Soooo. Gauges must be those things that keep on telling me "Too low" Or "too fast" when doing a 10g dive recovery at 450kts, leveling off at 500 ft. Seems pretty high to me .
But seriously. Sitting in the (thingy)pit for hours admiring the gauges .

Fozzer wrote on Sep 26^th, 2011 at 10:09am:


Why Is there an opening

Fozzer wrote on Sep 26^th, 2011 at 10:35am:


In modern planes, Gauges are just there to tell you the computers are sorting out your problems 

machineman9 wrote on Sep 26^th, 2011 at 2:31pm:

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! I couldn't do that & I've been driving for over 50 years. LOL

Fozzer wrote on Sep 26^th, 2011 at 3:07pm:


Do you also get out to check if the fuel has water/twigs in it?

Just a question Paul.
If a gauge stops working from a failure does that mean you must bail out? From what you guys are saying,

hyperpep111 wrote on Sep 27^th, 2011 at 2:13pm:


If you suspect that a gauge is reading incorrectly then you must pay attention, and ascertain why it is, and what could be causing it...
(a) Your Air speed indicator/Altimeter is reading zero. Are the Pitot Tubes freezing up? Apply Pitot Heat.
(b) Your engine is running rough. Adjust Mixture? Carburettor icing up? Apply Carb Heat.
(c) Your oil pressure is dropping. Serious oil leak/cracked cylinder? Correctly identify the faulty engine on a twin, and be prepared to shut it down. Prepare to land.
(d) Battery not charging? Check Generator switches. Reduce the load.
(e) Check RPM gauges for correct speeds when changing Throttle settings (Engine and Propeller).
(f) Observe Manifold Pressure, and Fuel Flow Gauges for cruise performance.

A multitude of different things to be aware of, and precautions to be taken.

Above all....Don't panic!...Just remember, you are up in the air...and its a long way down! .......!

Paul.... ...!

As as Machineman states, many failures wont be obvious in the Sim, but applying the instructions given in the Pilots and Aircraft Owners Handbooks will aid your understanding of the correct controlling and safe operating an aircraft.

...and its educational....and fun!

Brett_Henderson wrote on Sep 27^th, 2011 at 4:22pm:


Constant Speed/Controllable Pitch Propellers.
Worthy of a subject all of its own... ...!


Example on the Beech Baron...

Danger: Cruising with coarse pitch, then closing the Throttle to land and forgetting to select fine pitch = Overloading the engine!

(Operating a Car in top gear!).

Paul...I watch my RPMs carefully!... ...!

There is a lot to be said for the simplicity of the fixed prop on my little Cessna 150!.... ...!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constant_speed_propeller

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllable_pitch_propeller

Fozzer wrote on Sep 27^th, 2011 at 4:40pm:



You hit all the mis-conceptions.. 

First.. (in the Baron), engine RPM and prop RPM are always the same... they're bolted rigidly to each other. (there is only an engine tach, as a prop tach would be redundant).

Next.. The pilot does not set blade-pitch.. he sets an RPM, and the blade-pitch continuously adjusts on its own to maintain the selected RPM. It can go from coarsest to finest, without ever touching the prop control.

You got this next part, kinda backwards:

Quote:


Pulling the throttle to idle at cruise, will cause the blade-pitch to go finer (without you touching the prop-control), as it tries to maintain the selected RPM. The only way to stress the engine at that point, is to go into a dive, and force the prop to drive the engine.. and it's really not stress, it can actually be used, if need be, as a speed-brake (within reason).

The opposite scenario is what's to be avoided.. ala increasing the throttle, and not first, increasing selected RPMs. The engine want's its RPMs to increase, but the blade-pitch goes coarser (again without moving the prop-control), as it tries to hold the engine at the selected RPM...

The car "gear" analogy doesn't work.. because engine RPMs and vehicle-speed are not tied directly to each other..and the pilot doesn't select a gear (blade pitch).. he just sets an RPM... and engine RPM always = prop RPM.. whereas in a car.. a different gear means a change in speed between engine and wheels..


EDIT:  That Wiki link for constant-speed props needs serious editing..  lots of errors...

Referring to the analogy between starting a car off with  top gear selected...
Starting the Baron's engines with the Prop Lever accidentally left in coarse position will stall the engine due to the increased load in gouging lumps out of the air.
And pulling the Prop Lever to coarse position at a slow tick-over speed will also overload and stall the engine.
Testing the Prop Control (Coarse-Fine) to circulate the oil in the CS mechanism should be carried out with the engine running at a fast tick-over speed to prevent overload and stall.
I mostly leave the Prop Lever running fine (forward) until in the cruise when I pull the Prop Lever slightly to coarse, and adjust the Throttle, and observe the RPM's and manifold pressure and fuel flow, as a guide to economical cruising.

Maybe I am pushing and pulling levers unnecessarily!... ...!

Paul.... ...!

Fozzer wrote on Sep 27^th, 2011 at 4:05pm:


And most of all remember, it's not the descent that kills you. It's the IMPACT against something HARD, so choose wisely where landing that plane for the last time. Every landing you walk away from using your legs is a good landing, after all.

Being a sim Airline pilot I am always cross checking my gauges. My Embraer 190 has nearly full Avionics simulation so just about every page is infallible on the MFD. I am constantly cycling through Electrics, Hydraulics, Fuel, Status, and Nav pages. Crosschecking the auto tuned nav frequencies with actually frequencies, and I try to fly with both Magenta Numbers and Green Numbers. Aka, one side of the cockpit is displaying the FMC nav data with the FD coupled to LNAV and VNAV while the right side of the cockpit is following the nav radios not the GPS and is manually tuned by me.

I also crosscheck the left gauges with the right ones and the standby's etc.

If I am forced to do a long APU start from the ramp with no ground power I am extra careful of fuel balance etc.

I enjoy trying to be the Captain and the First Officer at one. Sometimes I wish I was a real pilot which is why I take it seriously.