Turbo Commander

[expat]

Veneaviones 690B model still looks the business. Have it working perfectly in FSX/Accel. If anyone needs help search here for the easy fixes of PM me. Wish I could sort out the FS turboprop start-up serge issue - it just wants to bolt across the airport like others do in FS, which as we know does not really model propjets that well.

 

[deathfromafar]

Veneaviones 690B model still looks the business. Have it working perfectly in FSX/Accel. If anyone needs help search here for the easy fixes of PM me. Wish I could sort out the FS turboprop start-up serge issue - it just wants to bolt across the airport like others do in FS, which as we know does not really model propjets that well.

I have 1 flight in a real Turbo Commander from about summer of 2000. The thing with the Garrett engines are that they are not geared like Pratt & Whitney PT-6 Turbines/Props. They are direct shaft to the prop. So when you make rpm/torque changes the effect is immediate almost like a piston engine and not laggy like the PT-6's. If I recall correctly, ground taxiing/handling of the Turbo Commander was done in a high ground idle power setting with the prop pitch being modulated between certain settings or if needed into Beta(reverse) to keep the taxi speed low. I remember that the TC was loud as hell and it was fast. About the only negative thing the pilot warned me about was that the engines always ran a tad hotter than most other light turbine engines. After shutdown, there was a need to hand cycle the props to pull air through the hot section/shaft to prevent shaft warping. I saw pilots of King Air B100's do this as well as OV-10's which were equipped with Garrett's. I will try this model out & see how it does and if it can be/needs adjusting.

 

[expat]

Thanks - very helpful info on managing the Garretts. I knew they were direct drive but thought they did not have the same 'hot start' risks of the PT-6's, but sounds as if they have just as financially ruinous consequences for possible overheating on shutdown. I saw a C208 piliot in Africa (she was blonde & blue eyed) turnover the PT-6 engine for a couple of minutes after landing and shut down presumably probably for the same reason.

My 690B in FSX has very good manners once airborne but some maddening traits on start up and also taxi. The throttles, of course, are set on cracked/idle but these FS prop jets don't take any notice it seems and surge to full power anyway, notwithstanding the "cracked" setting on startup. This more often than not sends the plane hurtling across the airfiled into other planes, hangars, fences etc particularly if you start with the props on high/fine pitch/100% rpm setting.

Am now partly solving this by starting with the prop pitch on low/full coarse pitch (just before going into reverse pitch), then starting and quickly pulling the throttles back (again) to idle on light up. This seems contrary to the correct procedure IRL where I believe you start and taxi with the prop levers advanced/in high setting, as you mention.

The second problem is that when bringing up the prop pitch for taxi there is a noticeable "ketchup bottle" effect - where you can slowly and carefully move the props foward with no effect and then suddenly, WHAM!, it goes from zero to the max setting rather than a gradual increase. Any suggestions on how to tweak the air.cfg to improve this?

Question: do the Garrett's IRL have Condition Levers as well as throttle and prop controls (like the PT-6's)? The FS 690B only has throttle and prop pitch, no condition levers.