Realistic Start

[NavyAce]

For those who want a more challenging but more realistic start here is the procedure from the Mustang manual.

 

Have ground crew pull prop through several revolutions. (This is why the Mags and Battery were left off earlier.)

Battery switch ON (If no GPU plugged in and I dont think there is an option for that here)

Oil and Coolant Radiators OPEN. (This was to be done manually to check the operation of the switches and so the ground crew could hear the motors running to check for correct functioning). To do this, move the mouse to the right of each switch until you find a label that says OPEN. Then left click and the switch will move to the right. Hold the left mouse button down to keep the switch to the right, as it is spring loaded. Release after about 17-20 seconds. Repeat for other switch. Leave in manual.

Starter ON. (After some experimentation I have found that the following works best for me. Use the HOME key to activate the starter with the middle finger of your right hand, while positioning your mouse over the BOTH selection of the ignition switch. Hold starter down.)

After prop has swung through 2-3 blades left click mouse switch to select mags to BOTH

Quickly tap the Delete key with your right forefinger to turn on the Fuel Boost Pump.

Quickly press and momentarily hold the Insert key with your right forefinger to flip on the Prime Switch

When the engine fires Mixture to Run with either a mouse click or use the LCtrl+M combo.

Oil pressure (triple gauge lower right corner of instrument panel) should come up to 50 psi within 30 seconds. If not shut down.

This is much more complicated than the training mission and takes a lot of practice since it sometimes requires doing two operations simultaneously, but it can be done and I find it ultimately more rewarding.

Again, please give me some feedback. And if you have anything else you would like to know, since I have the manual I may be able to look it up for you. The next two posts will be up by tomorrow.

NavyAce

[cichlidfan]

Btw, many of us have the manual.

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34811808/North-American-P-51-Mustang-Pilot-Training-Manual

[mmaruda]

So what would happen if someone followed the training mission procedure in a real Mustang? Would it blow up or something?

[WildBillKelsoe]

thanks man.

[NavyAce]

Just putting out info

 

I realise many of you have the manual. This was for those who do not. As regarding the start procedure I listed this was merely to give those who don't have the manual an idea of how it differed from the Training Mission. This is just for information guys. Make of it what you will.

 

NavyAce

[wolle]

For those who want a more challenging but more realistic start here is the procedure from the Mustang manual.

 

Have ground crew pull prop through several revolutions. (This is why the Mags and Battery were left off earlier.)

NavyAce

 

Is this possible, can you request the ground crew to do that in DCS? If not, would be a nice feature to add in the future, with an animation of the ground crew visible from the cockpit.

[SimFreak]

I created many months ago a condensed checklist from old WW2 manual.....although it requires ground crew to have a proper start.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=85556

[Echo38]

So what would happen if someone followed the training mission procedure in a real Mustang?

 

I am curious about this as well.

[Ala13_ManOWar]

So what would happen if someone followed the training mission procedure in a real Mustang? Would it blow up or something?

 

I guess the worst thing you could find is engine not running :D.

 

I don't follow training mission also, or manual, I follow same steps as light aircraft usually start and nothing happens.

 

S!

Edited December 8, 2012 by Ala13_ManOWar

[WarthogSmurf]

http://www.476vfightergroup.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=61

 

nice checklist here =)

[Yo-Yo]

I guess the worst thing you could find is engine not running :D.

 

I don't follow training mission also, or manual, I follow same steps as light aircraft usually start and nothing happens.

 

S!

 

I guess the most impressive would be overpriming... :) I must apologise - overpriming presents in DCS but as we have no proper effect nobody can see it.

[Krebs20]

Flames would be nice!

[ishtmail]

1st: I thought that if you own the DCS P51D, you also have the manual, so you also have this list. If you don't have the manual, then you probably don't have the DCS P51D, so you don't need this list. And anyway, the manual IS free to download on the digitalcombatsimulator.com web page.

 

2nd: how do you get the ground crew in DCS world to pull the prop for a few revolutions? Is this something that's even possible in DCS P51D? I haven't noticed any such option in the Ground Crew Communication menu.

[NavyAce]

I don't have the downloaded manual for the DCS P-51D as I already had the softcover WWII-issued version, so I can't say if they are identical or not. I just put up the post for those who may not have it so they could compare it to the Training Missions.

 

And, no, as far as I know there is no way to have the ground crew pull the prop through before starting, although this would be a nice option to have for realism. (You can't get this is FSX either). I just put that at the top of the list so that those who had read the earlier post about the Pre-Start checkplist would know why I had the Mags and Battery Switch OFF, whereas in the Training Mission they are supposed to be ON. I realise the latter was designed that way for ease of virtual starting, especially since the real procedure called for doing two different operations at once with two hands, but I wanted to show that it could be done in the virtual world if someone wanted to do so. I am just trying to share my experiences with others in the sim community.

