This will be a love/hate relationship.

 

The A2A B377 CosT is a wonderful thing but the horrific mauling she has given my ego will take a long time to heal.

 

:LMAO:

 

Don't get me wrong - I am well aware that I am a terrible virtual pilot and a total greenhorn compared to many (most!) of you here, but so many of my FSX planes allow me to get away with being a horrible pilot - to the point that it becomes easy to convince myself otherwise.

 

All my GA planes make me feel pretty competent - GPS takes the hassle out of the navigation and means you can concentrate on the flying, and the sheer speed, stability and manoeuvrability of most of them means that a bad initial approach is quickly rectified and a greaser swiftly pulled from the jaws of defeat.

 

Even the 737NGX, as wonderful as she is, pretty much flies herself if you get the FMC and AP aspects right.

 

Not so the B377.

 

Oh no.

 

Leaving aside the fact that I am having to go back to learning navigation properly again (a good thing, don't get me wrong) and leaving aside the added complexity of having to juggle temps, MAN pressure, Carb heat, CAM heat etc etc etc and ignoring the terrified screams of those on board for a moment, I have just discovered that the approach and subsequent (attempted!) landing is a whole new ball game for me.

 

I really struggled to get the approach lined up (partly due to duff navigation) and even when I did, trying to get her properly on track and keeping her there was a real struggle...as my botched off-runway landing will attest.

 

Anyways - I have rambled enough. Time to drag my humbled butt back to the cockpit and try again!

 

 

(For the TLD:DR crew: The A2A CotS B377 is ace. I suck at it. Still fun.)

For proper landing techniques see the www.calclassic.com forum.

The B377 had a very special landing technique, what was unique of all the propliners.

Hi lain,

 

While I don't know the A2a 377 I can say the same. Most GA aircraft are quite forgiving in FSX, but while I don't fly for real myself I have read that most real world GA aircraft are not that hard too, provided you have proper real world training as well.

With an aircraft like the B377 you are not only lacking real world training, you are required to be pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and navigator, something that required 4 people in the real world and that's quite a workload. off course the simulator simplifies a few things.

 

I learned navigation by VOR and NDB by using one of the simpler aircraft, probably it was one of the default aircraft. While these have a more modern radio set as the B377 the principles are the same.

Have fun.

It definitely has a way of exposing weaknesses. :Doh:

The way CoTS judges landings is just a little hokey and overly sensitive. Staring at the VSI while landing is unrealistic, but that's what you'll have to do in order to appease the virtual passengers (or something similar). Even if I plant the aircraft right in the center of my aiming point with no bounce and a seemingly perfect technique, I'm liable to get "points taken". I've gotten really good at making landings the CoTS passengers like, but they're not safe landings in the sense that the aircraft is touching down 500/1000 ft past my aim point and I don't have a positive, firm grip on Terra firma because of the lighter touchdown.

 

Also, with the autopilot on, make sure to turn rudder boost off.

The way CoTS judges landings is just a little hokey and overly sensitive.....

 

Good to know for when I get better, but probably not that relevant at the moment!

 

To be honest, my problems were not so much with my descent rate, nor kissing the asphalt as one would a baby, but before that stage and far more fundamental!

 

1) I found my lack of nav knowledge meant that I struggled to get lined up with the runway from far enough away on my first approach. When you have the GPS along with the knowledge of the runway heading, it is very easy to head straight towards it on the right vector

 

2) After my first botched approach and go-around, I still found it very difficult to get the beast lined up square with the runway and to hold it there for the duration of the approach. By this stage I had given up on trying to juggle the engineers panel as well and handed it all over whilst I wrestled and sweated over the controls. Still failed dismally and though technically I got the thing down, it was probably one of my all time worse (non-fatal) landings.

 

Also, with the autopilot on, make sure to turn rudder boost off.

 

Hmm - I don't think I actually touched the rudder boost at all during my flight! will have to check that next time.

 

 

I also had a very odd problem with my flaps - they basically got stuck - every time I tried to lower them, it was as if someone immediately pressed the button to raise them??? Suffice it to say that running flaps at 5" made a difficult landing even harder.

