Problem starting the Dakota (and Archer III)

[krister]

Hi!

I am sorry about this long text but I can't explain my problem in other words!

I purchased the Piper Archer III immediately when it was released but have never been able to really use it. My problem is getting the engine to run. While I've succeeded a few times, it's just too seldom for me to be able to use the airplane. As long as I turn the iginition key to the right the prop spins but immediately when I let go it stops. If I out of desperation use ctrl + e I get it running but the magneto switch keeps flickering on/off. Once I add more throttle and starts taxing the flickering stops. I tried capturing it in this video but for some reason the sound disappeared. I can try doing it again if the sound is important:

http://www.alcom.aland.fi/kitte/msfs/piper.WMV it should start streaming in Windows media player, otherwise just copy the url and use/archice/open URL.

With the Dakota things are much worse since I can't get it running even with ctrl+e. In 2D if I right click on the ignition key it will not move to the next position as you see in this short video. I first try with manual start and then using ctrl + e. With ctrl+e the engine will continously misfire and never start.

http://www.alcom.aland.fi/kitte/msfs/dakota_2d.WMV

If I try a manual start in VC mode it looks like this - the key disappears when right clicking and the engine makes no attempt at starting (as in 2D).

http://www.alcom.aland.fi/kitte/msfs/dakota_man_vc.WMV

My procedure from the very beginning is
1. starting FS9, load the default scenario witht he cessna at KSEA
2. choose "end flight"
3. choose the Piper Dakota and then go through the checklist as described in the manual

Immediately when the cockpit of the Dakota is visible I get the misfire sound and then everything is quiet (until I try cranking the engines).

I've tried switching from the default cessna with engines running to the Dakota but when the airplane is loaded, the engine is dead (I have the option to start cold and dark enabled). I suppose a work around is disabling cold and dark, switching to the Dakota from an aircraft with the engines running and then cut the engine and restart. But that is not optimal and actually I haven't tried it yet (thought of it first now) so I don't know if it works!

A couple of times I've managed to start the Dakota in normal fasion but I couldn't for the life of me realize what I did differently (if I even did anything diffrently). When I was able to fly it was a most pleasant experience with the very fluid gauges. Here's a soundless...sigh... vid I did that is 15 MB huge and not very good http://www.alcom.aland.fi/kitte/msfs/baart.WMV

Can you make any kind of sense out of this rambling?

/Krister
EFMA

[aentwis]

When I installed last night, I got a little frustrated with being unable to start the engine...
Until I did the following...

You need to check the configuration manager (the same goes for the Archer III). There are settings on the preflight tab, namely pilot present in cockpit and tie aircraft down that, when set, will hinder all attempts to start the engine...

How can the engine start if there is no pilot present?

And you don't want to try and taxi with a tied down plane...

I now have the plane set up to load cold and dark, I remove the tie downs, "put the pilot in", and begin my cockpit routine... She flies like a dream, and so she should, coming from the house of Dreamfleet

Cheers to Lou, Jean Luc and the rest of the teams involved in getting this out by Xmas!

I am sure the Turbo mod and the Arrows will be as good as this and the Archer before. I am now starting to have problems deciding which one of these to pick...

Hey, Krister, that was quite a hard landing in TFFJ... you might want to check the undercarriage before going up again...

Andrew

[Lou_Betti]

Hi Andrew,

Many thanks for the kind remarks, and right you are about the starting.

I really like that "House of DreamFleet" remark, makes me almost think my name is Giorgio Armani!

Happy flying.

[krister]

Andrew,

thanks for your suggestion. Actually, I DID mark the aircraft as not tied down since it looked very strange trying to start it with no pilot in the aircraft and tied down. But it didn't help. However I didn't restart the sim after that so I might be connected to that!

Yeah, I know about that hard landing LOL! Actually I had my 1-year old daugther in my lap and she was kicking on the yoke just to add some force feedback effect!

I'll try it again tonight. I'm pretty confident it has to be related to that preflight thingy.

EDITED: I guess it doesn't come as a total surprise that Andrew was totally right. I actually had the aircraft not tied down but due to sloppy reading I had the setting Remove pilot somehow translated to Visible pilot. Doh!!! Thanx!

BR
Krister
EFMA

[aentwis]

Krister, you are welcome... glad that I could help for once...

Lou, Dreamfleet is a household name in FS, certainly in FS2004 as far as I can remember...

And I was glad to add the Dakota to my Archer III, A36, and B58 in the virtual hangar...

Take care and happy Christmas to all readers!

Andrew