A trip around the pattern in the Do228…recorded this last night and no, it is not procedurally correct…
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The band is back together in Pullman - celebrating the MAX factory completing the first aircraft build. Destiny is back in town, the Cessna 207 and Husky are both in the hangar as well getting a needed rest. The Husky had a Phase A (50 hour) on the road and has another 23 hours til the Phase B (100 hour). To my great surprise, Destiny flew the Husky all over with not a scratch on it despite her relatively low experience level. The 207 is 12 hours from its first Phase A (50 hour) which means I flew it for about 38 hours in the great West Coast Parts Scavenger Hunt of 2020…
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Had a fantastic time taking the Dornier on a shakedown run over to KEAT. A nice 40 minute haul that let me explore her in VR and make some observations.
I love the cockpit and sounds. It is the perfect mix of complexity and easy flying characteristics and just the right amount of systems to make you feel like you are doing something, but don’t have to fret over 20 minutes of preflight setup.
The GTN placement on the pedestal is not ideal, but I did discover I can pop it up to a VR window in VR…but I have to figure out how I can move it because thus far I can only resize it.
There is a near constant light clicking sound coming from the autopilot trim servo in cruise flight on autopilot. You almost stop hearing it, but I’d prefer to edit that sound out if possible.
The autopilot works perfectly. The autopilot altitude preselect is pretty far away…over on the right side panel, and I would prefer it be closer to the primary gauges, but it isn’t a deal breaker. I have the HDG and ALT PRESELECT bugs mapped to one of my HOTAS 4 way switches anyway, so it isn’t like I need to reach over to it.
ALT SEL, HDG, NAV, GPS coupling all worked great. I was stoked to see that the GTN 750 works perfectly with the HSI and even captures the GPS/LPV glidepath - which is what I flew into Pangborne for practice.
Flew her at maximum gross weight to judge her handling and she does fine. Takes a bit more runway to takeoff, but plenty of power on the climb. Vx is 90 and Vy is 120…easy numbers to remember. Landing I used FLAP 2 just in case FLAP 3 at a heavy weight could end up with bad behavior. I’ll explore FLAP 3 a bit later…maybe on a non-Air Hauler leg.
Knobs and switches all work in VR either by getting your controller right up on them where they highlight, or using the VR controller pointer, or using the mouse in VR. The light rotary switches using a push/pull after they have activated for rotation, which isn’t intuitive. I wonder if that VR config outfit made a special file for the Do228…I’ll have to look into it.
I would love a cargo interior as well.
I got a promotion too…!
RNAV (RNP) Z to RWY 30…
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They apparently have a specialized VR file for the Do228…!
From the Developer:
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Make a backup of the Do228 before modifying any files.
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Open the Do228 folder, and then open its “fmod” folder. Find “Do228.snd” and open it in a simple text editor. I recommend “Notepad++” for Windows, and “Text Wrangler” or “BBEdit” for Mac.
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Search for and delete the relevant lines (see below).
- Save the file. Now when you load the Do228 in X-Plane those sounds will have been turned off.
Is the yoke “manipulatable” with the VR controllers?
I’ll get back to you - I’ve been using my Warthog thus far and hadn’t really noticed if the yoke lights up green as I pass by it with the VR controller… 
Can anyone tell me if they see the six Kodiak parts at Pullman field (KPUW) as showing available in their Cargo Loading screen? I’m curious if other people can also bring in parts via the Virtual Airline. If that is the case - if someone runs across a Kodiak Fuselage out there in their travels - buy it and send it on to Pullman. I will reimburse you + your costs. Code for the Kodiak is KODI.
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Uh oh…
I sense the next step in Air Hauler airline mimicry: Crew Scheduling.
“I’d love to take the trip Chris but you see I am all the way up here in Canada with our DC-3. And these crazy Canucks have done got me filled up with Molsen. Otherwise I’d be happy to take the trip. Now, make it time and a half and I might forget I ever saw them beers. This isn’t a recorded line, is it?”
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Ha…I actually just ran into a crew scheduling problem.
My assumption was that I’d be able to type rate Destiny on the Cessna 207 - I was wrong. She came to MAC with a Husky, Cessna 172, and L5 rating. When I signed her up for Cessna 207 rating, it said it would take half a day and cost $1,700 or something. All good. But when I clicked on that - it said Destiny did not have enough experience to fly the Cessna 207 yet and I had to level her up when experience points come available.
Ooops.
The bummer was - I had already bought 1700 lbs. of commodities for her to move to Boeing Field in the 207 to help me find that elusive Kodiak Fuselage. Now, she will be forced to use the Husky, which can only carry about 500 lbs…and she will have to make three trips. I did change the destination to Moses Lake (it will halve the profitability) to make it a little less of a grind for her.
I didn’t see them last night. But I also don’t have a construction facility so that might affect it.
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Because those parts belong to you and not the VA, I don’t think we’d see them. Can you create a construction facility for the VA? (Not requesting one I’m just curious). I think the parts would need to be VA parts to be visible.
It is always strange for me to actually hear someones voice for the first time.
Wheels
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So I applied that VR Lab file to the Do228 and it made the knobs and everything work much better (grabbing and twisting instead of pulling and pushing). Very natural. Unfortunately, that file is for the 1.0 version of the Do228, and I think the 1.2 version added some functionality. So now if I turn on my GTN 750, it does not get power. I’ll reach out to the author to see if he can fix that.
With that VR mod - yes the yoke turns green and is manipulatable. I’m going to remove the VR mod later today (gotta get some sleep) so I get my GTN back, and then I will check if that same yoke grabbing function is still there with the stock 1.2 version of the plane.
Returning to the States from Quatam, BC.
(Carrying $112,433 worth of cigarettes. Why Canada feels such need to spread their vices to the gentle people of America, I will never understand.)
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I don’t believe you need to. It should be part of the vrconfig file. If it works, it works. The mod shouldn’t change that one way or another.
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I’d link to an article from yesterday but this isn’t that kind of site 
