Hi everyone; I've been reading some posting from some people who seem to be having some problems starting the Mustang. I thought I'd offer a few pointers on this, as the procedure differs even in the various Dash 1's for the airplane written at various times during the period the Mustang was in use throughout the world. During the years I operated this airplane I observed several different methods being used by various pilots flying the Mustang when starting the airplane. My preferred method follows. Keep in mind that our airplane was never operated in severe cold conditions. Also we didn't use an APU for starting. Basically, I would follow the suggested checklist with the exception that where noted in some Dash 1's I withheld placing the Mag switch to BOTH before engaging the starter. I'd give it a few seconds prime (VERY sensitive electric primer in this airplane) then engage the starter. This allowed the starter to rotate the prop distributing oil on up through the engine from the lower case and into the oil holes. After around 6 blades passing TDC using the nose as my visual cue I would flip the Mags on over to BOTH. This completed the ignition sequence with the right amount of prime at the cylinders. The engine started at that point. Throttle position is very important in the Mustang as it controls the spark advance. One inch was fine. The actual start could be solid and smooth or a bit sporadic and uneven. This is a critical moment in the start. If the start was not smooth I'd give it a short shot of prime as I went into RUN with the mixture. It's right here you need to be very gentle with the throttle. You DON'T want the engine to start into an RPM more than around 1200. The absolute worst thing you can do to an aircraft engine of ANY kind is to allow a high RPM start. That races the engine before the oil has had the chance to do it's good work and can over time cause a shorter TBO. This can get REAL expensive with a Merlin ! Just go easy on the throttle and caress the power into a smooth idle letting the pressure come off the pin within 30 seconds (or shut down immediately if it doesn't) Basically that's about it. It isn't rocket science for sure but starting the Merlin DOES require some degree of finesse and coordination to do it right. A2A has the engine physics on the Merlin very finely tuned and things more or less have to be close to being right for you to get a good solid start on the Mustang. You need to be careful with the primer, and the throttle use. Just take your time, get used to doing things right, and I think you'll be satisfied with your Mustang starts. BTW, you'll notice that the oil pressure can be high after you start the Mustang. The oil is still a bit thick in there. This isn't a critical issue for the Merlin but I always liked to get that pressure down a bit before applying take off power. It's perfectly ok to dilute the oil a bit using the oil dilution switch while taxiing out to take off to lower that oil pressure, but don't forget to turn it off during your pre-takeoff runup. Hope this helps getting everybody "started" Dudley Henriques

