Cera-Sim Bell 212 Startup

[SSI01]

I've had this bird for a while, installed it today and promptly hit a brick wall with its startup procedure. This thing takes frustration to a new level, you can do your best to follow startup procedures, look at the startup videos that are on YouTube, look for printed advice on how to do it - and still fall flat on your face. And, Auto-Start does not work with this bird. Right now the only fix appears to be to take the stock Cessna back to being the default aircraft, and set it up as already idling on the ground when you start the sim, then switch aircraft to the CS 212 and (hopefully) it will be on the ground idling. I've emailed them asking for some sort of assistance with this. I believe in a realistic startup procedure to a point (the ND CH-53 is an excellent example), but holy cats this 212 is a major pain to get cranked up!!!

[Bjoern]

If your default flight is set up with a cold and dark aircraft, try to set the mixture to full rich (via keyboard) after loading the 212 and start her up again
I do not own this helo, but mixture is something often overlooked by devs as it also affects turbine engines in FSX.

[WarHorse47]

Okay. There is no autostart for this bird.

Open up the panel (Shift+1) and turn on all the electrical - icon on upper left corner. You should hear gyros, etc. winding up and see some of the lights turn on. Wait a few seconds, then hit the starter button on the collective (page 16 of the manual, button #4). Push the button left for the 1st engine and watch the gauges. Move button to center, then push to right for the 2nd engine.

I didn't have to set the mixture for this bird as Bjorn indicated, but that is always an additional step if everything else fails. :biggrin-new:

[SSI01]

OK, we'll give it a try in the morning. BTW bird flies nicely, is a real joy to handle. Animations take a little getting used to, it's possible to open the cabin doors to varying degrees instead of just "open" and "closed" - something different.

[SSI01]

OK, I gave it a try using both methods. Both engines' RPM is stuck at 10%, fuel pressure 14 lbs, my mixture was set for cutoff for both but using the left mouse "click" method on the center of the joint mixture section for both engines for advancing mixture, I hit "full increase" and got it up to 100% rich in less than a second for both. My keyboard for some reason does not allow mixture advancement with this throttle. Let me try a couple of other things and report if they work.

EDIT: Tried the above as reported, then went to the default Cessna. My default flight is set to cockpit cold & dark, so put the Cessna's mixture at 100%, then stopped, went to "select aircraft," and put the 212 on the screen. Used Shift+F1 as suggested, hit electrical startup - noted fuel pressure at 14 lbs, hit l. engine start switch and got the spoolup sound with RPM climbing to and stopping at 10%, where it held. Tried same thing w/right engine. No luck. Very frustrating considering how much this thing costs that it won't follow the printed instructions that came with the bird (manual). Have to report VERY dissatisfied with this product, at least so far.

[thefrog]

Hi
Well I have not flown this helo for a while but had made my usual notes on start-up, which I do for all my complex planes.
Just now I fired up my sim and sucessfully started both engines.

I have got my Saitek prop levers mapped to the throttles, which makes it easier, but you can do it all with mouse clicking.
(As usual I set my default plane mixture lever to full)
I then loaded the Bell 212

After you set the electrics ON (Batteries, Gens, Inverters on the roof panel) and check that the fuel switches and boost pumps are on as well (centre pedestal) click on the shortcut clickspots for the throttles (both numbered 11 on page 16 of the manual) which sets the throttles to flight idle 5%.(check the tooltips).
Then use clickspots 8 on the throttles to set them to 10% (you can use the mousewheel and look at the tooltips to set the figure exactly) Then move the engine start switch (no.7 on page 16) to the left to start No 1 engine. When engine no 1 has fired up, use clickspot 8 to increase RPM to 85%.
Then press the starter switch to the right for Engine no 2. Again, then increase No 2 to 85%.
(clickspots 9 decrease RPM)
Remember - before flight, increase RPM on both engines to 100% with clickspots numbered 10.
It definitely does work.
Hope this helps.
Dave

[RaFi]

Try to either point the helicopter into the wind, or move the outside view so that you are into the wind. For some reason all the Cerasim helicopters require this, especial with a strong wind.

[SSI01]

Did as The Frog suggested and lo and behold got them to start. The fly in the ointment is you apparently MUST go to the default Cessna first, you can't just go to the airport you want with the 212 loaded. This means landing and shutting down the engines for whatever reasons, then restarting them and completing the flight, is OUT. Second thing I discovered is if you look closely at the 172's panel and floorboard, on the floorboard to the right of centerline is a small red handle on a push-pull rod going in and out of the firewall. This the fuel cutoff. I made SURE that was pulled out, opening the master fuel valve. Next thing to do was cycle the 172's fuel tank lever below the inst. panel to l/r/back to center, where draw was labeled "all." Last thing to do was push the mixture right into the firewall using the keyboard setting for "full rich." I then was able to start the engines per your instructions. That's great, and I greatly appreciate your assistance, since this is an excellent helo sim once you get everything working. I took a test hop and landed right away, then shut down and attempted a restart. No go. I still apparently have to go back to the default aircraft, set everything up as described above, then stop everything and load the 212. Still pretty disappointing. I did change my keyboard mapping to set certain keys to open the fuel valves for engines 1 and 2 using the "F+1" and "F+2" keys, am using "F+A" to open all fuel valves for all engines - which should equate with the fuel cutoff for the C-172 as described above. Unfortunately that did not have the desired effect, even though I set the mixture to full rich in the 212 using the keyboard keys, plus set up the individual throttles on the collective. I haven't shut down the sim then restarted yet, maybe you have to do that to make the new selections be registered by the sim. I'll give that a try and see what happens.

[SSI01]

One must still use a default aircraft to start this helo, so I'm settling for the C172. The Frog has an excellent idea and I'm writing down the instructions for starting this aircraft, placing them in the file in the sim as a reminder.