Black Square Duke Released!

[orchestra_nl 971]

3 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

then end up either zooming in or out of the cockpit view... 

That is why I changed the mousewheel zoom to only work when I press the wheel at the same time. This only works if the mouse wheel acts as a button as well of course.

It is a bit finniky to setup in the interface but prevents accidental zooming.

 

[orchestra_nl 971]

3 hours ago, Treetops45 said:

So, I am say 10 miles out at 1,800'. I am a bit confused about the order of what to push when as regards the APPR button & the GS button. Which should I hit first?

Only the APPR button, once you are in range. The GS will automatically switch on when glideslope is intercepted.

[ryanbatc 13,089]

4 hours ago, Treetops45 said:

Would appreciate some guidance on the steps to take to manage an ILS landing in the Turbo Duke.

Using the TDS GPS I have an ILS approach into KBOS Rwy 33L with 110.70 entered in the Nav1 spot. I pull the Rwy ILS frequency. from either fsxmap or LittleNavMap. Now & then there can be a discrepancy between the frequency for a Rwy I am approaching & I think the frequency is given somewhere in MSFS Scenario, but I don't know where. I figure that the MSFS frequency will be the one the sim will be using. How do I find it?

So, I am say 10 miles out at 1,800'. I am a bit confused about the order of what to push when as regards the APPR button & the GS button. Which should I hit first?

T45

 

My technique is to be in HDG and ALT mode and on a 30 degree intercept heading.  Example if the final at BOS 33L is 330, you should either be heading 300 or 360 depending on what side you are approaching from.

Once the CDI needle on the HSI starts moving I press APR mode.

[sloppysmusic 320]

Bedtime now for me after late night Duking. Here's my observations from final flights:

Shot first ILS in B60 factory using straight in ILS 14R at AYPY. Very easy test from North. Used GNS530.430 as old favourites. GNS assigned correct ILS as MAIN. Selected VLOC/APP modes and she flew right down to threshold in choppy conditions no issues.

GNS 530 bugged with duplicate flight plan entries. 430 was fine. They were both slaved fortunately. Not as good as my realityxp units from fsx. Might not use again but glad I recalled how to use them!

VNAV descent advice was poor. Programmed 6000 23 miles before the 3000 WP but got me there 50 miles before. Back to 750 from now on.

The hidden pitch click spot is indeed a click right of ALT gauge but on my plane up arrow/down pitch ONLY.  So useful for DES no help with climb. 

The hidden cowl flaps CLOSE dual button hidden hold press worked fine but again only CLOSED option. Why not for OPEN too? Takes almost a minute to open both one at a time!

During that flight I changed mixture on cruise and lost all engine sounds. Thought engine died but changing MIX again turned sound back on.

Then...started final flight to island 250 miles away. Got to 29k for 30k cruise and...the engines disappeared again. This time they were windmilling and dead. Took me a few to react as thought was sound bug again. Nope. Checked radar/engine repair and saw 100/95% so I had NOT blown them up. Plane was starting to glide down now (30% fuel) so I restarted right engine but forgot to feather first. It started fine but now plane started stall/spin/dive which overstressed frame/end flight in seconds.

There was no warning of engine failure. I suspect a mixture issue as past critical altitude of 24k for turbo charger effectiveness? But to just KILL both engines at once no warning was disappointing.

Was going to switch to the other Duke 60 tomorrow but will do another 30k cruise flight see if this happens again.

Loving the plane, think it still needs tweaking though, especially the hidden hotspots to add bidirectional movement not just single.

[Gerwil 179]

6 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I was thinking about the rocker switch on the pedestal. It's super-awkward to interact with..

That must be one of the small (or big) advantages of VR compared to a monitor. In VR I just have to look at the switch once, put my thumb (mouse pointer) on it and can look forward again. The mouse stays where it is, no bezels limiting that. I can then adjust the pitch with the mouse wheel while looking at the vs indicator.

[ryanbatc 13,089]

1 hour ago, sloppysmusic said:

 

Loving the plane, think it still needs tweaking though, especially the hidden hotspots to add bidirectional movement not just single.

