Monitoring Fuel Flow

[antonvs]

Hi, I picked up the mighty Beaver yesterday while the discount was on. Love having the plane again in P3D v4 after years of enjoying the "other" brand beaver.

Now the first thing I have noticed and can not see a solution for is how to monitor Fuel Flow when adjusting mixture. There does not seem to be a gauge for fuel flow. Otherwise how do you set mixture?

Cheers Anton.

[sunjunkiesi]

In the user manual, section 4.11 it states;

d) Mixture lever set to rich of peak. Carburettor mixture
temperature 40°F (4°C).

I take this to mean that you lean the mixture until the peak rpm is achieved, then leave the lever very slightly rich of this peak position ensuring that the mixture temperature remains around 40 using the carb heat lever.

[antonvs]

@sunjunkiei. Thanks for your reply and you are right pointing to the manual but I find it still does not answer the question for when I adjust the mixture I can’t see any change in the carb temperature gauge or any other gauge. So its still begs the question “how do you monitor the mixture”. Aside from fuel flow, sound would be the other way to roughly tell but here too I can not hear any difference.

This aside, I would like to make a point of saying what a wonderful plane this is to fly (I’m now often plying the back blocks of BC and Alaska ala RTMM) and what a great job the team @MilViz have done (again).

Cheers Anton

[Raller]

...when I adjust the mixture I can’t see any change in the carb temperature gauge or any other gauge.

Hi,
that is also my question. I don't know how to tune the Mixture-Lever because no change in any Gauge!

BTW, i love the Beaver too

[sunjunkiesi]

The peak you are looking for is on the cylinder head temp gauge. It moves very slowly, so leaning takes a little time to get absolutely right. Unburnt fuel acts like a coolant on the cylinders. As you reduce the amount of fuel going into the cylinders, the head temperatures start to rise to reflect this.

The mixture system on the beaver isn't as complex or clever as on some other payware, but it's better than on most. Normally you would expect to hear the engine start to speed up and get stronger sounding as the mixture leans, until the peak rpm is achieved, after which the engine rapidly starts to misfire and lose power. Some other developers have modelled this, but I don't believe Milviz have.

Having said that, I have seen a number of videos where RL beaver pilots say they don't even touch the mixture lever unless they're going over 3000ft, and as most of my time in the beaver is spent low and slow, I leave it on full rich and don't worry about it.

[Raller]

+1

[StearmanDriver]

For in - flight leaning, I think the above is all correct, but if I remember right, leaning before takeoff from a high - elevation strip works pretty well. When flying the ORBX Papua New Guinea strips, I hold the brakes and run the throttle up to about 20" MP and then lean for max RPM. There's an audible change in engine sound as well.