Cockpit and Operations for P-38L-5-LO ver. 2.4

by David C. Copley

Introduction

This document covers most of the operational aspects of the model, including the gauges, animated cockpit features and additional information useful to fly the model.  

(Before continuing I would like to say that if you feel compelled to nit-pick this model, as it seems so many like do with FS models these days, please see the section "A Word from the Designer"  in the model documentation.)


2D Panel

The layout and basic proportions of the 2D panel are close to an actual P-38L panel.  Some compromises have been made for convenience and personal preference. 

2Dpanel.jpg (177946 bytes)
Figure 1.

1 - Standby Magnetic Compass and Heading Marker.  To change the heading marker place the mouse in the knob in the lower left corner of the gauge. A - or + should appear depending whether the mouse is to the left or right of the knob.  Click to change.   When the autopilot is engaged, this feature may be used to change the heading interactively. 

2 - Vacuum/suction gauge

3 - Clock

4 - Dive recovery flap indicator light.  (To the best of my knowledge, there was no indicator light on the real panel.  However, as part of the implementation of the dive recovery sound, I included a light to help the pilot remember the state of the dive flaps.)  The dive recover flaps are deployed via the simulator's 'spoiler' command, typically the '/' key.

5 -   Directional Gyro.  When making turns, look at this instrument for correct heading information, as the magnetic compass will lead or lag depending on the orientation with respect to magnetic north. 

6 - Attitude gauge / gyro horizon. 

7 - Manifold pressure gauges (left and right)

8 - Tachometers (left and right)

9 - Fuel gauge, percentage, Empty to Full. (On actual P-38s there were separate, fuel-quantity gauges for the main tanks, auxiliary tanks, etc.)

10 - Altimeter.  (Unfortunately, this particular gauge does not have any means to manually calibrate for pressure changes.  Use the simulator's calibration command, typically the 'B' key, to calibrate.)

11 - Airspeed indicator in mile per hour (mph).  (Take note of this, as you may be used to knots!)

12 - Bank and turn indicator.

13 - Rate of climb indicator.

14 - Left engine gauge (oil temperature and pressure, fuel pressure). Typical oil temperature ranges from 75 - 95 C.  Typical oil pressure is 60-70 psi.  Typical fuel pressure is 16-18 psi. 

15 - Right engine gauge.  (see 14)

16 - Coolant temperature gauge.  Coolant should be between 101 - 121 C during normal operation.  Maximum 125 C.

17 - Flaps and gear indicator.  (This particular gauge is actually closer in style to those used on earlier P-38s.)

18 - War Emergence Power (WEP) switch.  (In actuality, WEP was engaged via the throttles.  While FS2004 supports WEP as a leftover from its older cousin Combat Flight Simulator 2, there are no default keys or user-definable commands to invoke it.   This switch was made to engage WEP.  If you hover the mouse of the switch, it will say it is for landing lights.  This is because a landing light gauge was 're-programmed' to trigger the hidden WEP function of the simulator.  NOTE: WEP only lasts about 5 minutes before damaging the engines!  Use very sparingly, if at all.  

19 - Hydraulics indicator light.  This light will glow if the hydraulic pressure is below normal.  


2D Panel icons

These icons are located at the bottom of the 2D panel are used to access pop-up panels and other simulator features.

panel_icons.jpg (8043 bytes)
Figure 2.

1 - radio, navigation and autopilot pop-up panel.

2 - Main switch box (engine starters, light switches, etc.)

3 - GPS

4 - Throttles, propeller controls and mixture controls

5 - kneeboard (checklist, etc.)

6 - ATC

7 - Simulator map


2D Panel Pop-Up Panels

2Dpanel2.jpg (197811 bytes)
Figure 3.

Radio / Navigation / Autopilot

Obviously, WWII-era P-38s did not have these modern navigational instruments, though some Photo Reconnaissance P-38s (F-4/F-5) had a primitive autopilot.  I envision this model as a restored P-38, flying in modern-day skies.  This pop-up panel contains some basic modern equipment that I occasionally use and should provide enough for simple IFR flying.

