Starting Engines

[EHM-2101 Tarik]

This may be the most foolish question in Euroharmony ever, but I have to ask you guys.

How can I start engines myself? Cause now, everytime I start the flight, my engines are already running (not so realistic). I checked the "Realism" settings, but couldn't find anything. I'm using FS9.

Thanks, for advance if someone would answer to this n00b's question! :%

[EHM-1465 Dominic]

No problems Tarik, we've all wondered about these kinds of things while learning

If the default flight loads with the engines running, then all you need to do is cut the fuel flow to the engine(s) to stop them running then hit the 'save flight' key and give the flight a name like 'default engines off' and (if you want to always start like this) click where it says make this the default flight.

Once this is done, your flights will start with engines off so you can hit 'Ctrl' + E for an autostart when you're ready or perform a full engine start if you prefer.

Just be aware if you do this that you will need to make sure that generators are switched on after engine start etc... If you download a checklist for the planes you use regularly this will ensure you always have the right systems set up from 'cold and dark' to take-off and beyond...

Have fun !

[EHM-2029 Sotiris]

And starting with engines stopped is a big help once you start with ProPilot.
Always better to have time to set the plane up (parking brakes, lights, pressure gauges etc.) before the logging starts (which happens after engine start-up).

To expand on Dom's very good answer, if you can't or are too bored to look for proper checklists a rule of thumb for most planes is:
1 - Make sure you've got bettery power
2 - Open fuel supply
3 - Hit the starters

But if you intend to do a 'proper job' of it there's no avoiding getting a checklist. (Especially on the BAe 146, it just won't start with simple Ctrl+E)

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Hello
I have done this.I shut down the engines,avionics,all electrical systems in fact the whole mahooja,saved this flight as "Cold and Dark"
and i load this every time for flying,meaning i have to switch on all systems manually.
cheers Andy
PS It surly would not be difficult for MSoft to include a Cold and Dark flight in there flights selection so we could have the choice

[EHM-2101 Tarik]

Thanks everyone (again)! I'll test that now, and will tell you if that worked.

Edit: Yeah, it works perfectly. At least in Boeing 737-800 only thing I have to do is ctrl + e. But of course I'll download checklists for the planes I fly with!

[EHM-2089 Vincent]

Starting engines ... I was looking at the real-life checklist of engine startup. I actually did that because I heard that engine startup in 747 requires 3 minutes. I was watching a documentary of Plane Crash Investigation, on National Geographic Channel (India on Mondays 8 pm), wherein it talked about the British Airways plane flying between England and Australia that had an all engine failure, when it flew into volcanic Ash from an nearby erupted volcano.

The captian had time only for 10 restarts 30 minutes depending on his altitude before he would hit the ground. I also managed to get hold of PMDG plane's document, I dont have a PMDG plane (payware as yet) and that startup procedure for an engine is exhaustive!!!

Ofcourse in simple the basic steps are, Ensure you are battery supply, start fuel tap, kick the engine up. On 2 / 4 or more engined planes, repeat the procedure for all engines. Wait for the engine to whine up completely before doing the next. And ofcourse ensure that your parking brakes are set !!! important ...lol

[EHM-2155 Mariano]

I saw that episode Vincent, very scary moments must have been. The thing is that I belive the restarting procedure for the engines in mid-flight must be more specific than on the ground... It should be interesting to compare the two. But yeah, the basic procedure is ensure there is energy (APU on the ground, maybe a ramjet engine mid flight), ensure there's fuel flow, ignite, wait for stabilization...

[EHM-2097 Andrei]

Saw that episode too.

At some point it was said that the pilots "shortened" the startup procedure in order to give themselves room fore more retries... which proved to be benefic in the end. There were no further details however on what they skipped or how much they got the procedure shortened.

Cheers
Andrei

[EHM-2089 Vincent]

Ya true, but what the pilots did by landing the plane safely is that they played by the rules. And they kept their minds calm trying out various options available to them. It just shows how team coordination in the worse of situations can turn a death like situation to heaven.

Yesterday I was watching the same program and it was about Korean Air Flight 801, a 747 that crashed killing a lot of people during the crash and also the after-crash fire. The crew just did not think coherently and though the co-pilot stressed on go around when close to the earth, the pilot took precious seconds to push the throttle as he thought he was doing right and would see the runway anytime. But what stuck me most was the statement by the mother of one of the victims.

She said "no one wants to die, the pilots never wanted to die, they never flew thinking they should kill all those on board, the accident just happened. .. we don't blame them (the pilots) for what happened." They lost their son and daughter in law in that crash.

I moved away from the original thread, but the thing what I also wanted to say about was the engines on a 747, is not like a formula 1 car accelerator, when you push the throttles and in micro seconds, the car reacts, the 747 takes quite a while to react to the throttle push, spooling of power etc. The crew on that 747 were just too good. They did proud in landing the plane safely.

[EHM-2029 Sotiris]

Hello All,

just a small clarification.
The in-flight start-up that the BA crew did is much different to the engine start-up checklist.
The checklist goes through various systems checking and setting them up for flight. Essentially it includes all the actions up to engine start-up.
However, while in-flight the pilot didn't go through this checklist. What they did was to continuously engage the engine starters until such time that the engines reacted.
So really, it wasn't a case of 'cranking the engine several times until it starts' but rather leaving the 'ignition' on all the time and wait for a reaction. That's standard practice and it only takes a couple of ticks.
I'll have a look around for the particular checklist and let everyone know.