ATR 42-500, by F. Sánchez-Castañer

Version 1.0 - ATR livery

ATR 42-500 in ATR livery. Designed by F. Sánchez-Castañer for FS2002. Includes virtual cockpit, custom panel and gauges. Customs sounds also provided.

Installation:

You should have a basic idea of the flight simulator files and folders structure in order to perform the installation. Remember one thing: if you are prompted to overwrite a file, don’t do it unless you are 100% sure what you’re doing (maybe you made a mistake and are about to delete your favourite plane, so don’t do it).

• The archive FSC_ATR42500v10.zip contains two zip files inside: ATR42-500.zip and gauges.zip. Extract both to a temporary folder. You can delete these after the installation is finished.

• Create a folder called ATR42-500 in your FS2002\aircraft\ folder. Extract the contents of ATR42-500.zip file into it. Activate the option "Use folder names" in WinZip. You'll find that several sub-folders have been created: docs, model, panel, sound and texture.
  

• Extract the contents of gauges.zip into your fs2002\gauges folder.

IMPORTANT: INSIDE THIS ARCHIVE THERE IS A FILE CALLED FSC.ATR.FL.CAB (.cab extension may be hidden in your system). DO NOT DE-COMPRESS IT!!! DO NOT EXTRACT THE FILES INSIDE IT!!! (unless you know what to do with them) JUST COPY THE FILE INTO THE GAUGES FOLDER, AS STATED ABOVE. FS2002 WILL TAKE CARE OF FINDING THE BMP AND XML INSIDE IT. IF YOU DECOMPRESS IT, MOST PROBABLY HALF OF THE GAUGES WILL BE MISSING IN YOUR PANEL. If you still have problems, please go to http://eureka.ya.com/pacosancas and read the FAQ.

• Extract the contents of aircraft.zip into the ATR42-500 folder.

The panel

The panel provided with this release contains a set of custom made gauges, which try to simulate as accurately as possible the systems of a real ATR 42-300. Here is a brief explanation of those that differ from the default FS2002 gauges.

Altimeter: nothing special, just remember that the knob at the bottom left is the only means to select the IAS hold speed, which will be discussed later on.

Attitude indicator: at the left side there is an indicator which will compare the aircraft’s speed with respect to the pre-set IAS hold speed. At the bottom and at the right there is NAV/LOC and glide slope indicators, which will activate when available.

HSI display: clicking on it will toggle rose/approach mode. The switch on the right will toggle between GPS and NAV1 mode.

CCAS (Centralised Crew Alert System): Contains all basic warnings.

Power Management and Torque gauges: Unlike the ATR42-300 , the power management provided in the ATR 42-500 performs automatic torque adjustment. The PWR MGT selector has four positions for TO (takeoff/go around), MCT (maximum climb torque), CLB (climb) and CRZ (cruise). The amber bugs in the torque gauges will show the optimum torque for each of these positions. The optimum torque is also a function of the engine rpm, pressure, altitude and temperature. At the bottom of the gauge there are pushbuttons for engaging automatic torque separately for each engine. This function must remain disconnected during descent, landing and ground operations.

A display has been provided in the gauge, which will show the desired torque. This display does not exist in the real plane, but I have included it in order to facilitate its use in FS2002.

The torque indicators are also provided with a white bug, which is manually adjustable by operating the knob at the right bottom corner. They should be adjusted according to the aircraft’s published performance tables (see recommended readings at the end of this file).

Fuel quantity gauge: the red LED’s at the bottom will light if the fuel level is below 10%.

Fuel quantity gauges: This is another deviation from the real plane. In the real ATR, these are fuel temperature gauges, but such variable does not exist (please correct me if I’m wrong) in FS2002. So I used them for an additional fuel level indicator, also with warning light below 10% level.

Oil gauges: the red LED’s will illuminate if low oil pressure.

Trim indicators: For some reason, when choosing a new aircraft in FS2002, the elevator trim is set to an extreme nose down attitude. It is recommended to pause the simulation to change your aircraft. This gauge can be used to check that the elevator trim is in a reasonable position before returning to normal simulation (an, of course, to

check correct trims before takeoff). Normal values for the provided air file are in the range 0 to 0.5 positive elevator trim.

AFCS display: contains information about the autopilot’s status.

AFCS controls: Controls all functions of the autopilot, except selection of the IAS hold speed (which is carried out by operating the knob in the airspeed indicator, as explained before).

There are four knobs to adjust course (only CRS1 can be adjusted), heading and altitude hold variables. The NOSE UP/NOSE DN wheel will adjust VS hold. Note that you can operate these knobs and wheel by clicking on them, but also if you have a wheel mouse, moving the wheel when the cursor is over them will have the same effect. (This seem to work only in FS2002 *.cab gauges)

There are three buttons to control the autopilot’s main functions (AP, YD and FD, this being another deviation with respect to the real plane, which has a "CPL" –unknown to me- button instead of "FD"

Four buttons control the airplane’s heading: HDG, NAV, APP and BC. Please note that the BC function does not seem to work at all in FS2002, and has some unwanted behaviour when the APP function is activated. I believe this is a particular behaviour (bug?) of FS2002 rather than a bug in my gauge (feedback will be highly appreciated).

