Typical power settings during cruise and other phases of flight

I think MSFS is much harder to fly than the real thing. I also find myself
doing the same wrong things on MSFS that I do in real flight.

Agree 100%.

Every Tuesday night, we show free aviation movies in the theater of our
aviation theme-suite hotel. Before the main feature, we usually have
MSFS or X-Planes running on the 104-inch projection screen, with the
surround sound cranked.

Trust me, in a darkened room, it's pretty real. The sound is right,
the sight picture is right, the controls are right. The only things
wrong a

a) You can't turn your head intuitively, even with the acorn cap (or
whatever the heck that's called), and...

b) There is no sense of motion. (Although with a screen that big, you
see the "pilots" really leaning into the turns!)

Incidentally, we've had many real pilots (Mary included) who absolutely
cannot land the sim planes. It is quite a bit harder to do than
landing the real plane, although the casual lack of concern about
bending metal makes it a bit easier on the digestion.

I've been a flight simmer since the very first ones came out in the
1980s. I still buy every single update of MSFS, and enjoy practicing
on it. It's what really piqued my curiosity and interest about flying,
back before I ever thought I could ever do it "for real".

IMHO, making fun of a "pilot wannabee" because all he can afford is
MSFS is NOT the best way for us to grow GA. And, trust me -- we NEED
to grow GA. Now.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

LWG wrote:

I think MSFS is much harder to fly than the real thing. I also find myself
doing the same wrong things on MSFS that I do in real flight.

Well I disagree. I found that MSFS gave me terrible habits that my
instructors had to beat out of me (j/k). Fixation on instruments was
the main one.

Can you tell me from flying MSFS what it is like to control an aircraft
that is at MAUW and is loaded aft of the C of G? While the aircrafts
behaviour might be able to be simulated well, you have no idea of the
strength required to hold it straight and level, or the thousand
thoughts going through your head as your instructor asks you to perform
a wingdrop stall in that configuration. You have a lot more to lose at
3500 feet AGL than sitting at a PC.

you can set them anywhere you want, when you are sitting on a coach.

KC


Mxsmanic wrote:
Is it normal to have throttles set to the maximum during cruise, in
small aircraft? I always set them all the way forward because that
seems to get the best speed, and the engine parameters still stay in
the green areas, but I don't know if this is actually a good idea.
Obviously it would be a bad idea in a car, but perhaps aircraft
engines are specifically designed (?) to operate mainly at full
throttle during cruise.

In other phases of flight I use other settings: always full throttle
for take-off (the manual said so), and low settings or idle to
descend. Also if I'm not in a rush I use lower throttle settings at
cruise, as long as I (or the autopilot) don't have to keep the nose
too high to maintain altitude.

So what is the deal? Is it okay to run for several hours at full
throttle?

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Is it normal to have throttles set to the maximum during cruise, in
small aircraft? I always set them all the way forward because that
seems to get the best speed, and the engine parameters still stay in
the green areas, but I don't know if this is actually a good idea.
Obviously it would be a bad idea in a car, but perhaps aircraft
engines are specifically designed (?) to operate mainly at full
throttle during cruise.

In other phases of flight I use other settings: always full throttle
for take-off (the manual said so), and low settings or idle to
descend. Also if I'm not in a rush I use lower throttle settings at
cruise, as long as I (or the autopilot) don't have to keep the nose
too high to maintain altitude.

So what is the deal? Is it okay to run for several hours at full
throttle?


At altitude in a normally aspirated engine, full throttle may not present
maximum engine power. As a sim guy, you probably don't need all the
details, and I'm not fully versed in the mechanics of it anyway. But
basically, as you climb, the air becomes less dense, and the amount of air
let into the system by the throttle is effectively reduced. The effective
result is that while the throttle is fully open, the amount of air getting
in is going down, as if you were very slowly closing the throttle.

From my experience with the planes that I fly, once you get up to 6500' or
so, the engine at full throttle will produce 75% power or less (less as
you go higher). Variance in temperature and pressure may have impact, but
that seems to be the "standard".

I have read that engine manufacturers actually do this on purpose because
they cannot precisely control how the air is restricted when the throttle
is partially closed, so it's best to run the engine with the throttle wide
open if possible (ie: if it will produce 75% power or less).

From what I have been taught, cruising at 75% power for an extended
period of time would be worse than partially restricting the airway with a
partiallly closed throttle, so if you're cruising at 2000', you probably
don't want the throttle wide open...

