Erik550c 1 Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 The Katana forum won't let me post, so I am posting here. Can anyone help me? I have the 1.04 version of the Diamond DA20-100 Katana 4x, and I am having a few problems. I read the whole manual, and I watched youtube videos of real Katana's, and I am following how to fly it as much as possible by the manual. 1) The oil of my Katana needs replacing every few hours. I am flying cross-country, and everytime I land and check the service tab, the oil lights up yellow. Once, the dipstick was completely dry when I landed and checked the oil. I had refilled it and replaced the oil filter prior to taking off that time. I replace the oil by spinning the propeller until the oil drops down, filling it up full with new oil, replacing the oil filter, draining out the water, replacing the cap, and within 2-3 hours of flight time, the oil level will drop down half-way and the inspection recommends an oil change. Every 2-3 hours it needs an oil change, every flight. 2) The generator needs replacing every 4 hours of flight time. I'll have a perfect flight with everything in the green, and the next flight the Gen. light will flicker, and the Ammeter will flicker and return to the middle all the way from a positive charge, and then return back to a positive charge. Not reliable to fly over the desert for 4 hours. 3) My Katana (at Utah, USA alt. of 8000-10500 and OAT 2-20) looses power presumably to carb ice, and remains iced for the next 2-4 hours of my flight. I pull the carb heat out right away, and I leave it on. I try cycling it for 15 seconds once-in-awhile, and I try setting it to the best setting. Anyway, my plane travels at just over stall speed for 4 hours, everytime. The RPM and Manifold Pressure stay high enough, however my KIAS is very slow. 4) Today, my plane failed the RPM/carb heat before take-off checklist part. I set RPM to 1500, and pulled the carb heat for the engine test, and it lost more than 50 rpm power. It lost closer to 200 rpm. How do I fix this, and what caused this? I gave the plane a new engine the flight before. I have these problems most of the time. I takeoff and lower prop to 2250, turn off the fuel pump, climb and level out, and I try to fly with PROP half-way, but the carb ice (problem number 3 above) forces me to fly at maximum continuous power at 2250 rpm (or I'll keep loosing altitude and crash). What's going on? When I first installed the plane, I yanked the tow with the mouse too fast three times, and the tow crashed the plane hard three times without me even having turned the engine on. I never reset the plane, but nothing came up in the maintainence inspection except the "Airframe." Sorry, long questions. Anyone know what's going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik550c 1 Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 No one knows? Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deputy Sheriffs Herman 1591 Posted June 24, 2014 Deputy Sheriffs Share Posted June 24, 2014 I don't have the Katana, but at least I can move your question for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik550c 1 Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 This question of mine was moved because I couldn't post in the Katana section. Can anyone who knows about the Katana review my questions above? Thanks a lot, Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik550c 1 Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Problem #2 regarding flickering Gen light and Ammeter occurs on a fresh install and reset of the Katana. Does this plane really do this from the factory? Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleD 1027 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Hi Erik, This seems like many issues at a far faster rate then they should be showing up. Are you using a specific weather addon during this? Anything like ASN, AS2012, REX, OPUS, etc? I see you tried a clean install already? As for the oil: it may sound silly but did you make sure the cap is secured? Some oil burn during flight is completely normal. Just as a for-instance I performed a 4 hour flight IRL the other day and toasted a whole quart of oil. Have you also tried the other oil type? As for the carb heat issue, I assume you've researched what causes carb icing. Also, consider your density altitude when flying. Flying in Utah in the summer greater than 8000' does not bode well to good performance. Does this issue present itself elsewhere, as in a different climate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDNR-Cruiser 319 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Hi Erik, I have more than 300 hrs flight time with my Katana 4X but never had any such problems as you describe. You wrote that your MP stayed in a healthy area in Utah, so I don't think it's a problem of densitiy altitude and the 100 hp Katana is not that bad when it comes to altitude flying... - as long as you don't forget to switch the fuel pump on above FL130! Carburetor icing should also go away in about 4 to 6 minutes if you react quickly enough.... - if not, your engine will starve anyway.... The problem sounds like a PC or operating system compatibility issue. The Katana was developed a long time ago for XP and Vista 32bit operating systems and I heard about some problems with newer OS but it never was confirmed, as far as I know, and there were no updates for the Katana in a pretty long time... Marcel Felde programmed his own flight engine for this bird and its many extra features and it might not be compatible with newer PCs - but that is just my uneducated guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik550c 1 Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Hi Erik, I have more than 300 hrs flight time with my Katana 4X but never had any such problems as you describe. You wrote that your MP stayed in a healthy area in Utah, so I don't think it's a problem of densitiy altitude and the 100 hp Katana is not that bad when it comes to altitude flying... - as long as you don't forget to switch the fuel pump on above FL130! Carburetor icing should also go away in about 4 to 6 minutes if you react quickly enough.... - if not, your engine will starve anyway.... The problem sounds like a PC or operating system compatibility issue. The Katana was developed a long time ago for XP and Vista 32bit operating systems and I heard about some problems with newer OS but it never was confirmed, as far as I know, and there were no updates for the Katana in a pretty long time... Marcel Felde programmed his own flight engine for this bird and its many extra features and it might not be compatible with newer PCs - but that is just my uneducated guess... Hi Erik, This seems like many issues at a far faster rate then they should be showing up. Are you using a specific weather addon during this? Anything like ASN, AS2012, REX, OPUS, etc? I see you tried a clean install already? As for the oil: it may sound silly but did you make sure the cap is secured? Some oil burn during flight is completely normal. Just as a for-instance I performed a 4 hour flight IRL the other day and toasted a whole quart of oil. Have you also tried the other oil type? As for the carb heat issue, I assume you've researched what causes carb icing. Also, consider your density altitude when flying. Flying in Utah in the summer greater than 8000' does not bode well to good performance. Does this issue present itself elsewhere, as in a different climate? Thanks for the replies. I've tried both oil types, it is good to know that it does burn oil quickly. Not sure about burning a full oil fill in one four hour flight like I was. The carb ice rarely went away. At 8000' to 12000' in Utah during the summer in the Katana, my carb ice did not go away after 5 or so minutes. It stayed for like half an hour or more. It'd only get a little better, but not good enough to leave the carb heat off. I've flown the Katana in Southern California, but not for hours like I did in Utah. I didn't get much carb ice in So Cal. I wasn't flying with ASN at the time. Sounds like the flickering Gen and Ammeter are compatibility related. Thanks for the replies. I'll keep checking back here. Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azheat 0 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 has anyone had success running DA20-100 in Prepar3d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brisywisy 0 Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I don't think quick oil burning is the problem. You need to manually rotate the prop (until it burps) to pump oil out of the dry sump before you can get an accurate oil level reading. I'm not at my PC to check, but I believe that Katana 4X simulates this. So you probably just need to rotate the prop. has anyone had success running DA20-100 in Prepar3d Yep, it works well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik550c 1 Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 I don't think quick oil burning is the problem. You need to manually rotate the prop (until it burps) to pump oil out of the dry sump before you can get an accurate oil level reading. I'm not at my PC to check, but I believe that Katana 4X simulates this. So you probably just need to rotate the prop. Yep, it works well for me. I rotate the prop until I hear the oil drop into the reservoir before I check the oil. What happens is I fill it up full following procedure, fly my flight, and by the time I land the oil is nearly completely gone and when I go to the maintenance screen, it recommends I change the oil. It is more than just a case of rotating the prop, for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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