Starting engines

[SO666 4]

Hi corkscrew196.

15 hours ago, Corkscrew196 said:

This week I bought the DC 6 and like many others started having problems with engine start. A bit weird because on first trial I was succesfull and had a good flight. Thereafter troubles began. However, I solved the problem and maybe others can benefit.

In the main FSX directory there is a folder called "PMDG" (yeah, what do ya know). There is a subfolder called " PMDG DC-6" and a sub-subfolder called "panelstate". In it there are two files: a .sav file and a .FLT file. Delete them both (don' t forget to make a backup).  

On my system everything is running well now.

Why delete these files , when all these files do is keep track of ware and tare on the aircraft , and panel state remembers what you set up in ramp manager.

As for difficulty starting the engines , this could be because of several things , that you may failed to do or noticed, like was it cold on shut down and failed to dilute the oil , did you do exactly the right start sequnce , fail to do it exactly and the engines will not start, you should not be deleting files or telling others to do so , if you have any issues  , then put a ticket in for PMDG to look into any issues you may have .

You state you only got this aircraft this week , so you are still learning this aircraft , so there is every chance you failed to do something , this aircraft is not one you can just jump into without studying the manual and lots of practice.

Also PMDG require people who make a post in the forums to put their names at the bottom of their posts , or PMDG could just delete the post , so please be aware of this on future posts.

regards alan cottrill.

[Nurmblitz 59]

As a brand new DC-6 pilot I confirm that I could not get the engines running with my default C/D flight but when I first loaded the Trike with FSX default flight the given procedure worked and as described.

Ismo Nurmi

[Saucey12 38]

I had this same issue.. I did not have the DC6 in FSX, I just bought it for the Christmas sale on MSFS, my first add on aircraft for MSFS.  I don't use the AFE.. Im not anti AFE, I just like to do everything myself. I mean why not if you're interested in an airplane like that!  If you want easy and good looks on the outside, go Aerosoft or something lol.  You must follow procedure when starting engines, but I disagree with the POH provided by PMDG.  I do not attempt to start the engines with the mixture on.  I never did this with the old DC3, I pretty much follow the same steps in the DC6 as I did in the DC3.  There really isn't much that the AFE is doing prior to starting the engines, you may do it yourself within just a couple minutes.  Most of the before start checklist are things that you cannot actively function anyway, such as stowing emergency items, seat belts, etc..  Just check to make sure you have the power source, your fluid levels and payload, and then good fuel pressure by way of the booster pumps.  Providing the temperature is temperate it isn't hard to get them babies cranked.  Once you have the power and invertors on.. Select your engine, turn on the booster pump for it, engage the start switches, hit the primer at blade 3, jump down and turn your mags to both, jump back up and hit the mag boost by blade 9 and then by blade 12 you should be down pulling the mixture out of idle-cutoff up to auto-rich.  Keep in mind before you start this process you only need to "crack" the throttle.  I find this always works well when the oil isnt really cold.  If its cold, the same process may work but not on the first try.  I'd follow the POH extended for cold weather ops. And on the oil dillution.. I doubt PMDG has modeled this, A2A did because they had the accusim technology that tracked your usage of the aircraft by time.