Here the Pedestal Panel
with the sections Engine and Propeller Control Panel, the Fuel Control Panel
and the Engine Starting and Ignition Control Panel. You may move directly to the
detailed explanation of any item by left-clicking on it with your mouse, and you can return
to this overview by left-clicking the detail-picture by the explanation:
As the Fuel System of FS2002 is
greatly improved over former FS versions the fuel panel now operates pretty much like the real thing.
All covered switches (LP Cocks and Start Switches) can only be operated when the switch guards
are flipped open. The guards secure the switches in the safest position and ensure that they
are not accidentally operated as that could cause serious grief
Now to the Pedestal Panel subdivisions:
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Before I go into details a general comment about the mouse drag hot spots
for the engine control levers:
Apart from the Condition Levers which can only be controlled individually there are three mouse
tracks per lever pair for ease of use: one for control of the left lever, one for the right
lever and one in the middle which allows control of both
levers simultaneously. Only exception: In the BETA range both power levers can only be controlled
together.
The
power levers
range is divided into two major sections: POWER and BETA.
POWER is the normal operating range in which the power levers directly control fuel flow to
the engines and thus power output.
BETA range is a unique turboprop feature and is divided into two sub-sections: APPROACH and
GROUND REVERSE. The power levers need to be lifted over gates to bring them into the BETA range
and again to bring them into REVERSE mode as a safety precaution, as reversing propeller thrust
in flight can quickly result in loss of aircraft control or loss of aircraft altogether. In
this panel the lifting is accomplished by first bringing the levers down to IDLE position with
the mouse, external thrust levers or by pressing F1, letting go of the left mouse button, moving
a little lower into the desired range and left clicking again to pull the power levers over
the gate and into the required position. Alternatively the FS2002 keyboard shortcut
for spoiler control (#) may be used to toggle the levers between the maximum and minimum APPROACH
value.
The white BETA
lights in the annunciator panel
will light up to indicate thrust levers are in BETA range.
In BETA APPROACH mode the fuel flow to the engines remains at idle and the
power levers directly control propeller blade angle. The propeller levers should be in the
HIGH RPM position (if they arent when the power levers are lifted into BETA range this
panel will automatically put them there in the real plane you have to be smart enough
to do it yourself
) in which propeller blade angle normally is around 10°. The power
levers in BETA APPROACH mode reduce that angle down to approx. 0°. In this position the
props produce considerable drag due to them now basically creating a solid disk which is pushed
through the air. This can be used to control taxiing speed on the ground (not really necessary
for this FS2002 aircraft) but is particularly useful for steep approaches with down to 2000
fpm sink rates, similar to spoilers. Due to the high drag produced in the APPROACH range it
should only be used at indicated airspeeds below 100 kts. Above that speed the windmilling
effect on the props will automatically drive them out of BETA range which is indicated
by the white BETA lights in the annunciator panel extinguishing and the airspeed
rising rapidly again. When airspeed drops below 100 kts IAS the props pop back into BETA and
the white annunciator lights come on again, as in the real plane.
Shortly before touch-down BETA range should not be increased due to danger
of loss of lift. Additionally BETA range landings require great
care and thus practise for the correct timing and radius of terminating the dive and initiating
the landing flare as the ground approaches rather rapidly at 2000 fpm !!!
Back on the ground the power levers can be further retarded into REVERSE
mode (by mouse drag or continuously pressing F2) in which blade angle is now further
reduced into the negative pitch region and fuel flow is increased again to produce reverse
thrust. This should be terminated before coming to a complete stop. As this FS2002 turboprop
simulation still uses the piston engine flight model there is no actual reverse thrust, but rather
increased drag from the spoiler, thus giving the correct effect only while the aircraft is
moving. True reversing with this FS2002
model can only be achieved in slew (y) mode or by push-back (shift + p).
