AlphaOneSix

Grenade launcher out of a helicopter door is less than worthless, I've done it and it's a dismal failure. (HK-69)

Rotor RPM is what matters here, not engine RPM, at least not engine RPM directly. Your generators fall offline when your rotor RPM droops below around 88%. Remember that the generators are mounted on the main gearbox, not on the engines. I personally would not bother turning off anything in an attempt to gain power. That's not done in RealLife and it's not helpful in-game in any meaningful way.

Yes? I put a qurestion mark here because I could swear that it works, but for some reason, I just can't quite remember... Well, the magnetic variation in Georgia is between +6 and +7 degrees, so that jives. Cabin heat. The combustion heater does preheat fuel, but that's only for itself. You're supposed to use the rheostats to keep the DC voltage at 27-29 volts. It's a 28VDC system. On the real thing, we never touch them...set it and forget it. I have not messed with this in-game lately, but I have real-world documentation on it. I should probably put that in its own thread, though... I'm not good with the in-game radios, and I know some others here are very good at it, so I'll leave this one for them. But I can tell you this from the real manuals: "The two-way R-828 radio station is designed for crystal-stabilized voice communication in amplitude modulation (AM) mode of helicopter crew with ground control points and ground moving objects and fixed installations. In addition, the radio is also used as a receiver of VHF automatic direction finder APK-UD for helicopter flying to operating moving and fixed radio stations." What do you want to know? I can describe in detail how it works, but I'm trying to decide if that's best placed in a new thread about the fire extinguishing system... What do you want to know? I can describe in detail how it works, but I'm trying to decide if that's best placed in a new thread about the engine electronic governing system... YES!

Clock

The aircraft in the beginning is a C-17, later it's a C-130.

No help but a little update. I looked up how this works in the real aircraft, and it should indeed work with just batteries and inverter power. So it's a bug in 1.2.16 but all development resources have shifted away from that branch, so the fix is going to be to wait until 1.5.0 is released (non-beta). On that note, there is a tiny bug (that I've reported) with this indicator in the current 1.5.0 branch, but you have to perform steps out of sequence with the checklist in order to notice it, and if you follow the checklist properly, you will never notice it. I wonder if anyone could spot it? :evilgrin:

Hmm... Well I wish I had a copy of 1.2.16 so I could check it for you myself, but that may be a problem with that version since I can't replicate it in 1.5.0. Seems like a problem in the electrical system. The main rotor pitch indicator needs 3-phase 36VAC power, which it normally receives from the TS310S04B transformer which is fed from the main generators. The TS310S04B transformers are always on as long as they are getting power from the generators. If the generators both fail, then 3-phase 36VAC power comes from the PT-200Ts inverter, which is fed from (I think) the battery bus. The PO-500A is also an inverter that's fed from the battery bus. The PO inverter has a light (INVERTER ON) but the PT inverter does not, but losing both generators should get them both to come on, hence why I asked to verify the INVERTER ON light. Just to cover all of our bases, and to make sure I'm not incorrect somewhere, you can try this: Just before you do the test, start the APU and turn on the standby generator. This will check to make sure that the PT-200Ts inverter is on the battery bus or if it's on the APU bus. It is possible that the PT-200Ts 3-phase 36VAC inverter requires 27VDC power from the standby generator and not just the batteries.

Regarding the engine control levers (not governors) on the left side of the collective... They are normally set in the center position. All the way down is idle, and is generally only used for testing. If one engine fails, you should pull the ECL (engine control lever) for the working engine to the full up position. Pulling up on the collective does the exact same thing as pulling up on the ECLs, it just does it for both engines simultaneously, the ECLs are used to adjust engine power separately. Pulling them all the way up won't help in this case. With regard to the issue of the engine not reaching 100% RPM... This is because the engine are reaching their temperature limit first, and that causes the electronic governors to limit fuel flow so that the engines cannot produce more power. Whether you hit the temperature limit or the RPM limit first depends on atmospheric factors. Typically at higher altitudes and hotter temperatures, you will hit the RPM limit first. Lower down and colder, you will likely hit the temperature limit first. The only way around that is to turn off the governors, but that would be a bad idea.

