Beginners guide to the C208B Grand Caravan in Microsoft Flight Simulator

A basic look at the various switches and levers that work in the stock C208B in Microsoft Flight Simulator, and how to operate them to "make the aircraft work". I am purposely looking at the version of the Caravan that comes with the simulator - with no mods, or extra fidelity brought about by them.
#C208 #Caravan #FlightSimulator #Asobo #MSFS #Beginner #Guide #Tour #Tutorial #ColdAndDark #Flying #Flight #Turboprop

[@Pibikhen]

This was ridiculously helpful. As someone completely new to flight sims, watching someone go through the process is fantastic. Little things like the plane pulling to the left on take off cause a massive headache when you're not expecting it! Thank you.

[@jonbeckett]

Glad it helped!

[@pdep]

You have quite the best presentation on the MSFS channels. Simple, steady pace, clear explanations with no fluff. I like it !!! 🙃

[@johnramos8424]

As a mechanic and Pilot on the real caravan you have to turn the Avionics switches before starting the engine , otherwise you will Not br able to monitor your N2 oil press temperature etc. but still nice video. I have been flying since flight simulator 2004

[@jonbeckett]

Yep - I realised that after recording :) (bit of a face-palm moment). It's still interesting that some aircraft are at risk of a surge at engine start though.. you would have thought some fairly basic and inexpensive safeguards in the electrical systems would prevent that.

[@burncycle4621]

I wish this sim was modeled correctly. You treated the condition lever like a mixture. The engine MUST start with the condition lever OFF, until 12% Ng. With the condition lever full forward, you likely started one hell of a fire. Also, the ignition switch should be "off" during start. It's used in flight for restart, but mostly in rain and ice, with the inertial separator open.

[@jonbeckett]

Yep - the stock planes are pretty awful - they let you get away with a lot of things - and even enforce incorrect procedures in places.

[@SKYWAY_SSR]

Thank You, Great Video. Loving the C208B Grand Caravan as progression from 152/172. Any more on this would be appreciated. Prop and Condition levers feel a little mysterious for me atm, but such a stable and kind platform on the whole.

[@jonbeckett]

Yep - the analogue caravan is a huge step up on top of this if you can stretch to it - much more to do while in-flight.

[@creativeSimGamer]

I tried starting this aircraft on my own and was wondering why the engines kept shutting off after some time and then realized I didn't open the fuel valves on top. Thanks for this video.

[@Gumbodad2]

Outstanding - short, all the essentials, and some pretty impressive handling to boot.

[@jonbeckett]

Cheers :)

[@tonyvelasquez6776]

To boot

[@tonyvelasquez6776]

Everyone lile the comment ^^^ To BoOOT

[@dismaldunc]

love the vid, had a go at flying the caravan, no idea whats going on but the power lever is missing (just a slot) and the aircraft powers its self down after I do the checklist..... will have a crack at the kodiak!

[@Phanson08]

What an insightful video! Thank you so much

[@qnoorani]

thank you for the very in depth video. the visuals are amazing. what PC hardware and graphics settings are you using?

[@oswaldogoncalves7760]

Very much incorrect procedure to start that PT6 engine, Condition lever was supposed to be on cut position and wait for around 12% Ng(in my operator we introduce fuel at max motor) Ignition is not needed to start,it should be used in flight for restart for harsh conditions. What you did there was pretty much a hot start or rather cook you engine

[@jonbeckett]

This was a very early version of the 208 that wasn't simulated accurately at all. Since then it has progressed enormously.

[@willcrist6580]

There are a lot of things he did here that are outside of standard operating procedures; this is a video game and a lot of people simply want to enjoy the feeling of controlling an aircraft and sightseeing the world. His video is fine (though I would preface the video with a disclaimer that this procedure is simply to get the virtual aircraft started and not to be used as SOP for an actual aircraft).

[@carenthusiast6748]

Imagine smuggling cocaine from columbia to the caribbean or mexico in the 80s with this lovely plane.

[@jonbeckett]

(and getting shot down and then spending the rest of your life in prison)

[@kevinaltizer]

Thanks so much!