The power levers can brought back into IDLE (and above) position by either pushing an external
throttle up again, by pressing F3 one or two times or by dragging the levers up with the mouse.
The
prop levers
control propeller blade angle in relation to PROP RPM from HIGH RPM (10° blade angle and
approx. 1900 PROP RPM in the constant speed control range) down to the FEATHERed state for
decreasing drag during in-flight engine failure (approx. 90° blade angle).
For take-off, landing and reverse operation they should be set at the upper
HIGH RPM position and can actually remain there for the duration of the flight.
ATTENTION! You can overtorque and thus wreck the gearbox that drives the props in a lot of clatter if you set them
to the FEATHERed state and add too much power, so make sure you never use the FEATHER position under more than
IDLE power!
The
condition levers
start or terminate fuel flow to the engine (similar to the mixture settings in piston engined
aircraft) and thus will only work properly if the Automatic Mixture Control box
in the Realism Settings is unchecked.
Contrary to the King Air in FS2002 pro the condition lever must be set in
the FUEL CUT OFF position (down) when starting the engines. It may only be raised
up to the IDLE position when Ng stabilises above 12%. Pumping fuel into the engine
below 12% Ng will cause a hot start due to airflow through the engine not being sufficient
yet to sustain proper combustion conditions. In the worst case you will melt your combustion
chamber linings and ruin your engine, potentially causing engine fire. DONT do it, as
you will have to bear the consequences in this pretty realistic turboprop simulation
You will find more on this in the descriptions of the ITT
and Ng
indicators in the "Main Panel Overview" or in the aircraft checklists.
The condition levers have a notch in the IDLE position and are sprung loaded
to snap back into FUEL CUT OFF position as soon as they are moved out of the notch. Control
is either by mouse or by pressing CTRL+shift+F4 for IDLE (on) or CTRL+shift+F1
for FUEL CUT OFF position.
The
double-slotted flaps are controlled with the flaps handle (or F5 to F8) by left clicking
in the appropriate
region with your mouse. There are three positions which are also displayed by the Flap
Position Indicator: Up, 1 (extending the inner four flap segments
to 25°) and 2 (43° for the four inner flap segments). The outer flap segments extend
approx half of the inner segments to give the wing a more forgiving lift distribution. The
flap control rods in the real plane are linked with the horizontal stabilizer trim tabs to
compensate for pitch change caused by the flaps. This compensation is also simulated in this
FS2002 aircraft. Please take into account that the flaps take approx. 10 seconds for full extension
or retraction and roughly half of that for one step.
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When using the Fuel Panel please keep in mind that the covered switches (LP Cocks)
can only be operated when the switch guards are flipped open. The guards secure the switches
in the safest position and ensure that they are not accidentally operated.
I strongly advise you not fiddle with the fuel tank selector in the FS2002 fuel settings menue
as this plane has two active fuel selector switches of which only one is displayed in the fuel menu.
All fuel selection settings can be done with this fuel panel.
The graphic layout of the fuel panel clearly shows the paths which the
fuel can take right up to the arrows above the Low Pressure Fuel Cocks which symbolise the
entry into the fuel control unit (FCU) which in turn is controlled by the power levers.
The Low
Pressure Fuel Cocks sit between the booster
pumps (which pump fuel from the main tank to the engine) and the fuel filters and provide so-called firewall
shut-off in the fuel system. This can be important just short of emergency landings or in case
of in-flight engine fire to ensure that fire hazard is reduced as far as possible. If the LP
fuel cocks are turned off yellow caution lights marked LP COCK
in the annunciator panel will light up.
Left-clicking into one of the lower green
rectangles will open or close the appropriate red guard and allow
switching of the LP cock by left-clicking into the upper green
rectangle.
ATTENTION! If the engines are running when you turn the LP cocks off the
engines will die due to lack of fuel supply (which is what they are meant for, but only in emergency situations)! The LP cocks set the FS2002 fuel valves to off.
