Quick descent in the connie. How????

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trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

When I am on cruise with Connie at 8K AGL and later I want to slow down I let the Bird going down at around 500fpm. The airspeed will increase and the altitude will be lower than 8K AGL. Then I pitch the nose up back to 8K AGL which I need it before Approach, the airspeed will decrease drastically and I can arm the flaps preparing the plane for Approach. This is the way I can do quick descent.
Pat

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Paughco
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by Paughco »

bobsk8 wrote: 19 Jan 2017, 09:38 I am still confused when descending in the Connie, or even slowing it down. If I am flying level at say 8,000 feet and try and slow down from cruise speed, I can lower the MP to say 18" and prop to 1800 rpm and it seems like the aircraft wants to cruise along at the same speed forever. Throw in even a very slight rate of descent, and it will actually accelerate. How on earth to you get this aircraft to slow down, and I would like some specific numbers rather than " just reduce MP and keep everything squared", which seems to accomplish very little.
Lockheed Virtual Performance Parts (a little-known division out behind the Skunkworks building) has turned out a few aftermarket parts for the Connie L049. Press the [/] key before you start your descent, which activates the dive brakes.

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guillaume78150
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by guillaume78150 »

I have somewhere an old Air France Constellation (don't remember the type) emergency descent procedure from the 50s which states to engage reverse to slow down the aircraft and accelerate the descent...
I guess this was not a standard procedure and wonder how the big Wright coped with that.

trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

Paughco wrote: 13 Jan 2022, 12:08 Press the [/] key before you start your descent, which activates the dive brakes.

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I thought by pressing [/] from keyboard it engages Spoilers. Does Connie have Spoilers?
Pat

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Paughco
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by Paughco »

I've always thought that the [/] key activates dive brakes, like those doors aft of the wing on an F-86 Sabre. I don't have P3D running right now, or I'd go check the control defaults in the menu. Meanwhile, just give it a try in the Connie. You're at cruising altitude. Pull power back to 23 inches MP and begin an 800 ft/min descent. Maintain that descent rate and watch the airspeed go up. Hit the [/] key on your keyboard. Wait a minute or so. Which way does the IAS needle move? Yeah, it's cheating, I know. But sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes to get everybody down to approach altitude and airspeed in a short period of time.

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trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

Hello ATV, I can't find the "dive brakes" from the Manual. So, what is that Dive Brakes? I thought Connie doesn't have Spoilers or does she have that? The procedure as you mentioned worked like a gem, thanks. It looks like an undocumented procedure (lol).
Pat

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DHenriques_
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by DHenriques_ »

Quick descents in any aircraft isn't something you should do on a regular basis, especially with radials involved.
It may not be a critical item on an engine manufacturer's list of "don'ts but prudence dictates that ALL aircraft engines do better over time and between overhaul if pilots don't engage in ANY practice that involves rapid change in temperatures and pressures.
You can read up on this all day long and there will be those who favor the above and those who say "don't bother".
My personal choice has always been to engage in engine management practices that favor the slowest rate of change in temperature and pressure.
This being said, on descents; in ANY aircraft you should be able to reduce manifold pressure below cruise, leave the RPM at cruise, and hold the altitude with increased back pressure. This should slow the aircraft and help you establish a rate of descent. You shouldn't have to lower the power enough to cause the props to drive the engines.
The key is pitch control. You can of course use flaps when the airspeed comes down and in range.
Dudley Henriques

trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

So, we can skip the idea to use [/] from keyboard and to proceed the descent as I posted earlier which it works for I as well. On Cruise reduce MP and descend at 500fpm or so and when the Altitude becomes lower than as expected then to pitch nose up and the Airspeed will be going down and to arm flaps for Approach. I like the trick of [/] too but I am still don't know what is "Dive Brakes".
From some reason the [/] keyb works like Spoilers arm and I don't see Connie with spoilers.
Pat

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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by WB_FlashOver »

I'll respond with how I descend knowing that my method will create 'hate mail' and a 'stern scolding', and I say that tongue in cheek. I have posted my cruise settings in the past and they have received the aforementioned response. I'll touch on this at the end.