[@jonbeckett]

You're welcome - if you hang on a few minutes, KZbin will have processed the 1080P version :)

[@kevinaltizer]

@@jonbeckett Good stuff. Exactly what I needed. I'm looking forward to flying this plane quite a bit now. It's amazing how it just floats into the landing!

[@jonbeckett]

@@kevinaltizer You're welcome :)

[@thesoursailor]

I hate that everything is glass cockpits these days!! 😢 excellent video!

[@ensorgumbs6435]

Very helpful video.

[@simonottewell7475]

You can have a lot of fun with this aircraft due to it's versatility.

[@twistedyogert]

Basically it's a flying truck.

[@Pawel5837]

I think I heard that white area on the speed strip shows when the full flaps may by open.

[@adesojiadebisi3477]

Thanks for this. I follow your videos, and have learnt a lot across the simulators ( X-Plane 11 and MSFS). Presently doing the ' Around the World in 80 days' flight , on another forum, and I have referred to your videos to help use the Zibo 737. Is it possible to do a video on calibrating controls please? I know it might sound silly, but I have been discouraged from using the sim (MSFS) because I can't work out the controls. I have a Thrustmaster hotas 4. I will look out for your response. Thanks.

[@jonbeckett]

Yep - I'll do a video on control config in MSFS - good idea !

[@Jagermeisster]

Great video!

[@mesillahills]

I watch FlightRadar24 for our airport here at Las Cruces, N.M. We have a 208B Ex come around about once a month. It stays for several days. It is owned owned by ISR Platforms LLC of MacLean Virginia who do Surveillance and Reconnaissance work. What is unique is they go up and do 25 perfect continuous circles with a 4 mile diameter. (in 6 minutes). Each circle is right on top of the first one and the FR24 track looks like one perfect circle. It takes 2.5 hours. They do this both in the day and at night. They come right over my house at about 7,000 feet. I live near the airport. I think they are testing their equipment. I was wondering how they make such perfect circles. You have to zoom the track very close to see any deviations in the 25 circle path. It is minimal.

[@aussiecoffeebean]

Hi Jonathan. Thanks for your videos. Did you use Drone to move around inside cockpit and rear passenger area

[@jonbeckett]

I probably used both the drone camera, and the cockpit view. In cockpit view, you can press the arrow keys (if mapped) to move the camera around (and the mouse to turn). In drone, you can obviously use the keyboard, or an XBox controller.

[@aussiecoffeebean]

@@jonbeckett Thanks mate. You did great job with that. Really fluid movement. Looked great! Appreciate your prompt reply.

[@sAnKHa]

How did you go to the passenger area? In my case there is an invisible wall that prevents camera to go to the passenger are. 0:30

[@jimn6204]

You always do good work on these videos. I loved the A310-300 you did, as well. Do you have a printed file/version of this like you did with the A310?

[@jonbeckett]

All of the procedures are at ko-fi.com/jonbeckett/shop

[@jimn6204]

@@jonbeckett, thanks I just didn't see one for the Caravan there when I looked, so thought there might be one somewhere else.

[@motorsportsracechannel2526]

Thanks for the very clear instructions. May I ask what specs your pc has? (At the time of recording) Thanks.

[@jonbeckett]

I7 3.6Ghz, 3080RTX GPU, 16Gb RAM, fast SSD, fast internet connection.

[@DenisOmahoney-i1n]

Love it

[@davidwilliams1825]

Very good presentation. By me the center screen is not working

[@jonbeckett]

That's a shame. The knobs above the centre screen dictate what appears on each screen.

[@victorhugofreitas9357]

Hello Friend. Awesome video! But can you explain me whats is exactly the propeller pitch ? I guess this is directly linked to the attack angle of the propeller's blades. But I just discovered that I cant takeoff if I dont raise them to 100% Is this normal procedure ? How about the cruise altitude and speeds ? the propeller pitch must be on 100% all the time during the flight ?

