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alhefner

Lear 35A... word not allowed newbie needs help!

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Howdy folks,

I just got the Flysimware lear 35A and imme3diately found out how unprepared I was to try it out! Of course, the first thing I found out was that there is a little white button that allows for steering on the ground... only crashed into one building before I found out about that!

Then, I quickly discovered how vitally important it is to be SPOT ON when getting lined up on the runway for takeoff! WOW! I had no idea! I've taken off twice while crossing the taxiways to the side of the runway because I was not lined up as well as I should have been,

Of course, once in the air, I found out just how quickly this rig can get over 250 knots! It's a rocket, not an airplane!

Once I could take off 5 times out of ten and land without crashing 3 times out of ten, it was time to try some things out in flight. This plane loves to climb!

So, that brings me to my first difficulty... TRIMMING!

I thought the toggle switch for nose up and nose down would set my trim pitch... tried it out a whole bunch of times  but the pitch never changes...

I thought that setting the altitude selection and getting close to that altitude, within a few 100 feet, then hitting the altitude hold on the autopilot, yes, I had it turned on, would enable the Lear to hold altitude. Didn't happen. I would soon be in a nearly straight up or nearly straight down attitude. I KNOW this is pure ignorance of some sort on my part.

I thought that setting the desired heading would allow me to push the heading button on the autopilot and the Lear would maintain that heading... Didn't happen. More ignorance of operation on my part I'm SURE!
 

Any step-by-step instruction would be greatly appreciated!

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If you go to the flysimware website and under their Lear35 they post 2 or 3 good videos showing how to tame this beast. Stick with it she's great fun once you get the hang of her!

Cheers

Martin

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Hi...

Welcome to one of my favorite planes of all time... As Martin said - stick with it - it's totally worth it once you get the hang of it... A Lear isn't something you're going to step in as a beginner pilot and fly well... Things happen fast - very fast - so you need to be on your A game... The RW plane is only certified for two pilot operation - so it can't be flown solo as we do most of the time in FS - what that means is your work load just doubled...

One of the best things I did when learning this was purchase a $10.00 voice control program called Voice Attack - - - this allows me to verbally command single button presses or more complex macros as if I had a copilot to task... It makes the aircraft far more manageable in my book albeit you need a decent headset and mic..

The autopilot is a custom autopilot that works very well - it's not based on default...

Don't just firewall the throttle - keep the gauges in the green - reducing some thrust on takeoff will and throughout the climb will greatly help controlling this beast as your learning... 

To get the most out of her - you really want to own the F1 GTN and the MilViz/REX Weather Radar... 

Note: Don't forget to grab the panel texture upgrade off the MilViz website...

Note: Also grab the manual as the key mappings for various functions may not be what you're used to in generic aircraft - this was done to give us more button controls than are normally available... Many functions are now set to the G1000 key mappings in FS... You have to read this part of the setup...

It takes some effort but it is VERY worth it in my humble opinion...

 

 

 

Here's a decent overview tutorial and the video that sold me on buying the plane...

 

 

 

Regards,

Scott

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I figured out what mistake I was making with the autopilot... sort of! Even though I had the toggle switch on, applying power to the unit, I hadn't actually pushed the "Engage" button after pushing heading and altitude hold! I also found that there are TWO heading knobs on the indicator! One simply aligns the heading you WANT to fly and the other tells the autopilot what heading to use! WOW!

As for altitude holding, I found that it holds whatever altitude you happen to be at when you press the button. Not sure what the altitude selector actually does other than remind the pilot what altitude to be at...

I still have not been able to change the vertical trim on this bird though... I would like very much to be able to do that so I am not constantly adjusting my yoke which I tend to OVER adjust...

Thanks folks! Yeah, this little airplane is a challenge for sure but, once you're in the air and cruising, it sure is nice! It's getting up and then getting down in one piece that I need a lot more work on!

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One of my little tricks is to pre-set the AFD for heading and VS. Then when I'm airborne, it's flaps up yaw damper on, stabilize the plane at the settings I dialed in to the AFD, then I engage the AP. 

The other's advice about keeping the gauges in the green and reducing take off power is spot on in the beginning. You will definitely get airborne with reduced power settings, and you can even reduce power further on your initial climb until you get used to the speed of all the button pushes. Then, when you get stable, engage the AP and then you can increase power.

