Skipper
1884
I think there may have been some of that going on. Who flies into a ranch in the middle of the mountains in Skykomish, Washington.
Also, I need to pipe some music in while playing. Excellent choice.
Spock
1885
@Skipper Very nice PIREP! Iām impressed you landed on that little field in the middle of nowhere.
Iāve gotten faster at starting up the TBM. One step I learned not to skip: enabling the autopilot and trim.
I understand the basic idea of feathering, but I donāt understand its practical application to the TBM, and as you said I couldnāt get the controls to actually do anything. When do you feather, apart from during the startup checklist? Also, I find the TBMās throttle control confusing too. Itās H-shaped, like a carās. Iāve figured out how to set different levels of idle, using the mouse, but Iāve never tried the other features ā I just push the throttle forward or back on my HOTAS during flight. Also, I know one is supposed to put in 100% Torque at takeoff, but does that correspond to pushing the throttle all the way forward?
Matt_W
1886
If the engine fails during flight, you can feather the prop to reduce drag and give you some stability in the air, like a dart. In fact, I believe that the prop is supposed to automatically feather when the engine shuts down, but the sim is bugged and none of the turboprops do this apparently. During startup (and shutdown), it also allows the turbine to spin up without any torque on the prop.
The TBM has a reverse thrust section below the taxi zone, which allows the prop angle to be reversed so that you can 1) taxi backwards and 2) stop more quickly on short runways. You have to map it to a control of some kind or use the mouse.
The right section of the throttle control is for feathered operationābasically just startup and shutdown.
Nope. You have to pay attention to your torque readout at the top of the middle screen. The throttle control controls turbine RPMs at the bottom of its range and then smoothly transitions to controlling prop pitch. If you try to spin up and load the turbine too quickly, youāll over-torque it. Smoothly push it up and watch your torque. In flight, youāll have to adjust your throttle control to account for changes in air density.
Spock
1887
Thanks! That was exactly the sort of advice I was looking for.
Skipper
1888
Iāll repeat that as well, thanks for the tips! Matt I was getting errors for torque and didnāt even know how to adjust it.
I also got the plane totally shut down but couldnāt get the engines off. I think it was a bug but not sure if I just couldnāt find anything related to it.
Looking forward to whomever takes the TBM on itās next journey. Sorry for leaving it at the ranch. She knows no home, take her wherever the journey leads.
Matt_W
1889
You have to move the throttle to the right side and pull it all the way down to cut it off. It wants to be feathered when shut down.
Matt_W
1890
SeaTac is just a gorgeous airport to fly into.
I spend most of my time over Cascadia, but try a flight from Tokyo to Kansai. Wonderful.
Spock
1892
Having flown into Sea-Tac many times on commercial airlines, I can certainly agree with that! Lovely screenshots, @Matt_W.
My AI pilot is busy with my aircraft on Stratus (in OnAir), so I did my first Thunder mission, from Hong Kong to Guangjou ā a trip Iāve actually made in real life, but by rail. The scenery was pretty good, but maybe a bit less vivid than in Hawaii, and Kai-Tek airport wasnāt as dramatic as I remember it. Still, it was an interesting flight because there was a cloud layer of about 3000 feet the whole way, and I had some turbulence. I hand-flew VFR, and to avoid hills, I just followed the waterway all the way, like this:
Following the waterway:
A break in the clouds. I made for these skyholes when possible.
Approaching the airport, which is northeast of Guangzou proper. You can see the airstrip to the left of the river. I had my nicest landing of the week ā smooth as butter.
Matt_W
1893
I love the skyhole shots! Gorgeous!
Kai Tak shut in 1998. It was indeed a hair-raising experience coming in for a landing pretty much directly between skyscrapers. So you should have landed at Chep Lap Kok airport on Lantau Island, which is much less stressful as a passenger but no doubt far less interesting as a pilot.
I think Kai Tak was turned into some kind of commercial / shopping area. The old runway is still there, at least the shape of it. Not sure how itās represented in the sim.
Spock
1895
Ahh, that explains it. I was there in 1993 or so; I remember there was lots of talk about 1997, the impending reversion to Chinese sovereignty. Kai-Tek was the most dramatic airport Iād ever seen. As you said, you landed on this runway that seemed to jut out from the city itself, with beautiful glowing neon signs seemingly surrounding you.
It would make an interesting historical landing challenge, to temporarily revert back to when the airport was operational. Itās a pity that Hong Kong isnāt one of the photorealistic cities (yet). I guess there might be some political issues with doing that though.
