Dash 7 Announced

[JYW 2,984]

I caved and bought this yesterday.

Overall, I've found it quite good fun (flying in Greenland).

There's one "killer" for me though. And that's the inability to assign any axis to the prop(s). Neither the single prop axis nor the separate 1, 2, 3, 4 prop axes can be assigned.  (I also tested many other assignments in Axis & Ohs).

Pulling one prop level back with the mouse is bad enough, but pulling all 4 back - when they are so clunky and slow to grab, and will only move once increment at a time - is pretty miserable.

I really hope they can allow the assigning of at least a single prop axis to all four engines, in a forthcoming update.

As it is, I'm just flying with the props fully forward.

The sounds are also lacking in some areas; there are absolutely no roll or touchdown sounds.  Yet some of the ambient cockpit sounds (like the batteries when engaged) are really good.

It's extremely slow and cumbersome on roll commands. I've set up a separate profile with sensitivity on zero, but it still flies like an Antonov 225! 😄

Edited November 5, 2023 by JYW

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

I am flying it now, does the auto-pilot support ILS, and if so, can someone give me a quick checklist of things for an ILS landing?

I have some parts of the auto-pilot working but not others.

FYI, so far so good, I don't regret the purchase at all, but I agree needs a new cockpit skin, hopefully someone will upload mods to Flightsim.to.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Alpine Scenery

[duesenwerni 735]

45 minutes ago, Alpine Scenery said:

can someone give me a quick checklist of things for an ILS landing

.Set ILS frequency either in the NAV radios or the gps, When on HDG mode, intercept the localizer, then watch the glide slope come down and enable APR mode. When the glideslope is caught, the ALT SELmode will go out and the plane follows the ILS.

[Paul K 1,348]

4 hours ago, JYW said:

There's one "killer" for me though. And that's the inability to assign any axis to the prop(s). Neither the single prop axis nor the separate 1, 2, 3, 4 prop axes can be assigned.  (I also tested many other assignments in Axis & Ohs).

Pulling one prop level back with the mouse is bad enough, but pulling all 4 back - when they are so clunky and slow to grab, and will only move once increment at a time - is pretty miserable.

I really hope they can allow the assigning of at least a single prop axis to all four engines, in a forthcoming update.

As it is, I'm just flying with the props fully forward.

I'm using the axis assigned to mixture control on my Saitek X52 Pro, and it works fine for propeller control.

[regis9 4,026]

Had anyone figured out the equivalent axis to use in FSUIPC?

[Adrian123 1,015]

3 hours ago, regis9 said:

Had anyone figured out the equivalent axis to use in FSUIPC?

The 4 Condition Levers in the Dash 7 are linked to:

A:TURB ENG CONDITION LEVER POSITION:1
A:TURB ENG CONDITION LEVER POSITION:2
A:TURB ENG CONDITION LEVER POSITION:3
A:TURB ENG CONDITION LEVER POSITION:4

[regis9 4,026]

Thanks, I don't see those as an axis option in FSUIPC though unless I'm missing something?

[Adrian123 1,015]

8 minutes ago, regis9 said:

Thanks, I don't see those as an axis option in FSUIPC though unless I'm missing something?

Its a Variable used.

[regis9 4,026]

Does that mean it has to be setup in FSUIPC different than an axis?  Sorry if I’m being dense here i haven’t seen anything like that in FSUIPC.

[Adrian123 1,015]

2 hours ago, regis9 said:

Does that mean it has to be setup in FSUIPC different than an axis?  Sorry if I’m being dense here i haven’t seen anything like that in FSUIPC.

Well yes and no. Its not an axis in a traditional sense. MSFS  or some use basically a switch closure for Mixture positions. I have it set up in AAO. Axis numbers 2 to 4. 2 being feather and 4 full prop.

[JYW 2,984]

19 hours ago, Paul K said:

I'm using the axis assigned to mixture control on my Saitek X52 Pro, and it works fine for propeller control.

Well fancy, I never imagined trying the mixture axes!  Great stuff, thanks for sharing.  Going to try it out now.

[Paul K 1,348]

1 hour ago, JYW said:

Well fancy, I never imagined trying the mixture axes!  Great stuff, thanks for sharing.  Going to try it out now.

Let us know if it works for you. 🙂

[JYW 2,984]

2 hours ago, Paul K said:

Let us know if it works for you. 🙂

It did Paul.  Thanks so much mate.  This hugely increases my enjoyment of the '7 😎

[regis9 4,026]

9 hours ago, Adrian123 said:

Well yes and no. Its not an axis in a traditional sense. MSFS  or some use basically a switch closure for Mixture positions. I have it set up in AAO. Axis numbers 2 to 4. 2 being feather and 4 full prop.

Thanks, I'm wondering if anyone has successfully set it up in FSUIPC?  I don't use AAO.

[JYW 2,984]

17 hours ago, regis9 said:

Thanks, I'm wondering if anyone has successfully set it up in FSUIPC?  I don't use AAO.

From what I learned from Paul K - that the condition levers are binded to the mixture axes (and not the prop axes as I'd been trying), it should work for you in FSUIPC by assigning the levers to whatever the standard mixture assignments are called.  So, if you want to bind all 4 condition levers to 1 single axis, it'll be "AXIS_MIXTURE" or similar.   If you want them as separate axes for each lever, it will be the numerical version, eg "AXIS_MIXTURE_1" or similar.

Sorry I can't be more specific.  I used FSUIPC for around 15 years, through FS9, FSX and P3D but tried it for MSFS and it was just a ghost of what it once was.  I've found AAO to be staggeringly comprehensive for the asssignment side of things.

Worth pointing out that, as per Paul's advice, I'm not using AAO for the assignments of the condition levers for the Dash 7. I've just assigned the standard MSFS axes settings for Mixture.