My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

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RNCTX
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2015 3:47 pm

Re: My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

Post by RNCTX »

Yeah I was just thinking the reason why he lost the signal.

IIRC there's not much in the PPL training about that sort of thing. They make a bigger point of it in the IFR material, of course. If it had been a real world flight, that could get a bit hairy for a new'ish PPL who had no/little knowledge of IFR reception issues to suddenly lose his primary nav and not know why.
stevekirks
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Re: My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

Post by stevekirks »

Update #1: KEAN to Colorado Springs, CO (two airports)

Last night, I started my FSE flight from Phifer Field (KEAN) to Meadow Lake in Colorado Springs (KFLY) and the neighboring Colorado Springs East (CO49). I flew as far as Cheyenne, WY before bed, stopping over for fuel and gave the passengers a chance to stretch their legs and catch a nap. Early this morning Central time, I finished the flights and put the Cherokee to bed for the day.

Flight notes:

No VOR problems this time, but since A2A models the systems of the Cherokee so well, I had an interesting time on the ramp at Cheyenne. It took nearly full throttle to taxi, so just before reaching the movement area, I shut down and did another walk around of the plane and had the local FBO's mechanic come out to help. No problems were found, so we loaded back up and restarted the airplane. I pulled the POH and read through the charts for the high altitude, high passenger load situation I was in but didn't find anything that would help.

This is when common sense took over and the big lesson was learned. If the engine is running fine but lacks power, what could it be? Engines need fuel and air to work and I'd confirmed enough fuel (full tanks checked on the walk around) and it seemed like enough air (no obstructions) so it was time to think deeper. I turned on the fuel pump--no difference. What about air?

Local temperature was 34F and overcast with barometric pressure at a staggering 30.40. Dew point and temp were nearly the same. Carburetor icing? YES! I pulled out the carb heat to about half and the engine started to gain power, so I taxied to the run up, leaned correctly for 6000ft field elevation, made sure carb heat was on (about a quarter of the way out) and I got a solid 2500RPM. I ran the before takeoff checklist, checked final and took off.

It was a mostly uneventful trip at 10,000 feet over the Gill and Falcon VORs. I crossed over Denver International at about 6AM local time with no traffic and Approach happily clearing me straight through. In real life, I'm sure I would have been vectored around the airport. At about 20 miles out from Meadow Lake, I dipped below the clouds, cancelled IFR and picked up the PAPIs at about 10 miles out. Tower gave me a straight in approach and that was that. I quick hop over to Colorado East was also a non-event, staying under the clouds at about 2000ft AGL for the short flight.

---

I think I can make it to Arizona tonight

CO49-FCS-V611-FTI-V190-ABQ-V12-ZUN-DIRECT
Steve Kirks (sKirks on Twitch)
KSGF--I-10 rated
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Kerbo
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:58 pm
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Re: My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

Post by Kerbo »

Cool, that's some really good fidelity on the engine modeling. Good luck on the rest of your trip.
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Matthew McGill
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 7:15 am

Re: My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

Post by Matthew McGill »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure carb heat is either on or off, so feel free to just pull the knob out all the way. Just be sure to turn it off before takeoff so that you aren't trying to depart with reduced power. Also, if you want added realism, it is generally bad practice to taxi with the carb heat running. carb heat uses an unfiltered air inlet as its source, and with all of the dirt, dust, sand, and general crud on the ramp, that means that dirty air is getting sucked into our nice clean engine. I don't think A2A simulates that, but in real life the best practice is to sparingly use carb heat on the ground, and I would remain stationary while using it.

Good luck with your flights, there is something pretty amazing about ferrying an aircraft to SoCal!
Peter Grey
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Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:21 pm

Re: My first FSE Aircraft N533ET

Post by Peter Grey »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure carb heat is either on or off,
I'm not sure how the sims handle it, but in the real world you ALWAYS go full if you are using it. Using "partial" carb heat may not solve the problem.

In most cases Carb Heat is only used on the ground during a run up to remove any ice that formed during taxi out. However in extreme cases (I've seen this once), you may need to depart with it on.
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