FSX C-47 v2 - Unlucky to start engines...

G

Gooneybird565

SOH-CM-2023
Good day to you all, fellow pilots, simmers, developpers !

Am starting the learning curve to fly Manfred Jahn wonderful C-47 (v2), after several years of addiction to an other DC3, the MAAM-SIM one.

I have been reading the manual, have followed the engine start procedure supplied, as well as various posts here and there about the subject, but am desperately unable to start engines from cold and dark situation. Even the Ctrl-E does not work...
The only solutions I have at present time is not to load a cold and dark start situation previously saved, but to select the aircraft as well as a parking on an airport, to have at least both engines running, alternative being opening a cold and dark situation, changing to the C-117 (v2 also - no problem here with the engine starting procedure), start the engines, then change to the C-47 (v2)...

Something I have been missing during my readings? Some hardware problems? Some software problems? Hardly can say so far, as I do not know anymore where to look at.

Sorry for the bloody question, but I know you are all a bunch of very nice people.

Any information, comment, advice is welcome.

Greetings from Paris, France.

Philippe
 
Yes, that, and are your batteries ON and fully charged (24V)? (They deplete rather quickly.) if you are using the Shift-3 control panel (as I'm sure you do), hover the mouse over the starter cell to get an error diagnostic and a tip on what to do next.

If all else fails, post a screenshot of the control panel here.

(The odd thing is that the C-117 has the identical startup logic -?)

Edit: you may not see the tooltips if you are in fullscreen mode. If that's the case go to windowed mode via Alt-Enter and try again.
 
Portia911, Manfred,
Thank you very much for your feed-backs.

Yesterday, did as follows,
Selecting a C-47 from FSX menu,
Cockpit view, and control panel page 2,
Parking brake on,
Throttle 10/12%,
Mixture AR,
Props full forward,
Pump on,
Prime 3 to 5 secs,
Mouse wheel click on start, either engine 2 or engine 1 as first,
then listening to the engine(s) which never catched, even after one minute and above.

(using same starting sequence with the C-117, engines do start properly in a couple of 10's of seconds).

Some say the night bring wise advices..., for instance to be more patient when expecting an engine to start, and experimenting some more.
Today, and the C-117 still being OK for starting engines, tried again as above with same unsatisfactory results.
Then introduced a slight variation on starting procedure... :
Selecting a C-47 from FSX menu,
Cockpit view, and control panel page 2
Parking brake on,
Throttle 10/12%,
Mixture AR,
Props full forward,
Pump on,
Prime 3 to 5 secs,
Mouse wheel (mid-) click on start, either engine 2 or engine 1 as first,
Waiting some few seconds,
Cycling (S key) to outside view,
And the selected engine catches !!!
Return to cockpit view,
Same as above for the other engine,
Cycling (S key) to outside view,
and the second engine catches also.
(sometimes, had to further cycle from view to view, but at the end, the second motor did catch...)

Really can not imagine the why's and the how's, but it finally works, and I can now enjoy that beautiful aircraft! (first have to train somehow, to fly it properly and as per checklist...)

Manfred, further read about the panel being under development by Jan, which will be a great add-on to your creation, specifically for those who love flying the old and ancient birdies (say thirties to fifties aircrafts).

Once more, thank you so much for this wonderful work, and also to the various repainters, who bring that extensive flying pleasure!

Wieder mal, vielen Dank, und ein schönen Gruß aus Paris

Philippe
 
Hey Philippe, great news that you were able to get both engines started - and that you've written down exactly what you did! Hope you have no more troubles with this wonderful aircraft - happy flying. :wavey:
 
Thanks a lot, mate!
Have not been flying that much down under (apart from the London-Melbourne race route, various Great Australian Air Rallyes, and MP flights from Australia through PNG, and back, but guess I should get back there, and visit (virtually) Tasmania, once I feel at ease in the C-47's cockpit :biggrin-new:
Blue Skies !
 
For what it's worth, the startup procedure that works reliably for me is to crack the throttle, advance the props and mixture, prime, then close the mixture. After that I hit the starter, wait a few turns of the blades, then advance the mixture while continuing to hold the starter down. With mixture added after the starter, the engines fire just about every time. In the C-117 I can leave the mixture in auto-rich, but the C-47v2 seems a little more temperamental about it, at least on my setup - am not sure why or if it's realistic, but that's been my experience. Hope this is helpful.
 