I've been reading a lot of posting concerning the function of rudder trim on the Mustang as that relates to its takeoff behavior. After reading some of the posts I realize that this subject might need some clarification. I hope the following information proves useful and helps toward a better understanding of what is involved in a Mustang takeoff. There is one overwhelming point about the rudder trim on the 51 that should be completely understood by everyone. That 6 degrees of right rudder trim is NOT pre-set before takeoff to solve the forces acting on the aircraft during the takeoff run. You do that with rudder and aileron used in conjunction with a COMPLETE understanding of airspeed and how increasing airspeed increases dynamic pressure on the control surfaces. What that 6 degrees right trim ACTUALLY gives you is an optimally trimmed out airplane at 46 inches and 2700RPM which is your first power reduction AFTER takeoff. The takeoff roll in a Mustang is a very complex event control wise. There are several forces in play and they vary in intensity at various airspeeds as your speed increases. To get it all just right in FSX so that the result is a realistic experience for the sim pilot has been a daunting task for the A2A flight model team. In my opinion they did a super job on this! You begin your takeoff in a Mustang with the stick aft of neutral to lock the tail wheel but this doesn't last a long time because as the airplane accelerates the tail wants to come up naturally and you don't want to keep that stick back too long because at the angle of attack that produces, lift is developing VERY fast as speed increases and you can easily reach a rotation point on the lift curve where the airplane will fly before you have sufficient airspeed. This situation in a Mustang is extremely dangerous as power is high, angle of attack is high, and you don't have enough airspeed yet to develop the dynamic pressure on the control surfaces you need to deal with the tremendous forces attempting to both yaw and roll the airplane. This is the exact situation that causes torque roll and has killed many a P51 pilot who didn't have a working knowledge of this airplane. So pitch wise you have to play your takeoffs by starting with the stick back, then GENTLY FLYING the stick forward EASILY to bleed off some of that angle of attack and keep rotation from occurring before reaching rotation airspeed. Now while all this is happening in pitch, you have other forces acting on the aircraft as POWER is increased so you have to deal with this AS you are dealing with the pitch. The 51 is a whole new airplane as it passes 30 inches. In the real Mustang I always treated takeoff in two distinct segments but blended them together smoothly at the transition point. I powered up slowly to 30 inches with the stick back and let the aircraft accelerate. During this period P Factor is the highest due to the 3 point attitude asymmetrical difference between the right and left halves of the prop disk in operation with a relative wind NOT in line with the airplane's fuselage reference line. This is where you begin to feel the need for a right rudder correction. It's important to note that the spiraling slipstream being created by the prop at low airspeed is very tight and maximized on the side of the vertical stabilizer and rudder. As speed increases the slipstream elongates out a bit and the force its producing lightens somewhat…………but not by much! As the tail begins to feel light and you have some airspeed over the control surfaces you are now ready to begin dealing with gyroscopic precession. This occurs as the propeller disk is in ROTATION in PITCH as the nose comes down. (It also occurs as you rotate the nose UP at rotation but is not as noticeable in reverse due to your higher airspeed). You CAREFULLY allow the nose to come down while ANTICIPATING a right rudder correction for any left yaw. Of course while all this is happening you also have a tight slipstream spiral against the vertical stabilizer helping induce MORE left yaw. Same correction; right rudder. Now here's the rub. As you get the power on up past 30 inches you begin to pick up TORQUE. Since torque is a ROLL correction NOT a rudder correction, you will need right aileron to take some of that extra load off the left main gear strut as the engine torque tries to flatten the left main gear tire against the runway. Of note here as well is the fact that your left main gear wheel is actually helping you with torque correction. Understanding this has saved a few lives in the 51 when pilots found themselves in a go-around situation running out of runway. "holding it down" with high power applied till the last moment allows that wheel to help the pilot as he claws for needed airspeed before rotating the go-around. The kicker with aileron correction is that you need dynamic pressure on the ailerons to correct for the torque and if you reach a power setting that starts feeding in torque to your takeoff equation that your airspeed in the takeoff run (dynamic pressure AVAILABLE to the ailerons) isn't sufficient to handle, you won't have aileron available to help with the torque. It's notable that the amount of required right aileron for torque correction will vary somewhat in the A2A Mustangs as the inertia forces are changed a bit between the mil and civ versions. So don't just throw in a lot of right aileron. Let the airplane TELL YOU what it needs then give that to the airplane. This goes for BOTH aileron and rudder correction. The AIRPLANE will TELL YOU what it wants!!!!! Fly this way and you'll do just fine. So as you can see, the name of the game in a Mustang takeoff is complex control input based on you completely understanding the power/airspeed equation. As you can see, the P51 is NOT your vanilla GA light airplane. The A2A flight model team worked long and hard in seeing to it that all of you who purchased the Mustang were given as close to a realistic experience as possible. Torque roll is modeled so be careful out there. You screw up on takeoff and there just might be a price to pay :-)))) I hope this small tutorial helps all of you to a better understanding of these highly complex issues. A2A has invested a LOT of effort in your Mustang development. I sincerely hope you use your P51 not only as a fun machine but as well as an educational tool designed to give you a better understanding of the world of high performance flying.

As I see threads where a bit of data might be of some help to people I'll be posting in a new thread rather than answering a specific poster where some might miss what's being said. There has been some discussion on putting the 51 down on a short field. Since I've had to do this a few times here's some suggestions. First of all, depending on gross weight of course, the actual distance you'll need to put the 51 down short has a lot of variables involved. Runway type and condition, wind, and approach factors are all in play here. Basically speaking, with the airplane in the 8K to 9K lb GW range, I always allowed a MINIMUM of 2500 feet required to get into a short field over an obstacle. You can do it in a bit less but 2500 feet allows you some wiggle room. Basically the technique is a flat power approach using full flaps. The absolute LAST thing you want to do with a Mustang is to "plant it" down hard. You can get a bad bounce and that can be trouble if you're not completely ready for it. Best procedure is to control airspeed carefully on final. You want it slower than normal but not by much. You have to be VERY careful here. The wing on the 51 is quite slippery aerodynamically and sometimes one wing can go into mush before stall just a bit before the other side causing you an asymmetrical stall just when you need the airplane to be steady and stable in the flare. Once down, DON'T apply hard braking immediately. You'll have to "feel" the airplane. Apply brake only as needed. Leave the flaps down until clear of the runway THEN raise them. This utilizes them for drag during the roll lout. I don't recommend doing a full stall short field landing in the Mustang. Just fly the approach correctly, be very careful with your approach speed. I used 120 for final then let it bleed off as I came back on the power. Best touchdown is as always, a bit tail low and DON'T slam down the tailwheel. Let it "fly down" naturally. Bottom line is that if you follow these procedures and don't attempt to put the 51 into fields less than 2500 feet in length, with practice you should be able to make a fair to good short field landing in this airplane.

Dudley Henriques