Spock
1897
Yeah, I was kind of disappointed with Hong Kongās graphics. I thought maybe I was looking in the wrong direction, and maybe I was, as I didnāt realize the airport had moved. Guangzhou actually looked more like what I remembered.
Also, are there really so few instrument approaches in China? I got lucky with the clouds today, but if my destination had been socked in, the only nav aid I had was an NDB 3 miles away. This again makes me wish Skyvector had approach plates for fields outside the USA.
Skipper
1898
The loan on the TBM 930 was:
With the assistance from you guys in the QT3 account along with quite a bit Iāve added I just made a 150K early payment. Once Capital updates the loan should be at:
$272,521.00
I will most likely have that paid off before the end of the first month of the loan, so a 3% finance fee.
As a reminder, those of you with aircraft will be hitting the first of the month and for some of us, the first month of ownership. Ownership fees on those will be pulled from ācashā on the first day of the month.
Pedro
1899
Random shots
Lake Garda
No lavender fields in Provence :(
I donāt think time of year really works, though I could be wrong. Itās obviously not feasible for crops to appear in summer, but I noticed that the Sierra Nevadas, for example, donāt change if you select December rather than June - no snow on the mountaintops etc. You have to select a snow cover setting and then it dusts the Owens Valley etc as well.
Just installed it, somehow I missed this was on Android. Iām not finding it twitchy at all, especially compared to my ED Tracker. In fact, I havenāt fiddled with the calibration yet and Iāll probably be turning up the sensitivity.
Matt_W
1901
My next set of missions is all in Western Europe, and one of them requires a human pilot, so my player pilot is being transferred there, which will take about 28 hours real-time. In the mean-time, while my AI employees sleep and train, Iāve hired a couple of freelancers to take on some complicated work orders up and down British Columbia. One of them has 12 legs, but should net me a few $10kās
Iām wondering about the economics of aircraft ownership. Lowest price for a Cessna 208 with some hours on it is about $400k. It costs just over $1k/hr to rent one, meaning Iād have to fly it for 400 hours to make it worth buying just based on purchase price. That doesnāt count maintenance ($20k for 100 hour maintenance.)
Likewise, I bought an FBO at Vancouver (CYVR), and if Iām flying out there a bunch, it makes sense to have a hangar, wholesale fuel, and FBO queries available. That level of FBO is relatively cheap. (Crew housing isnāt worth it at your base hub because your pilots live there and can just go home.) But Iām not sure the improvements are hugely economical, particularly cargo warehouses, which are ridiculously expensive, when rented cargo storage costs about $0.67/lb/day. (And Iām not quite sure how or when itās charged.)
Anyway, if you want to partner up on Stratus @Spock, Iād be down, though Iām not sure what advantage partnering offers, particularly if weāre not flying in the same region. I tentatively started up a Thunder airline too: Five Horizons (5HOR), based in Bangkok but Iām not sure if Iām going to devote much time to it. Virtual Airlines are sort of interesting to me.
Thrag
1902
I noticed as well that the sierras are snow capped, which they are definitely not at the moment. Not just a little snow too. Looks like itās early spring.
While Iām nitpicking, a lot of radio towers in my area are missing. The tower at steamboat hills highpoint (featured in one of my hiking thread photos) is missing. None of the towers on Slide mountain exist. Youād think things like that would be a priority.
Spock
1903
@Pedro Very nice pictures. I especially like the snowy ones.
@kallidain @Ginger_Yellow I tried the iOS Head Tracker app by John Y. and had trouble getting it to work smoothly. I already own TrackIR, and that works very well for me, so Iām sticking with that. But Iām glad to hear the Android app works for you, Ginger.
@Matt_W Iām impressed with your progress in OnAir! I just got the level 5 mission on Stratus myself, for the Caribbean. As thatās a long way from my home base of Hawaii, Iām debating regenerating a few times until I get something closer to home, like California. What plane are you using for those world-tour missions?
Also, I havenāt looked into an FBO purchase at all. It saves you parking fees and some fuel costs, I gather. Does it also generate better jobs?
Iām also not sure how much time Iāll devote to Thunder, but Iām glad the option exists. Iām partly wishing I hadnāt started in Hong Kong, as Iām not sure the scenery in China is going to be great. How is Bangkok?
Virtual Airlines sort of interest me too, although arenāt they a thing only on Thunder? Iām not sure what the benefits of partnership on Stratus are. Iāll read up on it in the manual. Also, my free time fluctuates, and Iām not sure Iād be the most reliable partner.
