Alan_A

Hope I didn't confuse things - what I found (and what confused me in the first place) was that there was a new thread, and then in the middle of the discussion the posts suddenly jumped over to the necrothread (is that a term?) So I thought somebody had just posted a reply in the wrong place. I was thinking that the posts from the necrothread needed to be moved over to the new one. Doesn't matter, the point is to get everything in one place - which it now is. So I guess it's good. Thanks for your help and I'm sorry if I made any extra/unnecessary work for you.

Hey, guys - the rest of this discussion seems to have gotten attached to an old Connie thread. The rest of the replies are over here. Maybe a mod can stitch them together. I'll self-report this post and see if we can make that happen.

Here's a good place to start - a set of YouTube tutorials by sim CFI, specific to the A2A Constellation. This is the main one... And there's another one about the use of the ADF... If you've got the time, here's a complete flight on Pilot Edge that he streamed. For lots of good general information on how to fly propliners, check out the tutorials at Cal Classics. There's a lot that's different from the jetliners you're used to. For example, you won't want to chop power and descend at two thousand feet per minute, because that will kill your engines. Standard practice was to descend at three hundred feet per minute under slightly reduced power. You can download their extensive PDF tutorial here. If you're totally new to old-school navigation, you might want to try a few sessions with a smaller, lighter airplane like a Cessna 172 (EDIT: or the Baron in the Captain Mac video that DrumsArt linked to in the post above), where things don't move as fast. On the other hand, no harm in jumping into the Connie - the worst you'll do is bend some sim metal, which is what sims are for. Finally, stop by the A2A forums - you'll find a lot of knowledgeable people on the Connie subform who'll be happy to help. You're in for a fun experience - enjoy!

ASN turbulence plays badly with many add-ons, especially those like A2A's Accu-Sim aircraft that transfer some of the flight modeling outside the sim. The solution that works for me (and for others - I came across in years ago on the forums but can't remember who deserves the credit) is to reduce ASN's turbulence effect scalar to 30. Default is 70. I think that might be equivalent to the P3D.cfg tweak that snave suggests in the linked thread (not sure - haven't tried getting at it via the P3D.cfg, only the ASN settings). If you do that, you can leave all the other wind and turbulence settings at default, but the exaggerated turbulence excursions will be turned down. Give it a try.

+1 for a livestream. Unfortunately, due to a family obligation, I'll have to be traveling on June 9th - not to Vegas but to Philadelphia, the Vegas of the North. Or, actually, slightly to the northeast. And not really that much like Vegas, when you think about it. So, really, not north and not like Vegas. So... 90 minutes mostly to the northeast and nothing remotely like Vegas... So... yes... livestream. Could you?

Seems that the smoke effects file was misplaced by the installer. Supposed to be addressed along with other known issues in the next couple of days. See this thread on the Aerosoft support forum.

See, being of a different turn of mind, I found myself googling to find out when RSR bought Tabitha May. No luck, though - that was 2011. But maybe he was thinking about a DC-3 ten years ago...

If you love the MAAM DC-3, you owe it to yourself to try Manfred Jahn's freeware version - better than most payware, and the team members include some of the MAAMsim crew, including Jan Visser, who's responsible for the wonderful "vintage VC." Flight dynamics are by Alexander Metzger, who's also responsible for the PMDG DC-6. Because this is a freeware project, it can take a little work to track down the files and updates you need - fortunately, this post from the A2A forums lists them all, and provides links to the main ones. Enjoy!

Something else to check - is your default flight cold and dark? Mine is, and my experience has been that the DC-6 won't give me a successful engine start if I load it straight into the sim. What works is to load a simple default aircraft (the Piper Cub will do), start it using CNTL-E, then load the DC-6. The DC-6 will have its engines running. Select cold and dark to shut everything down. Then you can go through your startup sequence and if your system is like mine, you'll get a good start. This issue may be particular to my system, but from past forum discussions I know of one other user who had it - it was, in fact, that user's post that got me to this solution. If this doesn't apply to you, then of course disregard it. But I hope it's helpful.

Excellent decision and IMHO overdue. Maybe someday I'll explain why I feel that way. For the moment, congratulations, and I'll look forward to visiting you in your own house.

It was the same with me, as you can tell from that earlier thread - I was absolutely convinced that I was missing something about DC-6 startup technique, or there was something quirky about the airplane compared to others I'd used. It was only after several days of frustration that JRS182 put me onto the default flight as a possible cause. I'm not sure how many people set the aircraft in their default flights to cold-and-dark. I do it because I fly a lot of third-party GA airplanes that can't easily be set to cold and dark using a menu command, which means that if they load with engines running, you've got to go through all the manual steps to shut them down. It's a bit of an immersion killer. But anyone using a standard engines-running default flight won't be affected. Makes it very hard to narrow down. Of course, if the OP doesn't start his sim the way I do, then we're back to square one. Just part of what makes simming so exciting...

Thanks for chiming in. But the issue I'm describing is unique to the DC-6. I normally load PMDG aircraft directly into the sim, as PMDG generally instructs. But in the case of the DC-6, this prevented engine start. Loading my default flight and starting the engines solved the problem. No other aircraft on my system (there are many, and they're complex) has been similarly affected. Here's the long thread from soon after the release of the P3D version of the DC-6 where the problem was discussed. FYI that it also includes a lot of insight and a variety of techniques for starting radial engines. Here's the post (from member JRS182) that first put me onto the issue with the cold-and-dark default flight. A discussion about it follows. Our flightsim computers are certainly complex and quirky, and it's possible that there's something on my system (and JRS182's) that doesn't affect other users. But that doesn't mean that the problem doesn't exist. At minimum, why don't we see if any of this applies to the OP's problem? If it does, then there's something in the DC-6 that's worth investigating. If not, we can go back to talking about startup technique. Does that make sense?

Quick question for the OP - how are you loading the aircraft into the sim? I couldn't get the engines to start until I discovered that the DC-6 doesn't like being loaded directly into the sim in a cold-and-dark state if your default flight includes a cold-and-dark default aircraft. I use a cold-and-dark default flight to make sure that other aircraft don't load with engines running. But something in that setup keeps the DC-6 from starting. My guess is that some system (maybe fuel?) fails to initialize properly. Whatever the cause, the result is that the DC-6's engines will crank, then die, no matter how your mixtures are set or how you time the primer, start and boost. The solution is to load a default aircraft, then start it using CNTL +E, then load the DC-6 (its engines will be running), then set the DC-6 to cold-and-dark using the PMDG menus. You can now go through your startup routine and get good starts with only the usual amount of balking - typically I get one engine that needs a second attempt, but that's it. I puzzled over this behavior for the longest time when I first bought the aircraft. I'm a years-long veteran of A2A aircraft and was a small part of the beta team on the latest edition of Manfred Jahn's C-47, so I'm no stranger to the amount of creativity required to start a radial engine. But I couldn't get anywhere with the DC-6 until I realized with the help of another user (the thread must still be around the forum somewhere) that the problem was a system issue, not a powerplant or pilot issue. I hope that a fix might eventually happen in an update, but unless or until it does, the workaround isn't too difficult or burdensome. Hope this helps.

All I'm pointing out is that Spirit has an obvious commercial incentive to lie. "Cover up embarrassing mistake" and "try to avoid legal exposure" and "try to avoid further damage to an already rock-bottom reputation" seem to deserve at least equal weight to "wanted her 15 minutes of fame" or "hoped to reap a monetary benefit." It's fine to be skeptical but it seems to me that the skepticism should be evenly distributed.

Why should we automatically believe the corporation? I make my living in corporate communications, and I don't.