Interesting.  Didn't experience that during testing.  Doesn't mean there isn't an issue though.

For the hidden spots, does using the mouse wheel work?  

[sloppysmusic 320]

4 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

For the hidden spots, does using the mouse wheel work? 

Sadly no. I tried every click, left right and wheel i could. The giveaway is that the tool tip is an UP arrow there with no corresponding DOWN arrow. 

[Cpt_Piett 4,874]

Absolutely love this livery @ryanbatc - thanks! Changed it to the reg. nr. for the first aircraft I flew IRL - an Aussie 152 - and of course with a Nepali prefix, for the occasion (hope I got it right!). First time I've used dynamic registration - didn't know it was that simple. 

[Treetops45 1,083]

9 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

 

Loving the plane, think it still needs tweaking though, especially the hidden hotspots to add bidirectional movement not just single.

Do you have "Failures" turned off? 

T45

[sloppysmusic 320]

1 hour ago, Treetops45 said:

Do you have "Failures" turned off?

Absolutely! I checked before I even started the plane for the first time.

 

EDIT: I noticed as mentioned earlier that one engine was at 95% condition despite failures being OFF. I presume this means that maintenance/usage failures are permanently ON then? So IF I deliberately abuse the plane running throttles flat out all the time the engines WILL fail? Therefore I'm also assuming the failures menu is for random or instant deliberate failure injection but the plane has permanently enabled SERVICE/USAGE failures left ON all the time?

That's fine by me but I suspect some users would like the option for the plane to be 'bullet-proof' despite abuse/mishandling for their particular usage?

Edited May 14 by sloppysmusic
More info

[bendead 1,090]

What would be the best GTN750 to use with this plane, TDS or PMS50?

[Cpt_Piett 4,874]

2 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

EDIT: I noticed as mentioned earlier that one engine was at 95% condition despite failures being OFF. I presume this means that maintenance/usage failures are permanently ON then? So IF I deliberately abuse the plane running throttles flat out all the time the engines WILL fail? Therefore I'm also assuming the failures menu is for random or instant deliberate failure injection but the plane has permanently enabled SERVICE/USAGE failures left ON all the time?

I think it’s the same with all BS aircraft. For some reason I’ve not mishandled the engines (yet) in the Duke. I remember in the Caravan, my first BS aircraft, I got a “chip detector” warning on the annunciator panel. That turned out to be, well, bits of engine floating around somewhere. That’s when I learned never to over torque the turboprop engines. Not saying you did though. But I don’t think it’s possible to disable this “feature”.

[sloppysmusic 320]

40 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

That’s when I learned never to over torque the turboprop engines

I learned that from my RealAir DT days! Have only used the factory B60 so far until I've got it perfected. 

On an unrelated BS (!) matter, I stopped using the previous models B58/KingAir/Baron has I found for some reason the autopilot ignored my set baro readings and only used the actual current outside pressure. For example, I'm above TRAN ALT (10000 for example) so set 2992 with cruise set for 17k. Aircraft levels at 17300 though. After much messing around I pressed B key out of desperation and BINGO ac now descends to ALT SET of 17k!

If I never use STD 2992/1013 then there is no issue but of course I do....especially in Europe with STD being as low as 3000ft sometimes. This issue also means that even if I do not set STD that if the pressure has changed at all since take off the AP will NEVER be able to cruise at set altitude. Only where it READS the current outside pressure reads that altitude at.

Very annoying! The current B60 does NOT seem to have that issue BTW.

Was wondering if this was an MSFS default bug or just the BS.

[Stoopy 1,621]

Can anyone confirm that engine wear is persistent and cumulative?  I have a fair number of flights in the factory B60 piston Duke and both engines are still at 100% condition - NOT that I'm complaining!  I'm looking after them with tender loving care. 

I have had one system failure so far and i was electrical (NAV lights).  i just wasn't expecting an electrical failure before even the slightest bit of wear showed on the engines.  On a Brit plane with Lucas electronics, maybe.  But not a good ol' Beechcraft product!

[Ron Lefebvre 127]

My engines are already at 92 and 94%. Probably taking off to hot on my first trips.

A little early for wear and tear. about 10 hours of flight