Excuse to post screenshot. RPMs and Oil consumption questions.

[randomTOTEN 13]

This forum has seemed pretty slow recently, so I thought I'd bump it after a flight... with some observations.

 

This if Ansett-ANA flight 253, 1957 service from Adelaide to Sydney. The PMDG DC-6A/B have been languishing in the back of my virtual hangar, in part because of spiking controls with my Logitech(Saitek) Throttle Quadrant. Those issues have been resolved now,  and I just completed a very enjoyable flight.

This shot taken approaching the Mount Gambier VOR (MTG) for a southerly detour around the continent.

Because I'm a "run the tanks dry" pilot, all 4 engines at some point experienced a power failure as they depleted all fuel in the respective AUX tank. On descent, I successfully reduced RPM from cruise to 2000, but I was unable to rev up to approach RPM of 2400 as I neared Sydney. After several attempts, and observing the Master Control Lever moving in the VC (and with positive torque applied to the engines) I was only able to regain control after moving the synchronization switch to the OFF (middle) position, then back to one of the engines, and pressing the resynchronization button. The engines surged as the propellers quickly returned to the commanded lever position... I don't know exactly what happened, but I suspect that my starvation events may have caused some problem with the prop sync coding. I also observed the inability to exit reverse thrust after slowing below 60kts on landing. Some repeated reverse bar and CTRL+F4 gave me forward thrust again.

I'm not sure what the cause of these events were, but the experience will motivate me to fly my Cloudmaster more!

My sim is FSX:Acceleration (Boxed) in Windows10(64 Bit), using ActiveSky Next for weather.

Also, is anybody burning a substantial amount of oil on longer flights? I've done LAX-CLE before and never needed to use oil in the auxiliary tank. This last flight was 3 hours long, and each engine burned under 10 gallons...

Have fun out there!

 

Robert Toten

Edited June 8, 2018 by randomTOTEN
system info

[TheFinn88 13]

Hi! Lovely screenshot!

I once flew KSNA-KMDW-CYYT-EGPK-LSZH with the Balair livery. I topped up my engine-oiltanks at CYYT before crossing the pond, and I never had to use the oil out of the AUX-tank. But my engines were still quite new. Maybe if the engines have run for some more hours, the oil consumption might actually rise and you are going to need the oil out of the AUX-tank. Don't know if this is modelled though, as I've never observed this. And on some occasions I was forced to automatically refill all the oil-tanks by creating a new Scenario, because my saved-flight was corrupted. But I think that I'm going to make me a list, where I can write in the oil-consumption per hour per engine, so I'm able to find out if the oil-consumption rises with the rising number of hours on an engine. What I really like about the PMDG DC-6 is, that every engine burns or loses a different amount of oil, even though when all four are brand-new!

I'm planning to do a second ferry-flight, this time with OH-KDA (Kar Air livery) and out of PAFA with some more stops and shorter legs to LSZH.

Edited June 8, 2018 by TheFinn88

[metzgergva 28]

If you have realistic behavior enabled then engine wear, resulting temperatures and oil consumption is modeled. The pop-up window on the engines gives an indication of the status.

[TheFinn88 13]

5 hours ago, metzgergva said:

If you have realistic behavior enabled then engine wear, resulting temperatures and oil consumption is modeled. The pop-up window on the engines gives an indication of the status.

Really nice to hear that the increase in oil consumption with engine wear is modelled! Thanks for the info!

I flew the first leg with OH-KDA from PAFA to PANC two days ago. Planning to fly the second leg from PANC to PAJN this evening (on IVAO).  But I've found some problems with the air-conditioning unit though... It doesn't seem to work as the real deal, also the mixing-valve position indicator is showing some unlogical position, e.g. for heating up the cabin. I've found a description about the A/C-system of the DC-6 on the internet. In this description, the mixing-valve has three ports, A, B and C (which corresponds to the gauge in the PMDG DC-6). Port A is cold air from the cooling turbine, port B gets cool air from the cabin superchargers which has been cooled by the aftercoolers, and Port C gets hot air from the cabin heater. So when I start with a cold&dark plane and a cabin temperautre of 65°F, and then fire up the cabin-heater and set up a cabin temperature of 75°F, the needle of the cabin mixing-valve moves right into the midde of ports A and B (between cold and cool), and the cabin heats up to 75°. But why is it heating up when the mixing valve is between cold and cool instead of cool and hot? Doesn't make sense to me... For heating the cabin up, the needle of the mixing valve should move right up to a position somewhere between ports B and C.

And powerbacks are not working for me either. Parking brakes are released, I go into reverse, and even at light weight and full reverse power the plane refuses to back up.

[downscc 1,327]

Hi Matthais:  The A/C system is only simulated to rudimentary levels.  There are many details such as this that you can find if you do the research but the product is not intended to be a study simulation.  Using reverse pitch power to back up is prohibited in the POH and in the USAF -1; sure, I've seen the YouTube videos of this done but it's not something we even tested... the engine/propeller simulation had to be extensively modified from the default to get as far as it got. This subject came up in the forum right after released as was kicked around a lot, I think some users were successful in "power backs" but it is pretty rare.  After all, very few of these get parked on a stand where they cannot easily depart forward.

[TheFinn88 13]

Good to know that powerbacks are prohibited, thanks for the info. And also for the info regarding the simplified A/C system, it's no big deal to me. And actually the six keeps me busy enough, as I'm handling the engine by myself instead of using the AFE. Here's a screenie from the second leg I've just finished succesfully (PANC-PAJN). Juneau has got an interesting approach, and the 8 knot tailwind didn't make it easier!

Edited June 28, 2018 by TheFinn88

[gazpatt 12]

Nice shot of a great plane on a route I love to fly too!

[randomTOTEN 13]

Thanks Gary,

I had a problem dealing with service volumes of VOR's and NDB's on the route.. I tried to stick to a plan which involved remaining within range, but it got me in over a hour late to Sydney. I wonder if I should have used ded reckoning and cut more directly across the continent.. I may have to try the flight again.

 

Robert Toten