Help with Maule Orion M7-260C

[Guest FSX5150]

Hello Flight Sim Fans,I'm relatively new to the virtual aviation world (and aviation in general) but am slowly getting my feet wet learning about light GA aircraft such as the J-3 Piper Cub, Cessna 172, and Maule Orion.I have a little bit of flight time with the Piper Cub and Cessna 172 in FSX and have recently taken an interest in the Maule Orion. This aircraft seems to be a perfect fit for much of the short/soft-field flying I'd like to eventually do.Can someone help me to better understand three unique gauges of the Maule Orion M7-260C (in FSX)?They are:1) The EGT gauge on the lower left instrument panel has an adjustable yellow indicator/notch. All of the light aircraft I've seen and studied in FSX thus far have a simple "fixed" EGT indicator with nothing that you can select or adjust. Why is the EGT indicator on the Maule Orion adjustable and what is the purpose for adjusting/changing it? Please advise.2) In the middle of the instrument panel, there is an "Engine Alternate Air" lever. Please explain what this lever is for and when it is best to use it.3) On the right side of the instrument panel, there are two Fuel Transfer Pumps (both right and left). There are also two white buttons next to each one labeled, "PUSH FOR AUX. QUANT.". Please explain what the purpose of these pumps/buttons is and suggest situations where they should be used in flight.Also, are there any good references, tutorials, or operator handbooks specifically on the Maule Orion M7-260C, especially for use within FSX? If so, can you please provide links to sites with detailed info and instruction? Any decent books worth considering on this particular aircraft? I have a basic understanding and some virtual flight training of tail draggers from practicing many hours in the J-3 Piper Cub in FSX. I would like to apply this knowledge and training over to the Maule Orion but would like more specific details of this particular plane. I'm interested in any tips, strategies, and techniques for flying it proficiently.Any and all help you can provide in these areas is greatly appreciated!Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.Happy Flying! :(

[snave 0]

EGT - Exhaust Gas Temperature. A measure of what the mixture is doing inside the cylinder headReference: HERENormal instruction for a typical aero-engine will be to `lean to 50 degrees of peak` or `lean to peak` or lean to 50 degrees past peak` - but since `peak` varies according to several different factors, you use the pointer to provide an aide memoire of where that peak is. You are not adjusting anything within the engine or the gauge.Engine Alternate Air provides for a different airflow path than normal - typically the air comes in through the front of the cowling, but this renders it likely to blockage by ice. `Alternate air` closes that flap and opens another to provide a different flow path for the air, often round a bend on trunking to avoid ice build-up or via a rear-facing inlet. It does for fuel-injected engines what `carb heat` does for carburetted engines and should be used in precisely the same manner.Fuel transfer pumps do exactly what they say - they are pumps for moving the fuel from one tank to another in flight, so as to balance the load. However, the white buttons in the Maule are NOT part of the fuel pump system, they simply switch the gauge contents from one tank to another for as long as they are pressed, so there is no need for confusing additional fuel gauges on the panel. Because of this it is always good practice to use the fuel from the aux tanks first, or load them last when considering fuel planning for a flight.The Learning Center in the sim itself has some basic info on the Maule - access via the A-Z menu system in the Learning Center. While you can go to more complex sources, this is a default aircrfat and certain liberties may have been taken with the systems, practices, procedures and even flight modelling to make it mass-market suitable.

[Brett_Henderson 5]

The FSX Maule is a wonderful. payware-quality model; making FSX worth the purchase price, all by itself. Its only, noteable, bug, is that aileron animation is reversed, from the VC; making control-surface checks during run-up a little "eye-opening".. bu that is easily over-looked. It's an excellent representation of a high-performance, short-field airplane.. giving its virtual pilot lots of realistic learning experience.That said:1) EGT stands for "Exhaust Gas Temperature" (you probably knew this). In real airplanes, this is the one gauge that's consistently vague, on a panel otherwise full of precise instrumentation. It's primary function, is for mixture-leaning. As unburned fuel enters a combustion chamber, it acts as a coolant before it's ignited. So it both cools, and is a heat source. Theoretically, a piston engine will be producing maximum horse-power, when the exhaust gasses are at their highest temperature. As a rule-of-thumb that's OK... but it's not always true. An engine's overall health (wear-n-tear-wise), and atmospheric conditions play a role. Engine/Prop relationships and harmonics (especially with constant-speed props) factor in too... SO your target EGT is an on-going debate. Common sense tells us that no matter what, the best mixture would be where the most horse-power is produced (for a given manifold-pressure and RPM). In a real airplane with some hours on it.. an experienced pilot will use his "ear" and the airpseed indicator as much as he will the EGT gauge.. especially leaning for cruise on a long flight. ANYway.. as you go from rich to lean; EGT will increase, peak, and then decrease. The traditional/initial, leanning target is just to the rich-side of the peak.. and that works well enough for FSX. Fortunately (or unfortunately) , the FSX model offers a more accurate alternative to EGT for leaning. Its method for "punishing" a pilot for improper mixture, is to reduce power by reducing fuel-flow when the mixture is other than optimum. You can see this anomaly, by intentionally delaying leaning during a climb. The fuel-flow will drop off as altitude increases, even though you've not changed RPM nor mixture. Then, if you level off at about 8,000msl, and begin leaning... fuel flow will INCREASE as you lean... eventually it peaks (optimum mixture), and then will decrease if you continue leaning. This bug also wreaks havoc on realistic operation of turbo-charged airplanes (like the default Mooney). So.. if all you're after is an optimuim mixture (power-wise), you can lean for a fuel-flow peak. It's not realistic, but it works. Leaning by EGT is more realistic, but it brings another bug into focus. The EGT gauges don't respond realistically enough (I fix this withan air-file edit) for efficient use. I fly FSX piston planes like I do real airplanes. I lean by ear/airspeed/MP/RPM, and back that up with whatever EGT information I can get.The adjustable "needle", is just a reference. You can use it to "mark" where the EGT peak normally occurs.. or even use it to mark an optimum EGT, for a known scenario.2) The Alternate Air, is just what the name implies. It's a mechanical re-direction of intake air-flow, counted on in case the normal intake source becomes obstructed. Ice is the common obstruction, but dealing with ice assumes advanced piloting skill, for another forum topic. On some airplanes (like a Mooney M20), that re-direction is via a "scoop", that actually semi-pressurises the intake manifold. Combine that with the fact that it also by-passes the air-filter, and you can get an extra inch or so, of manifold pressure. Obviously this should only be done, at altitudes where dirt/debris are not a concern.3) The Maule has four fuel tanks (right/left/right-aux/left-aux). The transfer pumps are for getting fuel from an aux-tank, to its corresponding main tank. These buttons do not function in FSX. It might as well just have two tanks (right/left). You manage right/left fuel level with the tank-selector (pilot's kick panel), and just count on a sort of gravity transfer from aux-tanks to main tanks. The white push-buttons will cause the fuel gauge to show you the quantity of fuel in that aux-tank when it's depressed.. and returns to main-tank quantity when it's released. This is handy if you need to know your total fuel, but is obviously useless for managing main/aux levels.You're off to a great start, in a great sim-plane. As soon as you fully understand constant-speed prop use.. the Maule is a good platform for learning radio navigation (sans GPS, of course *wink*), and instrument flight.