acdelta57

Thank you for the fix for the HSI- And to answer your question about LOP, our procedure was once cruise altitude was reached, we would lean to 75 degrees below peak EGT. Typical cruise setting was 26" 2300RPM and 75 cool of peak to yield about 150 kts IAS. To accomplish this simply begin leaning the engines until the rise in EGT becomes a fall ( do not go to fast or you may shut off the engine!) Once that temperature is determined the peak, increase mixture until it cools to 75 below.

Thank you for the kind words, to answer your first question yes. This is modeled correctly as well, there is an ever so slight, to no change in sound when adjusting MP at the high end of the spectrum. I will add however this seems to be true with the RPM gauge in this model, and I do recall there being a slightly more definitive tone when pulling back the prop rpm from full forward to 2400RPM (normal climb setting) which is not really apparent. When you go props full forward in a PA31 you know it, and so does everyone on the ground. That's why despite popular belief our procedure was to actually land with props at 2300RPM, unless you where in IMC, when anticipating a missed approach props would be set to 2400 at FAF and then once wheels touched down, props would come full forward. However the shaky and unstable notion of adjusting prop position is once again correctly modeled--Except shut down is a bit excessive. I do like the idea of a flying guide and uploading my material. I will definitely see to it, however as an active airline pilot I am beginning a trip today and have some other things to take care of but I will try to get those out on the forums as soon as I can for everyone to enjoy.

