Lockheed 1049H Constellation (Beta Release)

[Andreas]

Great PDF Andreas! That's a resource I didn't have.

Could someone pass over that giant spoon please? Thanks.

***WHACK!!***

So maybe now you remember that I pointed the resource out to you via email in may 2009?
(You did get the last one, did you?)

Hey, here's a question I'd been asking myself since I was a child: What does ACME stand for?

[Farmboy]

the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage of development; "his landscapes were deemed the acme of beauty"; "the artist's gifts are ...
vertex: the highest point (of something); "at the peak of the pyramid"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

The top or highest point; pinnacle; culmination; The crisis or height of a disease; Mature age; full bloom of life. - Ben Jonson
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acme

But of course, EVERYONE that I know associates it as a negative...due to this association -
A Company [that] Makes Everything: Wile E. Coyote's supplier of equipment and gadgets
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ACME

[Andreas]

I seee! So it's an abbreviation _and_ a real word (never heard it before).

[Andreas]

Why does everybody forget to mention the manifold pressure? It is an indicator, more or less, of the power output. Keep an eye on that, and that is how you will know when to change the mixture.

I don't think it's that easy, because the manifold pressure depends on many different things such as ambient pressure (height), engine rpm and throttle setting - yes, it is an indicator of power output, but power is not the important value when it comes to finding the right mixture or prevent the engine from overheating.
But here's something funny: Your post reminded me of a manual for a Super Constellation model in an MS-Flightsimulator, which said that on the MAP Gauge there are colored marks like this:

20 to 43 inHg: (blue) auto/manual lean
43 to 52 inHg: (green) auto-rich required
59.5 inHg: (red line) maximum

This made me think for a while, because it seems to confirm what you were saying. But note that this is not an instruction for an actual mixture setting, it just says that below 43 inHg you _may_ operate the engine lean of peak (you still have to find the proper exact mixture depending on the circumstances), and above 43 inHg you _must_ use a rich-of-peak setting. I believe this is a question of engine power.
This might have something to do with the risks that Yakko mentioned (I wasn't aware of those):

If I remember correctly, running lean of EGT also had a risk of pre-detonation in the cylinders if not done very carefully, and the EPA is not particularly happy with the method because it generates some interesting combustion byproducts. [...] If memory serves. one of the purposes of water injection was to reduce the risk of that.

I think this makes sense: running lean of peak EGT/BMEP can only be done up to a certain power level.

Here's an article on the lean-of-peak topic: http://www.gami.com/articles/bttfpart1.php
It says that even in FAA exams they teach wrong facts about the leaning thing!

[HHS]

This Lockheed 1049H Constellation was proposed on the Devel-list for the base-package for FGFS 2.0.

In the base package will be only aircrafts included, which are in some way outstanding, under GNU GPL and in CVS.

It would be great to see this bird in CVS!

[durk]

This Lockheed 1049H Constellation was proposed on the Devel-list for the base-package for FGFS 2.0.

In the base package will be only aircrafts included, which are in some way outstanding, under GNU GPL and in CVS.

It would be great to see this bird in CVS!

Hi Heiko,

As discussed earlier in this thread, we have been discussing the possibility of adding the Constellation to CVS. Buckaroo argreed to have it included, and I volunteered to commit it. If I recall correctly Buckaroo and Yakko wanted to make some final adjustments before committing, so I'm basically waiting for the final go-ahead.

Cheers,
Durk

[Buckaroo]

Friends of the 1049H,

Between events in my personal life and my hopes for the 1049H model, I can't justify placing the model in the CVS repository at this time. To be honest, I've never even seen what the model looks like in CVS-based Flightgear, nor do I have any personal experience with how it handles in CVS Flightgear. Given that, I feel it would be wrong for me to submit it in CVS at this time, and particularly inappropriate for me to wish it to be considered as an exemplar model for the coming new Flightgear release. I really want the opportunity to work with the model in the next release before contributing it.

This was not an easy decision and I know it will disappoint some folks. The only compensation I can offer is that I want the model to be the best experience I can make it be for everyone who downloads it, and I believe this decision to be the best path for me to make that happen.

Durk-- thank you for your kind offer and support.

Yakko-- please don't kill me if maiming is sufficient.

[Andreas]

Hi Buckaroo,
no disappointment here, this is perfectly alright with me.
After all, your aiming for perfection is what brought the model to where it is now, so keep it up!

[Yakko]

My friend who is the professional boatbuilder had a wonderful saying that I wish more people could adopt (especially here at work) - it was along the lines of "If you don't have the time to do it right, when the hell do you think you'll have the time to do it over?"

If you don't feel the work is up to the level of excellence necessary, than by all means the right decision is to hold it back until it is. I can fully understand not wanting to commit it in without ever seeing how it works in the version being committed - I won't be able to try the next version of FGFS itself either, until I get a working release version built for my distro (or until I change distros to match what the next release version requires).

In the current release of FGFS I'd say the 1049h model meets or exceeds the level of excellence with the best of any of the other planes, but until I see it in the next release I can't even offer much in the way of suggestions on what is needed. In the visual and animation areas it is probably OK, but we know the JSBSim changes radically in the engine performance areas and that will need to be tweaked up.

[syd_cyyf]

The 1049h certainly gets my vote , that's a beautiful piece of work!
But I understand your hesitation , looking forward to future development.
The Goose is a pretty nice one too, now that I've learned how to take off with it

[durk]

This was not an easy decision and I know it will disappoint some folks. The only compensation I can offer is that I want the model to be the best experience I can make it be for everyone who downloads it, and I believe this decision to be the best path for me to make that happen.

Durk-- thank you for your kind offer and support.

Hi, don't worry. I understand that you consider the risk to be to big. Nevertheless, I do hope that someday we'll get it there.

Cheers,
Durk

[simbabeat]

Cool pic here. I asked the atc at KSFO on the multiplayer at the time if I could have permission for a skydiver and he got confused. Here's what I meant. LOL

[Yakko]

Ooohh - I sure don't want to be the unlucky person who has to dive out from the door AHEAD of the wing and engines!!!!

Can you say 3# engine MEAT GRINDER??????

[simbabeat]

Haha I thought about that.

[QF52]

my copilot thought about it the other day when I hit turb in the connie