[@jonbeckett]

In most turboprops you actively control power and RPM during flight. The results of varying each are not straightforward. Typically aim to keep both in the green areas. To manipulate RPM, the pitch of the blades is changed - so to increase RPM, the blades will grab less air, and require less torque, therefore spin faster. Of course a faster moving propeller grabs more air - which ends up with a similar amount of thrust as moving a more course pitch with more torque required. Like I said - not straightforward at all :)

[@victorhugofreitas9357]

ohh that is clarifying! I guess this is useful to create a balance between aplying thrust/torque or just adjust pitch to maintain normal levels. Impacts directly on fuel consumption too. Thank you bro!@@jonbeckett

[@sewyoungdesigns4031]

Great video. I am up and running on MSFS but have two questions for you. How did you get your scenery so photo realistic? Is that something I need to set in the settings. Also I am going to search your videos but how to you get the little navmap in FS to show your plane tracking. Thanks

[@jonbeckett]

The computer I'm running this on is a beast :) The graphics are running on Ultra, and I have a very fast internet connection. In LittleNavMap there is a "Simulator Connection" option that needs to be enabled.

[@jmuellerdrenkberg]

Don't match with the checklist, engine is running in red

[@alistairmurray626]

I was trying to learn about the propeller pitch lever and the idle lever of this magical beast. At what altitude should i switch the idle lever from high to low? Also i don't understand the propeller pitch, is there a way to calculate what pitch i need at what altitude for best efficiency? So many things to think about!

[@jonbeckett]

If you find a pilot operator handbook on the caravan, it will have lookup tables for propeller pitch, etc. Most turboprops seem to specify cruise at about 70 to 80% throttle, and 70 to 80% pitch. If you think about it, you're matching the amount of air the propeller is trying to grab with the speed you're travelling at - so once you're at or near cruise speed, you can trim the pitch out, reduce torque, and therefore run the engine more efficiently.

[@alistairmurray626]

@@jonbeckett penny has dropped! Thanks!

[@skinskinner]

ot's mot moving forward for me, which is weird

[@mmpcudahy]

how did you walk inside the airplane like what you did in the beginning of the video, thanks for sharing your videos

[@peterrowney5180]

drone camera mode

[@phillipa224]

what is the flight map he switches to? how can I get that setup for msfs like him?

[@jonbeckett]

LittleNavMap

[@heaye]

IFR + goAround + reTry(landing) ... i need. 나는 goaround 를 해본적이 없어서, 이를 배우는데 높은 심리적인 장벽을 가지고 있습니다. 적절한 tutorial 비디오 를 찾고 있습니다.

[@airbusaviation1000]

It has beta so it is very useful

[@n0emis100]

Hello, I would like to ask such a small thing. I see that when you move the cursor to an active button or lever, the relevant part does not turn blue like mine. Don't know where exactly in the menu I can turn it off? Thank you

[@jonbeckett]

It's in the accessibility settings - you want to change the cockpit interaction system to "legacy"

[@xiaohui6339]

Only drawback of this aircraft is slow cruise speed

[@syitiger9072]

It flys at like 160mph pretty fast in my opinion

[@xiaohui6339]

@@syitiger9072 yes，if ralative to cars😁

[@syitiger9072]

@@xiaohui6339 my r6 feels fast af at167

[@GoldenAura32]

180 knots true at cruise in some situations is pretty quick for its class.

[@Bretaxy]

Why do the cabin lights switches not work properly on this plane?

[@jonbeckett]

Because many systems are not implemented on the free planes that come with the sim.

[@Taser1-1]

I don't think the condition lever goes to high idle to start.

[@jonbeckett]

It doesn't :) The more detailed versions of the Caravan are much better.

[@MHM1975]

I’m afraid you just ruined your engine. Condition lever should be in cutoff position when you put the starter on and you start to introduce fuel when the Ng is around 12%.

[@jonbeckett]

In fairness, I do mention quite often in videos that I'm not following real-world procedures - more "functionally, this is what gets the aircraft up and running in the simulator". As far as I'm aware only the DC-6 and the Spitfire even attempt to model proper engine management.

[@XCougar85X]

@@jonbeckett I think of the props the Kodiak (improved last patch and comming patch), Corsair, B246, 310, 414 (?) and Turbo Arrow from the top of my head have this as well to various degrees.

[@DenisOmahoney-i1n]

I have 95 98 Windows simulator most stimulating

[@sethking5421]

dont start then engine in high idle.

[@jonbeckett]

Yep - the black square add-on tightens up on this :)