1 - Basic-Function Autopilot.  Note: If set to hold heading, you can use the heading marker on the standby magnetic compass on the main panel (Figure 1, #1) to change the heading.

2 - Comm1 and Nav1 radios

3 - Comm2 and Nav2 radios

4 - Transponder

5 - ADF

6 - OMI indicator lights

7 - NAV / GPS switch for autopilot control

8 - RMI - displays NAV1, NAV2 or ADF direction indicators. 

9 - elevator trim indicator

10 - Audio selector

Main Switch Box

11 - Engine starters and magneto switches

12 - Master switch.

13 - Light switches: Instrument panel, Navigation (wings), Strobe (tails), Landing (left wing, inset), Identification (underneath main fuselage).  (On the real P-38, each identification light had its own switch.)

14 - Avionics power switch and pitot heat switch. 

15 - Voltmeter. 

19 - Propeller feathering switches

Throttles, propeller controls and mixture controls

16 - Throttles (left and right engines)

17 - propeller pitch (left and right propellers)

18 - Mixture (left and right engines)


A Tour around the Virtual Cockpit

vc1.jpg (164975 bytes)
Figure 4.

1 - mixture control levers.  Because the P-38 had automixture, I recommend just setting automixture in the simulator.  But if you want to manage the fuel mixture yourself, move these levers.  (Also keyboard commands Ctrl+Shift+F1...F4)

2 - Cooling/radiator vent door control (mouse control is opposite of what it ought to be, due to an irregularity in FS, sorry!)  You might want assign keys to the simulator's cowling command to see these move.  Also, because of a limitation in the way the simulator models water-cooled engines, these have little effect aside from their eye candy.

3 - Propeller pitch controls. 

4 - Throttles

5 - Gear lever

6 - Dive Recovery Flap switch (this switch will move when you invoke the the spoiler command, typically the '/' key.  Up corresponds to flaps retracted; down is flaps extended)

7 - aileron and elevator control yoke

8 - rudder pedals

9 - propeller feathering switches

10 - left window handle, inactive (on the P-38, the side windows rolled down like like car windows)

11 - fuel management, inactive

12 - elevator trim

13 - rudder trim

vc2.jpg (154717 bytes)
Figure 5.

1 - Dive Recovery Flap switch.  See explanation in Figure 4.

2 - Main control yoke.

3 - Flaps lever.  The animation is not exactly how it was on the P-38L.  On the real plane, pulling the lever back would extend the Fowler flaps to an 8-degree so-called 'Maneuver' setting, used to help decrease the plane's turning radius.  To extend the flaps farther, the lever would be returned to the front position and the handle lifted up and brought back to the desired position. Furthermore, the flaps were continuously variable, and did not have specific set points of flap extension.  This is one of the many areas where compromises have been made in the model due to simulator limitations and/or practical convenience. 

4 - though outside the cockpit, this polished oval on the inside of each nacelle was used by the pilot to verify that the nose gear had extended -- it was a mirror!

5 - rudder trim

6 - aileron trim, inactive

7 - identification light controls (inactive)

vc3.jpg (153783 bytes)

1 - canopy.  On early P-38s the canopy hinged to the right side of the plane.   On the L it hinges backward. 

2 - Air worthiness certificate :-). Take a close up look -- texture-wise, it is the most detailed part in the virtual cockpit.

3 - radio equipment

4 - emergency hydraulic pump, inactive.

5 - Pilot's seat.  On the real P-38, the seat could be adjusted up/down only.


Basic Operations

In the following section, number combinations refer to the above figures and the numbered items within.  For example 3-2 refers to Figure 3, item 2 (Comm1 and Nav1 radios).

Starting

1) Open the Main Switch box via icon (2-2)

2) Turn on main power (3-12).

3) Open Throttles, propeller controls and mixture controls panel via its icon (2-4)

4) Move the mixture levers all the way forward.  (I also recommend setting automixture in the simulator)

5) Turn on the Master Ignition Switch (3-11).  Turn on both magnetos for left engine and hold the starter switch for a few seconds until the engine starts.

6) Repeat step 5 for the right engine.

