Beech 18 Operations Manual

Things to know about the Beech 18:

  1. The props do not counter-rotate; that means you’ll experience torque and precession effects similar to those of a single-engine aircraft.  Use rudder correction accordingly.
  2. The main brakes are mounted on the same side of each gear assembly.  This was intentional, and a design feature of the original Beech 18, so a single assembly could be interchangeable for either side.
  3. The pilot’s corner window is noticeably smaller than the copilot’s.  If you’ll look closely you’ll see a release handle mounted low on the inside of the virtual cockpit.  The smaller window made room for the window release mechanism.

Cockpit tips:

Virtual cockpit recommended!

This aircraft is primarily designed to fly in Virtual Cockpit mode. When you enter the Virtual Cockpit, it is recommended you zoom out to get a wider perspective. You can simply press the MINUS "-" key, which will zoom you out to 75%, or for finer increments, press SHIFT + MINUS. Press the PLUS "+" key or SHIFT + PLUS for zoom back in.

Other basic panel tips:

  1. “Hovering” the mouse cursor over any gauge or control should give you a pop-up window explaining the item’s purpose and, in some cases, the current setting or value.
  2. In the case of a control, which is manipulated by “clicking and dragging,” if your mouse has a center wheel it will usually work to increase/decrease the control.

Center Console:

Engine controls:

Dual knobs control, in turn, the propeller pitch, engine throttle, and fuel mixture for each engine.  Manipulate a specific knob by either clicking the desired end location or clicking and dragging the knob.  To manipulate both engine controls at the same time click and/or drag midway between them.  The color-coded knobs control:

  1. Blue:  Prop Pitch.  When not at 100% this allows you to override the constant-speed propellers in order to control RPM.
  2. Black:  Engine Throttles. 
  3. Red:  Fuel Mixture.  This controls the ratio of fuel to air that is burned by the engines.  For low-altitude operations 100% is fine; adjusting this downwards (providing a “leaner” mixture) as you gain altitude will improve engine power and fuel economy.  WARNING:  setting either control to 0% (“idle cutoff”) will shut down that engine.

Fuel tank selectors:

Each selector controls where the related engine draws its fuel.  The Beech 18 has five tanks:  one in the nose, and a main & auxiliary tank in each wing.  Both engines have access to the nose tank, while the left/right wing tanks are restricted to use only by the engine on the same side.  To change a setting, click on the selector housing over the name of the desired tank; the selector handle will move to point to that tank, and the engine will begin drawing from it.  The forward setting, “Off” will, of course, shut off all fuel flow to that engine. 

When the simulation starts, it automatically selects “all tanks” for each engine, even though no such selection actually exists in the real aircraft.  This is inherent in the simulator and we have no control over it.  The selectors point to the main tanks in this case, for appearance’s sake; if you desire a more realistic situation where fuel is only drawn from a tank you specify it is necessary for you to manually change the setting at least once.  If you ever use the engine auto-start feature of the simulator you’ll have to re-select the fuel tanks, as they will have been reset to “all.”

Ignition Panel:

At the top center of this panel is the tail wheel lock.  When taking off it is usually desirable to set this to the “locked” setting so that rudder control doesn’t also steer the tail wheel.  Doing so reduces the tendency to over-steer and weave excessively during the takeoff run.

Each engine has two magnetos; they can be selected either individually or both can be selected using the provided dial switches.  Selecting no magnetos will turn off the engine and/or prevent it from starting.  Pilots are advised to select both magnetos at all times during flight operations to reduce risk caused by failure.  This is the automatic setting if you auto-start your engines.

For manual engine start, once you have set everything up properly a single click on the appropriate starter plunger will start that engine.

Oil Warning Lamps:

These are located at the top of the dashboard on the pilot’s side.  If either engine suffers a loss of oil pressure (or excessive oil pressure) the lamp on the appropriate side will illuminate.  If this occurs you are advised to shut down the affected engine immediately and seek an emergency landing.

Other Console-mounted Controls:

Master Switch Panel:

These toggle switches control the various aircraft lights, as well as various aircraft electronics.  If you find the engines are not starting, or the aircraft gauges are inoperative, you should first check here to insure the appropriate switches are turned on.

Gear Handle:

This is a simple up/down lever; click and drag in the desired direction to extend or retract the landing gear.

Flap Lever:

You can raise or lower the aircraft flaps by clicking and dragging up or down on this lever control.  The lever’s position gives a visual indication of the current flap setting.

Aileron Trim:

You can correct any tendency for the aircraft to bank on its own by clicking and dragging left or right on this knob.  Hovering your mouse pointer over this gauge will give you a read-out of the current setting.

Cowl Flap Levers:

The engines are cooled by air passing through the nacelles.  Flaps at the bottom of each nacelle will, when open, increase the flow of cooling air at the expense of some added drag.  Click and drag up/down on the appropriate handle (upper handle for the left engine, lower handle for the right) to change the cowl flap settings.  The default setting when the simulator begins is fully open.

Floor-Mounted Controls:

Parking Brake Lever:

In the up position, this lever sets the parking break.  To set or release, simply click on the lever handle.

Elevator Trim Wheel:

Clicking and dragging on this wheel will adjust the aircraft pitch to correct for tendencies to nose up or down during flight.  Hovering will give you a read-out of the current setting.  Expect to use this control often to trim for level flight, especially if your flight speed or altitude varies.

Manual Engine Start:

If you prefer not to use CTRL-E to auto-start your engines, here’s a run-down of the procedure:

  1. Insure the master battery switch and both alternator switches are on.
  2. Set engine throttles to idle.
  3. Set prop pitch to 100%.
  4. Set fuel mixture to 100%
  5. Set both magneto controls to “1+2”
  6. When ready, click the starter plunger for each engine in turn.
  7. Let the engines warm up at idle until the oil warning lights go out.

Engine Shutdown:

There are three easy methods for manually shutting down an engine:

  1. Set magnetos to “Off”
  2. Set fuel mixture to 0%
  3. Set the fuel selector to “Fuel Off.”

2D Panel functions

Please use the photo guide below for specific panel functions

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for purchasing our new Beech 18!

If you have any questions to thoughts, suggestions please visit us at www.simtechflightdesign.com and feel free to use our free customer service forum.

We would be more then happy to help you.

SimTECH Flight Design Ltd.