Had to increase the delay between pulling and releasing the flywheel clutch.   Had to use two delays because one wasn't long enough.   The first example didn't release all of the energy from the inertial starter,  and you could still barely hear the flywheel.

LEFT ENGINE

RIGHT ENGINE

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Waldo Pepper

When set to DME,  lower radio displays gyro heading in degrees,  and radio frequency.   Lower outer knob controls band,   lower inner controls frequency.  STBY switch short press toggles Radio CW mode.

 

 

5 hours ago, Bucksnort said:

With all the unwarranted engine problems I'm reading about in the 247D, can you disable "Engine" and "Airframe" damage in MSFS 2020 and stop the problems?  I'm going to buy the 247D in the near future regardless, but have been waiting to see if there are bugs to be ironed out with an update or two.  Thanks!

In fairness, I think some of it is user error. Not all of it, but it's worth bearing in mind that whilst the early variants of the Boeing 247 had Townend Ring cowlings, the later D model (which is the version depicted in this add on) had NACA cowling rings.

These do cool the cylinder heads, but their primary purpose is to improve aerodynamic airflow, so they are not as effective in cooling as the opening cowling gills found on some DC-3s, (depending on whether they have Wright or P&W engines, and not always that great at doing the job either). Thus it genuinely was a consideration on the Boeing 247 with regard to engine settings to prevent overheating, as indeed it was on the contemporary DC-2 as anyone who ever had the excellent UIVER DC-2 for FS2004 will readily confirm. 

I wouldn't let this put you off getting this Boeing 247, in my opinion it is one of the best add-ons we've seen so far for MSFS, not least because it is very detailed, but also because it is not at all expensive and in fact is a real bargain which I would cheerfully have paid a lot more for. If you like things such as Big Radial's equally excellent Goose, you will certainly find a place in your heart for this thing.

The 247 is literally my favourite aeroplane of all time, one which I've absolutely been in love with ever since I was a kid, and so if anyone is going to be picky about one for a simulator, it would probably be me, but I am really happy with it. If I had crazy billionaire money, I would literally spend every cent I had getting one of these things airworthy as my own personal toy! If I was being really picky, I'd have liked to have seen an early option with the raked forward windscreen, but you can't have everything can you? I think it would be cool if they did an expansion for it which featured that though, and yes, I'd happily pay a lot for that as well.

With regard to some people having issues and what can be done to alleviate this, there are quite a few options. This sim options themselves can be used to disable any unwanted damage modeling effects, but the clipboard in the cockpit of this 247 also has options for this. There are three selectable choices on that clipboard which can be enabled or disabled: realistic starting, engine damage modeling, and electrical damage modeling. Supporting these choices, there are also clipboard and in-cockpit 3D model features which play a role in this too, including working fuse boxes with spare fuses available that you can literally change if you like, plus an A2A-esque set of pages on the clipboard to allow one the option of servicing the aeroplane, including selecting different oil grades and repairing stuff via a virtual ground crew. This is the kind of stuff you rarely see on an add-on which is coming in at less than 20 quid, so it's really impressive in terms of bang for your bucks. If you were waiting for something like an A2A add-on with all of those tinkering options to play with, then this will scratch that itch for sure.

The need to start the engine using the actual methods on the real thing can therefore be done by yourself, or via the assistance of a virtual crew, or if one disables the damage modeling and realistic start options on the clipboard, the engines will fire up with Control+E, so there is no need to feel any of this stuff will stop you from enjoying the thing. However, using manually-cranked inertia starters was a common thing on aeroplanes even ten years after the first 247 flew (for example on the Stearman and the bf-109), so it is kind of fun and educational to have the option to do this, and it is very well implemented.

In terms of how it flies, this too is very good. It may possibly have a roll rate which is perhaps a tiny bit nippier than the real thing had, but it's not far off it and for the most part it seems right on the numbers in terms of performance (the real thing could actually take off on one engine, which was a big safety feature of it). 3D modeling and texture-wise it ticks all the boxes too, with some good livery choices which are well done and it enjoys a model which genuinely does capture the look and feel of the real thing.

So in my opinion its a no-brainer choice for purchase, offering as it does, the opportunity to fly the aeroplane which was literally the first modern airliner, the one which heavily-influenced the design of things such as the rival Douglas DC-3 and Boeing's own B-17 Flying Fortress, which took many design cues from the 247.

 

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Chock

12 hours ago, Fielder said:

You are correct. In Morse a dot is 1 time unit long. A dash in 3 time units. Therefore a steady stream of dots sounds like a machine gun. Such as the number 5 which sounds like dididididit 

When learning Morse (such as for a ham license) you are taught to never learn how many dots or dashes or their order forms a letter. Instead you ONLY memorize the sound associated with each letter and number. Otherwise if you know the order and number of dots and dashes, then you will start to count them as you listen. Which is a very time consuming extra step.

If someone asked me what are the dots and dashes to make an L, I have no clue. But I can send and receive messages by listening to Morse at 25 words per minute, because I know what an L and the other letters sound like.

This is why schools teaching look/say reading in 1st grade will produce faster readers than if teaching phonetics. With phonetics you are doing an extra step which slows you down. Instead of just looking and saying, you would be looking, sounding out, and then saying. A time consuming extra third step.

An A is iambic diDAH. An N is trochaic DAHdit.

