Black Square’s Piston Duke is a highly advanced aircraft simulation for Microsoft Flight Simulator. It offers a technically advanced reciprocating engine simulation, providing users with a realistic flying experience. With over 110 possible failures, the Piston Duke ensures that pilots are prepared for any situation. Additionally, it features 12 hot-swappable radio configurations, allowing for seamless communication during flights. The Piston Duke also boasts the most advanced turbocharger, pressurisation, and cabin temperature simulations in MSFS, further enhancing the overall realism of the aircraft.
Features
SYSTEMS
Black Square’s best aircraft yet will challenge you with unapologetically realistic systems such as:
- New tablet interface for configuring options, payload settings, failure management and real-time visualisers for engines, electrical schematics and environmental systems
- New engine physics simulation with compression, magneto firing, blade angle, oil pressure and unfeathering accumulators
- Reciprocating engine simulation with fouling, vapour lock, flooding and backfires, and the most realistic turbocharger simulation in Microsoft Flight Simulator to date
- New gyroscope physics simulation for electric and pneumatic gyroscopes with precession, partial failures, based on a coupled quadrature oscillator
- Completely interactable electrical system with 12 buses and 90 circuits, with battery temperature monitor and AC inverter logic
- Turbocharger driven pressurisation system and cabin climate system
- Engine leaning optimisation 'Lean Find' on EDM-760 engine monitor
- Engine limit excursions that decrease engine health and will eventually lead to failure
- State saving for fuel, radio selection, radio frequency memory, cabin aesthetics etc.
- 110+ system failures, set via in-cockpit interface. Either random based on settable MTBF, or schedulable, with optional time acceleration.
- Cabin environmental control system for heating, air conditioning, ventilation and ram air cooling. Cool things off by opening a door, or watch the aircraft heat up in the sun.
- Crew/Passenger oxygen system that depletes according to pressure altitude, passenger occupancy and their weight. Working carbon monoxide detector and leaks.
- Mathematically accurate VOR and ADF signal attenuation and noise, and remote compass
- Working ice protection systems, optional winglets, strakes and vortex generators.
CHECKLISTS
Over 500 checklist items are provided for 50 Normal, Abnormal and Emergency procedures in textual form in the manual and in-game, using the MSFS native checklist system with control and instrument highlighting. If it’s in the checklist, it’s settable in the aircraft!
SOUNDS
Black Square’s Piston Duke features a custom sound set created by Boris Audio Works with care to the unique operating aspects of this classic aircraft. High quality engine and cockpit sounds will immerse you in the simulation. Sounds such as engine starting are not mere recordings, but are instead many layered sounds, constructed based on the underlying simulation.
MODEL
- Accurately modelled Piston Duke created from hundreds of reference photos and technical documentation with the help of real Duke owners
- 100% MSFS-native animation code for the smoothest animations and cockpit interactions using either legacy or new cockpit interaction modes
- 4096x4096 (4K) PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials with real-time environment reflections for superb quality and realism, and vector-graphic-like decal quality
- Detailed normal mapping for leather, fabric, plastic, stitches, scratches, carpet and tooling marks, resulting in a texture resolution of 10,000 pixels per square inch (90.0kB)
COCKPIT
- Custom-coded steam gauges with low pass filtering, needle bounce and physics provide ultra-realistic and silky-smooth animations like you’ve never seen before. New stiction, friction and gyroscopic simulations make analogue instruments more realistic than ever!
- Carefully modelled components match the depth and character of the real instrumentation, based on reference photos, schematics and real-world measurements. Unlike other expensive Flight Sim aircraft, every piece of equipment that appears in a Black Square aircraft is modelled after a real piece of aircraft equipment and will behave the same way in its primary functionality.
- Every knob, switch and button is interactable and implemented, along with its respective electrical circuitry. Turn systems on and off or pull circuit breakers to see the impact it has on your generators and battery via the analogue meters. Alternating current inverters and bus ties are correctly simulated. Many pieces of equipment respond correctly to electrical configurations with warning messages and diagnostic codes.
- Fully 3D cockpit lighting technology for every gauge and panel, with ambient bounce lighting, and all lights dim with battery voltage and load - an immediately recognisable effect to night-time pilots. Strobe lights now cause disorienting light bounce in clouds.
- Experience the rare St. Elmo's Fire effect while flying through intense thunderstorms!
- Engine intake, pitot and static covers, and functioning wheel chocks
- Hideable yokes and throttles, adjustable sun visors and other cockpit aesthetics
FLIGHT DYNAMICS
The Piston Duke features a flight model with performance to match the real-world aircraft, based on real Duke owner feedback and in-flight data. The flight model uses the most up-to-date features available in MSFS, such as CFD propeller and stall physics, and improved ground handling. Drag varies with cowl flap settings, air conditioning scoop position and unlatched doors. Engine damage and fouling produce a rough running engine and decreased performance.
INSTRUMENTATION/EQUIPMENT
Main Panel
- Annunciator Panel
- True Airspeed Indicator
- Century 1U367 Steering Attitude Indicator
- Century NSD-360 Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI)
- Bendix/King KEA-346 Encoding Altimeter
- Collins RMI-30 Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI)
- Vertical Speed Indicator
- Bendix/King KI 206 Localizer
- Mid-Continent Turn Coordinator
- Bendix/King KRA-10 Radar Altimeter
- Engine Instrumentation
- Fuel Quantity Indicators
- BTI-600 Battery Temperature Monitor
- Duplicate Co-pilot Instrumentation
Avionics
- Integrated Audio Panel
- Garmin GTN 750/650 (COM 1 / COM 2)
- Garmin GNS 530/430 (COM 1 / COM 2)
- Bendix/King KLN-90B
- Mid-Continent MD41-328 GPS Annunciator Control Unit
- Bendix/King KX-155B (COM 1 / COM 2)
- Bendix/King KNS-81 RNAV Navigation System
- Bendix/King KR 87 ADF
- Bendix/King KDI 572R DME
- Century IV Autopilot
- Collins PRE-80C Altitude Preselector
- JPI EDM-760 Engine Monitor
- Bendix RDR 1150XL Colour Weather Radar
- Garmin GTX 327 Transponder
Electrical/Miscellaneous
- 90+ Circuit Breakers
- Voltmeter and Ammeters
- Instrument Air Indicator
- De-icing Boot Pressure Indicator
- Oxygen Pressure Gauge
- Yoke-Mounted Digital Chronometers
- Tach Timers
- Carbon Monoxide Detector
- Cabin Pressurisation Controller
- Cabin Environmental Control System
- Low Thrust Detector