Hello

I'm hoping someone here can help me...

I recently downloaded Tim Conrad's C-133B package from Simviation, and I love the aircraft (these old MATS planes are favourites of mine) but I'm having real trouble getting it airborne.

I've tried various flap settings, prop settings, elevator trim settings, longer runways - nothing seems to work. The aircraft accelerates (slowly) to just over 100 knots, but no faster. If it does get airborne, it won't climb, then stalls and crashes shortly afterwards. Very occasionally, after a ground-hugging struggle involving stalls and recoveries that would have even the most hardened paratrooper paralysed with fear, it climbs high enough to pick up some speed and stabilises at about 200 knots, but mostly it just stalls and crashes. My C-124 is off happily into the wide blue yonder but my C-133 just will not fly...

Has anyone else had this problem, or am I doing something wrong (it is my first turboprop...)?

Thanks

ARJH

I tried that airplane. With one notch of flaps, it took rolling in a bunch of nose-up trim during the takeoff roll to get it off the ground. But it climbed and cruised ok.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Art

Hi

I've found that cranking down the flaps at the end of the take-off roll will get it unstuck - always assuming I haven't hit a building, tree or lake first  ;D - which sounds like a similar method.

Trouble is, the extra drag then makes it a very precarious climb as it's hovering around stall speed to start with, and there's no power to spare...  :(

I know a 50s heavylift turboprop is not going to climb like a 90s jet, but at the moment I get a greater rate of climb out of the Vickers Vimy  ;D

There is one thing I noticed, some airplanes elevador trim wheels work opposite
of others. If your like me, you use your mouse to set the elevator trim.

It took me some time to figure this out and alot of tail dragging on takeoff. :-/

I can't recall what Tim's C-133B elevador trim configuration is at the moment.
maybe this will help. :)

BLAZE wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2013 at 7:09pm:

There is one thing I noticed, some airplanes elevador trim wheels work opposite of others. If your like me, you use your mouse to set the elevator trim. It took me some time to figure this out and alot of trail dragging on takeoff. :-/ I can't recall what Tim's C-133B elevador trim configuration is at the moment. maybe this will help. :)

Blaze has a very valid point!

The Elevator Trim Wheel on certain of my planes works in the opposite direction, and moving it the wrong way will either cause the aircraft to take off nose high, and stall, or never leave the ground!

Move the Elevator Trim Wheel and watch the elevator response with an external view.

Paul.... 8-)...!

Thanks Paul  [smiley=beer.gif]

Also something else to keep in mind ARJH . Make sure your props are at full pitch on
takeoff.

I don't know how long you have been flying. I figured I would tell ya this cause this
one had me stumped for a while in the early days of F-Simming. :-/

I would tell ya what keys to use but I changed alot of my keyboard cammands and
don't remember the defaults off hand. :-[..  :)

                                      Good Luck

Have you checked the loadout?  Occasionally I have downloaded a model that by default was WAY over loaded and couldn't get off the ground. 

I have also encountered the odd model that must have a glitch in its .air config, because no matter what they would exhibit the behavior you are talking about.  Never have figured out a fix.

Hello again ARJH,

I was taking a closer look at the features of Tim Conrad's C-133B. Don't be offended by this question, but are you sure that the clamshell doors are closed at takeoff? That door hanging down looks like a big speedbrake. In activating that feature, I found that it doesn't always work every time, either up or down.

Just one more thing. An earlier suggestion that the props be at "full pitch" for takeoff might be misinterpreted. Make sure the props are set at low pitch for takeoff. That will give you full power.

My complaint with this model is that the flight instruments are not lit at night. Even increasing the Night and Luminous values in the [Color] section of panel.cfg has no effect.

Art

Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestions  :)

Art - I hadn't thought about the clamshell doors. I tried opening them a couple of times (just because it seemed a fun thing to do) but it didn't seem to work, and I wasn't sure about the key combination; should shift-e-2 be pressed the same way as you would ctrl-alt-del? That said, I've restarted multiple times without trying the clamshells, and the doors look shut on Spot Plane, so I don't think it's that...

Thanks for the tip about the prop pitch - I've always liked the vintage planes or first/second generation jets and this happens to be my first crack at a turbo prop :)  I'll have another go at the prop settings when I get a chance...

Cheers

ARJH

aeroart wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2013 at 2:57pm:

Hello again ARJH Just one more thing. An earlier suggestion that the props be at "full pitch" for takeoff might be misinterpreted. Make sure the props are set at low pitch for takeoff. That will give you full power.

I don't know man, I'm not a pilot or an expert for that matter, but I don't think it's a good
idea to back off on the pitch 'to far' for takeoff if ya do cause You could over rev the engines and cause a cat.failure.

Just look at the Constellation series from Manfred Jahn, thats pretty darn realistic. If you notice (while at the flight Engineers panel) If you go to full pitch the warning lights will light up. then just back off to about 98% or 97% I think, the warning lights will go out. :)

Of course the above statement is going by the "dummy lights", you could and really should
go by the "Check & Ref file" when available. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Ahh.. I'm probably wrong, I don't know.  I do know one thing for sure though, when I didn't
know anything about 'Prop-Pitch' and as a result didn't give it any, I basically had a car with really cool fans on it. ;D

GOD!.. I love this stuff. ;D

Hello all,

I'm currently sitting at the parking gate a much happier soul  :)

It seems to have been a combination of things (as aviation screw-ups usually are) - I hadn't nailed the prop pitch setting, so thanks for the tips on that  :) Also, the autopilot seems to have a tendency to turn itself back on, and as I didn't do the take off rolls with the throttle window open I didn't realise that it had reset the elevator trim without telling me   ;D

The same tendency has just caused me to have to go around; I clicked off the altitude hold mode to begin final approach, realised I was way above the glide slope, and then saw that the altitude hold mode was back on  >:(

Second time round, I clicked it off, saw it come back on again a few seconds later, clicked it off again, and then landed safely  :)

Oh, and I figured out the clamshell doors too - those are very cool  ;D

Thanks everyone  :)

ARJH