I am writing this review for several reasons a. I absolutely love this aircraft b. I found too many inaccurate assumptions regarding performance/systems c. I found several negative reviews regarding this product which I don't believe are accurate d. ***within the limits of FSX I find this aircraft to be modeled extremely well*** My background I am in no way affiliated with carenado or any fsx developer I have over 500 hours as captain in the pa31 Navajo and chieftain combined operated single pilot mostly night IMC This is my first ever review so bare with me if its not in the traditional format (constructive criticism is appreciated) Lets start with sounds, that's easy enough. Exterior sounds as compared to the real aircraft are very very well re-created. A lot of people are complaining about the 3D sound cone that carenado produced having very minimal differences on this aircraft. You must keep in mind this is a PISTON engine, the variance of tones from standing in front, on the side, and to the rear of the aircraft are extremely minimal especially when compared to a turbine engine(which we all love those sounds.) After several years of watching these aircraft start up and taxi right beside me on the ramps the only difference I can take away is when the aircraft turns from head on to a rear view is the smell of avgas, and the feeling of being pelted by very little bits of rock and dirt from the ramp, the actual tone varies ever so slightly. Interior, I do find these sounds to be a little on the quiet side below 25" MP and or when starting/taxiing. This may have to do with the fact that my aircraft door was a "cut-out" of the left side window right over the wing, and when starting or taxiing I usually left this door open. However the engine rapid light off and increase in RPM is very accurate. Often starting this aircraft was a delicate balance of timing the mixture increase and throttle decrease simultaneously. Within the confines of FSX the start up sequence is excellently modeled, however I do wish the volume was a bit louder and maybe the old screeching of the starter engaging the fly-wheel would be a nice addition in the future. My reaction to systems- Well its a twin piston aircraft, how many systems can we talk about that can be modeled in FSX? the extremely over-engineered landing gear and hydraulic system? not really relevant for fsx (however I have yet to attempted to try an alternate gear extension so I can not speak to if it works or not, would be great if it did) In the chieftain there was a 3 position gear selector, up, neutral, and down. You could perform a hydraulic gear test with this system by turning on the battery switch and placing the gear handle to the down position, it should pop back to neutral within 7-10 seconds. Could be a fun addition if they ever do model a Chieftain or wish to update this Navajo. Lights- why is everyone complaining about these? They are modeled like someone put brand new bulbs in and their range is extremely accurate. In the real aircraft, if anything they are far more dim, making it challenging to land on a dark runway at night. In my opinion these do not need to be changed. However a beacon rocker switch would be nice, or at least a 3 position rocker switch for anti-collision (ie beacon-off-beacon&strobe) Most of the aircraft either had both beacons and strobes or some just had strobes, which this overhead panel seems to model however the beacon light is activated when the anti-collision light is turned on...maybe some faulty wiring on carenados part, but still an extremely small detail I can live with for now. Panel lighting, this is limited to their famous 1 switch for all lights deal but with that said it does not bother me one bit, here's why. Most of my aircraft either had several deferred instrument lights, or the backlighting was deferred totally, or the overhead flood was deferred (for those who don't know what deferred means, all it means is does not work. usually to save money on maintenance most companies, especially where I flew these aircraft will skip the small stuff until it was mandatory for it to be replaced) that's why having a flashlight was a mandatory item for the pilot. The simple dim lighting works for me and brings me back to those dark cold nights flying high over snow capped mountain tops. Also, the light pegs for each instrument are shaped like an upside down L, this shape creates its own shadow and is typical to black out an area of the gauge where the light peg is placed, most often its in the most important spot of the instrument IE MP or RPM! This is modeled by carenado, and why some may find it frustrating it is 100% realistic, and I think a great attention to detail by the developer. Pitot heats, heater, de-ice boots, vent blower, etc etc all the switches work, but don't expect more than the typical depth of systems carenado is known to produce. I will not elaborate on this section just to the fact that I think we all know what to expect from them as systems go. But I will be happy to answer any specific questions regarding them. I still have yet to fully test everything out, only have about 20 hours sim time with the aircraft as of this writing. Autopilot- this is one thing I see several topics on the forums people are complaining about. Lets put them to rest. I have flown almost every style of autopilot installed in a Navajo chieftain from S-tec systems 30 (integreated in turn coordinator), S-Tec systems 50 (mounted on lower right captains panel) KFC 200 FD/AP, Piper Altimatic V/FD (FCS810), Piper Altimatic IIIC, Piper Altimatic X and several others, those were most common however, but most where always deferred anyway! Now for the sake of me I cannot remember the name of this particular one installed but I do know this, we had 3 or 4 aircraft in the fleet with this exact model and it was my favorite. If your unfamiliar with the APs listed above, they were mostly controlled via turn coordinator integration, or a separate panel with confusing rotary knobs and buttons. The autopilot installed in this aircraft is done extremely well. The proper procedure to acquire an accurate level off, one must ease the FD pitch below 800FPM prior to 500' from level off, then engage the ALT button 50' from desired altitude. Most every real world aircraft was different, some would level off too abruptly, some not abrupt enough and others would just ignore your command and just blow through your desired altitude :o The most common practice was to hand fly the aircraft to cruise then engage the autopilot when it was properly manually trimmed. Coupled autopilot approaches were prohibited due to the erratic nature of the autopilot. So I wont even attempt them in FSX, this is not a Boeing, don't expect it to fly like one. Hand fly! Also when tracking a radial with the autopilot, if NAV was selected, most every aircraft I flew would oscillate about the course, our fix was to just fly in heading mode making small changes along the way. Carenado seems to have modeled the NAV function quite well and I have had no problems with that. On a separate note I will add after 3 flights I did notice a precession in my HSI even though it was slaved. This was also common in the aircraft but to a degree far less than what happened to me in FSX so I'm thinking this is a glitch that should be addressed. Even when placed in "free" mode the rotation switch will not re align your gyro to the mag compass :blush: not cool. Carenado does need to fix this. Ground handling- Very well done again, the pa31 nose wheel steering allows for up to 20 degrees on each side of center for steering. However the linkage can disengage and allow "free castoring" for an additional 20 degrees on each side of center allowing up to 80 degrees of movement. This can whip your aircraft violently and is modeled perfectly. The use of differential or asymmetrical thrust is extremely apparent in the real world aircraft and is as well in FSX. another very well modeled feature of the PA31 Moving on to the last section of my review, and the MOST important (to me) FLIGHT DYNAMICS Simply put, the performance, the aircraft handling, the excessive yaw rate in turbulence, are modeled so well I honestly can tell you I feel like I am flying the actual aircraft. Carenado absolutely positively blew this out of the park. I saw threads about people complaining they weren't getting max performance at max weight....hello! this aircraft is one hellacious machine you load it up to MTOW and expect to get 1500FPM in the climb you are going to be a smoking hole in the side of a mountain. Using my real world checklists and references for power settings I got almost exactly what I got in the real aircraft. I've tried it over and over with several weights and field elevations, Carenado you did a fantastic job. ----However fuel flow is off a bit, but who cares that much, your not paying for gas anyway, plus I actually got less GPH in the sim compared to the real world counterpart so maybe they modeled a brand new engine that's super efficient B) If it bothers you that much, run several tests making a chart of your fuel flows at different altitudes and power settings to use for planning purposes. But lets face it, the pa31 is not a long haul aircraft anyway, if you plan adequately fuel wont be a problem. The dynamics are modeled so well in this aircraft, that the (very few) glitches I've found are completely thrown to the side just based on the pure joy of the aircrafts handling and performance. Miscellaneous Those who were talking about the MP being off and your supposed to get 46 or something are incorrect. The density controller on the J2 Turbocharger will prevent you from over-boosting above 40MP. Unless you blew a valve your MP should remain below red line at all times. The TIO-540 (chieftain engine) is slightly larger and you will have slightly different pressures, you may be confusing internet web searches with this, but as far as the Navajo goes, it is modeled correctly. Some people complained that an "aircraft with a GTN 750 should have a much better working autopilot" -first thing, why are you putting a 750 in a pa31, that's disgraceful. I actually wish they had an all steam gauge version with no gps. Secondly the type of GPS installed has no effect on autopilot performance. So all said and done, I highly recommend this aircraft if you are looking for a little more rustic version of the duke b60 or maybe your first GA twin for your hangar. Not super fast but not slow either, this pa31 add-on is great for low level short-medium haul flights. Good luck! And I hope I have helped those of you in question or on the fence about this aircraft. P.S. Don't forget to stage cool on descent! 2" MP every 2 minutes until 18"mp, or below 300CHT or below 120 kts! stay safe and keep the silver side up! Happy flying

Thanks ill give it a try!

