Suggestions for Q400 Enhancements

edited November 2020 in General

Fellow Airmen,

The Q400 has been an operator in the virtual skies for over 7 years, and while we continuously work to improve the product we thought it would be a good idea to reach out to the community to get a feel for what possible enhancements you would like to see added to the Q400.

I'll give it a kickstart:

  1. True Glass rain effects
  2. PBR
  3. FMS functionality

While we can not guarantee that all requests will be granted we will certainly make a thorough analysis and see which ones are practically feasible.

We will leave this thread open for TWO WEEKS.

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Comments

  • edited November 2020

    Most airplane lovers are aware that the dry operating mass varies from aircraft to aircraft, among the same type.
    My suggestion would be; having the possibility of having the DOM of an "individual" aircraft, being saved in an ini file according to the airline texture in use. Similar to what is being done with the maintenance states and times, already.
    Oh, and maybe the fuel remaining after a flight is completed or the sim is shutdown after a session.
    Cheers, Jax

  • @Jax_in_BC said:
    Most airplane lovers are aware that the dry operating mass varies from aircraft to aircraft, among the same type.
    My suggestion would be; having the possibility of having the DOM of an "individual" aircraft, being saved in an ini file according to the airline texture in use. Similar to what is being done with the maintenance states and times, already.

    >
    Allowing the user to change the DOM would also require you to have the DOI. We ahve discussed this in the past, will have to see how we can implement this.

    Oh, and maybe the fuel remaining after a flight is completed or the sim is shut down after a session.
    Cheers, Jax

    So in essence, the livery that you are currently flying, the remaining fuel state would be reloaded the next time the aircraft is used.

  • edited November 2020

    Yes. It's a bit of a selfish request, as I sometimes like to do multiple legs using a particular airline routing, and am often called away before I can complete said legs.
    It's the giant nerd I have inside. :D Thanks for the response, Kroswynd. Stay safe.

    Jax

  • Maybe some sharper textures outside, and inside?
    :smile:
  • Thank you for asking!

    Here would be my suggestions, from a maintenance guy point of view :)

    1- Slight parameters variations between LH and RH engines. Typically, for the same torque/rpm, you will often have one engine showing a little higher NH, ITT and fuel flow. Oil parameters are also slightly different.

    Operationally, engines changes/swaps happen relatively often on a given airframe. So it is common to have engines that don't have the same age, generating further parameters difference (an older/more worn engine will require more fuel and show higher ITT/NH to achieve a given thrust)

    2- GSX integration (automatic opening/closing of doors, refueling)

    3- weight and balance import from simbrief flight plan
    (remove the need to manually specify number of pax and luggage in each area)

    Thanks!
  • edited November 2020

    Updated Virtual Cockpit panel textures. More sharp
    PBR Outside.
    More GSX Integration
    Windscreen water effects (But hopefully not using TrueGlass as it is unstable)
    Snow on outside of airplane.
    That's my vote

  • It would be nice to see an updated MTOP button logic. In the real Q400 MTOp is deselected by pressing the MTOP button again, whereas in the MJC Q400 MTOP disappears after a few seconds by itself.

    Another nice feature would be a steep approach button, as the EGPWS in normal mode is quite annoying during steep approaches.

    Thank you! :)

  • I am building my own dash8 q400 home cockpit, I noticed that there is no possibility of having the 2 PFDs and MFDs unlocked simultaneously in 2d, moreover what MUCH more important, (I'm running into it these days) in such a program valid it would be advisable to have all the variables of the annunciator panel (I know there are many, about 98) to have the possibility of building the announciator panel as the real one, with single lights, also because given the position of the overhead it is impossible to put a second monitor to unlock the announciator panel in 2d and use it via monitor.
    thanks.

  • edited November 2020
    The first three suggestions should be adopted!
    I sincerely hope. Concentrate on creating the training edition first!
    Thanks!
  • Not shure if it's not too much work but maybe EFB?

  • True Glass
    PBR inside and out
    Updated FMS version
    EFB with takeoff/landing perf app + loadsheet abiltiy to just set ZFW in payload manager.
    Integration with PMDG Flight Operstions
  • Interior and Exterior PBR Textures

    True Glass rain effects

  • True Glass rain effects

  • Interior shadow model (so you see the external model casting a shadow from the cockpit).

    EFB (for navigraph charts and performance).

    Apart from that maybe higher rez. textures and then we are good to go.