Faster rotor RPM won't help. The nominal rotor RPM is 95%, and the aircraft works best at that rotor RPM. when you put a lot of load on the rotor, it's fine to droop the RPM down as low as 91%. Note that the only way to get faster rotor RPM is to have faster engine RPM, and your engines are designed to maintain an RPM that keeps the main rotor at around 95% RPM. So basically if your rotor RPM exceeds 95% then your engines are not going to increase power. Your engine RPM is limited by the engine electronic governor. It will not let you exceed 101.15% engine RPM nor will it let you exceed 995 degrees PTIT (EGT). If you want to exceed those limits, you will need to turn off the engine governors, but your engines will fail rather quickly if you exceed the temperature or RPM thresholds.

I don't currently have a copy of 1.2.16, so can't test directly, but... You could test this on the ground (in any mission) with the aircraft running and fully prepared for flight) by turning off just the two generator switches and then making minor collective movements and see of the pitch indicator is working. Note that when you turn off both generators, you should see the PO-500 light illuminate (it's right below the 115VAC switch on the bottom right side of the panel in your screenshot.

Are your 115V and 36V switches set properly on the right hand electrical panel? They should normally be in AUTO during flight but they could be in MANUAL as well. If those switches are OFF (center position) and your generators fail (which they probably did judging from the screenshot) then the rotor pitch indicator has no power and goes back to 1 (the minimum indication). I just tested this with the most recent 1.5 and with maximum collective pitch, the rotor pitch indicator works just fine, even when the generators fail.

The pilot's collective has two switches for releasing the external load. One is the "Tactical Load Release" button and the other is the "Emergency Load Release" button. The two operate identically in that they both cause the upper shackle to open and release the load and the cables. The only difference between the two is that if the "Boom - Shackle" switch on the pilot's left overhead panel is in the "Boom" position, pressing the emergency load release switch cuts the cable for the rescue hoist, if installed. When a lower shackle is installed in addition to the upper shackle, the lower shackle is opened using a controller that is attached in the cargo area and is operated by a sling load operator. EDIT: Oops, I think the Boom/Shackle switch is only on helicopters using the SLG-300 hoist system...not modeled here. The version modeled here has an automatic release switch for the external load so that the shackle opens automatically when the weight on the shackle drops to around 50kg. It's on the left side and is labeled "АВТОМ СБРОС - ВНЕШНЯЯ ПОДВЕСКА". In the "АВТОМ СБРОС" position, the upper shackle will release automatically when the load on the shackle drops to somewhere between 25kg and 75kg. In the "ВНЕШНЯЯ ПОДВЕСКА" position, you would have to press the tactical or emergency release button on the pilot's collective to open the shackle.

If you want to pretend that your Huey is not a Huey, but instead is some other helicopter with a manual throttle...then yes, you should disable the governor (I wouldn't, but then again I'm a big wuss). All version of the UH-1 had the automatic governor. In fact, I don't know of any turbine-powered helicopter where manual throttle control is normal operation. (Doesn't mean there isn't one, of course.)

Hard to tell with all the various modifications. Likely Mi-8AMTSh but without the ramp. You can get the exact same version number with/without ramp and with/without the weather radar with the "dolphin" nose, so possibly four different looks but same model. These (Mi-8AMTSh) are manufactured by Ulan Ude, by the way. At any rate, not V5. Oddly enough, all V5 have a ramp and are made by Kazan, Ulan Ude never used the V5 model name, even though they produce version of the Mi-8AMT (Mi-171 for export) that looks identical to an Mi-8MTV-5 (Mi-17V-5 for export) made by Kazan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Military_Symbols_for_Land_Based_Systems Or the source behind that Wiki article: http://www.assistdocs.com/search/document_details.cfm?ident_number=114934

I only have the Russian flight manual, so I don't know if it's in there or not. I am speaking of my experience with the real helicopter.