Three buttons control the plane’s vertical speed: IAS, VS and ALT.

The IAS hold provided resembles the real aircraft’s IAS hold function. The ATR 42-300 is not provided with an "auto-throttle" which operates on the power levers in order to maintain airspeed. It has an autopilot IAS-hold function, like many aircrafts, which will act on the plane’s pitch to maintain the pre-set airspeed. The airplane will climb to reduce airspeed, or will dive to increase it. You can control the aircraft’s climb or descent by setting a desired airspeed and then adjusting the power levers until the desired VS is reached.

IAS hold function will automatically de-activate when the preset altitude is reached. Try to avoid sudden changes in power or in IAS hold speed knob while IAS button is illuminated, or you will run out of sickness bags ;-). Be also aware that, while IAS function is active, there seems to be a bug (?) which, in case you try to operate the speed selection knob, makes it change in steps of 50 kts instead of 1 by 1. (I have not been able to find anything wrong in the code, so this bug is still a mystery for me. Try to disconnect IAS before making changes to the preset speed, then re-connect again).

When engaging IAS hold, ALT hold will automatically engage (because the the way I programmed the IAS hold function it needs either ALT or VS to be active, but VS doen’s seem to work in FS). Disengaging IAS will however not disengage ALT. Make sure before activating IAS that you have the altitude properly adjusted in the autopilot (check ALT SEL indication in AFCS display). Failure to do so may in some circumstances (particularly if you have FSUIPC –excellent utility- installed and configured to automatically correct VS speed) make IAS hold unusable.

NOTE about IAS hold function: The stand-alone IAS hold gauge that I made for FS2000 doesn’t seem to work at all in FS2002. I have re-programmed it to work in FS2002, but its response seem to be much slower than in FS2000. I’m still investigating this slow response, but it might be linked to the slow refresh rate all gauges exhibit under FS2002.

The VS hold function is also not working in FS2002.

Condition levers (throttle panel): Unlike the default FS2002 aircrafts, the ATR does not have separate fuel and prop levers. The condition levers in the ATR42-500 have four positions: MAX RPM, AUTO, FTR and FUEL S.O. The AUTO position will adjust the propeller rpm automatically for best performance, and allows flying the aircraft by only using the power levers, like a jet aircraft. 

KNOWN BUG IN VERSION 1.0BETA: If FS2002 is terminated before landing, when starting up next time, the plane may start a dive.

Idle gate (throttle panel): Pull for ground idle, push for flight idle.

Radio stack (throttle panel): contains all except the NAV radios, which are located beside the AFCS display. Note that the ADF radio has been repeated to make it visually similar to the real radio stack.

Trim controls (throttle panel).

Throttle panel toggle icon (throttle panel): Has been provided also in the throttle panel itself, to allow closing the panel when the icons on the main panel are covered. Top right corner.

Electrical, lights and anti-ice panels (overhead panel): due to space limitations and also due to lack of variables in FS, they do not match the actual panel.

Engine starters and propeller brake panel (overhead panel): There is a selector switch with 5 positions: START A+B, START B, START A, CRANK, OFF & ABORT START, and CONT. RELIGHT. Normal procedure when starting an engine for the first time after a long stop is first to crank it for a moment, then select START A+B and press the starter button. If the engine has not had a long period of inactivity, START A or B can be selected without prior cranking. To simulate this circumstance, the starter buttons will display a FAULT indication if this procedure is not adhered to (can be reset by placing the selector in OFF position). The FAULT indication will also illuminate if the starters are activated with the condition lever out of FUEL SHUTOFF position. The FAULT indication will not appear if you start from the keyboard, only when using mouse-clicks on the gauge (thus allowing for Ctrl + E start).

Procedure to normally start an engine is activate starter, wait for 10% NH, then bring condition lever to FEATHER, wait 10 seconds and then give FULL RPM. The starter will de-activate automatically when ignition is detected.

At the bottom of this panel there is the propeller brake switch and indicators. The ATR 42 is provided with a propeller brake on the starboard prop (no.2), allowing it to operate in "hotel mode", the engine generating electrical power while the propeller is stopped, and thus eliminating the need for an APU.

The propeller brake provided in this gauge will actually not stop the propeller from spinning, it will just make the rpm indication go to zero, so don’t look out, please ;-). I’ve made several attempts to build a working propeller brake, the only result being FS and Windows crashing in various flavors (if somebody has found out how to stop a turboprop airscrew in FS while maintaining the gas producer turbine running, I’d really appreciate the information).

The propeller brake switch must not be touched if the green READY indicator is not illuminated, or if the red UNLOCK indicator is on. Place engine #2 in feather position and power at ground idle to do it. A blue PROP BRAKE indicator will tell you that the brake is activated. Don’t try to take off in this condition: in order to simulate the lack of thrust from a stopped propeller, its condition lever will insist on staying in feather position.