  • In all honesty, I’m mainly patiently awaiting for my Q300 ;). I’m more than ready to island-hop with Liat and Caribbean Star.

    But regarding the beloved mighty Q400, here’s my contribution to the suggestion box:

    1. An EFB would be neat

    2. More GSX integration I guess

    3. Something about the friction with the nose wheel steering needs some updating In my opinion (heavy tiller input at high speeds seems too easy to accomplish)

    4. Effectiveness of “MAX REV” on deceleration

    5. A livery manager would be a great addition to the CPAN

    6. TrueGlass and PBR

    7. Updated cabin announcements to match the airline name, destination and “estimated time enroute”

    8. I still think the engine sounds are not the best best, but a third party team did some better ones so duces

    9. Inclusion of airframe option would be fun, similar to PMDG’s work with the 737 (Might be more suited to Q300) (lights, avionics, etc).

    10. Lastly, some general touching up on cleaner and sharper textures etc

    Thank you for producing such as an amazing product, and ofc, TurboProps rule 💪🏼
    1. I would love to control the tiller with the native P3D steering axis.
    2. EFB with Performance calculations
    3. More GSX integration
  • Single cue flight director
  • Please, do not include trueglass. I rather preffer do not have rain in vc than to get a thousands of CTD's an continues delays on compatibility platform updates because trueglass. Is not an option the vcrain from A2A? I think is free for 3ds parties.

    I love the Dash! I love your work!
    Keep up!
    Richard

  • I would love to see the following version in the sim:

    Bombardier Q400 NextGen

  • I fly the Q400 for real. Biggest request from me is enhanced VNAV capability in the FMS. In the actual aircraft the FMS will calculate a VNAV path based on a pilot set glide path angle eg. 3 degrees or whatever you choose. This VNAV path respects restrictions that are preprogrammed in STARS and approaches, and also respects constraints put in by the pilots. Furthermore the Path respects ground speed changes, the path will actively update itself to maintain the parameters the pilot has set. This allows for seamless enroute to the ground navigation. You can simply arm the VNAV at top of climb and fly from cruise to the ground without touching anything in the FMS or manually calculating altitudes to cross.

    Right now you need to manually calculate individual crossing altitudes on every waypoint in order to keep VNAV active to the ground. Not a big deal but it would be cool to have the accurate functionality.

    Otherwise I have always been very impressed with how accurate the aircraft behaves. The system depth is outstanding. The fact that I can fly a hand flown CAT3 to the ground with the HUD is pretty amazing in a flight sim.

    Thanks for all you guys do.
  • EFB with performance calculations is a must

  • edited November 2020

    Agree on the EFB for performance and sending weights to the aircraft if possible.

    -Wind uplink for the FMS, not sure if thats part of the enhanced FMS functions.
    -HD textures for inside and outside.
    -A bit more of GSX integration.
    -CPDLC/ACARS

    Still impressed by this ac after 7 years, always a joy to fly <3

  • EFB w/ W&B and Take-Off/Landing Calculator...Navigraph w/ chart integration would be a nice treat too.

  • Thanks for this open brainstorming.

    What about a detent (like a small dead zone) or at least a sound in throttle when you reach the Flight Idle detent, preventing you to go too far back when airborne and entering "beta" mode?

    The icing logic seems a bit exagerated as well. There is a lot of clear sky icing in my opinion.

    Still it remains a damn excellent simulated aircraft. Thanks guys.

  • edited November 2020

    I think a bug fix for the FMS feature is a priority.
    We can't select Enroute Transition with SID/STAR Runway selection.
    and FMS 1/2 synchronization is needed.

    When it's done, please publish the API to allow users to control ACARS.
    Some airlines allow pilots to request and input various data of flight plans, fuel, weight calculations, winds, etc., so I think the perfection will increase dramatically if users can design their own design.

  • It doesn't even take an EFB to do the performance calculations. On Air Canada Jazz (and I'm sure even more carriers), pilots send a perfomance request using the FMS, and then receive a performance report. That would indeed be fantastic to have.

  • I have one more thing to say.

    Please add function of cabin configuration customization.
    With it, We can fly with Q400 as Q400CC(CARGO COMBI) and simulate various airlines.

  • On system panel, for the called "instructor mode", some addition to fail other system types, like pressurization, to be possible to simulate an emergency descent.

  • Would love to see like the images above - ACARs functionality with perf and other data implemented like the FSLabs stuff. Very realistic.

    Also printer implementation to print ACARs messages

This discussion has been closed.