The other day I wanted to take the FSX default Beech King Air on a maximum distance trip. According to the notes on the aircraft it should have a ~1760 NM range. So I set up a trip from KPWT to KLWC using the Hi Airways which makes for a ~1360 NM trip. Leaving ~400 NM of play. According to the notes the aircraft has a max service ceiling of 35K but I can never get any aircraft to fly well at the max altitude so I set my flight for 25K.

A thousand miles into the trip I was left with ~150 lbs of fuel and it was giving me the option to auto refuel. I had prop pitch, throttle and condition levers full and fuel flow was ~500 PPH.

When I reduced my throttle to 70% and prop to 80% I can get the fuel flow down to ~400 PPH. With full levers my indicated airspeed is ~180 Kts and with the new settings it drops to a snails pace at ~165 Kts.

I would think that even though the fuel flow drops, the drop in airspeed wouldn't really extend my range. So what gives? If the range is supposed to be 1760 but I can only get 1100 out of it, what am I doing wrong? It would be nice if there was something that would define the best cruising alt is.

Also, wikipedia lists the King Air 350's max cruising speed as 289 Kts at 25K, but I can't even get close to that with my max only at 180.

I'm not sure how you're getting down to 200 PPH. When I set my throttle at 80% (8800 RPM) and my props at 45% (which gets me down to 1560 RPM) my fuel flow is 400 each side. Hopefully it will be enough to get me 1400 miles. I did reduce my props to 40% and throttle to 40% and got 200 PPH, but then I started shedding the airspeed so fast I figured I was going to stall.

I'm running the flight again at 400 PPH and I'll see if I can make my destination.

I came in to post these and saw your reply, thought I would post them anyway

Cruising at 25,000ft with no wind. IAS is 147 knots, HSI (coupled to GPS) shows a true airspeed (no wind) of 218 knots. 80% power, 1600 RPM= 240 PPH per engine


90% power (basically full throttle) fuel flow is up to 360+ PPH, 178 IAS, 260 from the GPS


Turned off the anti-ice, IAS up to 194, TAS up to 281 @ 450 PPH


After that shot I climbed up to 32,000. My TAS was reading 288, right on the Wiki's notes of 289.

Just after I leveled off at 32,000 both engines died. Not sure why, unless they were tired of full throttle

Couldn't get them running again until I was down to about 26,000.

I borrowed this pic from the Learning Center and circled in red where the GPS shows ground speed (true airspeed +/- wind).


Hope this helps.

cheers,
Joe

JoBee, I think you're confusing throttle settings with the engine RPM gauge. When I set my throttles to 80% (as shown by mousing over the throttle levers) my engine RPM is around 90, not 80. I believe that the engine RPM gauge should have a X100 on it's face. If I run my throttle down to about 54% then the engine RPM reads 80. Unless of course it's supposed to be %N1 and they just mislabeled it.

I do tend to run with real world weather on, simply because I like the challenge of running into random weather. I know my wind speeds and directions will be different. I'm not sure how to get the wind displayed like you did.

The GPS has two map displays, heading up and north up. With it set to heading up it displays the GS (Ground Speed) with North up it doesn't. 

I tried your settings  with clear weather and it doesn't give me the fuel rate you have. When I set my props at 1500 and my engine at 80 (54% throttle) my fuel flow is 300. But at least airspeed is sufficient. To get my fuel flow down to 250 I have to cut my throttle down to about 25% (or 75 on the gauge).

Sir Puma wrote on Aug 15^th, 2011 at 1:13pm:

Nope, not confused at all.

I don't pay any attention to the throttle position, only what the gauges say.

Actually the RPM gauge (not the prop RPM, the other one) should have a % on it.


Sir Puma wrote on Aug 15^th, 2011 at 1:13pm:


If you mean "to get the windspeed displayed on the screen", I did it by pressing Shift+Z.

If you mean "to get a windspeed of 0 knots", this flight was done with the "Clear Weather" theme. By having no wind the GPS ground speed should match my TAS.

Sir Puma wrote on Aug 15^th, 2011 at 1:13pm:


Just curious, did you have the anti-ice switch on or off? It makes a big difference.

To heck with Strategic Retreat, you fly whatever you want.

Although the AFG B300 is pretty sweet and works in FSX.

cheers,
Joe

Sir Puma wrote on Aug 15^th, 2011 at 1:58pm:


Digital Aviation has an awesome Cheyenne, but it's payware, and I believe it's modeled after the PA-31, not the 42.  Worth every penny if you ask me though, it's a great model and fun to fly. 

Strategic Retreat wrote on Aug 15^th, 2011 at 5:03pm:


Why do you even use Microsoft Flight Sim, since you hate everything about it so?

coalpedlar wrote on Aug 21^st, 2011 at 9:40am:


The Gulfstream aircraft have some nice lines and look nice for business class twin jets, but I'm more into turbo props, particularly the classics. Having worked closely with the Electra L188 and Convair series I love those for when I want to fly larger aircraft. And I really like a variety of twin turbo props for the smaller civ aircraft.

I have an L188 for my FS9 that doesn't quite work in FS10, even though someone tried to make it work. There were a few things that just don't work right, like the views.

The King Air is ok, but MS messed up some switches between the 2D and 3D cockpits. I'm partial to Cessna and Piper aircraft too. I used to work for Rocket Engineering/JetPROP modding the Piper Malibu with the turbo prop engine. Those were a hoot and flew like a dream.

One of these days I'll have a second job and have enough money to buy some high quality aircraft.