The Metro can trace its lineage back to the original Swearingen Merlin I executive transport. From the Merlin I Swearingen developed the turboprop powered II and III which were to form the basis of the new Metro commuter airliner. This model is painted in the Big Sky Airlines livery, which fly's through out the Northwest, and West Central United States. You can visit their website for more information on the routes that they fly and times by going to:
http://www.bigskyair.com
ABOUT THIS PLANE:
I used Abacus FSDS to create the aircraft, and though there are some flaws, I will be learning more as I go and updating. Please understand this, as you will probably find a few flaws here and there.
This plane has been optimized (to the best of my ability at this time) to fly as close to a Metroliner as I can make it. I have never flown a Metroliner, so there was some guess work, and performance numbers are taken from spec sheets.
The Virtual Cockpit does not feature working gauges at this time, and I have chosen to omit the co-pilot in the views, as I am working on much better pilot figures.
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.
ABOUT THE PANEL:
The panel bitmap is a hand-draw recreation from an actual photo. The gauge layout is similar to the real thing, but due to the limitation of views, and space, I have taken some liberties in placing gauges.
If you find you are missing some gauges, and are using FS2002 PRO version, make sure you have not run a GAUGE CLEANING UTILITY. There are gauges used in this panel that are default gauges, but are not assigned to any panels. Most gauge cleaners will delete them. You can restore these gauges by retrieving them from your FS2002 discs. They are found in a file called TYPICAL.CAB and can be opened with WINZIP.
KNOWN ISSUES:
The only noticable thing I can mention here, is that I am not really good on window shaping yet, so the cockpit windows, and the cabin windows are probaby slightly larger and more square than the real airplane. It also taxi's pretty fast (about 20 knots), so you will likely have better luck with feathering the props some, and using your brakes.
There are likely more issues, some I know about, and some I don't, but the overall model is pretty good (In my opinion) .
TESTING: Testing was done on a medium speed computer with default scenery. The realistic settings were set at about 2/3 of full, where they seem to work the best for most aircraft.
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 10 stations to load ,including 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: (in this model, I have made the stations include both left and right side seats in the same value)
station_load.2=0, 7.0, 0.0, 2.0 //First Row Back
To add weight, change the "0" to your weight value. So to load a two passengers of 170 pounds each in that section, your entry would look like this:
station_load.2=240, 7.0, 0.0, 2.0 //First Row Back
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.
Also remember to figure in the weight of the fuel. This plane uses 648 gallons of fuel. There are 2 fuel tanks, mounted in the wings.
You can edit the weight and balance 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).
AIRCRAFT CREDITS:
Thanks to Dave Eckart for his tutorials on using FSDS, and to all the folks who offer advice in the creation process.
COPYRIGHT AND NOTICES:
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).
MODEL, AIR FILE, PANEL, TEXTURES are all copyright Fred Choate, and may not be used in other projects without permission.
