I realize that I'm coming to this party a little late but the Comanche only just made it to the Xbox. Firstly, thanks so much for clearing up a couple of things about the autopilot. Very helpful. But also wanted to share something I only just learned. 150 is the max speed with gear extended. Extension and retraction speed is actually 125, same as first stage of flaps. That sign on the panel is a bit misleading. Thanks again.
150 mph is the max operating speed for the gear - meaning you can put the gear out at that speed - so the placard is technically correct. Most Comanche pilots (myself included) prefer to extend the gear at ~125 mph to reduce the force required on the gear motor and transmission and hopefully extend the service life of both. Besides being an expensive repair, a gear motor failure is also going to require manual extension in flight and stock Comanches don't have positive down locks once you disconnect the transmission - meaning you risk collapsing the gear on the ground if you're not very gentle on the landing and taxiing once you've manually extended the gear.
Nice video! The Comanche is an amazing design that has stood the test of time. A few notes from personal experience withe the type. Most aircraft that have a HSI have a flux gate (remote compass) that auto aligns the gyro compass to the magnetic compass - so it is quite realistic to set auto-align for the sim. Even more advanced autopilots for the Comanche usually can't change the trim and have trim up / trim down anunciator functions. Large speed changes will have the most trim effect on the Comanche, the trim is very sensitive at cruise airspeeds and much less sensitive at landing speeds. Comanche center of gravity doesn't shift much at all from fuel burn - one of the reasons it's so flexible in weight and balance planning compared to similar aircraft. Cutting to 12" immediatly for descent is pretty hard on the engine and increases the risk of carb ice. You generally want to keep the engine above 15" except for landing. My technique in the IRL PA-24 for descent to landing: 1. Top of Climb at 4-5X per 1000' depending on winds (if a fast descent is required, consider slowing to gear speed and lowering the gear to add drag) 2. Reduce power about 2" per minute during the initial descent to 15" which will give a forward speed close to cruise speed (~160 mph indicated) 3. Once level at bottom of descent, the plane will slow to ~125mph at 15" in a few minutes. If you don't have that time, reduce to around 13" and it will slow faster. 4. Gear down at 125mph, 15-16" will hold about 120mph level with gear down, no flaps 5. Abeam the landing point, 1/3 flaps and 12.5" MP targeting 100 mph 6. Add 2/3 flaps on base targeting 90 mph (per your video) 7. Reduce power on final as needed aiming for 85 mph over the numbers, add 1/2 the gust factor if gusty As you pointed out, the Comanche is much easier to land well with 2/3 flaps with lower trim forces and higher nose angle to avoid 3-pointing or a porpoise off the nose wheel. Except for soft field landings, flaps should come up ASAP and before any braking to avoid skids.
Thanks for those tips! With regards to cutting the power, I sorta had the same feeling as you that it was a bit aggressive, but ended up doing it like that based on something Scott from A2A said in one of his videos, basically saying that it was difficult to shock cool that engine. At least, I guess that was his experience with his Comanche.
@@FlightSimSchool As air cooled 6 cylinder engines go the O-540 is very user friendly. My understanding is that shock cooling is still a long term wear and tear concern and best minimized when possible. I'd say the larger consideration for me is carb ice which I've encountered even at low cruise power settings and 60F air temps when the humidity is high. Using more power on descent reduces the risk of ice forming, and if carb ice forms provides more latent heat from the muffler to melt the ice away quickly once carb heat is applied. Closer to idle power it can be harder to detect ice short of the engine quitting which is a surprise you really don't want just as you level off at pattern altitude.
I just posted an idle descent video in the IRL Comanche. It does work very well from a practical perspective although I’m still personally inclined to use a bit more power for engine longevity
If you use the auto align button for the gyro drift regularly, you can simply turn gyro drift off completely in the assistance options. I don‘t think the button adds much to the realism anyway.
Excellent video! I just learned about not wanting to get on track unless you're pretty much on it last night. I expected it to make the 90 degree turn into final... nope. 😂
08:55 There is no best guess. Each click of the mouse button moves the needle by 1 degree ;) So 36 will be to place it exactly at 35 using the notches and click once to get 36.
Congratulations for the beautiful tutorial, I have a problem with the GTN 750 of the Comanche, unlike the flight with the TBM 850 it doesn't indicate when to turn to next waypoint with the pulsating message. I use the PMS50 with WTT premium for both aircraft thanks
I haven’t covered the Baron unfortunately. I think I will be covering the Duke when it comes out though because it’s looking really good in the previews that have been released.
