C46 Commando first flights

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Just a quick take off and  short flight about the Rohnerville-KFOT (And Murray Field-KEKA) areas, then down to Little River (O48) after a quick livery change into something brighter.

I like it so far. Still looking for the heading select switch in the Military cockpit, can't find it in the manual either...so far it is a point and shoot AP. the Civilian cockpit is very easy to navigate around though, and the Air America/Civilian model will probably be my go to livery in Airhauler.

And the elevator trim is Very sensitive, but the manual says that is to be expected.

It's very easy to float into a landing, and very easy to lose speed and stall, as I found out on my first landing...I managed to recover from one when it happened at 200 ft AGL...ROAR, nose down, recovered in 100'...no problemo, and glad I was empty.

 

Piccies:

 

That First Look when I popped out of the VC for the External view. Lovely first impression.

 

Departing KFOT:

 

KEKA is probably just below me and to the East a bit.

 

Terrific Civilian VC...approaching that little coastal strip/drag strip that is part of the KEKA scenery package.

 

It lands like a slightly heavier DC-3...floaty but heavy bodied. No stearable tail wheel on this one so be prepared to use lots of rudder After landing a crosswind until rudder authority dissipates with the speed, dual throttle controls are a huge plus for this thing..., and locking the tailwheel until you need to turn (a custom key shortcut for Tailwheel lock will be handy for this plane.)

 

Livery change for the dusk hop to Little River:

 

Not sure why, but I tend to make long sweeping approaches with the vintage stuff, especially if I have trouble seeing over the nose...this may be down to my flap and power settings however for this plane.

 

Military VC.

Edited August 12, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[rosariomanzo 545]

Wow, a gorgeous model. What about the sounds?

 

In the military version Sperry AP, you should be able to change heading  rotating the knob up right the heading gauge. The gauge has two horizontal indicators: the upper one is the selected heading and the lower one is the current gyro heading and should match the current compass heading. In the same way, you could change the pitch rotating the knob up right the pitch gauge.

[mutley 4,498]

She looks ideal for hauling Coff and looking at your piccies a good looker too!

[wain 879]

fantastic shots you have taken there Matt, looks like a nice piece of work, is that a standard GPS or have you added it?

[jury1942 424]

Great shots!!!

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

7 hours ago, rosariomanzo said:

Wow, a gorgeous model. What about the sounds?

 

In the military version Sperry AP, you should be able to change heading  rotating the knob up right the heading gauge. The gauge has two horizontal indicators: the upper one is the selected heading and the lower one is the current gyro heading and should match the current compass heading. In the same way, you could change the pitch rotating the knob up right the pitch gauge.

 

Sounds great inside, but the sound is rather quiet on the outside (I suspect my machine...I Always suspect my machine first...it is so due for an overhaul).

 

Re: the Sperry AP

So far I have only found a Nav button, no Heading button to put it into Heading Mode, so that dial you mention, that I knew of btw (I use it in the DC3 and a couple other vintage birds)...the dial just spins and doesn't affect the AP. All I can do ATM is hold the current heading when I put the AP master to On, and adjust the vertical speed, and hold altitude..which is just fine for an AP frankly of this vintage. And ofc adding my WeFly Autopilot will fix everything, and even though it is cheating a bit Authenticity speaking, damn straight I'm going to use it .

 

@mutley: It's going to be a brilliant Airhauler Joe. Rugged, Hauls a lot, it doesn't feel very STOL, but I'll find out how short I can land it in a little while I'm sure...not very STOL at all I'm guessing with a full potential payload of up to 17,000 lbs on a short fuel load. I used the entire runway in that first landing...not very impressive brakes on this thing i'm afraid.

 

@wain That gps came stock in the Civilian panel. Haven't touched it yet as I was just VFR flying along the coast...very very hard to get lost with green on one side and blue on the other.

 

@jury1942 tyvm

Edited August 11, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[rosariomanzo 545]

16 minutes ago, Captain Coffee said:

Re: the Sperry AP (...)

 

Ah ok, so it should be some radio glitches which btw I've been reading of on the JF forums.

God bless WeFly

[UKJim 502]

What is the scenery used here? Especially the first airfield? Great shots and plane btw

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

1 minute ago, UKJim said:

What is the scenery used here? Especially the first airfield? Great shots and plane btw

 

That is ORBx Rohnerville KFOT scenery, on top of Vector, on top of Base, on top of NA, on top of Global (or something like that order iirc)...just a few layers there.

And Active Sky Next is running weather, Rex is doing sky textures.

Thanks!

[UKJim 502]

Thanks - I have all them layers apart from the airfield I'm taking a look because I like it! 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

They have two actually Right Next to each other.

I should clarify that I took off from KFOT, but most of the above shots are over KEKA-Murray Field associated scenery (keka doesn't actually show in any of the shots), another ORBx product just a few miles north which includes that coastal landing and drag strip combo where I landed the Air America livery.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Captain Coffee

[brett 2,316]

Wonderful shots Matt, thanks for the first look. Looks pretty nice, is it worth the money? 

 

Watching the video from JF the sounds was decent from the cockpit but was rather tame during the external shots, a shame.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

3 hours ago, brett said:

Wonderful shots Matt, thanks for the first look. Looks pretty nice, is it worth the money? 

 

Watching the video from JF the sounds was decent from the cockpit but was rather tame during the external shots, a shame.

 

Time will tell if it is worth the money, but it Looks like a comparable model of similar cost, it flys great...and will be a big asset in AH2 companies ( it's Freeware version was and this model is better on all counts so far). I've set it to 52 pax max in AirHauler, after doing some internet sleuthing for data on seating capacity...the Aircraft.cfg doesn't provide any clues...I suppose I should have a peak back in the pax section in a Pax model version and see if it offers any Seating Suggestions...doh, 52 for now is enough to generate Route Income in AH.

 

I'm still learning the cockpit so any Bugs thus far are on me until I'm sure they aren't.

 

I wish I had more time to fly it today, but I've been preoccupied with getting my motorcycle and baggage sorted for my upcoming Eclipse Trip next week. I hope to take a Test Ride fully packed this weekend and see how it handles on the road, during breaks, and during a test Camp Set,  prior to hitting the actual road next week. If only I put this amount of preparation into my Flight Planning. Ha!

[OzWookiee 151]

Nice work there Capt'n. Good to see a decent Commando after looking around recently and only finding a FS2004 version.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

been looking forward to this one, it looks great. will have to indulge next pay day.