How do start up from a cold start in realistic mode?

[Freycinet]

It seems we have a lot of aces in here, so I'd love if some would just tell me how to start up the planes, from the ground, cold.

I put mixture to rich, open throttle a bit, set prop pitch to fine, switch on the magnetos, and... nothing. Can't find any starter button. Tried with the Hurri, the Bf-109...

1C ought to have added an explanation to the sim, somewhere.

Any help much appreciated!

[scorpac]

everything you did was right. when you got all settings press I to start the engine. when it begins to run you must play with the throttle to keep it running

[kashwashwa]

everything you did was right. when you got all settings press I to start the engine. when it begins to run you must play with the throttle to keep it running

Yeah, I couldn't figure out how to click the motor starter either - I think you still have to press "I".

Also, don't you have to turn on the fuel?

[Azimech]

Don't forget battery switch and electric fuel pump switch, if present.

[Freycinet]

Ok, I was a bit fast in my first posting...

I open the fuel cock.
I put mixture to rich
I choose fine prop pitch
I turn on the magnetos
I set the throttle to around 20%
I switch on the engine with "I"
...But then the engine just gives a little puff, the prop turns a few times and then nothing...

- Play the throttle? How?

Thanks!

[TeeJay82]

use Max pitch (highest Rpm) on engine startup

the lower your pitch is on startup, the more air the propeller has to move, the harder it is for the engine to turn..

[Troll]

Freycinet, did you try mixture idle cut off then when the engine start full rich?

[kingpinda]

Hehe the only thing that eluded me was the I for ignition ;) I spent 2 weeks learning the engine start checklist with the DCS black shark. and I spent a half hour looking for the damn ignition button on the hurricane just now lol... Is it even present on the models? or just not clickable?

btw. which planes have pedal brakes? I can't tell if my brakes are on or not. for some reason at times I dont get any power it seems as if the brake is on. I checked reverse in the footbrake checkboxes.

[Jimbosmith]

any ideas why i cant switch my fuel cock?

I go click it and try drag all over the place, i have also tried just clicking no joy

Am i missing something?

[JG52Uther]

any ideas why i cant switch my fuel cock?

I go click it and try drag all over the place, i have also tried just clicking no joy

Am i missing something?

You have clickable cockpit on (F10)?

[Jimbosmith]

yes i can click all the other stuff, just cant move the fuel cock in all aircraft.

I have even tried setting a control for it in my option still dosnt work

[Jimbosmith]

ok i think i found out why, didnt have limited fuel set in my realism options.

[scorpac]

i have maybe the same problem for the 109, hurricane works fine though.

i uploaded a recording when i was trying to get that old thing working... didnt work. it always says "Engine Stopping" when attempting to start it.


http://rapidshare.com/files/455320176/engine_start.trk


please somebody whats wrong :(

[Blackdog_kt]

I guess some planes have more controls than others. Fuel supply, electric system, master switch, magnetos, etc, turn on the whole lot if it's present. Then crack the throttle a bit and go to full RPM prop pitch.

The important thing to remember is that apparently the game models the entire sequence/checklist apart from individual starter characteristics, which are triggered by the "I" key. That's a good compromise, since some aircraft had onboard starters while others depended on external sources (eg, the mechanics turning the intertia starter's flywheel with the crank as we see in many wartime videos).

Mind you i haven't finished installing it just yet, but that's what i managed to gather from the posts around here. Also, this is very interesting and it tells me they did model it the correct way, similar to what A2A does in their accusim add-ons for FSX:

everything you did was right. when you got all settings press I to start the engine. when it begins to run you must play with the throttle to keep it running

This is realistic, not every start attempt should be successful and engines will sputter and stall if not taken care of, at least until they are sufficiently warmed up.

There are two effects i'm curious about and would like to know if they are present.

a) Has anyone tried a start in really cold weather? It should be much more difficult to start the engine, at least when temperature effects are enabled in the realism options.

b) Damage from excessive torque, is it modeled? The easiest way to test this would be to go full throttle, pick up some speed and then adjust pitch to obtain the lowest RPM value possible (ie, full coarse pitch). In most cases like this something should probably break and/or the manifold pressure gauge should indicate a big rise, as the engine is trying to run full tilt but is held back by the prop turning too slow.

[JG52Uther]

i have maybe the same problem for the 109, hurricane works fine though.

i uploaded a recording when i was trying to get that old thing working... didnt work. it always says "Engine Stopping" when attempting to start it.


http://rapidshare.com/files/455320176/engine_start.trk


please somebody whats wrong :(

Not seen the track but for the 109 I do this:
Pitch 0
Throttle about 20%
Magneto's on
Fuel on
Press I

[Jimbosmith]

Im just uploading a video to youtube on how i start up a spitfire, not perfect but it may help someone

[scorpac]

okay, go to multiplayer, click on server, ok, then load mission, start battle select blue army get into a 109 and try to start.... load the multiplayer dogfights carrier map...

