The Howard 500 Panel

For the MS FS2004 Howard 500

By Milton Shupe, Scott Thomas, and Andre Folkers

(With the invaluable help of Nick Pike on the xml gauge programming!)

The Howard 500 is a complex Twin radial aircraft, that in the real world is a two pilot aircraft. We have attempted to recreate

all the functions of the Real , N500HP, Howard 500 panel, that Flight Simulator 2004 will allow, and yet, still make it flyable

with just one pilot! We recommend that you read over all the Documents included in the package, and familiarize yourself with

all the Panel Documents and jpegs.

The main instrument panel (pilots panel)

Some notes on some of the instruments and their functions

Main Panel Instruments

Airspeed . Reads Indicated Knots

VSI: Default VSI is set at 1500 FPM

RMI: Directional Indicator for Nav 2 and ADF (ADF not present on REAL WORLD N500HP)

Radar Altimeter: Height above the Earth. Decision Hieght can be adjusted, and there is a DH

warning on the gauge as well as above the Altimeter

Brake Press Gauge: Only indicates Parking Brake “applied”

DME: Reads Nav 1 or 2 DME only. Switchable with sliver knob.

BMEP: Brake Mean Efficiency Pressure. True measurement of the engine power output. Mixture is set by peaking the BMEP reading . Best econo power can be achieved by leaning to 2-10 drop in pressure reading.

ADI Pressure: Anti Detonation Injection system pressure. A dummy gauge that just indicates the ADI is on

Fuel Gauge: This gauge just shows total main gallons on upper scales and total Auxillary Gallons on the lower scales. The copilots panel has the full Fuel Gauge set.

Carb Air: Dummy gauge

Cabin Differential Pressure: Shows cabin altitutude at a given aircraft altitude. Cabin pressure is not adjustable in the Sim

Gear and Flap Position Indicator: Shows gear position and flap position, 0*, 14* and 35*

Main Panel Details

Glare Shield Warning Panel

GPS

Lower panel

Copilot’s Panel

Some notes on some of the instruments and their functions

Copilot’s panel Instruments

Oil Cooler Doors: Responds to Cowl Flaps position

Nav Lights: Switch up puts lights in steady state. Down sets lights in flashing state. This switch will cause the “L” Key light function to operate abnormally

Pitot Heat Amp Gauges: Will indicate pitot is on or off

Con’t next page

Copilot’s Panel con’t

Fuel gauges: The Howard fuel system consists of Left and Right Main Wing Tanks, Left and Right Auxillary “Rear” tanks, and Left and Right Wing tip “Forward” Tanks. These are all selectable thru the FUEL_MAG Popup.

Shadin Gauge: Fuel computer, with zoom function. The gauge shows left and right engine fuel flows and has selectable functions of Gals per nm, Gals to Destination, Gals Reserve, And Time endurance, as well as Total Gals remaining, and Total Gals used. You can also “refuel “ the aircraft by clicking the “ADD” switch

A note on the Copilot panel view. You may notice that the view from the copilots panel is the same as the main panel, except higher. I haven’t yet, as of this writing, figured out how to change that!

Popup Panel Details

Be aware that selecting these in the Copilots panel may cause them to appear “under” the Copilots panel. Most are not selectable there thru the use of a different GPS in the Copilots panel

Fuel-Magneto Popup

ECU Popup

Some notes on some of the instruments and their functions

The Supercharger levers are inoperative at this time

The ADI switch and Indicators are dummies.

The small ECU visable on the main panel, “swaps” with the Large ECU when selected via the icon on the GPS

The Throttle, Prop, and Mixture levers may be selected individually or in pairs. The click spot for moving both of any of these levers is located between each pair

Left Console

Note the Color coding on the switches on both the Console Panel Popups.

Most of the switches on the consoles are dummies, that only light a light. These functions are just not available in FS…yet!

Right Console

General Notes

There are also a GPS popup, in full size, and the default Radio Stack Popup.

There is a “6 pack” zoom functuon available for the Main Panel only.

There is a nice panel light, switched with the small switch on the Warn Panel. This does not illuminate the instruments

The start system requires both battery switches be on to function. It is recommended that the Right engine be started first as the pilot cannot really hear the right engine too well once the left engine is started!

The Howard 500 VC panel

The Howard VC Panel, contains all the gauge functions as the 2D Panel.