FSX-MS Cold And Dark Starrts In FSX

[NavyAce 1]

Hello,

       I am hoping someone can help me with a long standing problem. FSX has, to me, a very annoying feature in that when the game loads and you select an aircraft and click Fly Now, the plane always appears on the screen with the engine running. I am a pilot in real life (retired airline captain with some SNJ time) so I want my virtual flying to be as realistic as possible. This means getting into an aircraft in a cold and dark state and doing the engine start and runup myself. To date I have not found a way to do this. One person over at A2A offered the suggestion of doing a flight with one of the default aircraft (he mentioned the tryke or the 152), shutting down after landing and taxiing to parking, then saving the flight. He said that when you selected the saved flight the next time if I was to change the player plane and location to where I wanted and then save the flight again, the next time I elected it the plane should appear in the new spot with the engine off. I tried this and the selected plane appeared in the new spot but again with the engine running. Having to go through an engine shut down checklist every time I want to do an engine start is very annoying. I realize this is built into the game as a default thing but I would certainly like to find a way around it. I would be glad to hear from anyone who has any suggestions.

                        NavyAce

 

     

 

[overspeed3 410]

There are several FSX payware aircraft offered out there that feature cold and dark options that I have in my hanger:

Several PMDG products, the Majestic Dash Q400,  and the Eaglesoft Cessna Citation.   I'm sure there are many other payware aircraft with C&D starts...  I also know of a freeware A320 - can't remember which one right now...

[johncott 177]

What you mentioned should work ok.  You start a flight with a default plane or any plane. Move the plane to the runway / parking spot you want by selecting the airport. Shutdown the aircraft. Save the flight.  Make sure you load the flight you saved and it should work ok.  You can also make this the default flight as well. This works good for me.  Have about 40 flights saved like this for the different planes I fly and they always come up cold and dark. They only issue I have sometimes, if I have turned off the fuel valve in one aircraft on shutdown and the new aircraft that I selected does not have a fuel valve, then I will not be able to start the newly selected aircraft until I switch back to the original aircraft and turn on the fuel valve, then switch back to the new plane again. Some planes also do not have an avionics switch so you may have to leave the avionics on as well be fore you switch planes. There may also be some other switches you might want to leave on before you switch aircraft, for example GPS/Nav. Some payware planes have an option to start cold and dark or plane running, you can check this out as well for your particular plane.  You can also search AVSIM file library and other sites for a cold and dark file for the particular plane you may be flying.

John Cottreau

Edited January 13, 2020 by johncott
Added loading flight and saving as default flight

[charliearon 3,017]

Previous mentions of saving a flight is OK.....but you would have to use that "saved" flight to start for every flight!

Best solution is to choose the default Baron58 (multi-engine aircraft), start a flight sitting at your favorite airport (be sure this airport is in your time zone!),  Shut down your engines, turn off the battery, make sure your avionics switch is on, set prop levers to full forward, mixture levers to full rich, parking brake on.  Now hit the ; key (semicolon) and make the title as "Saved Default Flight" and check the box "Save AS Default Flight".

Now my recommendation...(Most folks will disagree with me)  NEVER use your default flight to start anything!!!!  Any flight you choose and any aircraft will now start in a cold and dark scenario.

I normally choose my aircraft first, then choose my Starting Airport and then my Destination Airport.  Also selecting VFR or IFR, etc.

[brucets 94]

I am not a real pilot and I don't have any study level AC, but try this --- load the 172(or any FSX default AC). If the engine(s) is running set parking brake, shut it down and turn all switches to off. Then save the flight and select *make it the default flight*. Close FSX. The next time you load FSX and select any ac it should load cold and dark with the parking brake set.

Bruce

[NavyAce 1]

Thanks to all who replied. Overspeed3 I have a 3rd party PBY Catalina addon that has the cold and dark feature that you mentioned. I wish all of them came that way. Bruce, I tried your method first. I followed all the instructions but when I clicked Fly Now the selected aircraft appeared at the correct location but again with the engine running, and for some reason instead of at idle it was at full power and I rammed the terminal building! Charliearon, I tried your method next. Again I followed all the instructions exactly, using the Baron58 and configuring it as stated. When I reloaded the game and selected my plane, it loaded with the engine off and chocks in when I clicked Fly Now. I will try this with a couple of other 3rd party planes and locations but apparently you have found the sweet spot. Thanks for your help. I have another problem but I will address that in a separate post.

                                   NavyAce