Any-who, my cruise settings are much lower than is advised and my descent is as follows. I pull MP back while reducing RPM to 1650 using caution to keep BMEP under 140. While descending I maintain 110-115 BMEP. By going off BMEP I know that the props are not driving the engines. I manage cowl flaps to keep engines warm and to avoid "shock cooling". My descent is 600-700 FPM with pressurization set to destination ALT with an appropriate FPM cabin pressure change. If I let the FE manage cabin pressure I will have crying babies and the lot.

I'm on my third set of engines and I have a total of 1,491.6 airframe hours. My first set of engines went 743 hours before needing complete overhaul. At that point I was scolded for my settings so I went with prescribed settings on the next engines. I only got 385 hours out of that set. I then went back to my personal cruise settings and I'm at 360 hours with the crew chief telling me that they are all in "Fair" condition which gives me comfort that I will get well over 700 hours on this set. I'll give my cruise settings to make sense of my descent settings. My cruise settings are 1,750 RPM at 138 BMEP. So, pulling back to my descent settings is not a huge change and it works very well for me. My speed is usually under 200 Knots and easy to control. If I run into turbulent air the lower IAS seems to make the turbulence much more tolerable as well. Like I say, these are not by-the-book and I am not advising others to follow my lead. In fact you should most likely use the manufacturers prescribed settings. I like what they do for me as far as overhaul hours, comfort of noise, and economy.

Cheers
Roger
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trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

Can anyone make a video with Connie slowing down from cruise and ready flaps armed for Approach?
Pat

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Paughco
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by Paughco »

There are at least two unpublished cheats that I know of. The [/] dive brakes on the Connie is one. The [Z] autopilot on the P-40 is another (gotta have the radio on for that one to work). I sure hope they don't get rid of those on the next updates.

I rarely use the dive brakes on the Connie nowadays. I just keep an eye on my GTN 650 and when I'm about 5 minutes out per 1,000 ft loss required, I start a 500 fpm minute descent using the method described by Dudley above. The extra time accounts for any speed picked up in the descent, approach procedure, etc. Last time I used the dive brakes was during an IFR descent through IMC when ATC was telling me to increase my rate of descent, along with a rapid sequence of heading and altitude changes. The copilot and the babies were not happy.

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trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

The [/] key to slow down the airspeed is not documented in the Manual so I guess is not realistic.
Pat

Tomas Linnet
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by Tomas Linnet »

no, you are correct, not realistic at all. The spoilers is a feature in the host sim, that still works. for that reason, I've deleted more or less all key assignments in FSX, simply to avoid any confusion. This have caught out a few people as the hit the [/] key mistake, making a lot of aircraft unflyable.
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trisho0
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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by trisho0 »

In FSX, XP11, P3Dv4 and P3Dv5 I have assigned the [/] key for Spoilers and it is the default. But curiously found on this thread such [/] key works for Connie to slow down airspeed nicely (lol). It is faster to slow down the airspeed in order to arm the approach flaps. Obviously not as realistic. If Connie doesn't have spoilers to arm then how does that [/] key works? That's rare.
Pat

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Re: Quick descent in the connie. How????

Post by WB_FlashOver »

I'm totally guessing here but I believe they have used speed brakes/spoilers as a way to simulate drag from the cowl flaps. The more open the cowl flaps are the more drag but how to simulate that? Use spoilers in percentages of engagement, maybe?

My experience when flying IFR is to not wait for ATC to tell you to descend. They will have you diving faster than you wish most of the time. I hand calculate my decent and request flight level change to pattern altitude when it's time. Even doing this is confusing to the simulator ATC. Many times it's better to VFR with flight following and make your own calculated decent & approach, especially in mountainous areas.

Cheers
Roger
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