The
Main Tank Booster Pumps
transport fuel from the main tanks to the engines. There are two of them in this plane:
No. 1 must always be on when the engines are to be started or are running, No. 2 either serves
as backup in case No. 1 fails or in unison with No. 1 ensures fuel pressure on the feeding
side is kept up in case of crossfeed to the other side.
The switches may be left clicked with the mouse to toggle between ON and OFF positions.
Crossfeed can become necessary in case of an engine failure
in flight or leakage in one sides fuel system. It is a passive crossfeed system that relies on a pressure
gradient from one side to the other which will only occur when one side runs out of fuel.
In
the real plane the External Tank Transfer Pump
transfers fuel from the external under-wing tank to the associated main tank which is located in rear portion of the engine nacelles.
Its switch has three positions: PUMP ON (fuel is transferred from
the external tank to the main tank until the main tank is full an automatic regulating
switch in the main tank then turns the transfer pump off until there is enough space in the
main tank again for fuel transfer to resume), OFF (self-explanatory
) and TEST (a momentary
switch for checking that transfer pump works prior to takeoff the green light shows
it works).
In this FS2002 simulation these switches make the appropriate engine draw directly from the center (aka LH external tank) or
center2 (RH external tank) tank when there is fuel in them and the main boost pump No. 1 switches are on.
The green transfer pump light itself
may be checked by pressing it with a left mouse click. When the external tank runs empty the
green light will flicker and eventually go off. Simultaneously the yellow caution light labeled
EXT
TRANS LH or EXT TRANS RH
in the annunciator panel will be activated. The caution lights however will extinguish when
the external tank transfer pumps are switched off (which should be done to prevent them from
running dry).
IMPORTANT! The engines can only be started
when one or both main boost pumps No. 1 are on, even though the main tanks may be empty and
fuel is fed directly from the external tanks. Please check that enough fuel pressure is available
on the appropriate side before attempting to start engines, otherwise they simply wont
start
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The Engine
Starting and Ignition Control Panel is located at the bottom
of this Pedestal Panel and is used for precisely what it is called.
Before the switch can be activated the guard must be flipped up by left-clicking
into the green rectangle
over the ENGINE LH marking (symmetrical for the RH side). This guard prevents accidental activation.
The Start Switch itself has the three positions ON, OFF and MAN. IGNITION
and can be set in any of these positions by left-clicking into the appropriate area marked
here in the green rectangles.
When switched ON the combined starter-generator begins to accelerate the gas generator (which
is displayed by the Ng gauges) and simultaneously two igniters in the combustion chamber are
fired 4 to 6 times per second. The fact that ignition is turned on at the same time is the
reason for having to wait until Ng rises above 12% before the condition levers are allowed
to be set to the IDLE position and thus initiating fuel injection into the combustion chamber.
When combustion sets in Ng quickly rises to 51% at which point the Start Switch can safely
be turned OFF again. This does NOT shut off the engine but only the starter and the external
ignition which is unnecessary once the fuel flames in the combustion chamber burn consistently.
For starter assisted airstarts (in-flight) at airspeeds insufficient to
drive Ng above 12% (i.e. below approx. 120 KIAS) the Start Switch may also be turned to the
ON position.
For airstarts without starter assist
(can be done anytime Ng is above 12%, i.e. at airspeeds exceeding 120 KIAS) the Start Switch
may be flipped down to the MAN(ual). IGNITION position which only switches on the igniters.
In the real plane this position may also be used in strong precipitation or heavy icing conditions
to prevent combustion from being extinguished by loads of rain or ice particles sucked into
the engine. In the near-perfect FS2002 world such conditions do not have this effect so this purpose of the
MAN. IGNITION switch is rendered useless here ...
Whenever the Start Switches are not in the OFF position and there is no
electrical failure yellow warning lights marked IGN START LH / RH
in the annunciator panel will light up to remind you to turn ignition off again.
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