Welcome

[Simmo W]

Thanks for the update Goran. Love your manual by the way, very thorough!

A surprise coming your way on the weekend :-)

[Lukasz]

Same thoughts about manual Also I like the idea of publishing checklists in separate files, than the rest of POH. Makes pilot's life much easier.

But I have one question regarding use of carb heat. Is it permitted to use in flight RPM lower than 1800, with the help of carb heat to prevent ice buildup, should the situation dictate such a move? Or is it forbidden - 1800 is 1800 and carb heat should be only used to quickly escape icing conditions?

Also how long carb heat can be turned ON? "Sparingly" - like 5-10 minutes? Any general rule of thumb would be helpful here, in order not to damage this beautifully crafted plane

Another question is when can I deploy flaps, with regards to airspeed? Do I understand right, that there are no specific maximum speeds for the detents, and I'm free to lower the flaps as much as I like, as long I'm within "white band" on the airspeed indicator?

[Goran_M]

Same thoughts about manual Also I like the idea of publishing checklists in separate files, than the rest of POH. Makes pilot's life much easier.

But I have one question regarding use of carb heat. Is it permitted to use in flight RPM lower than 1800, with the help of carb heat to prevent ice buildup, should the situation dictate such a move? Or is it forbidden - 1800 is 1800 and carb heat should be only used to quickly escape icing conditions?

Also how long carb heat can be turned ON? "Sparingly" - like 5-10 minutes? Any general rule of thumb would be helpful here, in order not to damage this beautifully crafted plane

Another question is when can I deploy flaps, with regards to airspeed? Do I understand right, that there are no specific maximum speeds for the detents, and I'm free to lower the flaps as much as I like, as long I'm within "white band" on the airspeed indicator?

To avoid icing from cruise to descent, the pilot must always "cycle" the engine (push the throttle to full power for about 5-10 seconds then bring it back to descent speed) every 1000-2000 feet.  Of course, it's not a bad thing to fly the aircraft from circuit height to the runway with carb heat constantly on but always turn it off when you land.  Just don't leave the carb heat on for more than a few minutes.  If you go through your checks for landing, carb heat should always be off when on final.

[Lukasz]

Thanks for the answers! I've tried it yesterday and it worked pretty good I find Sundowner being very pleasant to fly, no wonder it was used to train pilots.

[Goran_M]

I just saw a review on the Sundowner by Dave Claerbout on the X-Aviation website.

He writes the engine won't go to 2700RPM if he goes full throttle.

This is realistically modelled on ground roll and climb.  There is ground friction to overcome on the ground, and on climb, the weight of the aircraft limits the power.  If the pilot had enough runway and kept rolling with full power, the RPM would reach 2700.  

Once established in the cruise, it will easily reach 2700RPM.

[StormyPilot]

Looking forward to the update sounds very promising for an already great aircraft, glad to see you've included the aileron trims. 

I haven't been able to detect any sounds for the flaps going down or up, is this intended (not audible in the real thing either that is?), a current missing feature or something gone pear-shaped on my end?

Cheers, StormyPilot.

[Goran_M]

Looking forward to the update sounds very promising for an already great aircraft, glad to see you've included the aileron trims. 

I haven't been able to detect any sounds for the flaps going down or up, is this intended (not audible in the real thing either that is?), a current missing feature or something gone pear-shaped on my end?

Cheers, StormyPilot.

Update is pretty much finished.  A few things to test and it'll be ready.  There is 1 major cosmetic change in the update.  I don't want to mention what it is here.  I'll let everyone else see what it is.  It was something that bugged me quite a bit and I had to fix it. 

As for the flaps, they are not audible in the real aircraft as they are manually operated via a linkage through the handle located between the seats.  For that reason, we have taken the flap sounds out.

[StormyPilot]

I figured as much given the detail of the aircraft and obvious labour of love that's gone into it, that something like that wouldn't have slipped by you guys so easily. But I figured I'd bring it up seeing as you were in the process of patching just in case. Many thanks for response.

StormyPilot

[Goran_M]

I've had a lot of feedback from people regarding performance on the sundowner.  Namely, video card performance.

We are in the process of optimizing the textures and reducing the resolution on many of them that don't need the higher 2048 resolution.

This should ease the strain on some graphics cards out there.

Apologies for the inconvenience!

Goran

[Guest iannik]

thank you boys for this incredible model, it is really amazing to fly with it.

I had a wish list (pilot figure, open doors, etc etc) but I read that they are already in work. You did a great job with this aircraft, absolutely to be suggested.

Unfortunally sometimes the FPS fall down to 19 and it happens only with this model  ??? I put x-plane in -pause- for a second and then when I recover I go back to 40/70fps (imac 27" i5 -8gb ram). Anyway I have read on this post that other users are affected by this problem and could be a x-plane problem that need to be fixed (but why it happens only with this model?)

[Lukasz]

I had the same issue, but with C400. Try rebooting scripts in Gizmo (look for it in plugins menu -> Gizmo, in the sim itself) or disable Gizmo at all (by removing it from plugins folder in X-Plane folder), after you've registered all the planes, that require doing so. Another possible cause, is weather or terrain loading, that causes hiccups. If that is the case, simply reduce graphic settings a bit, especially view distance and amount of autogen, like buildings, trees and roads.

One more trick is to lock the fps at 19 (in X-Plane settings), which is enough to fly and prevents "the fog" from building up, for the most of the time. Actually after doing that, my overall fps are on average 10-15 higher, than before with fps locked at 30.