Let's assume that there is ice building up on the aircraft, and the anti-icing system comes on, automatically, as advertised. It is possible that ice could be dislodged and ingested into the engine, possibly resulting in a flameout or some other kind of damage. It is better to have the intake partially blocked by ice buildup than to have a failed engine. The right engine comes on automatically, with the rest of the system, and once the crew is satisfied that the right engine is not going to fail from ice ingestion, the left engine anti-ice is manually initiated. In a "worst-case" scenario, you would lose just one engine instead of both of them if the anti-ice came on for both at the same time. Very unlikely that such a thing would happen, but no need to take the chance, it seems.

I'm at work so I don't have the manual handy, maybe someone else can check, or I'll check later today.

A switch on the anti-icing panel in the down position is "automatic" mode except for the left engine. The left engine is the only one that must be turned on manually by flipping the switch to the up position. In real life, this would be done after a few minutes after initiation of anti-icing for the right engine, but you could probably do it right away in-game. Also, once the icing conditions are over, everything will turn off automatically (except for the left engine, which will need to be switched off manually).

That's about as fast as the engines will spin without lighting off (they'll get a but above 20% in warmer weather). So it seems like the game is preventing fuel from igniting in the engines below -40C. The KO-50, as mentioned above, preheats its fuel, so it would work with just external power, but it only warms the cabin and cockpit, so that's not very helpful in-game. The APU, by the book, can be started and operated at altitudes up to 4000m and within an ambient temperature range of -60C to +60C, so that may explain why the APU starts and the engines won't. Try setting it to below -60C and see if the APU still starts? I would love to try it, but I'm about to eat pizza and watch Star Wars with my 6-year old daughter.

I suppose it depends on the specific version of the helicopter, but for example, in our flight manuals for the Mi-17V-5... "Operation of the helicopter is allowed at ambient temperature within the range of -50 to +50C." In the flight manual for our Mi-172, it says... "It is allowed to perform flights at a maximum ambient air temperature of plus 50C and at a minimum ambient air temperature of minus 40C." In all of our Mi-8MTV-1 and Mi-17-1V flight manuals I could find, the ambient air temperature range is -50 to +50C. Again, this is not just for starting, but for operation and flying. There are spots on the aircraft for attaching heaters, but this is because it's easy for the aircraft to be below the minimum temperature even though the ambient air is not, as in early in the morning, before the aircraft has a time to "warm up" in the sun and has cold soaked overnight. If the aircraft are operating in colder temperatures than -50C, then they must have a supplement that allows for that, including a completely different set of fuels and oils than are normally used. Also, I don't mean to poke fun at you, but this is pretty funny... No, the pilots don't. The maintenance/ground crew do, however. :P

By the book, minimum temperature for just about everything is -40C. This includes engine start, operation of any of the three gearboxes, as well as flying in general. Perhaps the game simulates this by failing to start below that temperature? Nothing in real life prevents you from trying, other than the flight manual limitation.

You may have already tried this, but have a look at UserCP -> Edit Options and scroll down to the setting for "Default Thread Age Cut Off". I don't know what the Forum Default is set at, but you could try making it longer? Edit: Now that I see more of what you're asking (re-read your post) I don't think my suggestion will help, but hey, who knows...

What do you mean by "reset" the AI? Push-to-cage, or power cycle? The autopilot gets its pitch and roll information (angle only, not rate of change) from the copilot's attitude indicator. I've not tried power-cycling the AI to see what happens to the autopilot, but caging it should not cause the AP to turn off in the pitch/roll channels. It should be noted that caging in-flight with the AP engaged will tell the AP that there was just an abrupt attitude change and it will try to compensate...so basically one should never cage the copilot's AI in-flight with the AP engaged.

Hard and slow? Not on any helicopter I've ever worked on...but then I suppose that depends on what you mean by "hard and slow". It's not the controls that make it slow, it's the fact that the pilot wants to live.