Alan,

I have never been a pilot in a C-47 (or any other airplane for that matter), but I remember reading somewhere that your procedure with the mixture is actually the correct way.

For those more familiar with these gorgeous planes, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Btw: it is weird that switching to the outside view will start the engines, but I have physical switches and levers assigned to most functions, and love being in the outside view, watching and hearing the engines start.
 
Gooneybird565 said:
Thanks a lot, mate!
Have not been flying that much down under (apart from the London-Melbourne race route, various Great Australian Air Rallyes, and MP flights from Australia through PNG, and back, but guess I should get back there, and visit (virtually) Tasmania, once I feel at ease in the C-47's cockpit :biggrin-new:
Blue Skies !
Click to expand...

If you don't already have ORBX Australia scenery, I think you can still download the free Tasmania demo from the FTX site - that would make your virtual visit more rewarding.
It's a l-o-n-g flight from Paris tho . . . :biggrin-new:

I have an AirHauler company with a base at Le Bourget (+ UK bases) flying in the late 40s/early 50s era, so I get to 'visit' your home town fairly regularly.

Alan, thanks for your procedure, I might try that as a more authentic approach.
 
Thank you to all for your replies.
Today had hard times to even reproduce successfully yesterday's starting procedure, and was only successful after many, many attempts.
Further found out that starting procedure into one C-47, then changing to an other C-47 when the engines were not catching, brought the second C-47 with the motor actually started and running, but then I have missed all the beautiful starting sounds!
Even the CTRL+E combination does not work for the C-47.
And still no problem at all, whatever type of start, with the C-117...
Just wondering if something is corrupted on my computer, and am considering reinstalling the C-47, just to check, but not now.
When too tricky, will switch to starting up and running from a parking place...

Alan_A, did try your procedure, but no joy up to now.
Portia911, thank you for the information. Will have a look at the ORBX site.
And next time you fly into LFBO, we could have some nice french wine testing in the neighborhood (some rest before resuming flight highly recommended...), although I understand you also have some nice ones down under.

A good day to you all
 
I'm not sure if this is my imagination or not, but I get the sense the startup might be sensitive to temperature (and therefore sensitive to density altitude). Trying the startup yesterday on a hot day, I found the engines were balky. When I rolled my mouse over the start cell in the shift-3 menu, I was told that when I advanced the mixture, it was too rich. Holding it back to the middle of the scale (well below auto-rich) worked. Maybe that's worth a look. No matter what the issue, the tooltips in the shift-3 menu (specifically the start cell) are worth a look - lots of information there.

All that said, it also sounds like you might have a corrupt install. Maybe worth uninstalling and reinstalling?
 
Gooneybird565; said:
Portia911, thank you for the information. Will have a look at the ORBX site.
And next time you fly into LFBO, we could have some nice french wine testing in the neighborhood (some rest before resuming flight highly recommended...), although I understand you also have some nice ones down under.
Click to expand...

An excellent idea, Philippe! :ernaehrung004:
I don't get down to Toulouse very often but - apart from the local wine - it is obviously a very important place for aviation in France, so would be great to visit. I will look for some hauling jobs going that way.

I hope a reinstall solves your problems with the C47.
 
Did reinstall C-47 V2 from freshly re-downloaded files. Still have to cycle views (S key) to have motors catching, and will live with that.

Regarding Toulouse, yes, an important aviation devoted city, or should I say historical city to aviation, precisely Montaudran, today south-east suburb of Toulouse, former airfield, and location of the Latécoère airline (later known as the Aeropostale) and aircraft manufacture which, between 1917 and 1933, operated a mail service first to northern Africa (Marocco), then to Saitn Louis du Senegal and Dakar, and finally up to Southern America. A great aviation and aircrafts history, and also a long way to fly from Toulouse to Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, as well as other continental lines served out of Buenos Aires! Flying a DC3, took me 57 hours to fly the route from Montaudran to Santiago de Chile, + stops for discharging the mail and refueling...

Blue skies !
 
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