Hello, I am an XBOX-X user and a beginner about the Comanche, then thanks for this very useful tutorial....I would report some problems about: 1) the HSI don't show the right plane track 2) in the 530/430 display the plane icon position is not correct related to the ground...thanks in advance for your kind reply
Still publishing a new vid every 2 weeks. Or do you mean for the Comanche? I have a few ideas in the back of my head for it but if there’s something specific you’d like to see I’m open to suggestions :)
Hi having trouble with the track mode (hi). I set the OBS needle, overfly the course using heading mode but when I switch to track mode it does not line up, keeps flying in the heading direction. Any idea what I am doing wrong? It was very windy though 50 knots ! Many thanks
Woah, 50 kts is some strong wind for a Comanche, especially if it’s a cross-wind. Were you fairly close to intercepting the course when you set it back to track mode?
@@FlightSimSchool ah thanks I am doing a world flight started in New Zealand south , dreadful weather . So found somewhere calm and worked fine, thanks a lot 😎
Hi struggling again to get the hi track to work. Heading works fine but when I switch to hi track it does not capture the path but just goes past it. I have the free version of the gtn750 could this be why perhaps ? Calm day no wind. Cheers
35 year Comanche owner, you better start slowlng down way before pattern alt. Also never just chop the power , terrible power management, your not flying a turbine pal!
I'm new to this plane, and like I said in another video of your Comanche series, your videos are just GREAT!. Nicely done!
The Comanche is my favourite GA plane, the level of depth they put into it really sets the bar for all the others to follow
I realize that I'm coming to this party a little late but the Comanche only just made it to the Xbox.
Firstly, thanks so much for clearing up a couple of things about the autopilot. Very helpful. But also wanted to share something I only just learned. 150 is the max speed with gear extended. Extension and retraction speed is actually 125, same as first stage of flaps.
That sign on the panel is a bit misleading.
Thanks again.
150 mph is the max operating speed for the gear - meaning you can put the gear out at that speed - so the placard is technically correct. Most Comanche pilots (myself included) prefer to extend the gear at ~125 mph to reduce the force required on the gear motor and transmission and hopefully extend the service life of both. Besides being an expensive repair, a gear motor failure is also going to require manual extension in flight and stock Comanches don't have positive down locks once you disconnect the transmission - meaning you risk collapsing the gear on the ground if you're not very gentle on the landing and taxiing once you've manually extended the gear.
@@planeplaces Thanks for the clarification and info.
Nice video! The Comanche is an amazing design that has stood the test of time. A few notes from personal experience withe the type.
Most aircraft that have a HSI have a flux gate (remote compass) that auto aligns the gyro compass to the magnetic compass - so it is quite realistic to set auto-align for the sim. Even more advanced autopilots for the Comanche usually can't change the trim and have trim up / trim down anunciator functions. Large speed changes will have the most trim effect on the Comanche, the trim is very sensitive at cruise airspeeds and much less sensitive at landing speeds. Comanche center of gravity doesn't shift much at all from fuel burn - one of the reasons it's so flexible in weight and balance planning compared to similar aircraft.
Cutting to 12" immediatly for descent is pretty hard on the engine and increases the risk of carb ice. You generally want to keep the engine above 15" except for landing. My technique in the IRL PA-24 for descent to landing:
1. Top of Climb at 4-5X per 1000' depending on winds (if a fast descent is required, consider slowing to gear speed and lowering the gear to add drag)
2. Reduce power about 2" per minute during the initial descent to 15" which will give a forward speed close to cruise speed (~160 mph indicated)
3. Once level at bottom of descent, the plane will slow to ~125mph at 15" in a few minutes. If you don't have that time, reduce to around 13" and it will slow faster.
4. Gear down at 125mph, 15-16" will hold about 120mph level with gear down, no flaps
5. Abeam the landing point, 1/3 flaps and 12.5" MP targeting 100 mph
6. Add 2/3 flaps on base targeting 90 mph (per your video)
7. Reduce power on final as needed aiming for 85 mph over the numbers, add 1/2 the gust factor if gusty
As you pointed out, the Comanche is much easier to land well with 2/3 flaps with lower trim forces and higher nose angle to avoid 3-pointing or a porpoise off the nose wheel. Except for soft field landings, flaps should come up ASAP and before any braking to avoid skids.
Thanks for those tips! With regards to cutting the power, I sorta had the same feeling as you that it was a bit aggressive, but ended up doing it like that based on something Scott from A2A said in one of his videos, basically saying that it was difficult to shock cool that engine. At least, I guess that was his experience with his Comanche.
