The Lockheed 10A Electra inaugurated Trans-Canada Air Lines' first commercial air service in September 1937 over a 122-mile route between Vancouver and Seattle. The airline purchased five of these aircraft. This model is painted in one of the early liveries, but is not intended to accurately portray the actual TCA Lockheed 10A, although the panel and paint are based on it, I have taken a few liberties to allow for a more general use within FS2002. Model is by Dave Eckert. Panel, air file, and paint are by Fred Choate (with Dave Eckerts original metal texture). Includes weight and balance section, navigational lighting, and sounds. By Fred Choate.
ABOUT THIS PLANE:
The air file for this aircraft is based on an earlier version of the Electra by Al Whitney. I have gone in and modified several parts to the airfile to reflect certain aspects that I felt needed it. I have never flown in a real Electra, nor have I spoken with any Electra pilots, but the information in the air file reflects as accurately as I can portray, air handling characteristics that I researched via the internet.
The plane will fly very well when empty. It gets pretty sluggish when loaded to the maximum. The airspeed indicator reads in MPH, and the plane will cruise comfortably at about 165. This will give a fuel burn of roughly 60 gallons per hour. I tested the fuel burn at 8000 feet in standard conditions with zero wind, and no weight. The redline on the panel gauge is 180, and at max power in level flight you should be able to reach it.
You will notice that the plane will be a bit "Front" heavy when you are flying it empty. This is realistic, as there really isn't much to hold it down in the back. You will just have to trim it a bit more aggressively when flying it in that configuration, but it will fly just fine like that. When you load it up with stuff in the back, it becomes more equalized and stable.
I hope you enjoy this aircraft, and hopefully, I will be able to update it as I learn more about flight dynamics within the sim.
WEIGHT AND BALANCE GUIDELINES:
Open the "aircraft.cfg" file using Notepad. This will allow you to manually edit the Weight and Balance Section without using FS EDIT.
Once you have the aircraft.cfg open, scroll down until you find the WEIGHT AND BALANCE section. You will see that the Maximum Take Off Weight is listed, as well as the empty weight of this aircraft. You will also see an entry that tells you how much you can load on the airplane to stay within limits. You, as the pilot, will have to decide how to load the aircraft, and take into consideration how much fuel to use, and the weight of the fuel. I have also noted how much weight you can load using a full fuel load.
Now, you will have 9 stations to load, plus the two pilot positions. I have placed a pilot and a co-pilot in by default, with weights of 170 each. The rest of the stations are listed as to where they are situated in the aircraft. You can add weight by changing the very first number after the station identification.....for example, you will see:
station_load.3=0, -2.75, -1.20, 0.0 //Passenger or Cargo Forward Left
To add weight, change the "0" to your weight value. So to load a passenger of 150 pounds in that section, your entry would look like this:
station_load.3=150, -2.75, -1.20, 0.0 //Passenger or Cargo Forward Left
Keep in mind that the heavier you load the plane, the more runway you will need to take off, and the harder it will be to get airborne. If you load the plane completely full, you will have to put some forward pressure on the yoke to get the tail to fly, and then make sure your speed is up before rotating, or you could stall the plane.
Also remember to figure in the weight of the fuel. This plane uses 166 gallons of fuel (6 pounds per gallon) in each wing. You will have to manually change that out in the fuel selection window.
You can edit this during flight, by editing the aircraft.cfg, and then saving it. Then use the "Select Aircraft" menu to re-select your aircraft.
I hope I have covered the basics here. You may want to make a back-up copy of the aircraft.cfg file before making any changes to it, just in case. Now, install the aircaft and have fun!
INSTALL:
To install this aircraft, extract into your main FS2002 folder, and everything should fall into place (use folder names on your zip utility).
This will place a module in the MODULES folder of FS2002 called FSSOUND.DLL. When you start FS2002, the sim may alert you that the software may not be compatible. Select YES to use it, as if you don't, you won't see or hear some of the gauges.
If you get an error message that "FS2002 was unable to load some 3rd party software" make sure that BOTH of the following lines appear in your fs2002.cfg file.
[OLDMODULES] ;<-- if this line already exists
fssound.dll=1 ;<-- only add this line below it
AIRCRAFT CREDITS:
Thanks to Dave Eckert for allowing me to use his Electra model.
Also thanks to Al Whitney for his earlier work on the Electra, of which I based many of the air file values on.
PANEL CREDITS:
All authors of components of the panel have given freeware distribution of their gauges. They may not be included in any file or compilation, or any project that will make money. All copyright laws apply and they retain the copyrights of all the gauges used in this panel.
Panel Bitmap is by Fred Choate.
Thanks to Dragon Flight Design for the following Gauges:
This file may be uploaded to websites as long as it is offered FREE OF CHARGE to ALL. It is freeware, and may not be included with any compilation that makes any money. It is intended to be used for the entertainment purposes of flight simulation, and does not intend to reflect actual flight dynamics, nor any actual aircraft.
This file was tested using FS2002 PRO version and worked fine. I make no insurances that it will work perfectly on your system, and take no responsibility for any harm that might occur from this file (which there should be none).
