Ka50 Fuel Burn

[Rhinozherous]

Hey pilots!

 

I thought it would be easyier to find datas for fuel planning on the shark, or I oversee something big in front of my nose :-P

 

What is the fuel burn rate in lets say cruise flight, for example? How do you mission planning with time over target and so on?

 

Anyone with charts or a link?

 

Thanks!

[JG14_Smil]

I know the ABRIS has some fuel data in the PLAN mode.

 

All I know is: If I use up both tanks, I have to go sit down and rest a awhile. :p

 

Hope you find what you are looking for. I too love doing the pilot-sh*# with the Ka-50.

[JG14_Smil]

Page 7-29 in the BS Manual has reference to the fuel burn values that can be edited in the ABRIS. Check that out.

[Rhinozherous]

Ah yes, thank you very much! I think at 7-29 are good values, will trie it!

 

Dont need exact calculations, just want to know how far I can get... wnd maybe come back :-)

[JG14_Smil]

While in the ABRIS:

 

MENU/SETUP/OPTIONS/PERF

 

they are listed there.

 

Each Waypoint lists fuel required also.

[FalconPlot16]

it doesnt show fuel burn per hour or minute

[OneStooge]

Wouldn't fuel flow rate depend on all sorts of factors like power setting which in turn would be affected by air temp, humidity, altitude, payload weight etc? Sounds like a proper nightmare working out diagrams and tables for all scenarios. However, there is the empirical way, dull as it may be:

 

Create a mission where you set all atmospheric conditions.

Start the mission on say, ground, engines running idle.

Let them run out of fuel and note the time it takes for them to run out of fuel.

 

Repeat for each throttle setting.

Repeat for different altitudes.

Repeat for every change in metheorological condition.

 

Now the real tricky bit

Moving any of the controls would require corrections on all other, including collective which in turn would change the power output and fuel consumption. The engine RPM gauges as well as the power gauges on the right side panel might be useful here.

 

Repeat all the above steps for various collective settings (how to do that in-game without losing control is the big question).

 

Then it's about getting all the data together on a spreadsheet or similar.

 

A proper nightmare, alright.

[JG14_Smil]

Nah, if you look at a real airplane manual, fuel data is listed in a similar way. You use the info to estimate while you plan. That is what the ABRIS info is for, estimating, not actual fuel burn. You're correct in that all the things you mention matter in actual fuel burned.

[marques]

That´s an interesting topic. In my point of view, ABRIS is limited in this regard. I think ABRIS is a generic flight computer, not integrated with the ka-50 systems, so the fuel calculations are rough, in the best case. A while ago, I was interested in knowing what were the best speeds for low consumption, so I did something similar to OneStooge proposal, albeit far less detailed.

I was interested only in relative consuptions, not in absolute ones, so I was assuming that any change in payload, atmospheric data, etc.. will affect all speeds equally, sort of.

This was my conclusion, if someone can use it.

 

Sorry, it´s in spanish, but I hope the values are more or less self explanatory. Curiosly enoug, the consumption per km was more or less equal from 150 to maximum speed so, according to this, if you are far from base and running out of fuel, run!

[BitMaster]

Climbing across mountain ridges with full stores uses up quite a lot of fuel real quick without getting you far away, learned that in BF. Coupled with some slow & low crawling across wide planes and vallies and you almost always run out of fuel if you dont watch out and plan accordingly.

 

The Mi-8...LOL...did I ever have to refuel that one ??? I honestly think NO :)

[Krinje]

No you don't often refuel an Mi-8 Lol. But if you had the data you could fuel up to what you need and have better performance. Not usually as big a concern in helicopters compared to fighters but it's still a good reason. For example an over-fueled Gazelle especially when using 4 HOT 3s, can struggle to climb in a hover. It has a direct impact on combat effectiveness. I make sure to run that heli as lean as possible because that weapon system (and optics) are so heavy.

 

I think it's good practice and habit to plan accordingly for all aircraft.

[metzger]

The problem is you never now how long exactly you will have to hover and scan in your target area. You might plan the fuel for the trip but you dont want to end up with no fuel to execute the mission.

[OneStooge]

metzger's post brings up the point of adding to a minimum fuel requirement.

 

Minimum fuel requirement is a theoretical amount of fuel that will take you from spool up through all waypoints and to the final airport in cruise flight all the way with no deviation from the flight plan. To that one might want to add for divertion to alternate. This would be the easiest to estimate and/or calculate. Now the real headache:

 

Whatever extra the tanks can hold after that, is available for mission specifics and how one wants to distribute that fuel is up to the pilot but it does bring in the work of keeping track of flight time and phases of flight plan to a degree only seen in DCS titles putside the real world.

 

One way one could perhaps deal with it is to consider all extra fuel to be spent in a hover as it's the most fuel demanding, especially if you need to go full throttle due to weight and or meteo. At least this removes a bunch of factors and gives you a minimum time frame, and hovering will be a factor in most missions unless one goes completely gung ho guns ablazin'.