Normal procedure for engine start is: Activate prop. brake; start engine #2; let passengers in and do whatever you need before taxi; de-activate prop. brake; bring condition lever no.2 to full rpm; start taxiing; start engine #1 while taxiing. (On a real ATR, the thrust from one only engine at ground idle is enough for taxiing, not in FS due to the well known "sticky tires" effect).

The plane.

You may notice that, although there is no spoilers gauge, spoilers will deploy if activated by keyboard command. This is a side effect of how FS handles spoilerons: The real ATR has spoilerons to assist in maneuvering at low speed, but has no airbrakes (spoilers). FS doesn’t like spoilerons without spoilers, so there they are. If you experience lack of lift or excessive drag, have a look at your airplane from an external view and make sure you didn’t accidentally extend them.

A sample checklist has been provided, can be accessed by clicking on the icon at the main panel. There is also a printable version in the docs folder, called checklist.rtf

I am no real pilot, so be aware this checklist may contain a lot of mistakes. I’d appreciate feedback in this respect too.

Sounds

The sounds included with this aircraft have been recorded inside a Dash-8, which  is similar enough to the ATR sounds.

Some explanation about the sound.cfg: Simplifying it a lot, the sound of a real turboprop engine could be considered as caused by four individual sounds: 1-A jet whine sound, which has both its pitch and volume depending on the gas producer rpm (NH). 2-A propeller sound, which has its pitch depending only on the propeller rpm (NP) and its volume depending on the torque. 3-Another component would be caused by the resonance of each blade, the pitch of it being always the same, and volume changing as a function of both torque and rpm. 4-The last component would be a sound induced by the air friction, turbulences, etc. produced by the blades’ linear speed, its pitch and sound depending on several factors, primarily on the blade tip’s Mach number.

What the default MS sound.cfg provides is a reasonable modelling of component 1, but all the other components are mixed up into an awful result: The propeller sound (which they categorize as combustion sound!!) will vary its pitch according to the power setting, while the propeller rpm will have no influence on it! So, if you fix a certain propeller rpm and increase power while in flight, you will hear the propellers speeding up, even if they maintain the rpm unaffected. Also, you will hear them slowing down when you decrease power. But if you look at the propeller rpm gauges, they will not vary in flight (the rpm will only show a variation when the plane is almost stopped on the ground or when the props are feathered). This is very unrealistic.

As quite a few simmers have correctly pointed out, MS seems to have forgotten we are dealing with constant speed propellers when modeling the sound, but they have provided the tools to improve the situation in their SDK’s. This is what has been modelled in this aircraft. Please remember: the propeller sound frequency will not vary according to the power setting. This is not a bug; it's how real planes sound like.

You'll also notice that there is no flaps sound. This si intentional, the flaps can not e heard at the cabin in the real plane.

The real plane

ATR - "Avions de Transport Regional" is the world's leading manufacturer of turboprop passenger aircraft. Since its introduction in 1985, the ATR 42-300 has become a reference in the regional air transport industry. Simple operation and maintenance, low operating costs, high passenger comfort and low noise have made it the preferred choice for regional air transport.

The unit depicted in this package is the F-WWER, later on re-registered for Bangkok Air

Some data:

Disclaimer

1-These files will not harm your PC. 2-If you are not sure of how to install them, please don’t do it, as you may harm yourself your PC. 3-If you are confident that you can do it, then do it at your own risk. 4-If you think these files have harmed your PC in any way, you are wrong, 2 applies. I accept no responsibility.

Copyright and so on

This aircraft is a beta version. It must not be distributed in any way.

- The archive must be distributed without any modification to the contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed or modified is prohibited.

- The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without the prior permission of the author is prohibited

- No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.

All trademarks and logos presented are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Contact information:

If you have any problems or questions, please read the FAQ at http://eureka.ya.com/pacosancas.

Acknowledgements:

I’d like to express my sincere thanks to:

Gabriel Niño Vizcaya, who kindly offered nimself for testing the flight model.

Helge Bast, for the information he sent me and the inspiration to start this project.

Ron Freimuth, for the useful information he sent me on flight dynamics and turboprop parameters.

Matt Zagoren, for his very useful ATR42 documentation.

Laurent Michelot, for his advices regarding panel design.

Chris File, for his patience to teach how to properly get something out of Gmax.

Dai Griffiths for his superb gauge design tutorials.

Arne Bartels, for his huge contribution to gauge design and his ability and willingness to share his knowledge.

All participants in the forums at www.flightsim.com, www.avsim.com, www.freeflightdesign.com, www.avhistory.org, and all other valuable fs-related sites.

Recommended reading:

Highly recommended: "ATR42 Performance, Procedures and Limitations", by Matt Zagoren. A set of three pdf documents with extensive information about this aircraft, which will allow a highly realistic flying. Available at www.flightsim.com as at42perf.zip. The decuments are meant for th eATR 42-300, but will still give a good guidance for the 42-500.

Copyright © 2000-2002 F. Sánchez-Castañer