Comet 4 Panel Manual
Panel Manual | VC extras | Checklists | Flying Tips
Main | Centre | Autopilot | Fuel | Overhead | Electrics & Ignition
Centre Panel
RPM Simple clock style gauge showing engine revs. Normal takeoff power is 8000 - 8050 RPM. Normal climb power is 7400 RPM. Normal approach & landing power is 6500 - 6700 RPM.
Exhaust Gas Temperature Temperature in Celsius. The temperature should normally be under 570 degrees. Up to 650 degrees is allowed for 5 minutes, after which engine overheat occurs. Engine overheat gives a red warning light under this gauge. Extended engine overheat will result in an engine failure. The other warning lights are a red engine fail & amber low oil pressure.
Power Loss Indicator These gauges were used on takeoff to monitor engine performance. Takeoff power should result in the needles travelling to the vertical marker or more and all engines should be registering the same reading.
DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) This gauge displays the distance to any DME supporting beacon that is tuned into your NAV receivers. DME1 (top) runs off NAV1, DME2 (bottom) runs off NAV2. Distance is displayed in nautical miles. Most VOR & ILS beacons support DME, but some do not. If no DME signal is being received, the gauge shows a yellow line across the numbers. Later DME equipment also displayed ground speed & estimated time to the beacon. This information is available if you move over the gauge with the mouse cursor.
Flap Position This is held on the 2D centre panel for ease of use only. The VC has the correct Engine Synchronizer here instead, while the Flap indicator is on the co-pilot's panel. It shows the position of the trailing edge flaps. The gauge can be used to move the flaps by clicking with the mouse. Click on the left side to raise a notch, click on the right side to lower a notch. 20 degrees - Takeoff 30 degrees - Approach 40 degrees - Approach 60 degrees - Landing (outer flaps only) 80 degrees - Landing (centre flaps only)
Landing Gear Indicators The three sliders show the position of the landing gear. If the landing gear is raised & locked up, no lights are lit. If all the gear is down & locked the three green lights are lit. In FS you can click on this gauge to raise & lower the gear.
Reverse Thrust Lights Two lights show for each of the outer engines, amber shows the shutters are closing at the back of the engine, green shows when reverse thrust is active.
Top Temp Control With Top Temp on, fuel flow to the engine will automatically be reduced if the temperature is approaching the maximum allowed limits. It is impossible to overheat the engines with this system on. The normal maximum temperature is 570 deg, but with up to 650 deg is allowed for 5 minutes (eg takeoff).
SFS Radio Selector The top switch selects the NAV radio that supplies information to the flight director. Three settings 1, OFF and 2. Information from the NAV radios appears in the Compass and the Attitude indicator. At present, the bottom switch is only a dummy switch. Each NAV setting (1 & 2) stores it's own individual course bearing, so it is possible to preset a new course and then switch over to it and a new NAV radio frequency at the flick of a switch.
Engine Synchronizer VC only. The engine synchronizer forces other engines to adopt the same RPM as the nominated engine. There are three sync modes:- All engines to Port Outer (engine 1) All engines to Starboard Inner (engine 3) Outer engines (1 & 4) to Port Outer (engine 1) This is no great use if you only have a single throttle control on your yoke/stick.

Top