@@FlightSimSchool As air cooled 6 cylinder engines go the O-540 is very user friendly. My understanding is that shock cooling is still a long term wear and tear concern and best minimized when possible. I'd say the larger consideration for me is carb ice which I've encountered even at low cruise power settings and 60F air temps when the humidity is high. Using more power on descent reduces the risk of ice forming, and if carb ice forms provides more latent heat from the muffler to melt the ice away quickly once carb heat is applied. Closer to idle power it can be harder to detect ice short of the engine quitting which is a surprise you really don't want just as you level off at pattern altitude.
I just posted an idle descent video in the IRL Comanche. It does work very well from a practical perspective although I’m still personally inclined to use a bit more power for engine longevity
If you use the auto align button for the gyro drift regularly, you can simply turn gyro drift off completely in the assistance options. I don‘t think the button adds much to the realism anyway.
Yes that’s a great point, I should have mentioned that option as well
Learning so much from these videos you make the autopilot so simple to understand . Thank you very much
Just the small part about when and how to begin the decent made a world of difference for me
Excellent video! I just learned about not wanting to get on track unless you're pretty much on it last night. I expected it to make the 90 degree turn into final... nope. 😂
The Comanche's autopilot is as basic as it gets !
Nice job, I love this plane. Please continue with it.
08:55 There is no best guess. Each click of the mouse button moves the needle by 1 degree ;) So 36 will be to place it exactly at 35 using the notches and click once to get 36.
Maybe it’s just me but I find it really hard to tell when it’s directly on a multiple of 5, it seems to always be off center no matter where I put it
@@FlightSimSchool I can understand what you mean. I don't have this issue myself. Well as long as it is more or less where it should be.
Congratulations for the beautiful tutorial, I have a problem with the GTN 750 of the Comanche, unlike the flight with the TBM 850 it doesn't indicate when to turn to next waypoint with the pulsating message. I use the PMS50 with WTT premium for both aircraft
thanks
hmmmm, I’m not sure what that could be since I don’t use the PMS. You could try searching or asking on A2A’s forums for the Comanche.
Very helpful-thanks!
Top notch video on a top notch plane and found this very helpfull
Thanks Mike! I love flying this bird around too, it feels so different from everything else.
@@FlightSimSchool they should call it crackmanchie lol
Thank you!
Great video! I did buy this plane so this will be helpful. Do you have a video on the black square baron for how to pressurize?
I haven’t covered the Baron unfortunately. I think I will be covering the Duke when it comes out though because it’s looking really good in the previews that have been released.
Hello, I am an XBOX-X user and a beginner about the Comanche, then thanks for this very useful tutorial....I would report some problems about: 1) the HSI don't show the right plane track 2) in the 530/430 display the plane icon position is not correct related to the ground...thanks in advance for your kind reply
You need to manually set the HSI's track for every waypoint, it won't do it automatically for you. Not sure what's going on with your GPS though.
@@FlightSimSchool Sorry I would mean "the HSI Compass don't work"
Oh, have you adjusted it for gyro drift? You can set it by hand by pressing the D key
The speedometer is in mph not knots.
IIRC you can see knots on the inside of the airspeed indicator, but I likely said the wrong thing at some point because of force of habit
We hadn't video from you in ages whats the deal
Still publishing a new vid every 2 weeks. Or do you mean for the Comanche? I have a few ideas in the back of my head for it but if there’s something specific you’d like to see I’m open to suggestions :)
Hi having trouble with the track mode (hi). I set the OBS needle, overfly the course using heading mode but when I switch to track mode it does not line up, keeps flying in the heading direction. Any idea what I am doing wrong? It was very windy though 50 knots ! Many thanks
Woah, 50 kts is some strong wind for a Comanche, especially if it’s a cross-wind. Were you fairly close to intercepting the course when you set it back to track mode?
@@FlightSimSchool yes right on it , yes was. Crosswind 😂
That strong of a cross-wind might be why. You should try again in less windy conditions :D
@@FlightSimSchool ah thanks I am doing a world flight started in New Zealand south , dreadful weather . So found somewhere calm and worked fine, thanks a lot 😎
Hi struggling again to get the hi track to work. Heading works fine but when I switch to hi track it does not capture the path but just goes past it. I have the free version of the gtn750 could this be why perhaps ? Calm day no wind. Cheers
35 year Comanche owner, you better start slowlng down way before pattern alt.
Also never just chop the power , terrible power management, your not flying a turbine pal!
Correct, I cut the power to show how you would get a warning about it, not that you should do it that way. Thanks for the suggestions.