REQ Seperate engine magnetos

[TeeJay82]

when i fly usaaf 2 engine planes,(a20/p38/b25) and one engine gets set on fire i select the engine and turn mags off to prevent fuel detonation in the cylinders.. but as i select the working engine, it stalls as well due to mag switch off.. ive tried all combos with select/unselect engines, but no matter what, the mags are allways on or off for both engines :/

Only me that miss this little feature?

also feathered the engine on fire where possible, and dive, extinguish the fire and level out.. but it aaaaalways gets back on fire (100%) so im wondering if this is due to ingame magnetos who cant be shut off thats causing it, despite the engine is feathered.

only got 100%mix and 120% wich im guessing is autorich and full rich so turning off the fuel supply is not an option :/

[Romanator21]

I'm assuming REQ is some mod? I don't know what the rules on mods here are, but I hope it's ok to talk about them...

Anyway, to my point, the engine-catching-fire-again-thingy is a problem in the stock Il-2. The only way to extinguish a fire totally is with a fire extinguisher. I don't think fuel flow to engine is modeled (neg G cutout is more of an effect than calculation of fuel flow). Magnetos have no effect in stock Il-2 (mag 1, mag2) except to shut off the engine. However in real life one doesn't ever turn off the engine by turning the mags. They are a residual feature from the original Il-2 which had some more complex engine management options.

[TeeJay82]

I'm assuming REQ is some mod?

Short for Request :)

and yeah, fuel flow stop for engine shutdown.... its just that i consider the magnetos to be OFF as a safety precaution in case of fire in an engine

[Romanator21]

It is usually, but Il-2 currently doesn't model either of those things.

[Azimech]

Could be an interesting feature but do we want the AI to be able to do this as well? It would affect gameplay because setting a plane on fire is usually enough for a kill. But I do find the impossibility of stopping an engine fire not very logical, even if an oil tank or line is hit, since oil burns slower and less violent than fuel.

In real life, using the fuel cut-off valve would be the way to go. In case of an engine fire you want the carburettor and the inlet manifold/supercharger to be empty, so leave the mags on so the engine can burn what's left.
Switching the mags off means a lot of fuel in a perfect mix leaves the exhaust pipes, since the engine continues as an air pump until completely stalled, worsening the problem. And in case of the P38/B24/B17 you don't want your turbocharger exploding as well.

I found this movie after writing the stuff, seems not far from reality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNv0mORbwNQ

[TeeJay82]

Nice vid... never thought about leaving mags on to burn the remaining fuel in the lines :)

anyways if this is not modelled, im just wasting everyone`s time. Except maybe TD? ;)

[jojovtx]

I'm assuming REQ is some mod? I don't know what the rules on mods here are, but I hope it's ok to talk about them...

Anyway, to my point, the engine-catching-fire-again-thingy is a problem in the stock Il-2. The only way to extinguish a fire totally is with a fire extinguisher. I don't think fuel flow to engine is modeled (neg G cutout is more of an effect than calculation of fuel flow). Magnetos have no effect in stock Il-2 (mag 1, mag2) except to shut off the engine. However in real life one doesn't ever turn off the engine by turning the mags. They are a residual feature from the original Il-2 which had some more complex engine management options.

I only disagree with one point here and it is a minute one at that. The magnetos are infact modelled to have some effect in game. I fly a 110 primarily and when I feel like going through the process for "immersion
reasons I'll do a short pre-flight check which includes testing magnetos. If you throttle up 80% or full throttle whatever, then switch magnetos from 1+2 to 2 to 1 you will see the rpm dip when you select a single magneto versus the two.

This has no relevance to the OP question as if your on fire that's it. Make it back to friendly line and bail before you have a structural failure or explode, which I case in a sense is still structural failure. :grin:

[Romanator21]

That's interesting, I've never seen RPM drop in Il-2 by switching from both mags to one.

[zipper]

A couple of points.

If the mags are ON but the engine isn't turning over (the prop is feathered, for instance) then the mags aren't doing anything. They're generators and have to be turning to produce any current (and the engine has to be turning to trigger the pulse).

Back in high school I owned an Aeronca Champ (airknocker) that had NO mixture control or electrical system (other than mags) much like its vintage peers, so turning the engine off/on by the mags was the norm. I can't begin to count how many times I propped (that's OLD AIRPLANE for "started") that baby.

I find fire relights a bother, but the horribly unrealistic stalls ... the un-modeled roll inertia ... the what-in-the-world-is-this-supposed-to-be spin characteristics ... it goes on ...


I do love the game! :grin:

[Romanator21]

That's the first time I've heard about shutting off an engine by flipping the mags. Usually it leaves a bunch of unburned fuel in the cylinders. Did your plane have a fuel cut-off seeing as it had no mixture control?

I agree about roll inertia. One of the saddest sights to see is a de-winged bomber fluttering about like a leaf. One looses the impression of scale, and mass and gets the idea that they're watching a toy plane fall.

However, considering its age, Il-2 has pretty decent stall modeling (even stock FSX planes fall short). You can't rely on the "Stall!" HUD message though. I've performed stalls without the message coming on, and for a sim it felt pretty good. The "Stall" message seems to only indicate spins which may be why every "stall" looks like a canned "slip on a banana peel" spin (as one member puts it).

[zipper]

It feels like the CG slips back six feet at the stall. There are a number of planes in the game that had rather mild stalls with little or no tendency to spin that - like every other plane in the game - snaps right into a spin at stall, regardless of coordination.

Yeah- my old bird had a fuel cut off valve, akin to a selector because it was somewhat upstream of the carb, but I tried shutting the engine off with it once and it took about a minute and a half - lol. Shutting the mags off is really no different than switching off the key in a car, though, and we all know the ramifications of doing that ... I also tried using the fuel switch as a mixture control with ineffective results. I was by myself with just over a half a tank (about 35% useful load) and decided to see how high I could go. Got up to about 9000ft (basically a standard day, severe clear) and was smelling the raw gas dripping out of the exhaust stacks when I decided to try nearly closing the valve but it didn't do anything until it nearly shut down the motor. I continued on up to 12700ft, significantly above ceiling as I was only climbing at about ten feet a minute ... what a view! I then decided to chop throttle and kick it into a spin (left) and see how many turns I could get in. After about thirty-five or so I found I had lost count so I quickly leveled out and kicked it to the right to "unwind" -lol. At about 2500ft I leveled and decided to try gliding (I was a bored kid who was bored of flying) and shut off the mags but couldn't get the prop to stop windmilling until I nearly had the plane stalled. It was fun gliding around, then I tried to spin the prop up (no starter, remember) and I kept dropping the nose without getting the prop to move. Finally, I was pulling out of the bottom of a VERY steep dive at about 350ft and 135mph (Vne 127) the prop suddenly cranked a half turn, paused a second, cranked a whole turn pausing a quarter second, then started windmilling and fired right up with me on the deck ...

... ahh, those were the days ...