FSX Douglas C-117D Skytrooper (Super DC-3, R4D-8) V.1 Beta

The C-117D Skytrooper or Super DC-3 was a medium-range transport serving with the U.S. Navy 
and Marines. The package includes a VC adapted from the Basler BT-67. New model features 
include a realistic slow radial engine start, a fuel and payload manager, and built-in engine stress 
and battery failures. Sound is aliased to the default DC-3 (replacement sound pack recommended in 
the readme). Historical research by John Detrick, models by Manfred Jahn, flight dynamics by 
Alexander M. Metzger, gauges, animations, and failure conditions by Hansjoerg Naegele. Watch 
those failure conditions!

In the official Flight Manual, the C-117D is described as "a medium-range, low-wing land aircraft 
designed for use as a diversified cargo, personnel, or ambulance transport." Originally intended as a 
DC-3 replacement, the Super 3 had a stretched fuselage, more powerful engines, a retractable tail 
wheel, square-tipped slightly swept wings, and an enlarged fin and tailplane. While it could carry 
significantly more payload at faster speeds, it proved no match for new-generation aircraft such as 
the Convair 240. Only three Super 3s were commercially operated by Capital Airlines based in 
Washington DC. However, one hundred U.S. Navy and Marines Skytroopers did see extended 
service all over the world under the designations R4D-8 (early years) and C-117D (1962 onwards). 
The last Marines C-117D was withdrawn from use in June 1982. 


Minimum system-requirements: FSX SP2. Recommended: FSX Gold Edition or Acceleration. 

INSTALLATION

(1) Extract the zip to a temporary folder or open it in Windows Explorer. 

(2) You should see three subfolders: Effects, Simobjects, and Sound. You should be able to copy 
these three folders directly to your main "Flight Simulator X" folder using "merge" or "integrate 
folders" mode when asked (do NOT use "replace"). Should you have any misgivings about this 
procedure play it safe -- enter the source subfolders individually and copy the files to the 
appropriate FSX target folders.

(3) The single aircraft provided in this version will show up as "Douglas C-117D" in the Flight 
Simulator's aircraft selection menu.


SOUND ADD-ON RECOMMENDATION

For a replacement sound pack we are recommending Gary Jones's excellent FS2004 "Pratt & 
Whitney radial engine sound set for the Douglas DC-3". On our systems it works perfectly fine in 
FSX. It is available at www.avsim.com under file name douglas_dc-3_c-47_sounds.zip (22 MB).


FSX OPERATION NOTES

(1)	Important: Fly this aircraft gently following the checklist. If you don't you will sooner or 
later experience a failure condition from which it may be difficult to recover. The checklist 
is accessible via the usual Shift-F10 keypress. You can also click on the pilot's clipboard to 
get an abbreviated list without FSX-specific tips (for experienced pilots).
 
(2)	Control Panel. While this model has no 2D panel, you can activate a two-page Control 
Panel popup via Shift-2 (page 1) and Shift-3 (page 2). The default size of these pages have 
been adjusted for 16:9 monitors. If the pages appear squashed you can temporarily drag their 
edges for a better display. Alternatively, use Notepad to edit the panel.cfg, which allows 
settings for 4:3 and 16:10 ratio screens to be used. 

Page 1 has a payload and fuel manager (aircraft needs to be on ground with parking brakes 
set for it to work). Select Total Payload and Total Fuel options "EMPTY" to put the aircraft 
into a "cold and dark" state. 

Page 2 is a tabular display of all major settings and readouts including failure warnings and 
context-sensitive tips. We suggest keeping page 2 of the Control panel open and monitoring 
the various readouts, warnings, and tips (hover the mouse pointer over the item in question 
for options) until you have become thoroughly familiar with the Do's and Don'ts of handling 
this plane.

(3)	Failure conditions. The main failure conditions built into the model are battery depletion 
and engine failure, both of which can happen fairly quickly. The battery can be replenished 
by middle-clicking the battery item on page 2 of the Control panel, or by flipping the 
Ground Power switch on the overhead panel (FSXA only). Engine stress is signaled on page 
2 of the Control Panel by a numeric counter decrementing from 100% to 0, with the final 
red zero flagging imminent failure. Engine stress can only be cured by reducing MAP and 
RPM to the acceptable 'green' ranges indicated on the respective gauges.

(4)	Control Panel settings and VC switches usually act on both left and right clicks, 
occasionally also middle clicks. Side windows, pilot's yoke, overhead spotlights, call sign, 
wipers, and pilot's clipboard are also clickable - click them and see what they do.

(5)	Engine Start. You can choose one of four startup procedures. (a) Ctrl-E will work in 
practically all situations (also reset faulty conditions), but it will not produce the realistic 
slow period-style engine start we all want. (b) For a slow engine start, open page 2 of the 
Control Panel and go through the eight steps detailed in the mini-tutorial engstart.jpg. (c) 
Use the relevant switches of the Engine Start section on the VC's overhead panel. (d) Use 
the mini-icons accessible via Shift-7 in any view, including spot view. 

Note, proper engine start sequence is 2 - 1.

 

(6)	In the VC, propeller control, throttle, and mixture levers can be linked by middle-clicking 
any one of them. To unlink, middle-click again.

(7)	Flip battery switch OFF and apply parking brakes to display wheel chocks and let the pilots 
take a break.

(8)	Cowl flaps open/close in intervals by clicking the "cht" (cylinder head temperature) item on 
the Control Panel or on pressing Shift-Ctrl-V / Shift-Ctrl-C. The recommended settings are 
listed in the checklist.

(9)	Landing lights swivel up/down on pressing Shift-Ctrl-Num8/Num2 respectively.

(10)	With engines off and parking brake set, the port passenger/freight door can be 
opened/closed by pressing Shift-E. The second freight door opens on Shift-E-2. Steps 
appear on Shift-E-3.

(11)	For detailed instructions on how to operate the Garmins consult the docs in subfolder 
"Documentation". When operating the Garmins, use left/right clicks on ON/OFF knob to 
decrease/increase the brightness of the display. Similarly, use left/right clicks to scroll 
through multiple pages. Generally, right=next and left=previous. For the NAV/GPS link 
switch click the CDI button on the Garmin.



CREDITS

We want to thank Janiek Arp for testing, Doug Dawson for his fsx_event_logger gauge, Marcel 
Felde for tips on 3D GPS construction, Don Kuhn for allowing us to create 3D code for the 
GNS430/530 packs available at www.fs2x.com, Jan Visser for tips on volumetric side-view props, 
Bjoern ("Heretic") and Bill Leaming for their PD light splash materials at FSDeveloper.com.


DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT

THE AUTHORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR AS A 
RESULT OF INSTALLING THIS ARCHIVE. YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF USE.

The Super DC-3 models were created under Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules using assets 
from Flight Simulator X Deluxe Edition, (c) Microsoft Corporation. See www.xbox.com/en-
US/Community/Developer/Rules

Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed or modified 
is prohibited. 
 
This archive (or any parts of it) may NOT be included in other packages 
without the written permission of the authors. 
 
No specific charge may be made for this archive and it may not be uploaded to any server that 
specifies that the server owners hold a copyright (of any sort) on this archive when stored on that 
server. You may NOT use the archive (or any parts of it) for commercial purpose without all the 
authors' explicit, written permission in advance. This includes "free" CD or DVD compilations with 
a charge of any kind. 

All Rights Reserved.


23 July 2013

Manfred Jahn (Manfred [dot] Jahn [at] uni-koeln [dot] de)