You'll get there. The difficulty and fidelity of this model is what makes us all love it so much. It's very satisfying to nail that perfect flight in the Lear. I just finished a challenging flight yesterday with real world weather in the high winds we had here in the Plains. It was very satisfying.

Good luck, keep at it, and keep asking questions and for help. You're in with a good crowd here. :-)

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Hi Folks,

Yeah - with Voice Attack my takeoff sequence has the copilot handle some of the tasks... This makes it SOOOO much easier...

"Gear Up" - raises the landing...

"Flaps Up" - raises the flaps...

"Engage Autopilot" - engages autopilot in (heading/vertical speed) mode all button presses...

To be able to do all this without hitting a button or searching the VC with a mouse is such a godsend - makes that very critical phase so much easier to manage...

Regards,

Scott

 

 

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Also don't forget Al Klayton Lau scripts, here is a list of them, search his name here and he should show up. You can pick and chose the ones you want to use. Must have a paid version of FSUIPC.

Lear35A Autopilot Scripts  (Note: The FSX standard Z key control toggles the autopilot on and off, so no script needed for that.)L35AP_ALTHLD_Btn    – Altitude Hold button toggle

L35AP_ALTSEL_Btn     -- Altitude Select button toggle

L35AP_VS_Btn             – Vertical Speed button toggle

L35AP_SPD_Btn          – Speed button toggle

L35AP_GS_Btn            – Glide Slope button toggle

L35AP_HDG_Btn        – Heading Hold button toggle

L35AP_NAV_Btn        – Nav button toggle

L35AP_LVL_Btn         --Level button toggle

L35AP_BC_Btn           – Backcourse button toggle

L35AP_H_BNK_Btn   – Half Bank button toggle

L35AP_TST_Btn         –AP Lights Test button toggle

L35AP_SFT_Btn        – AP Soft button toggle (this function is difficult to test and the script has not been tested in flight. The SFT button does light up and move as expected, however, and should work.

Lear35Land_Lts      -- Taxi and Landing lights 3-way switch toggle

L35LandLtsNight    -- Same as Lear35Land_Lts above except at night you also get a message in the Green   Window** detailing the switch position since it is hard to see if the Landing Lts are on or not at night

Lear35Rec_Lts       -- Recognition lights switch toggle

Lear35GearHorn    – Gear warning horn off switch

Lear35Reversers    – Arm Reversers switch toggle

L35ReverserNight  – Same as Lear35Reversers above except at night you also get a message in the Green Window** detailing the switch position since it is hard to see if the Reversers are armed or not at night

Lear35SteerLock     –Steering modes Toggle

L35ThrottleStart     -- Automates the throttle startup procedure including turning the generators on

Lear35YawDamper – Primary Yaw damper powered and on toggle

Lear35StopWatch  – Panel Stopwatch 3-way toggle

Lear35Spoilers       -- Toggles Spoilers on and off

Lear35Go_Around – Pushes (activates) Go Around button on left throttle

Lear35Air_IgnSw   -- Toggles the Air Ignition Switches On and Off

Lear35Radio_Alt    – Toggles radio Altimeters on and off

L35CabinAltHorn   – Silences cabin altitude warning horn

L35HdgBugSync     --  Syncs (aligns) HSI heading bug with current a/c heading

 

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If you're having difficulty with it, you are in good company with everyone who has ever flown a LearJet, even the prototype crashed with two test pilots on board when they were simulating an engine failure as part of its type certification, amazingly it actually passed despite that happening!

Rumour has it that when that LearJet 23 prototype crashed with just 194 hours of total time on it in June 1964, yet the aircraft still received an FAA type certificate the following month, it was allegedly because Bill Lear called in a favour with the FAA. I don't know if that rumour is true, but given how the LearJet is, it does make you wonder.

In spite of them having the reputation of being the coveted rich man's private jet (largely thanks to that Pink Floyd lyric which mentions them), they are notoriously awful in real life with many issues which make them come across more like a fancy kit plane with a few iffy design issues than a production jet (the tiny toggle switches being one of the many quirks which give it that feel), but for us flight simmers, that just makes it more fun and challenging; the FSW Lear does manage to convey at least some of that slight dodginess in design, which is why it is such a great add on for FS. Just be thankful you can sit in a comfy chair when flying the FSW version and don't have to squeeze into the real pilot's seat, which is notoriously uncomfortable. 

