KBFI out and return low altitude to stay below clouds

[alan CXA651]

Hi.
Did a flight in the B17 KBFI t/o out return landing , flight time 2.1 hrs , the engines 1/2 are in fair condition 3/4 in good condition , no faults showing in the hangar.
On startup , i had a momentary message in red , stateing problem with number 1 , both engines 1/2 where smokeing badly on warmup , once engines where warm , i did a mag check , then prop check on all engines , all ok , then taxiied out to runway 13R , lined up , final checks showed all was ok , so took off , during the entire flight , i kept a close eye on engines 1/2 , slightly more vibration from them , but all the flight was ok , no problems manifested , landed , and after shutdown , the hangar once again showed no faults , engines 1/2 are the youngest engines , something is failing , but as yet nothing showing , so cannot fix it yet.
https://www.twitch.tv/cxa651/v/107171589
regards alan.

[danb12]

Alan,

Nice video and good landing.

Hopefully the engines will hold out long enough not to cause a problem in mid air, although I had one of my most exciting flights when I had a run away turbo and had to shut down and coax her back home on 3 engines... she flies quite well to be fair!

I have about 69hrs on all engines and 99hrs on the airframe and I always look forward to something going wrong to add to the challenge! That's the joy of a sim and even more so with A2A!

Dan

[alan CXA651]

Hi Danb12.
I have had a wastegate failure on number 4 , i knew before T/O i had problems with number 4 , as it was vibrating badly on start/warm up , but all was ok in the hangar prior to flight , i was recreating the shuttle flight from hendersons field , near to KSFO , its disused in FSX , and i flew to PHNL , part of which is the famous HICKEM field when the b17s flew into the japanese attack on pearl harbour , you can spot a wastegate failure , as the manifold is a runaway , i , immediatly retarded throttle to idle , manifold came back into the green , so kept it at idle as a spare generator , as i was over 3hrs into my flight , and nothing but ocean below me , landed at PHNL with number 4 shutdown/feathered just in case i accidently caught the throttle while landing , if you want to push the aircraft and yourself to the limits , try it , you are arriving with very little fuel in the tanks , and you start with bombbay tanks/tokyo tanks/main tanks full , the aircraft only just takes off from henderson field struggling to get airbourne.
regards alan.
P.S. thanks for the complment on the landing , i have found that 110knts is a nice approach speed , then retard throttles so at the runway threshhold you are doing about 100knts , then flare gently , 9 out of 10 times you will get a gentle landing.
Also i have a CH yoke/rudder peddles/2 quad throttles , so i can control throttles/props/mixtures of each individual engine , makes for far better control of the aircraft , but it was not easy to set up in FSUIPC , took a few days to figure out how to get individual prop control , and then i needed a bit of help.

[danb12]

That sounds good... if I get a bit of time I may give it a go!

Not a problem about the compliment... I haven't flown her for a while and started again a few days ago, need to polish up on my landings...

Need to sort my elevator trim out too as we wereceive discussing in the other thread. It still won't work

Hey ho!

Keep flying!
Dan

[alan CXA651]

Hi.
Been flying the B17 out of KBFI about two flights a day to see if i can figure out what is wrong with engine 1 , all engines are smoking badly on startup , 3/4 very quickly get rid of the smoke and start running clean , not so with engines 1/2 they stay smoking badly untill they get to temp , engine 1 vibrates slightly more than rest , but sofar no faults showing in the hangar , after my last flight yesterday , which was only about 1 hr , came in at same approach and flare speeds , but instead of the soft smoothe landings , this was a bit heavy , not that bad , but enough to make the copilot grunt , now i have to be carful on landings as my right gear is showing as worn , now to see how long i can keep these tied engines going , before they start failing , along with that right gear , also last flight yesterday was -5 dewpoint and took two attempts on eng 3/4 to coax them into life , along with visits to the hangar for plug cleaning , also first time on engine start up , that i have needed to use the fuel thinning , so had to watch i did not exceed 4 min of use .
https://www.twitch.tv/cxa651/v/107384385
https://www.twitch.tv/cxa651/v/107447017
regards alan.

[danb12]

Sounds like you had your hands full Alan, makes my 40minute flight with surprise cloud lower than expected a bit boring!

Sounds good though! Keep us posted regarding the engines!

Dan

[alan CXA651]

Hi Danb12.
No flight in the B17 is boring , you have music / speeches / and ammusing crew quips , plus the faults/failures that show now and again , to see if you are still alert , i just love the old girl .
regards alan.

[danb12]

I do too... I think she is probably my favourite A2A aircraft... I do like the other warbirds but there is something about multi engine that gets me!

Dan

[alan CXA651]

Hi Danb12.
Did you know the B17 was NOT originally designed to be a bomber , it was designed originally to guard the USA coast line , from any invaders , hence the name flying fortress , like a castle in the sky , bristling with guns , so it had no bomb bay , then as the directive changed , they modified the b17 with WING mounted bomb rails , after that it was modified again with the bomb bay and wing mounts removed , i only found this out , when i purchased a B17G magazine , that gave this info , it was a very interesting magazine.
regards alan.

[danb12]

Oh right... that is interesting... there was a magazine out a couple of weeks ago which I meant to pick p but didn't that I wish I had now! Might be the same one?