Therefore when you are flying directly at the station transmitter you will hear both the A and N at the same time. So it sounds like a steady tone DAAAAAAAAAAAH (because the dashes and dots are covering up the silent spaces between the tones). It is easier than following a needle because you don't have to look at a gauge, just listen as you bank.

You also know when you are directly over the transmitter because the A's and N's reverse and you therefore hear nothing at all for a brief time you are passing overhead.

The downside is when you hear an A or N you don't have any clue about the direction to the station nor the distance to it. You have to change course and listen to find that direction and  you have to fly to the station to know what that distance was (which has now become zero).

Thank you very much for the explanation and insight!

An interesting video to go along with the subject:

 

Really surprised to see this on the Marketplace already so congrats to the dev for getting through the MS bureaucracy - hopefully the combination of quality and price will deliver the sales on there that this plane deserves.

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Matchstick

2 hours ago, Matchstick said:

Really surprised to see this on the Marketplace already so congrats to the dev for getting through the MS bureaucracy - hopefully the combination of quality and price will deliver the sales on there that this plane deserves.

I didn't realise it would be on the marketplace so soon! That's great news! I've been holding off getting it until it was because I'm rubbish at keeping up with updates for non-marketplace add-ons. 

On 4/3/2022 at 4:05 AM, CaptainNick said:

Not a bad buy for $20 bucks. Its a cool quirky plane. I wish some of the textures and modeling were better but thats only because we are spoiled in MSFS now but at $20 bucks its a fun diversion.

I know this is going to sound sacrilegious but I do wish we had the option for a single GPS of any kind. Whether it was a 530 or 430 or 750NXI just to be able to use it in certain spots. Kinda like the Goose did with the pop up panel holding it. No Autopilot though as Its a real joy to hand fly. 

Not sacrilegious. Many older planes are retrofitted with modern avionics.

Great airplane which sorely miss autopilot. Still each flight is mystery one can baby sit engine keep temps and pressure  happy for hours until they suddenly quit without any logical explanation LOL

There's an oddity in the fuel system that I thought I was seeing, and just took the time to explore that a bit more. This might explain some of the engine starting problems some are seeing. 

I noticed early on that the MSFS menu fuel GUI and the 247's clipboard fuel GUI were not in sync. One GUI could show empty, and the other GUI could show full at the same time. Changing the fuel amount in one GUI doesn't change the other. All along and not knowing the difference I've been making sure both GUIs had fuel and as a result have had zero issues with manual starts unless I forgot to follow correct procedure and left something turned off.

What I just found on my end is that if you have fuel in the 247's clipboard fuel GUI and not in the MSFS fuel GUI, you won't get any fuel pressure from the wobble pump handle. This equals no engine start. If you have fuel in the MSFS fuel GUI and not in the 247's fuel GUI, you get fuel pressure with the wobble pump, but the engines won't start as though the tanks are empty.

So, on my end the simple fix for this starting issue has been to make sure both GUI's have fuel, which I was doing already.

On this next flight I'll pay more attention to whether there is a difference between the GUIs in fuel usage.

Forest

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by FAC257

14 minutes ago, FAC257 said:

There's an oddity in the fuel system that I thought I was seeing, and just took the time to explore that a bit more. This might explain some of the engine starting problems some are seeing. 

I noticed early on that the MSFS menu fuel GUI and the 247's clipboard fuel GUI were not in sync. One GUI could show empty, and the other GUI could show full at the same time. Changing the fuel amount in one GUI doesn't change the other. All along and not knowing the difference I've been making sure both GUIs had fuel and as a result have had zero issues with manual starts unless I forgot to follow correct procedure and left something turned off.

What I just found on my end is that if you have fuel in the 247's clipboard fuel GUI and not in the MSFS fuel GUI, you won't get any fuel pressure from the wobble pump handle. This equals no engine start. If you have fuel in the MSFS fuel GUI and not in the 247's fuel GUI, you get fuel pressure with the wobble pump, but the engines won't start as though the tanks are empty.

So, on my end the simple fix for this starting issue has been to make sure both GUI's have fuel, which I was doing already.

On this next flight I'll pay more attention to whether there is a difference between the GUIs in fuel usage.

Forest

I just fuel inside MSFS via Wing42 knee pad and then press "make it so". Now it works every time!

I'll try that on the next flight after I land. I've been using the "Make It So" for the passengers & baggage. Didn't think about it for the fuel. 

Thanks for that one!

Forest

10 hours ago, Stoopy said:

Thank you very much for the explanation and insight!

An interesting video to go along with the subject:

 

One thing the video shows is that you always know which transmitter is tuned because of the frequency the radio is set to receive.

I had no idea this feature existed 7:55 "the A and N signals are interupted every 37 seconds for station Identification signals". I had no idea this feature was in the old American Radar Range system because the Milviz Sky King T-50 Bobcat had a radar range receiver but there were no station ID signals and you had to ID by frequency on the dial. This was a favorite of mine back in FSX.

https://milviz.com/flight/products/T50/index.php

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Fielder

1 hour ago, FAC257 said:

I'll try that on the next flight after I land. I've been using the "Make It So" for the passengers & baggage. Didn't think about it for the fuel. 

Thanks for that one!

Forest

Yes I refuel and top off oil manually via kneepad before "make it so" 

Two successful one hour flights today:

I have more luck with SAE30

1 hour ago, sd_flyer said:

I have more luck with SAE30

That's what I run in it.  The good stuff, either Valvoline or Castrol GTX.  None of that Pennzoil garbage!