New A2A User

[EverSeen]

Hello Everyone at A2A,

Today I bought the Connie my first A2A aircraft and just wow what a beauty, am loving the crew aspect, however, am struggling to work out some stuff.

So if I START the sim load Connie Cold & Dark, I press shift-3 and select battery and tell the engineer to take control of everything. he says everything ready, after that, I followed the manual some bits all being honest I can't seem to find them and the Engineer never seems to ask or start engines.

I then primed the engines from the station and applied mixture etc after a few attempts I got the engines started.

but how do I get the engineer to trigger the engine start because that was very much something id like him to do, over myself.

[Tug002]

The only way I can think of to get him to start the engines is Ctrl E. That is how I do it in the 377. In the Connie I start them myself.

Keep smiling
Tug

[gulredrel]

In the controls popup menu (shift + 3) there's an option: Auto-Start. This will trigger the FE to start the engines and essential systems.
But manual starting is much more satisfying

[alan CXA651]

Hi.
Paul Gypsy Baron has a lua script for the engineer to start the engines and remove the gpu , but for that to work , you need the licenced version of FSUIPC.
regards alan.

[Paughco]

Check out the Connie sub-forums for starting tips. Lots of folks have make lots of contributions on how to start and fly the Connie. I cooked up a kneeboard checklist some months back, at https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewto ... 33&t=58323. I recommend that you watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ln5Z6A ... Gc&index=4. Sim CFI goes into a LOT of detail here, while he singlehandedly flies the Connie from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. The startup sequence is about the same when you're letting the FE run things.

Here is an excerpt from a post I made on the DC-3 Airways forum:


I had trouble with my Connie at first. Here is my technique (still a work in progress!):

------------------------ begin ATB startup technique -----------------------------------
First thing I do when I get in the airplane is look around and check things per the "On Entering Flight Station" checklist. Maybe I'll switch on the windshield defroster, or maybe open the windows if it's not too cold outside. Master ignition switch on. All mags set to off.

Shift+7 to check the Maintenance Hangar. Are the engines OK? Any other problems I should know about?
Shift+4 to check fuel status. Make sure the oil is topped off. Add deicer.
Shift+2 to check crew reports. Is the cabin freezing, or just cold?
Shift+3 to open the control panel. Click on FE Station to let the flight engineer know it's time to start getting things ready for startup.

Then hit A, A, to get to the FE position. Watch all the switches move around as Larry does his thing. Finally you hear him say that things are all ready. He should have the APU running, the cabin heating, and every thing ready for you to start the engines.

You are now at the FE position, ready to start engines. Let's start No. 3 first.

0. Look left at the mag switches up front. Now click somewhere on the panel (to ensure focus), then hit the M key. Press the + key repeatedly to get the mags into the both position (No need to hold shift while doing this). Press the - key to turn mags back to off. I use the + and - keys above the P key to do the mags. See the switches move? Also, you can hear when the mag switch is moved. Look back to the FE panel.

1. Shift+8 to bring up the engine selection panel. Selecting an engine is a two step process: Click on No. 3 to toggle on the green arrow. Then click the rectangle under the 1, 2, 3, 4 to activate your selection. Now try that mag thing again: Press the M key, then hit the + key and the - key to see the No. 3 mag go from off to both and then back to off. Confirm this by looking to your left at the mag switches up front. Sometimes you have to click on the screen somewhere to make sure the "focus" is on the cockpit switches, and not still in the 2D panel.

2. Use your mouse and cursor to crack throttle #3 to 10 or 11 %. Move the No. 3 mixture lever back and forth through full range so you'll be ready to open it up when the time comes.

3. Move the No. 3/4 inertia switch into the up position. You should hear the flywheel start up and reach fill pitch in 10 seconds or so. While it's winding up, flip the No. 3/4 prime switch into the up position for about 5 seconds, then turn it off. With the flywheel at peak pitch, flip the No. 3/4 engage switch to the up position. With the prop turning, press the M key and the + key three times. You should hear the mags switch on to both. Watch the No. 3 tachometer. Maybe give her some more prime. Soon as she starts, flip the prime off and move the No. 3 mixture lever to the full ON position. Ease the throttle to let her idle at about 1,100 or so.

4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for engine No. 4.
5. Same thing for engines 1 and 2.

I've seen a YouTube video shot from the cabin door of a real Connie, and the FE asks the pilot to check that all the mags are off. I'm guessing that for our sim aircraft you could get away with leaving them all on, and assuming that the engine won't actually fire until the requisite number of prop blades have turned, but turning on the correct mag at the correct time is more... immersive, I guess. Maybe there's a sneaky little line of code somewhere that causes slight engine degradation if you do it wrong, I dunno. UPDATE: I read in the C-69 Manual that you want to have the engine turning before you switch the mags on because there's no spark retard and she might kick back. (Ever try to start a Harley Panhead? Same deal, only that has a retard that you activate with the left hand grip. No such thing on a Connie).

So now your engines are running. Larry the FE will take it from here. Hit Shift+A twice and get back into the pilot's seat and start thinking about flying the airplane. Check ATIS. Dial in the runway heading on your autopilot rudder control. Stuff like that.
------------------------ end ATB startup technique -----------------------------------

One thing to watch out for is to NOT leave the primer on after you've moved the mixture to autorich. This will make the engine flood and stop.

Oh yeah - lately I've just been swiveling my view (while sitting in the FE seat) to the mags up front, and flipping them to ON with my mouse wheel. Quicker than selecting engines with that Shift+8 stuff. Up to you.

One last thing. Flying the Connie is WORK. You'll need a fun way to chill out after a few flights. How about a nice, easy flight in the T-6? Heheh...

Happy landings
ATB