Some questions about systems.

[Aernov]

Are these operational? If not, are they planned?

1) Oil dilution

2) Pitot heat and icing

3) Carb heat and icing

4) Carb air filter and dust ingestion consequences

5) Emergency fuel pump rheostat and fuel pressure drop on tank switching in some conditions

6) Carburetor overflow to main fuel tank and overflow vent siphoning

7) Cockpit fogging/icing and ventilation/defrosting

Tire damage when turning "on the spot" around one of the main wheels

9) Safety catch on gear lever

 

Is the following as it was in reality?

1) Oil tank and lines vulnerability and oil loss rate

2) Hydraulic pressure gauge needle jumping from zero to 1000 with no intermediate pressure levels

3) Cowl flaps movement speed

4) Were there in-cockpit control locks?

5) Could cockpit vent tube be adjusted?

[grafspee]

1) not operational at this moment afaik, but planned.

2) Pitot heat and icing is modeled, but my experience with it, is prior to new cloud system introduction, since then i didn't encounter any icing with pitot

3)Carb temp in P-47 as i fly is almost at red line  so i can't speak about carb icing, probably not.

4)Dust ingestion consequences are long term, in DCS i did maybe 2-3 hour max flight, so no matter how much engine will eat dust you will not see any effect on it. So nobody will care to model this.

5) Emergency rehtostat for fuel pump works, but not quite as real, fix for this is planned afaik, fuel pressure drops when using drop tank is modeled, drop tanks are pressurized by engine's supercharger so when MP is not sufficient fuel may stop flowing from drop tanks.

6) I don't know anything about that.

7) Visualy i have never experienced cockpit frosting or fogging so probably not modeled.

8 ) I didn't encounter any tire damage from this so probably not.

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by grafspee

[Aernov]

Thank you for answers. I have never experienced Pitot icing myself, maybe I wasn't getting the right conditions before clouds upgrade, I'll continue to fly with heating off and hope ). As for carb air temperature - in cruise without turbosupercharger I often close intercooler shutters to maintain temperature above 12 deg. (that's with outside air temperature above 10 degrees on the ground, winter would require closed intercoolers for sure) (I don't use boost until throttle is firewalled and don't connect the levers). When descending with low power and no turbo, I imagine, we can encounter conditions for carburetor icing, plus, pilots manual warns about it. Mi-24, I think, models engine degrading with dust ingestion (completely different engines, but still), and since there are grass and dirt strips in DCS, this source of damage can be interesting to model IMO (maybe, including ingesting kilograms of fresh dirt blown up with rockets or someone else's bombs when flying through the clouds of the stuff). Aren't drop tanks get fuel forced out by vacuum pump exhaust? Manual says to reduce MP to 20'' and to use rheostat to maintain pressure when switching above 15000 ft. And for carb overflow - main tank gets about 10 gal of fuel per hour back via carburetor overflow return, thus we should use main tank for at least 10 minutes after takeoff and for at least 10 minutes for each hour of flight, otherwise main tank will fill up and all further returns will drain via overflow vent, which can cause continuous fuel siphoning resulting in significant fuel loss if left for a long time. It generates visible (from outside) fuel trail and increased fuel loss rate, and there is a procedure for breaking the siphon. Majority of DCS flights won't last for that long, but still... And Normandy map is going to get bigger too.

[Art-J]

I think only helicopter modules made previously or currently by ex-Belsimtek guys (Mi-8 and -24, Apache maybe?) have engine-related icing and/or sand ingestion simulated. Warbirds never had it and I'm not aware of any recent changes in this regard. 

Pitot tube icing used to be a thing in older warbird modules and it was quite easy to check with previous clouds (just flying up and down in winter conditions at few thousand feet would trigger it), but I haven't flown in such weather for a long time, so I don't know what the current situation is. I believe new clouds are just a graphics change though, so the icing itself should still be happening.

As for your additional questions, slow cowl flaps movement speed was reported by me in bugs section, but apparently, based on Nick Grey's experience in Thunderbolt he flew, it seemed to be acceptable (maybe it's different between restored warbirds), so It's unlikely to be changed. I recall hydro pressure needle animation without intermediate levels was also pointed out by many players immediately after module release, but it seems to be low on priority list (rightfully so in my opinion, as there are more pressing issues to look into - engine redline, oil dilution).

Edited May 25, 2022 by Art-J

[kablamoman]

AFAIK carb icing isn't modeled.

Pitot icing is, but it is extremely gimmicky and random. Every once in a while in the warbirds you will experience it in clear air, even with the pitot heat on. At least that was my experience flying online. Definitely needs a revamp.

[scoobie]

It may be the case that pitot heat is currently broken across all warbirds, look here:

Speculations now: I haven't had a dead speedo in a warbird for a long time, so either I've been just lucky, or maybe (just maybe) they "blocked" pitot icing as a temporary workaround for the pitot tube heating issue? No idea.

I'd love more talks about systems, or better yet more systems actually simulated as this is what makes the birds feel "alive", to me at least. Flight model is most important, sure, but then come the systems, which add so much depth to the airplane, and so much immersion to the pretend-pilot like myself

Thanks to Reflected I've just learnt that in the Spitfire oil dilution actually works. I had never bothered to try it before because I was somehow convinced it was just a "fake", the switches or buttons are there in cockpits, but it's no use flicking/pressing them. I'm glad I was wrong, but don't know if dilution works in the Jug (for the same reason).

 

[Art-J]

@scoobie Oil dilition works in Mustang and Spit, but it's probably still not implemented in the Jug (I say "probably", 'cause I haven't tried it in last two OB builds).

[Aernov]

Are there consequences of low RPM on the ground? (like spark plug fouling)

[grafspee]

Yes they are, it needs a lot of time to idle at low rpm to get this.

I'm not sure but only way to fix this spark plug fouling is to respawn.

I encountered this couple times, but it was in previous version of the game so i cant tell is it 100% still here :P.

Edited May 29, 2022 by grafspee

[Aernov]

Can the battery be drained? How long it takes to do so in flight without generator?

[grafspee]

In P-47 GEN switch is well placed so i've never forgot to switch it on, i drained battery in bf-109 couple of times, gen switch is hidden from normal view, and battery drains pretty quick w/o gen.

First indication of low battery voltage is lower readings on electrically powered gauges, like oil temp, coolant temp, fuel pressure but engine it self and gauges powered by vacuum are not effected in most cases, in case of bf-109 engine can't take full power due to low fuel pressure. 

Problem with dcs p-47 is that fuel system isn't modeled correctly, according to p-47 manual, selecting tank on tank selector should activate electric pump for chosen fuel tank, which does not happen in dcs, so loosing electric power isn't affecting p-47 as should. 

I don't know is this bug was acknowledge by ED team but, it will take a lot waiting for this fix.

Edited June 1, 2022 by grafspee