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Armstrong Whitworth Argosy

From Wiki:

The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a British post-war transport/cargo aircraft; it was the final aircraft to be designed and produced by aviation company Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although given different internal design numbers, the AW.650 civil and AW.660 military models were, for most practical purposes, the same design, while both models also shared the "Argosy" name.

Development of the Argosy originates in the AW.66, a proposed twin-engined military transport that was designed with British Air Ministry's Operational Requirement 323 (OR323) in mind. While Armstrong Whitworth terminated work on the AW.66, it decided to go forward with a civilian-oriented derivative of the design, designated AW.65, as it was judged to be commercially viable. The AW.65 was redesigned to use four Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines, and thus was re-designated as the AW.650. On 8 January 1959, the first Argosy conducted the type's maiden flight. On December 1960, the type received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification, enabling the initial civil version, referred to as the Series 100, to enter civil service across most parts of the world.

In Britain, military planners took interest in the Argosy and released a new specification for a militarised variant, designated AW.660. First flown on 4 March 1961, this model featured double the range of the Series 100 and otherwise differed by an alternative door arrangement, which was largely to facilitate paratroop operations. Furthermore, an improved civil variant, the Series 200, was introduced at the behest of airline British European Airways (BEA). First flown on 11 March 1964, this model featured a new wing incorporating a fail safe structure, being stronger and lighter than its original counterpart. The Argosy was operated by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and various civil operators across the globe for numerous years. The type was withdrawn from RAF service during 1978, while the last Argosy was retired from civil operations during 1991.


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The history of ZK-SAF here is an interesting one, bought in 1974 by SAFE AIR in New Zealand, flying cargo around the country and passengers in the passenger pods to and from the Chatham Islands until the early 90s.

SAF and its sister ship SAE were famously known for sighting the strange phenomena known as the Kaikoura Lights that took the news for those years.
Click here if you want to know more [en.wikipedia.org]


Unfortunately SAF was written off in 1990 when the left main gear collapsed on landing, she was mostly scrapped shortly after. SAE was retired not long after that.
SAE still lives at the Argosy Cafe in Blenheim, mostly intact and in good shape. She was the reference for this build.
Last Flight Video [www.stuff.co.nz]



Limitations

(All speeds assume full prop pitch)

# Do not apply full brakes above 20kts GS, the landing gear does not like it
# Do not retract gear above 30 throttle or in negative G, again the gear does not like it
# Do not apply full flaps above 35 throttle, they blow back (and at slower speeds sometimes, but that is just SW)
# Roll gyros have a slight descent rate below 35 throttle

Normal Operating Standards and Info

# Best range is 40 throttle
# Best Endurance is 30
# Speedy boi mode is 50, not much range outta that.
# Landing throttle is 15-20 (depends on the load)
# Normal cruise speed in around 200-220kts
# Operating alt can be anything you want, although 1000ft is what I normally use
# To get full fuel optimisation, fuel transfer to tanks 1 and 4 is a must. Be sure not to over transfer as it is a one way system.
# Emergency exit unlock can be found next to the Cargo Door Unlock in the cockpit
# Enough fuel to get to the Arctic with plenty of reserve (If you do it right)
# Fuel and recharge connectors are in between the engines under the wings. APU Fuel is on the underside of the right boom
#Equipped with a full fire suppression system
#Can fly with two engines out of action, either on one side or spread out (Don't go above 30 throttle, lots of rudder required!!)



Ground Prep

1: Parking Brake set (ON BY DEFAULT)
2: Battery and Avionics On
3: APU and APU Gen on
4: Nav lights on (standard for powered up aircraft)
5: Unlock Cargo Doors and begin loading (Door locks located aft to engineer desk)

Startup

1: Close and lock external doors
2: Beacon light on
3: All fuel pumps on
4: Open start valves in desired order
5: Once stabilised, turn on the generators
6: APU off

Taxi

1: Check area is clear
2: Taxi Light on
3: Parking Brake release
4: Prop to full and throttle 7-9 (depends on load)
5: Strobes on once clear

Take Off

1: Taxi Lights on
2: Flaps one quarter
3: Advance throttle to 30
4: Hold on center line, rotate at 90 kts
5: Positive rate, gear up
6: Flaps up once clear and climbing
7: Taxi Light off


Landing

1: Reduce throttle to 15-20
2: Once on final, gear down
3: Established, flaps down in stages (May experience blowback, but will extend to full at 90kts)
4 :Landing and Taxi lights on
5: Approach speed 110kts approx
6: Touchdown speed 90kts approx
7: Reduce throttle to zero on round out
8: Feather the brakes till sufficiently slow
9: Landing Light and Strobes off
10: Flaps retract, taxi to stand

It is optional to have the roll and pitch gyros activated for the landing phase, in rough conditions it can be of use

Shutdown

1: Parking Brake, Taxi Light off
2: Prop pitch and throttle to zero
3: APU and APU Gen on
4: Generators off
5: Start Valves close
6: Fuel Pumps off
7: Beacon Off
8: Avionics Master Off

For complete cold and dark
1: All lights and systems off
2: Battery off



Cargo Pods, Ramp and Pax Pod

Cargo pods can be loaded front and aft using the container loader and container carts in the collection. The ramp connects to the front, and the pax container is docked at the rear.

It is pretty straight forward, all controls apart from the cargo doors are on the loader side, so instructions for the particulars will be included in the descriptions of the vehicles themselves.

Lower cabin access is restricted if loading all the way up to the front!!

The cockpit can be accessed by an upper door (as on the real thing), the switch can be activate from outside by hovering the cursor around near the pivot until the "Open Top Hatch" switch is found.



The landing gear can freak out sometimes, such as a non retraction (Just cycle the gear a few times and slow down) or the nose wheel randomly kneeling on the ground when you get in and out of seats near it or connectors play up around it.

The cargo has a habit of despawning, even with keep active blocks on all major bodies. The only way to get around this is to spawn it in with the same vehicle file as the Argosy itself. I have spent hours trying to remedy this, but no joy.

It sometime likes to tip on its tail on spawning, if this happens just respawn it until sits right. You can alternatively run up the engines while holding the brakes to set it upright.

These are bugs which are mostly rare, but cannot be fixed.


I hope you enjoy using this as much as I did building it!

Please rate if you enjoyed it, and follow me for more content like this. I have big projects coming down the line!!

Also, if you find anything that needs fixing or improving, let me know :)