several people have emailed me about our programs in the past and said - 'really - is it worth it?' I've offered them a refund if it wasn't. Thus far, no one has wanted their money back. In fact, over 3/4 of the Cadet customers have come back to learn more with the FO course, so we must be doing something right

Hey Orlaam, I can understand why you might think that our preview videos are overdone and edgy, but frankly most FS tutorials do little other than send you to sleep. There are some gems out there as others have pointed out but most are poor visually, presentationally or just plain wrong.

 

Flying a Dash 8 in the wild is a pretty adrenalin inducing thing to do and we try to capture a bit of that. In the FO course we repeatedly try to kill ourselves (fire, engine fail at V1 into terrain, RTO, circle to land in the Alps) and it's all pretty exciting stuff.

 

Several people have emailed me about our programs in the past and said - 'really - is it worth it?' I've offered them a refund if it wasn't. Thus far, no one has wanted their money back. In fact, over 3/4 of the Cadet customers have come back to learn more with the FO course, so we must be doing something right

I purchased the cadet training. I like it a lot but I did find the chit chat back and forth a little distracting.

I purchased the cadet training. I like it a lot but I did find the chit chat back and forth a little distracting.

The chit chat was the best thing about the training for me. Lots of great tips from Josh and some comedy between him and Ben.

Awesome videos and a refreshing change from other instructional type programs I have seen.