PMDG DC6

[Glenn Fitzpatrick]

 

[toby23]

Is it possible to fly and control the DC6 with a 3 lever throttle (throttle, prop, mixture) and only a twist rudder with no split toe brakes?

[Chock]

10 minutes ago, toby23 said:

Is it possible to fly and control the DC6 with a 3 lever throttle (throttle, prop, mixture) and only a twist rudder with no split toe brakes?

Yup.

[toby23]

Is it still fun to control like that? I'm only asking because, based on experience with the XPlane DC6, steering a 4 engine aircraft on the ground without a 6 lever throttle was a nightmare.

[Allard]

1 hour ago, toby23 said:

Is it still fun to control like that? I'm only asking because, based on experience with the XPlane DC6, steering a 4 engine aircraft on the ground without a 6 lever throttle was a nightmare.

It might be. It's probably best to assign the left- and  middle lever to the left and right engines  and use the third lever for Prop. Mixture hardly needs to be changed in flight so you can use the virtual one.

[toby23]

Thanks for your help guys. How about braking? Does the dc6 use split toe braking to steer on the ground or rudder input? I have brakes assigned to the trigger on my flight stick as i don't have rudder pedals at the moment. Will that work with the dc6?

[robcap]

It works like a charm with a simple joystick. Steering on the ground with the twiststick is ok, , including differential braking (on low speeds), no problems here. You can select throttle per side by changing the control lock position (with the mouse) with gust locks in place. 

There is only one prop lever anyway.

Props are electrically adjusted by the mouse clicking switches.

And mixture can be adjusted by mouse clicking on the respective levers, to set the auto-rich, auto-lean or off.

I like using the mouse to click all levers and switches. Everything works and is clickable and animated in the DC6, so looking at the lever or switch and operating it with mouse is close to real life operation.

 

[toby23]

Thanks @robcap I was going to get the Aerosoft CRJ but that still seems unreliable based on what I've read and watched. Now I'm leaning to the DC-6. Is there anything that doesn't work or that is unreliable, such as ILS approach?

[Bobsk8]

Flying an steering properly with the DC6, and I have about 225 hours flying it, will be pretty difficult in my opinion unless you have a throttle, joystick-yoke, and rudder pedals with toe brakes. Crosswind landings would be extremely difficult. You can make anything work, I guess, but  flying and really enjoying flying it requires proper controls. 

[Bobsk8]

7 minutes ago, toby23 said:

Thanks @robcap I was going to get the Aerosoft CRJ but that still seems unreliable based on what I've read and watched. Now I'm leaving to the DC-6. Is there anything that doesn't work on that our that is unreliable, such as ILS approach?

ILS works great, I use it all the time. 

[toby23]

12 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

ILS works great, I use it all the time. 

Hi Bob, thanks for your feedback. I'm comfortable flying with my stick while I save for a yoke. Is there any reason why you recommend a yoke? I know that pedals help but can I still steer without them? Does the plane use rudder input on the ground to steer?

[Bobsk8]

18 minutes ago, toby23 said:

Hi Bob, thanks for your feedback. I'm comfortable flying with my stick while I save for a yoke. Is there any reason why you recommend a yoke? I know that pedals help but can I still steer without them? Does the plane use rudder input on the ground to steer?

I haven't flown with a yoke for years. I learned to hate them, and replaced them with a T16000M joystick with hall ICs.  No noise, no notchiness, just smooth control of the aircraft. And I don't have half my PC desk cluttered with a yoke assembly. Yes plane uses rudder input to steer. 

[toby23]

@Bobsk8 I remember now, you have the same setup as me, Saitek throttle and TM 16000 flightstick. Great setup 🙂 Looks like I have all I need to fly the DC-6!

[robcap]

5 hours ago, toby23 said:

Thanks @robcap Now I'm leaning to the DC-6. Is there anything that doesn't work or that is unreliable, such as ILS approach?

You will love it. I see no negative points. Complete immersion. But then again I'm a old propliner fan.

Following an ILS aproach works great with the autopilot, as well as following a VOR course (TO), backcourse is not implemented (I think).

I can imagine using pedals can have a plus side, but my good old twist stick (an AV8R 😉) still doe the job.

[elcaro]

7 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

I haven't flown with a yoke for years. I learned to hate them, and replaced them with a T16000M joystick with hall ICs.  No noise, no notchiness, just smooth control of the aircraft. And I don't have half my PC desk cluttered with a yoke assembly.

I could never get used to flying sim aircraft that I knew had yokes IRL using a joystick - just killed any semblance of immersion for me.

I fully agree that all the plastic-fantastic el cheapo yokes out there, and I've tried them all over the years - CH, Thrustmaster, Logitech...yada, yada - I learned to hate those too.  None of them come even close to being acceptable, with their slop, dragginess, and general poor contruction.

But my Virtual-Fly Yoko+ yoke is a game-changer.  I admit that axis travel is still a bit more "springy" than I'd like, unlike a yoke in a real aircraft.  But all movement is butter-smooth through the extent of both axes, and with its Hall Effect Sensors, it's quite good.  Mine's mounted on the Playseat Air Force I use for simming - all I have on my desk is my keyboard and 3 28" monitors with the sim spread across them.