[Tonyhippo]

Just where in the manual, or on the training missions does a new paying customer (Often called a troll acording to the stickys here) find this basic stuff (How to start the engine) without having to come cap in hand to this forum?

Hippo

[RedVonHammer]

Still no go here in starting the Hurri:
Pitch to low for less work for engine startup.
Magnetos on.
Fuel Cock.
Fuel mixture rvich.
Hand Pump 5-10 times.
Start Engine.
Puff, nothing.

109 on the other hand, immediately starts using exact same procedure.

Anybody? :S

EDIT: Ok, now the Hurri started, I did nothing but same procedure as above, after about 20 tries in one mission (As in, just one flight, no restarts, no exits, etc)

The Spit on the other hand, when I adjust Prop Pitch and Mixture on that, the levers just goes ON-OFF :S And ofcourse, no chance in hell of getting it started up :S

[Jimbosmith]

Note i forgot the switch on the magnetos on in the video as, i had done it before recording but should help someone. I had to play about with the pitch and mixture as i didnt know what i was doing lol but i got it moving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPRex60HGec

[Scarf Ace!]

So I managed to take off in a Hurricane thanks to Jimbosmith's vid, but when I'm flying the engine puffs out some black smoke and the plane shakes a bit every now and then. It's more frequent when I fly higher up, and it seems that at least at low altitude this can be prevented by putting the mixture to around 75%. At higher altitudes I can currently only reduce this by putting the throttle to about 50-60% and messing about with the mixture. At around ten thousand feet I can't stop this from happening at all.

Could someone please tell me what's happening, and how I can control this better? I'm a total noob when it comes to engine management.
(Also, this and silly channel dogfights are keeping the game quite entertaining until I can upgrade my rather outdated PC and/or the performance gets patched up. I'm really enjoying this game so far!)

[kingpinda]

Still no go here in starting the Hurri:
Pitch to low for less work for engine startup.
Magnetos on.
Fuel Cock.
Fuel mixture rvich.
Hand Pump 5-10 times.
Start Engine.
Puff, nothing.

109 on the other hand, immediately starts using exact same procedure.

Anybody? :S

EDIT: Ok, now the Hurri started, I did nothing but same procedure as above, after about 20 tries in one mission (As in, just one flight, no restarts, no exits, etc)


The Spit on the other hand, when I adjust Prop Pitch and Mixture on that, the levers just goes ON-OFF :S And ofcourse, no chance in hell of getting it started up :S

I do near everything the same as you. yet i dont use the handpump but set my throttle to 10 or 20 percent. its rather sensitive. you have to get it right. I also close the radiator and let it run for a minute. then slowly increase throttle with brakes on listening to the engine that it doesnt blurp out. then when rpm comes up i try to get 2000 rpm watching the temp still rise. I then open radiator and let her rip.

[bando]

Keep the I button pressed till the damn thing runs

[Fangio]

Heck, I cannot even figure out how to get into a plane on the ground! All the quick missions or singe missions start as air launch? How to start on the ground?


Fang

[RedVonHammer]

Heck, I cannot even figure out how to get into a plane on the ground! All the quick missions or singe missions start as air launch? How to start on the ground?


Fang

Do the cross country quick mission, choose different aircraft :)

[RedVonHammer]

I do near everything the same as you. yet i dont use the handpump but set my throttle to 10 or 20 percent. its rather sensitive. you have to get it right. I also close the radiator and let it run for a minute. then slowly increase throttle with brakes on listening to the engine that it doesnt blurp out. then when rpm comes up i try to get 2000 rpm watching the temp still rise. I then open radiator and let her rip.

Yeah it`s important to heat the engine up before firewalling it, or one might be in for a surprise hehe.

[kingpinda]

So I managed to take off in a Hurricane thanks to Jimbosmith's vid, but when I'm flying the engine puffs out some black smoke and the plane shakes a bit every now and then. It's more frequent when I fly higher up, and it seems that at least at low altitude this can be prevented by putting the mixture to around 75%. At higher altitudes I can currently only reduce this by putting the throttle to about 50-60% and messing about with the mixture. At around ten thousand feet I can't stop this from happening at all.

Could someone please tell me what's happening, and how I can control this better? I'm a total noob when it comes to engine management.
(Also, this and silly channel dogfights are keeping the game quite entertaining until I can upgrade my rather outdated PC and/or the performance gets patched up. I'm really enjoying this game so far!)

I'm not entirely up to speed with the exact numbers but you are right about the mixture. the higher you go the leaner the mix needs to be. Have you decreased mix lower than 75 percent at higher altitudes? BTW there is a paragraph about setting your mixture according to the colour of the exhaust flames. Blue short is good. reddish orange i think is too rich. long blue flames is to lean i think. might be the other way round. short blue is most definately correct mix though.