Stick with it though, it is one of the best flight sim add ons there is; the reason it is difficult to get the hang of, is because it is so close to the real thing lol

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Alan Bradbury

Check out my youtube flight sim videos: Here

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Last night, I managed to figure out how to use the GNS with autopilot. It was a fun experiment! Also found out that maybe, before using Prepar3d's built in flight planner, I just might want to use google earth to check a few elevations! LOL! A sightseeing flight at night, over mountains, is rather interesting...

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21 hours ago, Chock said:

they are notoriously awful in real life with many issues which make them come across more like a fancy kit plane with a few iffy design issues than a production jet

Let's see, Lear 20 series in production from 1962 - 1982,  Lear 30 series in production from 1973 - 2003. Having spent twenty years and 7000+ hours flying the Lear series I have no idea what you are referring to.It required two properly trained pilots with the appropriate experience level sitting up front and adherence to the operating limitations. Other that that it is a fine aircraft and it got me home safe every night, no regrets. 

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Gary Stewart

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22 hours ago, Chock said:

even the prototype crashed with two test pilots on board when they were simulating an engine failure as part of its type certification

I read that the pilot in command during this incident was the FAA examiner, the accident was due to pilot error, and that was is why it continued on to get certification. I don't know if this is true or not. I think I read it in a book about Clay Lacey.

Ted


3770k@4.5 ghz, Noctua C12P CPU air cooler, Asus Z77, 2 x 4gb DDR3 Corsair 2200 mhz cl 9, EVGA 1080ti, Sony 55" 900E TV 3840 x 2160, Windows 7-64, FSX, P3dv3, P3dv4

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Planning is key when flying departures in the Lear. If flying IFR, set your nav radios before hand and mentally preview your interception of the first leg. If VFR, use the OBS needle on the HSI as a reference for your departure heading. Putting the heading bug to the first leg's heading will also help.

Take off and get cleaned up as fast as possible (before 190 KIAS or you'll run into the flap and gear limits), then fly your departure by hand, reducing power to reduce climb rate if things move too fast after reaching 200-230 KIAS if necessary (especially when light). Intercept the first flight plan leg or your departure heading. If ATC bothers you, remember: Aviate - navigate - communicate. Once established on your departure heading with a solid climb, engage the autopilot in HDG and SPD mode. Especially SPD is great to control climb since power changes will be directly translated into vertical speed. Start dealing with everything else now. Yaw dampers, NAV mode, radios, altitude selector, landing lights, etc. After that, everything's piece of cake.

On decent, you'll find a distinct unwillingness to slow down when light, even with engines at idle. Again, planning ahead is key. Since spoilers are an "down or up" affair, be careful when using them, because you'll have to deal with quite a bit of pitching moment. Best practice is to descend and let it slow on its own. With the gear out and flaps at 8 or 20, the Lear is docile and once stabilized on approach, you can go into drag mode at flaps 40. Be prepared to throttle up though since, as far as I know, this is the mode where the real aircraft tries to kill you (if you let it). It's best to come in at slightly above Vref (+5 knots), using throttle to control decent rate.

Never paid real attention to it, but I think you need to fly it right down to touchdown or you'll rattle some teeth. So no using the ground effect and cutting power above the surface.

Trimming is a different issue. Never found the Lear to trim that well, even with reduced effectiveness in the aircraft.cfg. Probably due to the huge changes in vertical speed when changing AoA and available power.

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7950X3D + 6900 XT + 64 GB + Linux | 4800H + RTX2060 + 32 GB + Linux
My add-ons from my FS9/FSX days

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I just started flying the Lear. It will take some time to get the hang of it. Systems remind me of 1960's aircraft like the HJG DC-8 and Dream Fleet 727 which I find much more rewarding to master than modern computerized aircraft. You have to actually fly these planes. How do I assign a key to the steering lock? Having to pan down to engage/disengage using the button is distracting. Anyway I am already loving the plane.

-Randy

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1 hour ago, randyp said:

How do I assign a key to the steering lock?

See my above post regarding Lua scripts. Very easy to set up! I assigned the number "1" to the steering lock, works great.

Cheers

Martin

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