So i just bought the PNW package from orbx and when i attempt to download it says its going to take 9 hours and 11 minutes ive tried 2 days in a row but a some point or another I get a connection interruption that messes the whole thing up. My question is, is there any other way or tool to download the content? Like the flight1 downloader tool for instance?

Just got on FSX for the first time in months. Loaded up a short flight with the PMDG J41 from KBUF-KALB. Hard IFR weather with ice and rain + low vis. Loaded up fspax and the flight began, oh wait CTD on engine start #2....quick reset and re-loaded everything and tried again. This time everything was looking good, climbing out about 9000 left engine fire, shut down, feathered, began my diversion to KROC....Flying the entire ILS procedure by hand single engine with the procedure turn and intercepted the GS.....broke out about 500 agl runway insight...Cleared to land RWY 22(i think)...then BAM CTD!!!! HELL YES! Why do I waste my time with this. A different error this time too heres the details if anyone has any insight. Thats my rant for now :) Faulting application name: svchost.exe_SysMain, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bc3c1 Faulting module name: sysmain.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17514, time stamp: 0x4ce7c9db Exception code: 0xc0000005 Fault offset: 0x0000000000004e03 Faulting process id: 0x12a8 Faulting application start time: 0x01cd41256fe431a0 Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe Faulting module path: c:\windows\system32\sysmain.dll

Wow, something as simple as that I overlooked. I removed the ENB mod and now it works just fine. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond

Hi guys I am about to give up on FSX after weeks of trying to get it to run correctly. I recently built a new Pc just for fsx i7 2600kGTX58016gig ramnot OCed or anything. + latest drivers My problem is that only with the J41 and 737 NGX when I go to "end Flight" in FSPAX menu I get a CTD (d3d9.dll) and the flight is not recorded. Any default aircraft works fine. It does not crash during flight, just 100% of the time when I end flight. I have read about problems running both FSPAX and PMDG but I have also heard about it running succesfully. I love FS pax for only 3 reasons. 1. I have all custom sounds and crew messages etc. 2. Shows landing FPM. and 3. I can build a company with $. Now I am so frustrated I am ready to chalk it up to FSPAx doesnt work with pmdg on my system for some reason and I wouldnt mind doing that if someone can point me into the direction of another Virtual Passenger program that contains ANY of the 3 items listed above? I think I have exhausted the Google search engine on this one so if anybody has any advice or inputs that may help my situation it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance

Great thank you so much for the info! Im going to take ur info and locate the parts today. 1 last question whats the your opinion on the P67 vs Z68 mobos? keeping FSx strictly in mind.Thanks again for everyone help! With all ur wonderful knowledge I will have a knew rig built by this weekend!

I have heard very little about Sandy Bridge, do you know of a website or somewhere I can research this system? Is it a complete rig or just processor? Yes I would like to over clock.1 other thing, today at the electronic store I was able to price out and decide on an Nvidia GTX570 is that a good card for fsx?

hmm thanks for the tip. After some further research I came across a youtube channel rotationFSX. These are the specs he listed outFractal Designs Black Pearl CaseOCZ 700 powerASUS P6X58D-E MotherboardASUS Nvidia 470 GPUIntel core I7 920 - o/c 4ghz6GB Patriot 1600mz RamCorsair H50 Cooler - push/pullHDDx2 WD 500GB blacksdvdrw samsung s2223c24 pin extenders (idk exactly what these are for)what are your guys's thoughts on these specs?Im headed to the store to price out some components today

I have been playing fsx on my HP HDX16 laptop for quite some time. I can get about 15-20FPS with addons like Wilco ERJ,737pic, PMDGj41, and QW757. I also use REX and multiple airport sceneries (flytampa and FSDT), however i never fly into jfk or east coast very much just because I know my computer cant handle it.But my laptop has finally come to an end with extreme overheating issues and just cant run FSX anymore with the addons I keep installing. So I have decided to retire my laptop from FSX and and build a new rig. I dont want to cut corners to save a quick buck, I would rather invest in a really good system that can run FSX well and allow me to fly into larger airports like jfk and at least be playable to me. I have been doing some research but there is just so many different options out there I keep backtracking myself and start to question if i even know what im doing. Heres what I have settled on so far. I dont know too much about computer so any advice is GREATLY appreciated. Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium - 64-bit version - Intel® Core™ i7-930 processor 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.06GHz - 12GB DDR3 1333MHz - 1.5TB hard drive - NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX470 Graphics - Intel® X58 - 16X DVD?RW DL - High-definition 7.1 channel audio support - gigabit LAN - HDMI™ - - 2 eSATA - IEEE 1394- 11 USB ports - USB gaming keyboard and optical mouse - 13-in-1 card reader - 1-year limited warrantyThoughts on the above system? please feel free to give any advice