 

I assumed this was some kind of modelled damage effect, but I don't see why that would have occurred - I was gentle with them throughout the flight, didn't try to move them above 200kts etc.

 

Oh well - back to the drawing board for me I guess.

 

 

For proper landing techniques see the www.calclassic.com forum.

The B377 had a very special landing technique, what was unique of all the propliners.

 

I couldn't seem to find anything on this subject here - I did try a search but nothing came up?

 

Cheers all!

http://calclassic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fsaviator&action=display&thread=3156

 

Did a little digging in the archive section - this is a wealth of info on the B377 - lots of techniques included!

http://calclassic.pr...lay&thread=3156

 

Did a little digging in the archive section - this is a wealth of info on the B377 - lots of techniques included!

 

Brilliant - thanks Barfly!

I'm flying the thing as we speak - one thing I've learned in my several flights is to reload each flight from scratch, and not load the saved flight from my last destination - I think my virtual crew was ###### for not getting any crew rest in 40 flight hours, lol. Loaded a fresh flight at my last destination - and they showed up chipper and ready to go. Also, if you haven't used him, Larry is a fantastic engineer - thanks Larry!

I'm flying the thing as we speak - one thing I've learned in my several flights is to reload each flight from scratch, and not load the saved flight from my last destination - I think my virtual crew was ###### for not getting any crew rest in 40 flight hours, lol. Loaded a fresh flight at my last destination - and they showed up chipper and ready to go. Also, if you haven't used him, Larry is a fantastic engineer - thanks Larry!

 

happy trails and give my regards to Larry!

 

...as an aside, have you ever experienced the weird flaps issues I had? Is flap damage modelled in the B377? Is it possible to "lock" the flaps inadvertently?

What you probably should do, is read Ernest K Gann's Fate is the Hunter, which if you don't know it, is about his time learning how to be a commercial airline pilot on the DC-2 and DC-3 in the time running up to WW2, and his subsequent service as a cargo pilot in WW2. The book was the source for several really great aviation movies in fact, notably, Island in the Sky.

 

Gann is quite candid about his difficulties in learning how to tame the DC-2 in particular, and all the tricks he had to learn in order to manage that. That aspect of it is just one of many reasons why it is probably the best aviation book ever, but one which, in particular, will probably float your boat right now since you are going through the virtual version of that same struggle after having been, as Gann himself was, a bit of a barnstormer on single-engined aircraft prior to joining the airlines.

 

Al

happy trails and give my regards to Larry!

 

...as an aside, have you ever experienced the weird flaps issues I had? Is flap damage modelled in the B377? Is it possible to "lock" the flaps inadvertently?

 

No, no flap problems. Had to overhaul a few motors after the first few flights due to overboosting 'em, but no problems since then. I don't think there is anything you can repair other than motor overhaul, so not sure what's going on there.

What you probably should do, is read Ernest K Gann's Fate is the Hunter, which if you don't know it, is about his time learning how to be a commercial airline pilot on the DC-2 and DC-3 in the time running up to WW2, and his subsequent service as a cargo pilot in WW2. The book was the source for several really great aviation movies in fact, notably, Island in the Sky.

 

Gann is quite candid about his difficulties in learning how to tame the DC-2 in particular, and all the tricks he had to learn in order to manage that. That aspect of it is just one of many reasons why it is probably the best aviation book ever, but one which, in particular, will probably float your boat right now since you are going through the virtual version of that same struggle after having been, as Gann himself was, a bit of a barnstormer on single-engined aircraft prior to joining the airlines.

 

Al

 

Al, you are a gent and a scholar - I shall seek out this tome forthwith.

 

 

No, no flap problems. Had to overhaul a few motors after the first few flights due to overboosting 'em, but no problems since then. I don't think there is anything you can repair other than motor overhaul, so not sure what's going on there.

 

It was really odd. Flaps were working fine at take off, then during the flight, I heard my Co-Pilot say "flaps" to 5' " out of the blue and there they stuck!

 

Every time I tried to move them after that, it was as if someone jumped back on the lever to move them back to 5" again...

Hmm sounds like you probably have an unwanted additional keyboard or stick assignment for flaps.