The A2A Simulations Community

I'm really looking forward to sometime getting the Constellation.
One of these days, she's going to end up in my hangar. (Might have to build a bigger one to accommodate her, truly.)
Anyone have tips for flying/caring for her? Is she as easy as the J-3, or challenging like making a pig fly?

Well, she's definitely a challenge since it's a multicrew environment and you have virtual passengers on board (COTS). But in terms of flying, systems and navigation, she's just a big Cessna with 4 engines. 4 powerful ones!

She’s as complicated or as easy as you want it to be. If you try doing everything yourself then she is a handful which isn’t really realistic. If you use the virtual crew then all you focus on is the flying which makes things super easy. Personally I use the virtual crew for take off approach and landings. Once at altitude and in the cruise I take over control of everything and really try to maximize engine life and fuel burn. I really wish there was a twin engine for COTS.

Personally I would recommend when first flying the Connie, spending most of your time in the engineer's seat. Mastering this station makes you a much better pilot / manager. The same goes for the 377. Once you have it mastered, then you can pretty much let the virtual engineer do his thing. He is very smart, actually scans and thinks on the fly, and does a really good job. And when he talks to you over the headset, what he is saying makes more sense too and it helps you understand the state of the airplane better.

Scott.