Aah 10.000 feet. I believe I read in the manual this is the ceiling for this plane. or was it 10.000 meters??? You might want to check the charts. Also I get shaking at lower altitudes as well. I think i have everything as realistic as possible so there might be turbulence etc.

[Walshy]

I also managed to get off the ground with the Spitfire and ME-109, what had helped me was having FSX and the A2A Wings of Power and Just Flight simulations Spit. Re-read the flying manual in both and away I went. The Hurricane should be no bother as well as it used the same fuel, engine and prop as the Spit ...................

[l3uLLDoZeR]

I'm not entirely up to speed with the exact numbers but you are right about the mixture. the higher you go the leaner the mix needs to be. Have you decreased mix lower than 75 percent at higher altitudes? BTW there is a paragraph about setting your mixture according to the colour of the exhaust flames. Blue short is good. reddish orange i think is too rich. long blue flames is to lean i think. might be the other way round. short blue is most definately correct mix though.

Aah 10.000 feet. I believe I read in the manual this is the ceiling for this plane. or was it 10.000 meters??? You might want to check the charts. Also I get shaking at lower altitudes as well. I think i have everything as realistic as possible so there might be turbulence etc.

King is right...the higher you go the more you need to lower (lean) the mixture. Less oxygen in the air means you need less fuel for combustion..this is why you keep lowering the throttle when you leave the mixture at 75%. You can lean it out as you go higher, when the engine starts to run a little rough bump the mixture up a notch or 2. Now you can still open your throttle up high!! Happy hunting

[Targ]

I made a little vid that shows how to get a BF109 E3 started on take off using Full CEM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK06c2OxWYY&feature=youtube_gdata

[Deadstick]

Thank you for the videos guys.:)

[borchi]

Still no go here in starting the Hurri:
Pitch to low for less work for engine startup.
Magnetos on.
Fuel Cock.
Fuel mixture rvich.
Hand Pump 5-10 times.
Start Engine.
Puff, nothing.


Where is the Hand Pump in the Hurri / Spit?

[meshuggahs]

Where is the Hand Pump in the Hurri / Spit?

Hurris should be right next to the right side of your seat I think.
Or you can always bind it to a button for easy access :P

[Buzzer]

Bit confused about the pitch setting/wording.
Watched this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psYL7thQj6M&feature=player_embedded

Seen different wording of the setting, like: pitch 100%, forward, up, coarse...
Is up on the lower-left side in CoD=100%=coarse?

During take-off you should set fine pitch(?).
Is that all the way back then? Seen the start-up videos by the people here where the prop-pitch is all the way forward during take-off roll...
Isn't that coarse pich? Used for (high-)alt flying?

Can anyone tell how to use the mixture correctly also?

Great fun anyway;)

[borchi]

Thanks, i´ll try it on the evening...

Why binding buttons? Using the mouse in cockpit is an great feature :cool:

[justme262]

I am trying to figger out the hurricane mixture...
It seems to be linked to the throttle. I can only increase the mixture when throttle has been opened ... and if they are both open and I lower the throttle the throttle lever pushes the mixture lever down with it. Looks like it is designed to link the two settings. But it seems to be buggy and sometime the mixture lever moves due to the throttle movement but the actual mixture setting doesn't change.

[csThor]

Just checked the Bf 109 E compendium from Luftfahrtarchiv Hafner. Apparently the half-open water cooler is correct. According to the Kurzbetriebsanleitung it's not supposed to open any further and the pilot is to keep an eye on the water temperatures all the time (and close the cooler if they drop too much).

[kingpinda]

I am trying to figger out the hurricane mixture...
It seems to be linked to the throttle. I can only increase the mixture when throttle has been opened ... and if they are both open and I lower the throttle the throttle lever pushes the mixture lever down with it. Looks like it is designed to link the two settings. But it seems to be buggy and sometime the mixture lever moves due to the throttle movement but the actual mixture setting doesn't change.

Try to see if you don't have duplicate settings for mixture. maybe your throttle axis has been set to throttle AND mixture.

You might be correct though that this is supposed to be linked... But in my experience it isnt. also try to disable the antromorphic thingy..

For some reason when I have not set my throttle correctly and I press ignite and the engine fails to start my steer-collumn and throttle reset to default position. very annoying. might be related to the antromorphic thingy. I have to test it still with this disabled.

[Targ]

Just checked the Bf 109 E compendium from Luftfahrtarchiv Hafner. Apparently the half-open water cooler is correct. According to the Kurzbetriebsanleitung it's not supposed to open any further and the pilot is to keep an eye on the water temperatures all the time (and close the cooler if they drop too much).

Good to know and thanks for info!

This is not IL2 so I make no assumptions any more in regards to aircraft, lol.