Haven't picked this one up yet - just waiting for SU15, but does this have wing flex? I'm sure I saw this in a video over the weekend during a turbulent flight and looked pretty impressive from recollection.

Yes it does. 

How do you check the exterior lights in the Duke reality, e.g. for an upcoming night flight without help? Walk around combined with the light check or walk around twice, light check and pre-flight check with the battery switched off for safety reasons?

On GA airplane usually you turn the baterry on, turn all exterior light on and you make a quick walkaround to test the light (and the stall warning) then you head back to the cockpit, turn off the batery and carry on with your normal walkaround. I suppose it is not different on the Duke (night flight or not by the way)

1 hour ago, Flusisniper said:

How do you check the exterior lights in the Duke reality, e.g. for an upcoming night flight without help? Walk around combined with the light check or walk around twice, light check and pre-flight check with the battery switched off for safety reasons?

Turning battery on for some time is not bid dial as long as you not engage other equipment that may increase load and drain battery quicker. We usually check external light, fuel gauges, and flaps (if electrically actuated ) first thing upon entering cockpit. FAA has some lights under regulatory provision depending on night or day flying, so if one of required light inop there is no point to continue complete walk around

Thanks for the competent answers.:)  The flow of the Duke at temperatures below -12 degrees Celsius has been concretized:

You get to the Duke in freezing cold.
The engine heater, independent of the aircraft power supply, will be activated.
With the battery on, the exterior lights are activated and the first inspection is carried out.
Then lights/battery off and the second exterior check is carried out.
Back in the cockpit, the battery will be activated, the GPU connected and the heating for the cabin activated.
(Even if the battery voltage is greater than 23/24 volts, I would want to connect the external power supply in this case.)
Would this be a flow that is realistic in these points, or is there potential for optimization?
Checking the pitot heater manually during the light check, realistic, or is this done exclusively via the ammeter?

Only the piston version has an AVgas heater functioning with a flame chamber Janitrol heater. The Turbine Duke version needs to have it´s royal turbines started first before it can bleed hot compressed air to heat the cabin.

I always start the pitot heater when starting to roll, these things tend to overheat without moving air 🙂

 

Thanks for the nice entry and sorry JetCat, i could have pointed that out. I only use the piston version. Switching on the pitot heater would only be a short moment for the pre-flight test. I think checking the current consumption on the ammeter should also show whether the heater is working.  I'm a bit spoiled by the comanche, where the heated pitot tube with the blue/red color change in the external check is very nicely implemented.You can almost imagine checking the pitot very briefly with one finger. :)

As far as the avgas heater on the piston version is concerned, the after-run of the fan after switching off the battery seems a bit long to me? But that's just a feeling without practical experience.

-12.  Freezing cold.  Does not compute haha.  That’s a nice day around where I work. 😂

 

That said, I’d only be preheating a piston at that temperature.  Turbine would be fine.  

55 minutes ago, Flusisniper said:

As far as the avgas heater on the piston version is concerned, the after-run of the fan after switching off the battery seems a bit long to me? But that's just a feeling without practical experience.

I think what you hear after switching off the battery is not the fan but the gyros running down? 

Martin, Wow. I'm impressed. In fact, with this hint, the background noise appears in a different light and I can hear very precisely that the fan shuts down quite quickly. After a test, I would interpret this exactly as you described. Thank you very much. 👌 Another centimeter deeper in this wonderful addon. 👨

Ok so for those of you who have updated to SU15 official release today, did the new ground handling immediately take effect and if also, what's it like, huh? Huh?  Someone please please go check it out pretty please with sugar on top, some of us are stuck at work still!!  😊🥶

19 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

Ok so for those of you who have updated to SU15 official release today, did the new ground handling immediately take effect and if also, what's it like, huh? Huh?  Someone please please go check it out pretty please with sugar on top, some of us are stuck at work still!!  😊🥶

I mean I've had it for months since I had the su15 and duke beta.  It's definitely nicer for crosswind performance.  I took a direct 15 kt today just for practice and it worked pretty well 

1 hour ago, Stoopy said:

Ok so for those of you who have updated to SU15 official release today, did the new ground handling immediately take effect and if also, what's it like, huh? Huh?

I think you have to rerun the installer and select SU15.

3 hours ago, Stoopy said:

Ok so for those of you who have updated to SU15 official release today, did the new ground handling immediately take effect and if also, what's it like, huh? Huh?  Someone please please go check it out pretty please with sugar on top, some of us are stuck at work still!!  😊🥶

It's night and day for me.

As it happens, my last three flights in the Duke before the SU15 update all had a crosswind on landing, and I was all over the place on the runway. I resolved to do some crosswind landing practice once SU15 was released, and it's much better. Feels much more predictable, much more planted, and much more like I'm actually "in contact" with the ground rather than skating over it. Braking with my rudder pedals is also more controllable. Really pleased with the updates the SU15 has brought in this area.