As a rule of thumb, that probably developed from just where I see the
majority of pilots fly is to run about 2400 RPM and about 23 to 24
inches of Manifold pressure for Cruise. Every pilot develops there
prefered Power Settings for each airplane as they fly them more, But as
a Rule of them this is a good starting spot for Non-Turbocharged
engines with Constant Speed Propellers.

Also note that the Manifold pressure will decrease with altitude, so
you will have to increase throttle as you climb to maintian the 23-24
inches.

Most Engines are Rated for 100% power for up to 5 minutes. So you
should make these settings within 5 minutes of applying full power.
Most pilots do it either immediatly after lift off with runway
remaining to land on, or after climbing out to a point where they
could glide back to the runway if the engine quit.

Don't know for sure if it is valid or not but it has been said that it
is more likely to have a power failure while changing engine settings.
Makes some since if you figure that some engine failures are caused by
Mechanical failures of the controls or by misuse of the controls by the
pilot.

Also some pilots will either reduce the RPM setting either before take
off or immedialty after lift off when the engine has a particalary high
RPM setting and large prop. They do this to reduce the amount of noise
made during the take-off if they really don't need 100% power.

Yes I understand you are flying a simulator, But Learning is Learning.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

Brian wrote
Most Engines are Rated for 100% power for up to 5 minutes.

Most non-turbocharged GA engines are rated for 100% rated
power continuously.

Bob Moore

Bob Moore writes:

Most non-turbocharged GA engines are rated for 100% rated
power continuously.

And most GA engines are normally aspirated, right?

I note that this Baron 58 used to be available in a turbocharged
version, but apparently that is no longer made. I wonder why. Also I
guess there was a pressurized version, too. I can understand why that
might have died because pressurization systems are probably very
expensive and high in maintenance.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Brian writes:

As a rule of thumb, that probably developed from just where I see the
majority of pilots fly is to run about 2400 RPM and about 23 to 24
inches of Manifold pressure for Cruise. Every pilot develops there
prefered Power Settings for each airplane as they fly them more, But as
a Rule of them this is a good starting spot for Non-Turbocharged
engines with Constant Speed Propellers.

The RPM I see in the cockpit is the speed of the propeller, right?
And the pitch adjusts the angle of attack of the propeller blades,
right? So if I increase the pitch, the propeller slows, but it pushes
the same amount of air. If I then increase the throttle until the
propeller gets back up to its former RPM, it's again spinning at the
same speed, but it is producing more power because of the deeper
pitch--right?

Is 2400-2500 RPM a magic number for propellers? I seem to see it a
lot in discussions of various different aircraft. Or maybe it's a
magic number for engines (?).

Do the aircraft I'm trying to fly have constant-speed propellers (A36,
Baron 58)? The fact that there's a pitch control implies not, if I
understand the principle of constant-speed propellers.

Also note that the Manifold pressure will decrease with altitude, so
you will have to increase throttle as you climb to maintian the 23-24
inches.

Is the reading on the manifold pressure gauge constant, or do I have
to mentally adjust what it says for altitude? I know the altimeter
setting but I don't necessarily have the current external air pressure
figure floating in my head, so calculation would be difficult.

I'm also not clear on whether this pressure is below or above outside
air. Is it a vacuum created by the engine (which means it would be
increasingly below ambient pressure as the engine power increases), or
is it a pressure _above_ ambient pressure? The gauge seems to imply
that it's a positive pressure.

Also some pilots will either reduce the RPM setting either before take
off or immedialty after lift off when the engine has a particalary high
RPM setting and large prop. They do this to reduce the amount of noise
made during the take-off if they really don't need 100% power.

Are GA aircraft subject to all the noise-abatement rules, too?

Yes I understand you are flying a simulator, But Learning is Learning.

Thanks.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Mxsmanic wrote:


So what is the deal? Is it okay to run for several hours at full
throttle?


It depends on what the POH says. Many engines restrict full power to a
few minutes, such as after takeoff or go-around. 75% power is the
typically used power setting for continuous operations. However,
rental aircraft are probably flown at full power all the time.

One concept you should understand is full throttle is only full power
at sealevel. As you climb, your manifold pressure guage will indicate a
lower reading. Also, you will not be able to obtain full power.
However, the air gets thinner, so you don't need full power to go as
fast a True Airpeed (TAS). A typical setting is somewhere around 24"
manifold pressure and 2400 on the tach. If you have a flight manual for
the plane look in it and pick one of those settings.

Also, remember that as the air gets thinner, you need less fuel. That
is why you need to lean the mixture as you climb.