In my RW experience as a CFI we always teach a power on approach. Especially for windy conditions. However during a commercial pilot-single engine license, the Power off 180 approach to landing is introduced. We normally conduct this manouver by beginning just like a normal approach, halfway down the downwind leg the landing gear is lowered(always). Abeam the designated landing point(normally the thousand foot markers on the runway-the white boxes-) the power is reduced to idle, simulating complete engine failure. in most aircraft the first notch of flaps creates more life than drag so normally the first step would be to drop in the first degree of flaps-the gear should already be down as you lower the landing gear abeam midfield. Pitch for best glide speed i.e C172 68KTS. tThis is where a little piloting skill begins to show, according to the wind conditions and outside elements the pilot must judge when it is time for a base turn then final turn. In a perfect world, no wind and at pattern altitude, the base leg should not be to drastically different from a power on base leg (distance wise) however this is all based on what the pilot sees outside the aircraft and how the aircrafts sink rate is corresponding. After turning base, it may be determined by the pilot to use the second notch of flaps. Remeber it is better to be high then low of course. try to judge the distances and make the landing as if you would only use 2 notches of flaps. If you are high and fast, raise the nose, slow down ,add full flaps and slip the aircraft down(in that order). If you feel you are going to come up short, pitch DOWN gain as much airspeed as possible and just before flying into the ground pull the nose up drop in full flaps and attempt to float in ground effect. hope this helps! let me know how it turns out

oh and dont forget to NOT chase the VS needle. adjust power and pitch then wait for it to stable, then re-adjust. dont try to chase it up and down

Copy and paste this into ur CFG. folder (backup original) its a standard eyepoint view i use for all aircraft then use the (ctrl)shift+enter(backspace) keys to fine tune the view. it works with every aircraft payware or freeware[CameraDefinition.0]Title=View0Guid={54F54B8A-3EC2-2D4E-8D10-B8F9D0F16ACC}Description=rightOrigin=CenterSnapPbhAdjust=SwivelSnapPbhReturn=FALSEPanPbhAdjust=SwivelPanPbhReturn=FALSETrack=NoneShowAxis=FALSEAllowZoom=TRUEInitialZoom=0.6ShowWeather=YesInitialXyz=2.2, 1.3, 9InitialPbh=8, 0, 105XyzAdjust=TRUECategory=AircraftMomentumEffect=TRUEClipMode=Minimum[CameraDefinition.1]Title=View1Guid={0ae3f864-da10-4e5a-977c-b9bba47d6f7a}Description=leftOrigin=CenterSnapPbhAdjust=SwivelSnapPbhReturn=FALSEPanPbhAdjust=SwivelPanPbhReturn=FALSETrack=NoneShowAxis=FALSEAllowZoom=TRUEInitialZoom=0.6ShowWeather=YesInitialXyz=-2.2, 1.3, 8InitialPbh=8, 0, 255XyzAdjust=TRUECategory=AircraftMomentumEffect=TRUEClipMode=Minimum[CameraDefinition.2]Title=left1Guid={96873AAD-621B-4C45-8A58-DEF7B7FCB051}Description=leftOrigin=CenterSnapPbhAdjust=SwivelSnapPbhReturn=FALSEPanPbhAdjust=SwivelPanPbhReturn=FALSETrack=NoneShowAxis=FALSEAllowZoom=TRUEInitialZoom=0.6ShowWeather=YesInitialXyz=-2.2, 1.3, 2InitialPbh=8, 0, 270XyzAdjust=TRUECategory=AircraftMomentumEffect=TRUEClipMode=Minimum[CameraDefinition.3]Title=right1Guid={5c1df273-034b-4e7f-953a-9d5e26f1646c}Description=leftOrigin=CenterSnapPbhAdjust=SwivelSnapPbhReturn=FALSEPanPbhAdjust=SwivelPanPbhReturn=FALSETrack=NoneShowAxis=FALSEAllowZoom=TRUEInitialZoom=0.6ShowWeather=YesInitialXyz=2.2, 1.3, -1InitialPbh=8, 0, 95XyzAdjust=TRUECategory=AircraftMomentumEffect=TRUEClipMode=Minimum