Stopped flying it... because I prefer single GA and 80's-'2000s tubeliners.

7 hours ago, Claudius_ said:

We are talking about home flight simulators and airplanes and everyone is free to fly pigs and cows, but I don't like the PMS solution because it hasn't the right bezel in the cockpit and you can't find it in the real world in a DC-6.

To each their own. I do this for fun and not as a job so I prefer to have some choices.

4 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

The DC-6 remains my favorite plane for oceanic celestial nav flights.  Gyropilot does a fine job at holding heading and altitude.

Is there a sextant mod for MSFS?

Ah I forgot I had the DC-6. I just purchased it with really no intention of flying it much. Other than the initial traffic patterns that I flew after initial installation, I admittedly never touched it after that.

I still fly it occasionally. I would fly it more often if I had purchaed fewer other aircraft but I have so many to choose from these days.
I mostly let the engineer manage the engines and concentrate on flying/navigation using the gyropilot/Bendix or just manual.
 

Edited November 15, 20232 yr by orchestra_nl

1 hour ago, Sonosusto said:

To each their own. I do this for fun and not as a job so I prefer to have some choices.

My problem is to know how a real DC-6 behaves in a real ILS controlled landing, because I don't have any reference, especially with the most recent WT GNS. When I was in P3D, the ILS landing was very different, it wasn't necessary to activate the Alt Hold, and you could intercept the ILS frequency from almost any angle, it's very different now in FS20! What's the real behavior?

Would love to fly it but I need a working gyropilot.

They also promised a whole host of effects for the engine smoke when the SDK would add the particle effects and they never did anything about it or even mentioned it again, although the SDK has supported it for years now.

5 hours ago, Mace said:

Is there a sextant mod for MSFS?

A great one!  And it's about to get even better, with manual user manipulation of the shot itself, and then autocompletion of the precomputation form, and even autoplotting.  This is in a beta version that should be out soon.  But the current version comes with great documentation / a tutorial to teach you how it all works.  You just have to do some of the grunt work yourself... Soon there will be automated options though.  I've done a little testing of the new stuff and it's awesome.

https://flightsim.to/file/17738/celnav-for-msfs-celestial-navigation-sextant

21 minutes ago, Stearmandriver said:

A great one!  And it's about to get even better, with manual user manipulation of the shot itself, and then autocompletion of the precomputation form, and even autoplotting.  This is in a beta version that should be out soon.  But the current version comes with great documentation / a tutorial to teach you how it all works.  You just have to do some of the grunt work yourself... Soon there will be automated options though.  I've done a little testing of the new stuff and it's awesome.

https://flightsim.to/file/17738/celnav-for-msfs-celestial-navigation-sextant

One of my first trips to Thule Greenland in a C 118 ( DC6 Military version), I went up to the flight deck and was talking to the crew. They showed me this small window in the ceiling and they said they used that to look at the stars so they would know where we were. Needless to say, I was glad when we landed, and they didn't get lost. 😉

4 hours ago, BMIBaby said:

Would love to fly it but I need a working gyropilot.

It works just fine for me. What problem are you noticing? I will note that it did have some problems but it wasn't an issue for everyone. Some never had a problem tracking etc.

2 hours ago, Makinen11 said:

They also promised a whole host of effects for the engine smoke when the SDK would add the particle effects and they never did anything about it or even mentioned it again, although the SDK has supported it for years now.

Yeah, the smoke part is a disappointment but there is a mod I've been using for over a year and it works really well.

https://flightsim.to/file/37108/pmdg-dc-6-startup-smoke-effect

2 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

One of my first trips to Thule Greenland in a C 118 ( DC6 Military version), I went up to the flight deck and was talking to the crew. They showed me this small window in the ceiling and they said they used that to look at the stars so they would know where we were. Needless to say, I was glad when we landed, and they didn't get lost. 😉

Tell me about it!  This stuff is fascinating to play with in the sim, but the prospect of striking out across an ocean in reality with nothing but dead reckoning and a sextant is terrifying.  😬

1 hour ago, Stearmandriver said:

the prospect of striking out across an ocean in reality with nothing but dead reckoning and a sextant is terrifying.  😬

Nah, it's proven tech. A good navigator is no worse than GPS.

🥴

24 minutes ago, F737MAX said:

Nah, it's proven tech. A good navigator is no worse than GPS.

🥴

Oh it's for sure proven... I've done it in sailboats.  Just seems different in an airplane ;).

5 minutes ago, Stearmandriver said:

 I've done it in sailboats.  Just seems different in an airplane ;).

Yes. You can go wrong further and a lot faster in an aeroplane!

From someone who just about managed to use paper maps and a compass, celestial navigation is an art form.