NavyAce

[ishtmail]

It would be cool if the ground crew would have more options for interaction. This is a perfect example where the airplane does work as a real one, but the procedures differ from real life...

 

While we're at it, it would also be pretty cool if ED added a first-person walking around option, so one could make a visual preflight check of the airplane (and clicking on the plane tires would make the virtual pilot kick the tires :) ). This could later be expanded into Combined Arms, to add infantry to the whole DCS World...

[NavyAce]

Dear ishtmail,

 

I quite agree that the ground crew option should be included for realism. Not only for the prop pull, but for plugging in and unplugging an external power cart, as this was the preferred method of starting. I actually suggested this to someone connected with FSX, as I have a lot of addons there, but heard nothing back. However, if you have A2A's Spitfire program in FSX, this actually is an option, but it is just aircraft specific. Pretty cool though. It even will let you have the ground crew hold the tail down while you run up the engine! And yes a walk around option would also be great. I am a retired airline captain and I know that visual pre and post flight inspections were part of every flight. I know you can pan around the aircraft with the HOTAS button and zoom in and out but this is not the same as a first person visual. I think most of these things could be assigned as keyboard commands. Another neat thing would be to be able to program a set of virtual arms and legs in the cockpit so you could see them working the rudder pedals, moving the stick and engine controls, and flipping switches, mimicking what you were doing at your desk, instead of watching all this happening in an empty cockpit. I have no idea how that could be programmed, but it sure would be neat. Anyway, if you want to discuss other thoughts please give me a shout.

NavyAce

[sobek]

Another neat thing would be to be able to program a set of virtual arms and legs in the cockpit so you could see them working the rudder pedals, moving the stick and engine controls, and flipping switches, mimicking what you were doing at your desk, instead of watching all this happening in an empty cockpit.

 

For the P-51, this is possible right now.

[Yo-Yo]

For the P-51, this is possible right now.

 

... as well as external power source. Since Ka-50.

[Derbysieger]

For the P-51, this is possible right now.

 

I've seen this in an older video, however I don't see an option for this???

[sobek]

I've seen this in an older video, however I don't see an option for this???

 

It's not a GUI option, you can do it in game with a key command.

[Blaze]

RShift+P

[wolle]

For those who want a more challenging but more realistic start here is the procedure from the Mustang manual.

 

Have ground crew pull prop through several revolutions. (This is why the Mags and Battery were left off earlier.)

Battery switch ON (If no GPU plugged in and I dont think there is an option for that here)

Oil and Coolant Radiators OPEN. (This was to be done manually to check the operation of the switches and so the ground crew could hear the motors running to check for correct functioning). To do this, move the mouse to the right of each switch until you find a label that says OPEN. Then left click and the switch will move to the right. Hold the left mouse button down to keep the switch to the right, as it is spring loaded. Release after about 17-20 seconds. Repeat for other switch. Leave in manual.

Starter ON. (After some experimentation I have found that the following works best for me. Use the HOME key to activate the starter with the middle finger of your right hand, while positioning your mouse over the BOTH selection of the ignition switch. Hold starter down.)

After prop has swung through 2-3 blades left click mouse switch to select mags to BOTH

Quickly tap the Delete key with your right forefinger to turn on the Fuel Boost Pump.

Quickly press and momentarily hold the Insert key with your right forefinger to flip on the Prime Switch

When the engine fires Mixture to Run with either a mouse click or use the LCtrl+M combo.

Oil pressure (triple gauge lower right corner of instrument panel) should come up to 50 psi within 30 seconds. If not shut down.

This is much more complicated than the training mission and takes a lot of practice since it sometimes requires doing two operations simultaneously, but it can be done and I find it ultimately more rewarding.

Again, please give me some feedback. And if you have anything else you would like to know, since I have the manual I may be able to look it up for you. The next two posts will be up by tomorrow.

NavyAce

 

Could you post a track please, so that we can see how it is done (seeing it is easier than reading it...) That would be great, thanks.

[Weta43]

A naive question, but if we're not checking for hydraulic lock before we start a radial, then why are we turning the engine over by hand prior to start ?

To check for a cylinder with bad compression ?

Not very likely given we have repair genies that come & make everything bright shiny and new as soon as our virtual backs are turned...

[OutOnTheOP]

I would assume the hand turning is also to distribute lubricant prior to start-up

[Weta43]

I don't think you'd create enough oil pressure to do that by turning the prop slowly a couple of times by hand. more likely to do the opposite I'd have thought.