[Cameron]

Lis,

The Sundowner does not utilize Gizmo.

Iannik,

The problem you are likely seeing is related to your GPU exhausting resources because of the large texture use on the Sundowner for detail. We are working through it to help alleviate this issue, and it will be sent out to all customers in a free patch in a short time from now.

[Lukasz]

I know that Sundowner doesn't use Gizmo, and personally I hadn't any problems with this plane, regarding fps and performance, on a weaker PC. However, I had problems with Gizmo affecting another non-Gizmo aircraft, and maybe that tricked me into thinking that way, and I've tried to help by sharing what I know

[Cameron]

Hi, Lis,

I'm not aware of Gizmo affecting aircraft that don't utilize it (unless the aircraft use SASL). Gizmo is set to basically "decline" interaction or work if it knows not to with unauthorized aircraft. I would be willing to test this further, however, I'm near certain I've never seen something like you speak of happen with non-Gizmo compatible aircraft.

[Lukasz]

Cameron, PM sent

[Cameron]

Got it and replied! Thanks lis!

[Guest iannik]

hi,

in the next update may be changed the way how the land/taxy light swith works? I use it with mouse pointer and sometime during approach is not easy to understad where click because the clickable area are too small, I think is better if there is a large clickable area up (for land) down (for taxy) and in the middle for neutral.

what do you think?

[Goran_M]

We'll look into making the click spot larger.

Goran

[Guest iannik]

We'll look into making the click spot larger.

Goran

thank you. I love to fly with your model

[steven winslow]

Has there been an update to the Sundowner?  Will we be notified by e-mail when it is available?  I have been flying her across the country and am currently enroute from KSAV to KEKY on my way back to Montana.  I've logged about 40 hours in her over the past month and I'm gotten to know her pretty well.  But I have noted the following issues:

1. No flap sound when extending and retracting flaps (not a big deal, but the sound gives a form of confirmation the flaps have moved)

2. Overhead light switch doesn't work.  In fact, when I try to turn adjust the interior lighting, it shuts off.  No matter how I try to activate the switch, it does nothing.

3. No indicator lights in the audio panel. 

4. No apparent changes when selecting various buttons on the audio panel

5. Windshield mounted compass is not readable.  In fact, all the instruments are difficult to read

6. No "0" digit in the first position on the transponder

Don't take me wrong.  I love my Sundowner!  She's a great plane!  I post these things only as a list of things to check out and fix in the update.  I can't wait to get the new and improved update!

Thanks for all your work.

[-TheoGregory]

1. The flaps are mechanic. You can't hear them in the real one 

2. We'll take a look.

3. The real one have any lights either.

4. They make sounds on my computer. Are all your volume sliders up?

5. We'll try get the compass fixed and more readable along with all the gauges

6. We'll look into it aswell 

Glad your still enjoying it 

-TheoGregory

[steven winslow]

Thanks for the quick reply!  I wondered about the flap sound in the real Sundowner.  As I said, no biggie.  In the real plane I would see the flap handle out of the corner of my eye and I would know flap were or were not deployed.  I fly mostly 2D cockpit, but in my Sundowner I fly more 3D now.  Helps me see over the nose better during cruise and landing.

The buttons on the audio panel make the standard mouse click sound on my MacBook Pro.  Is that the sound you get, too? 

Thanks for looking into the overhead lighting.  I'd love to be able to turn it down a bit at night, but I don't want it completely off. For now, I just don't touch the knob!

Thank you for working on the readability of the gauges and instruments!  I love flying this plane, but it is tedious to try and read the instruments.  I have my view set to 45 degrees but I don't want to get any closer than that.

Thanks again for the great aircraft!  Can't wait for the G36!  You can't get it done fast enough!  If it's anything like the Sundowner, I'll pay full price for her, too!

[Goran_M]

Thanks for the quick reply!  I wondered about the flap sound in the real Sundowner.  As I said, no biggie.  In the real plane I would see the flap handle out of the corner of my eye and I would know flap were or were not deployed.  I fly mostly 2D cockpit, but in my Sundowner I fly more 3D now.  Helps me see over the nose better during cruise and landing.

The buttons on the audio panel make the standard mouse click sound on my MacBook Pro.  Is that the sound you get, too? 

Thanks for looking into the overhead lighting.  I'd love to be able to turn it down a bit at night, but I don't want it completely off. For now, I just don't touch the knob!

Thank you for working on the readability of the gauges and instruments!  I love flying this plane, but it is tedious to try and read the instruments.  I have my view set to 45 degrees but I don't want to get any closer than that.

Thanks again for the great aircraft!  Can't wait for the G36!  You can't get it done fast enough!  If it's anything like the Sundowner, I'll pay full price for her, too!

The Sundowner is being worked on and is getting a rather large upgrade.  Systems refinement, readability of gauges, AILERON TRIM, better looking mesh in a few places, flight model adjustments, faster loading times, better framerates, possibly a new night lighting texture (Theo's experimenting) and a few texture fixes.  The G36 will have all this as well, plus a few extras. 

[steven winslow]

Woo hoo!!!  Now I really can't sleep tonight! 

Any ideas when the update will be available?  I love this plane!

[Goran_M]

Woo hoo!!!  Now I really can't sleep tonight!   

Any ideas when the update will be available?  I love this plane!

When I originally made the Sundowner, I was very much against an update.  I wanted everything done right the first time.  But now that I'm finding out new things, I plan on making this update the final update.  In saying that, It will be ready in approximately 3-6 weeks. It sounds like a long time, but it will look like an entirely new Sundowner.