Edwards AFB? No Fly Here...

:( Good evening, flight simmers. Hope you're having more fun then I am right now. After weeks of flying the default Mooney Bravo out of Teterboro, I decided to try something different. Since Edwards AFB was one of my favorites in FSX, I decided to relive some memories. Well, I set the plane up on Rwy 4...Went through the check list...Tried to crank the puppy up and guess what??? The engine wouldn't turn over. I spent about 30 minutes trying to get the damn thing going....A total waste of my time. The exact same plane as in Teterboro. The only difference is the location. Went through the same damn checklist. That engine will NOT turn over. Fuel selector is where it should be...Got lot's of fuel. I must tell you...Prepar3d and me are not friends. Nothing but trouble since I bought it:confused:

 

Any suggestions????

Mixture?? Don't know Edward's elevation.

Hey, Mr Zippy. Anyway, the mixture was full...Airport elevation is about 2310ft...

Hey' date=' Mr Zippy. Anyway, the mixture was full...Airport elevation is about 2310ft...[/quote']

 

Maybe too rich. Try leaning it a bit.

OK, Zippy...I will try to lean the mixture tomorrow and let you know if this works...

Yes, it is as Mr Zippy says, 100% Full mixture. The MooneyBravo has some quirks. I doubt very much that its environmental preventing startup.

 

Assuming you have your Cowl Flaps closed and your Battery, Alternator & Avionics in the on position.

You should not need fuel pump boost switched on. The problem is that when the Mooneys engine is shutdown the mixture handle is moved into (fuel cut/shutoff position) no fuel flow no start.

Its a matter of positioning the hand icon perfectly over the red knob to enable mousewheel or mousehand movements to move the mixture out of (fuel cut) position towards 100% full rich.

 

My guess is that you are rotating the starter key to start your engines, the only trouble with this in the default FSX MooneyBravo is that when the engines are shutdown the mixture comes all the way out to fuel cut / shutoff.

You must move the mixture to 100% Full rich manually (don't ram it through the firewall in frustration). If you were to use CTRL+e to start your engines this would happen automatically, mixture full rich engines fire almost immediately.

The next problem with the Mooney Bravo is the Mixture handle (Red knob) it is fairly sloppy in its action, and needs to be moved with exaggerated mouse movement. Sometimes the action area over the red knob does not respond to movement via mousewheel or the hand is not positioned properly in the on the right part of the knob, when the hand is placed over the knob or it moves very slowly in small increments when using mousewheel. An alternative method, if you move your mouse over the knob until you see the hand icon then click with left mouse button moving the hand up and left almost till it reaches the Fuelflow display, it should be all the way in 100% Full rich, you can let the mouse go at this point and turn the key starter, the engine should fireup almost immediately.

Same exaggerated movement down and to the right for leaning/Full lean or use the mousewheel over the knob after startup or during flight.

I'm very new to all this, so if my suggestion is extremely noob-esque, I apologize.

 

Wouldn't hitting + E set everything in the aircraft where it should be in order to start the engine, then automatically start it? I think it does, and that would tell you if the engine is manually startable and you just don't have something correctly set.

 

I sometimes have trouble starting my single prop aircraft. When this happens and I just want to fly, I'll hit + E just so I can get going.

It should on all the default aircraft, Kirk, but there are some add-ons where the developer elected to not have that work, instead requiring more complication.

Thanks, Jethrom...:) You mentioned in your helpful explanation using the CTRL>E key combination. Well, I haven't tried that yet, but if all else fails, I will. I'm getting too old now to let Prepar3d/FSX irritate the hell out of me.

Thanks, "Capt" Kirk :rolleyes: Sometimes the simple ways are the best ways. I haven't flown yet today, but when I do, I think it'll be Ctrl>E for me. If that works, then that's it. Like I said to "Jethrom"...I'm getting too damn old to let this stuff drive me crazy...:rolleyes:

Update: The same thing keeps happening. When the plane is at Teterboro (NJ...Sea Level)...No problem starting. When I try taking off at Edwards Air Force Base (California...2300 ft)...The plane coughs, and coughs, and coughs...The engine refuses to turn over. Even the Ctrl>E trick doesn't work. I leaned the mixture like Mr. Zippy suggested. No go! Was gentle with the mixture knob...No go! The "funny" thing about all this is everything is just fine at Teterboro???!!! :confused:

Have you tried staring another aircraft and switching over to the Mooney Bravo?

Good Idea, Mr Zippy. I'll try another aircraft, and switch...

Hi Mina's Man,

 

I am surprised that CTRL+e didn't work, its usually a fairly good failsafe when us sim pilots just want to jump in and fly. CTRL+e usually sets the correct parameters for engine start, although there are some helicopters that don't always co-operate.

If you shut your engines down at Teterboro and then try to restart do they fire up or do the cough and splutter like at KEDW.

 

Below is a link to download a PDF for the default Mooney Bravo, Download/extract/unzip.

In the PDF there are Before Start and Startup procedures / checklists, see if they correspond with your Mooney Startup settings, perhaps you may need to also bring the throttle to 1/4 at this altitude (KEDW -EdwardsAFB).

Also I was not quite right with the boost pump advice, the checklist says you should run the boost pump for 20-40seconds then bring the Throttle back to idle, with the Mix at 100% rich then turn the starter, doing this must prime the fuel system for altitude starts. I don't think the Mooney will even try to kick with lean mixture.

 

https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/17848/fsx-manual-checklist-default-mooney-bravo/

Thanks for the link, jethrom. I think flyawaysimulation is the same place I got my original checklist from, but I will investigate.

When I shut my engines down at Teterboro, there are no problems if I try to re-start. I've done this a few times because I like practicing around the airport. I taxi to parking, shut it down, then re-start and taxi to another area. That's how I learn airports. Oh well, thanks anyway...