Hugh Grotius

Thanks. It's certainly an annoyance, but I guess I'll live with it. Thanks again.

Thanks for the response. I guess for now I'll opt for alternative 2, moving the gizmo.plugin folder. Do I have to restart X-Plane every time I do that, or can I do it while I'm in the simulator? E.g., suppose I'm in X-Plane flying the DC-3, and I decide to try the Seneca. Should I quit X-Plane, move the plugin folder, then re-start? Or can I just alt-tab out of X-Plane and remove the folder? The latter would be somewhat less annoying.

So I'm a happy owner of the LES DC-3, but I've grown concerned that Gizmo apparently conflicts with plugins used by other aircraft. In particular, I'm interested in buying some of the Carenado aircraft for X-Plane. How do you recommend I deal with Gizmo when I want to run a Carenado plane? Delete Gizmo every time I want to run an aircraft that uses SASL? Seems like an awful pain. Since I've installed Gizmo, I've also had some graphics glitches with the default Cessna 172. I see colored polygons, for brief moments, splattered around the windshield. I've read elsewhere that Gizmo uses X-Plane's master plug-ins directory and seems to claim priority over other plug-ins that merely run in aircraft folders. Is that true? Could Gizmo be modified to run only in the X-Aviation directory?

Thanks, Goran. After starting my flights with more fuel, I've had no problem, so I'm guessing I was running out of fuel in the right tank. I hope that was all it was!

Well, I take it back: in that flight when I exceeded 150 knots, one of the engines died, for reasons I still can't figure out. Maybe I need to stick with the relatively low Manifold Pressure and RPM settings mentioned in the cruise chart in the manual, but doing that gets me only 125 knots or so, although I am flying at low altitude in Hawaii; maybe the plane is faster higher up? Edit: This time I flew from Kona to Honolulu, staying at the recommended settings, which got me about 125-30 knots -- but AGAIN an engine died, this time right at Honolulu, and I crashed. Why is this happening? I monitor the engine gauges closely, and they all (including CHT) were in the green. Further edit: I think maybe I was running out of fuel in the right fuel tank? The engine didn't smoke, and I did start my flight with only 50% fuel. It didn't occur to me to try switching to the right aux tank. I just did a successful flight of about the same length, with 75% fuel, so maybe that was it. I'll try to stop spamming you!

Thanks. I'm now doing more than 150 knots, just using higher settings for manifold pressure and prop RPM, but not so high as to push any of the oil or heat gauges into the red. Seems to be working well. Hehe, I love the "real" navigation. I just flew from Kona to Honolulu in the dark, using only the direction arrow from the Honolulu VOR. It got me there. Of course, PHNL is a giant airport, hard to miss.

Thanks, Goran. I did figure out that the copilot has Nav 2 and ADF 2. That's helpful. But yikes, I'm going to have to work on my navigation skills to find airports that don't have NDBs or VORs sitting right in the middle of the airfield. E.g., right now I'm flying to Tampa at night. I'm "aiming" between the St Pete VOR and the VOR to the east, heh. The DME will help, and I hope I'll get good at figuring out which radials intersect where. I love it. I just switched Nav2 to the Tampa ILS, and the receiver found it, of course without any glide-slope info. I'm still wondering about cruise settings. I found the cruise chart in the manual, and it seems to suggest 27.5 inches MAP, 2050 prop RPM at my current altitude/temperature (just 1000 feet MSL right now, as I'm approaching the airfield). I've only been making 120-25 knots or so. I had the impression the DC-3 cruised faster than that. I'm carrying a half-tank of fuel, playing Flight Sim Economy, with 13 passengers. I don't know if FSE transmits passenger/cargo info to the aircraft, but it does transmit fuel load info. Also, I sure spend a lot of time eyeing the cylinder-head temperature, and opening/closing cowl flaps accordingly. I open/close them 3-4 times during an hour-long cruise, as temp climbs or falls. Normal? Edit: Also, the checklist says to wait for CYL-head temp to come down to 175 degrees before shutting down. That takes a long time for me, even with cowl flaps wide open, RPM 1000, low manifold pressure. Should I vent oil too, or something? I just now shut down at 200 degrees cylinder head temp, and the plane didn't explode; what's the risk of premature shutdown? Sorry for all the questions, but I do love this aircraft. You've done a marvelous job.

Well, doh! I didn't even know there was a manual! (blush) My excuse is that the default X-Plane aircraft don't come with manuals, so I didn't look. It's wonderfully done, and it answered most of my questions. I searched for any info on an OBS knob, and I couldn't find any. I wouldn't be shocked if there's no OBS feature on this aircraft, but I'm still curious whether I'm missing something. Also, I didn't find much advice on how to land the plane. I am not used to landing a tail-dragger. I keep bouncing! I survive, but it's ugly. Any general advice on this would be appreciated.

I love the new DC-3, but I have a couple questions. 1. I can get Nav1 and an NDB on the leftmost nav gauge. Where does Nav2 appear? Only on the copilot gauge? That's okay with me, I just want to make sure I understand how the gauges work. 2. I know the DC-3 appeared before the advent of VORs. Is that why I can't find an OBS knob anywhere? Or is there one and I'm just missing it? (By the way, thank you for not including a GPS. Much more immersive this way.) 3. What's the expected cruising speed of the plane? 4. Any general advice on how to manage throttle/prop/mixture? All three full on takeoff seems to work, but shortly after takeoff, I get engine warnings unless I reduce power or prop or both. In general, do we fly this like we'd fly smaller two-engine piston aircraft, like the Baron 58? "Prop on top", etc.? 5. Also, should I be opening cowl flaps on takeoff and on steep descents? 6. I'm nervous about turning her into a true tail-dragger. Maybe fly a bit this way first? Any advice on that? Thanks!