Cowl flaps

[slarente]

What are they? How important is it to keep them open/closed during a flight? I see no difference in FS, how about real world?

[metro752]

Inflight, keep them closed, and mixture to idle cut off.

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[lnuss]

In FS it doesn't matter, but in the real world cowl flaps are used to control engine cooling under varying conditions. When sitting on the ground for any length of time or in slow flight and climbs they should usually be open. In cruise flight and descents they should usually be closed, but cylinder head temps are usually the real controlling factor.

[hylander_1]

>Inflight, keep them closed, and mixture to idle cut off.
>
>http://www.fsuniverse.com/meyer/abov.../meyer_sig.jpg

Funny!

Regards,
hylander_1
Pilot Montana Air Virtual Charters
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"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings."
-William Blake

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-Me

[skylab]

The misuse of cowl flaps in the real world could ruin your whole day.

The Boeing 377 (Stratocruiser) had HUGE cowl flaps. They were controlled by four toggle switches on the Flight Engineer's panel. On all but one or maybe two aircraft these switches were positioned in such a way that if you pulled down on them the cowl flaps would go to the closed position and by pushing up on them the cowl flaps would go to the open position. Kinda a natural way to operate them.

Well on a certain Northwest Airlines flight out of Seattle on a particular day, a fatal flight was equipped with the 'backwards' switches and on the take-off roll the Engineer was toggleing the cowl flaps to what he thought was the trail position and in fact was causing them to go to the full open position. The resultant increase in drag was more than the aircraft could overcome and the aircraft was lost.

So, while it is or could be critical in the real world, not sure it has any effect in the sim world. But to keep it "as real as it gets", put those cowl flaps to TRAIL on take-off.

On the Douglas aircraft that I flew (DC-6/7), they were not as critical on flight characteristics, but sure did have an effect on cylinder head temps.

[slarente]

If I understand correctly, cowl flaps do not affect the performance of the plane (other than burning an engine if misused)...

[jcmissionary]

Since they stick out into the airstream, they increase drag a little. In the 182 I fly, the difference between cruise speed with them open as opposed to closed is only a few knots, but it's there.

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PPL-ASEL
Instrument Rated
CPL student

"As employees, pilots are a difficult lot. They are masters of their vessels, answerable to no one for as long as the engines are running. Airline presidents have the power to control entire fleets, to decide where and when every plane shall fly. But once those decisions are made, no one tells the pilot how, or even whether, to fly."

[threeholer]

Yeah, but on the old radial engines,the cowl flaps were HUGE and probably affected cruise speed more then on our current GA airplanes. Four engines with all those cowl flaps out? Probably good for at least 10-15 knots in cruise reduction.

As mentioned, cowl flaps in FS make little difference, but it actually does affect the CHT temp. Not a lot, but if you mess with it, you can see the gauge move.

[metro752]

Ain't cruising with the cowl flaps anyways, so speed loss don't matta, I guess thats how they figured it.



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