Aeroplane Heaven C-119 in P3D v5.1

[rmeier 473]

I just picked up the AH C-119. Although not officially supported in P3D v5, I'm wondering if anyone has this aircraft working correctly in the latest version of P3D?

I can't seem to get the aircraft started! The manual is not very helpful. There is one video link on Youtube that does outline the start-up procedure (similar to what the manual shows for pre-flight):

I've followed the same procedure in the attached video...no luck in v5.

The aircraft will start with "Control+E".

I'm guessing I need to make a tweak to either the full flow gain or starter torque (or both) to improve the start-up in v5. I haven't looked into that yet.

Anyone experience this start issue in P3D v5 with this aircraft?

I've only flown it once for a test flight so far...the graphics are pretty good and the flight handling (hand flying) is also pretty decent. Love the old school steam gauges. (And, it's a very inexpensive sim.)

Any help/tips for starting would be appreciated!

Thanks, Rob

Edited January 26, 2021 by rmeier
P3D auto start update "Control+E"

[Chock 17,769]

Here's how you start her up if you don't want to use Control+E...

Make sure you have some fuel on board and make sure the two guarded switches under red covers (up at the front of the overhead on the left and right sides) for the engine fuel controls are open (on). Increase the mixture levers to full (unless you are at a high altitude airport, in which case don't take them up all the way). Crack the throttle levers open about an inch.

Now again up on the overhead, turn the battery switch on. Now find the big magneto switches in the middle of the overhead. Choose the left (port engine) magneto switch and turn it on all the way to the right.

Now find the engine primer switches over on the left side of the forward overhead and turn the left one on. This will prime the cylinders with fuel on the port engine. Now just ahead of that switch, find the four engine starter and mesh switches (a set of two switches for each engine). We'll start the port engine first.

Flick the left engine starter switch on, the inertia starter will commence turning. If you are not familiar with inertia starters, these are basically a big heavy flywheel on the bottom of the engine which can be spun electrically via the battery, they are like the flywheel you find in those friction-engined toy cars, where the weight of the spinning flywheel is able to impart a lot of energy so your toy car goes a long way. In an inertia starter, the flywheel gets wound up electrically and spins up to several thousand RPM, then the weight of it is such that if you engage the engine crankshaft with the mesh switch, the inertia of the starter's spinning flywheel forces the engine crankshaft to turn with enough force to get the cylinders past the compression stroke to allow the engine to fire its spark plugs and ignite the fuel which you primed the engine with, and it will hopefully then keep on running. So give it a few seconds on the starter to let the flywheel build up some speed, then flick the left mesh switch on (this is basically the same as when you bump start a car and drop it into gear when it is rolling). This will engage the clutch for the inertia starter, connecting it to the engine's crankshaft, and the engine should then start turning and fire up. You may have to nurse it a bit with the throttle until it stabilises.

Now repeat the process with the magneto, starter, and mesh switches for the number 2 (starboard engine). When both engines are running smoothly, turn off the primer switches and then select any electrical services you need on the overhead, including the engine generator switches. You will need to lean off the engines as you climb, especially if you have cargo on board, because the C-119 is not a very fast aeroplane and it creates more drag than RuPaul, but it is one of the most fun to operate old bangers you can get for P3D, especially challenging to get it up across mountain ranges with a heavy load on board, and its night lighting is amazing. I hope they port it over to MSFS, because it is sorely missed in the new sim.

Now just prior to taxying out for the runway, select a suitable rock track from the Vietnam war era - Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, The Doors The End, that sort of thing - and enjoy that mixed with the sound of those twin R-4360s and big props.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Chock

[rmeier 473]

Alan,

Thank you for the reply (and the humour)!

What you described is what I've been trying to do...unsuccessfully so far! With a couple of differences, I've been trying to start #2 engine first...that shouldn't make a difference...maybe it does??? The other difference: I've been setting the inverters/hydraulic brake before start as indicated in the manual and the video. I figured out the slight throttle increase by watching the fuel flow...unfortunately, the video doesn't indicate a "starting" fuel flow.

I'll try your method again later on when I get a chance.

Agree...it is a pretty good looking model...hope to fly this one soon!

Thank you again for your feedback!

Regards, Rob

[Chock 17,769]

For those of you who fly in MSFS too, I can report that it is possible to port the C-119 over to that sim. There are plenty of things on it which don't work sadly, but you can at least fly it and use the autopilot, so you can get a bit of a fix in MSFS for all the cool stuff P3D has an abundance of. It is better in P3D of course with everything functioning, so this is more of a heads up than a call to jump ship.

 

[rmeier 473]

OK...so after a little more troubleshooting tonight...

I tried Alan's start procedure above with Engine 1 first. To my surprise, there was no start sound on that side. Tried again with Engine two; start sounds worked but no start.

Figured I may have had a bad installation...re-installed with A/V off.

Still the same observations as above after re-installing the aircraft into P3D.

I then went into the aircraft.cfg file and artificially increased the "normalized_starter_torque" from 0.3347 to 5.0. With this change I was able to get engine 2 started (with an indicated fuel flow of at least 75 pph). Some success!

Still no sound/ability to manually start engine 1. I can still use "Control+E" to start engine 1 after engine 2 is running (although, that kind of kills the immersion).

I am now guessing I have a corrupted gauge file somewhere within the CAB file.

I guess now I'll reach out to Aeroplane Heaven and see if they have any solutions for this oddity.

[hanss 2]

All,

When I install the C-119 in prepar3dv5.1, the simulator starts loading, however when at 100% it crashes. So I don't even get to starting the engines. It worked perfectly in prepar3dv4.5.

When researching the site of AH, I can't find whether the C-119 is compatible or not with prepar3dv5.1.

Can somebody help me with some advice.

Thanks in advance

Hans

[rmeier 473]

Hans,

You'll need to install the A2A windshield rain effects into the panel folder of your aircraft. Replace the original file with the new one from A2A...can't remember if it needs to be renamed. (I'm assuming that's the cause of your CTD.)

https://a2asimulations.com/product/a2a-rain-effect-for-p3dv4/

The plane is working well for me in P3D v5.1 (now that AH has helped me with the start issue...turns out there is a 1.5 second delay between the starter and mesh switches). Support from them is great!

Rob

Edit: On a side note, Aeroplane Heaven's compatibility notes indicate the Autopilot (GPS) will not work for P3D v4+. I simply used the RXP installer to replace the default GPS and VC GPS with the RXP530...the RXP works without issue in this aircraft. (Of course, I'm only using the GPS after level flight...take-off, climb and landing is all hand flown.)

Edited February 1, 2021 by rmeier

[hanss 2]

Thanks Rob, I'll give it a try.

Hans

[hanss 2]

Hi Rob,

It works. 

Thanks a lot.

Regards

Hans

[crushnik 2]

How do you get it to install in P3D v5? AH has made their P3D aircraft available for free but it won't show up in the ORBX Central installer.

[crushnik 2]

Figured it out: Use REGEDIT to add Prepar3D v4 to your registry, but point it to your Prepar3D v5 path. Create a Prepar3D v4 folder in your Program Data\Lockheed Martin folder and copy/paste v5's scenery.cfg and terrain.cfg.

v4 should be a selectable sim in Orbx Central and you can download Aeroplane Heaven's v4 aircraft.

After installation, copy your ORBX Backups\p3dv4\Aeroplane Heaven C-119 Fairchild folder to ORBX Backups\p3dv4 and your plane should appear.