(alternately, you can press Ctrl+E to have the simulator start the engines via an autosequence)

Taxi

Best taxi speed is below 40 mph. Use differential braking (F11 and F12), differential thrust or the nosewheel (via rudder pedals) for steering.  For best results, use a combination.  For tight turns, slow down to just a few mph.

Take-off

Once lined up for take off, hold the brakes, bring the engines up to full power and then release the brakes. Rotation and lift-off occurs near 100 mph (no flaps). Retract gear as soon as you can.

Climb

A good climb rate is between 1600 ft/min and 2000 ft/min.  If you climb with full power, you will find yourself having to apply forward pressure on the yoke, as it really wants to climb!

Feathering a propeller

Reduce power to the engine with the propeller to be feathered, then cut the mixture to that engine (so the engine shuts off).  Press the respective propeller feathering switch (3-19 or 4-9), then pull the prop pitch lever all the way back. 

(Note: Even if prop pitch is left untouched the prop will stop spinning, which is of course not realistic as it should "windmill."  I believe this is a limitation of the simulator -- a limitation that might be overcome with some advanced programming... perhaps another update!)

Cruise and General Flight Characteristics

It likes to cruise between 270 and 300 mph IAS, depending on altitude.  At those speeds use trim liberally for level flight.  At speeds near and above 300mph, the nose may pitch down slightly during level flight. (According to the technical references I have, the real plane does this.)  If flying for more than perhaps 200 nm, I recommend a cruise altitude between 20,000 - 25,000 ft.  Be sure to cut back on manifold pressure and rpm if you want to fly any long distances.  Max distance is about 1,000 miles without external tanks. 

The aircraft is quite easy to fly, with very few odd qualities about it. Because of the counter-rotating propellers, there is no torque effect as encountered in single-engine planes or twins with the props spinning the same direction. Roll is pretty good for such a large airplane, largely due to the hydraulic power-assisted ailerons (pilots called it "power steering") that were added to late-model beginning with the P-38J-25.   The P-38's stall characteristics are also very gentle... in fact you have to try pretty hard to stall it even in tight turns.  Clean stall is around 100 mph, dirty stall is near 75 mph.

Max speed is about 420 mph, depending on weight, though you can push it a well past that in a dive. Watch out for compressibility if you make extended dives from high altitude. Use the spoiler key '/' to deploy the dive recovery flaps.

Landing

For best landing, approach at about 150 mph indicated with flaps at 15-degrees, gear down. Deploy full flaps about a minute out and adjust throttle to hold speed at about 120 mph. Cross over the fence at 100 mph indicated. Set her down gently on the main gear at about 70 - 80 mph indicated, let the nose gear fall and apply brakes.

Kneeboard

The model's kneeboard checklist and reference tab provide some operating instructions and information. Some of the verbiage is directly from the P-38's pilot manual. To view these press F10.

External Fuel Tanks

Due to limitations of the simulator, the external drop tanks are modeled using two disjoined techniques: 1) a separate model is used to represent them visually, and 2)   they must be activated by manually editing the aircraft.cfg file in a text editor, such as Notepad.  Within aircraft.cfg, see the section called [fuel] for instructions. 

On the real plane, the smaller tanks would usually hold 150 - 160 gallons.  The larger, 300-310 tanks (made of wood) were used for very long range missions and ferrying, and were jettisoned only in emergencies.  Extreme caution was required when dropping empty 300 gallon tanks, as they could hit the airplane when released; they had to be released at very low speeds (120 mph indicated, with landing gear and flaps up... not a very safe condition for the P-38 should it lose an engine.)

Flight Simulator 2004 does not readily support dropping tanks, as far as the visual and and aerodynamic considerations are concerned.  Using some very clever work-around techniques, it is possible.  I opted not to attempt to make them droppable for philosophical reasons: this model represents a restored P-38 flying in modern skies, and the virtual FAA would not look kindly upon us virtual pilots dropping tanks where we pleased.  However, using the simulator command 'drop tanks,' you can empty their contents, of which I'm sure the virtual FAA would not approve either.