Find aircraft background, systems descriptions and manuals for the aircraft you are researching. Each note keeps its source and version context close by.
Simulator manuals describe the developer’s implementation. Aircraft background is research-based; pilot accounts describe an individual’s experience. Coverage here is limited to the selected notes and linked resources, not the full contents of every manual.
DC-3 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
Choose a period or modernised cockpit
The DC-3 guide describes trim tabs and hydraulically operated auxiliary systems. It also offers a vintage Sperry installation or a modern GNS/autopilot configuration. Those choices represent different cockpit equipment, making the selected version important when looking up navigation or automation controls.
Archived simulator manual; installed package revision not observed · PDF pp.5-6,10
DC-3C Airliner · VSKYLABS · X-Plane 12
Released product and variants
The DC-3C is a modernised civilian development based on a C-47A. VSKYLABS equips it with G1000-based avionics, a matching autopilot and a passenger cabin; the military C-47B is sold separately.
Official developer / designated-store reference · checked 2026-09-14
Douglas DC-3
The DC-3 developed from Douglas's earlier DC-2 and sleeper-transport work. Its low-wing metal airframe, retractable main gear and two radial engines became a familiar sight on airline routes. Military derivatives expanded the design's influence during the Second World War.
Civilian survivors have carried passengers and freight with a wide range of later equipment. In simulation, a vintage cockpit with a Sperry system and a modernised navigation installation are different interpretations of that long life. Their manuals explain which period and equipment the virtual aircraft represents.
Aircraft / family
Flying the DC-3
Barry Schiff · 5 June 1994
DC-3 ferry flight from Kabul
Jack Lamb · retrospective account; chronology conflicts
Bill Robbins and the Hay Bales
Randy L. Sohn · 1999 recollection of a 1961 flight
DC-6 · PMDG · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
One package now covers both MSFS generations
PMDG’s product page describes the May 2026 update bringing its MSFS 2020 DC-6 to MSFS 2024. The package includes both DC-6A and DC-6B models. The product's later update information supplements the older manuals.
Gathered PMDG product page · May 2026 update statement
DC-6 · PMDG · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
The tablet connects loading, servicing and aircraft condition
The documented tablet tools include fuel and loadout management, a Ramp Manager, Maintenance Manager and Engine Damage Visualizer. The Artificial Flight Engineer supplies crew assistance.
PMDG’s published product features; not a runtime verification
DC-6 · PMDG · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
A cockpit based on an individual aircraft
PMDG's introduction identifies V5-NCG as the aircraft surveyed for its DC-6. The team's photographs, audio and video informed the simulated interior. Different engine-gauge faces, unusual lighting labels and even misspelled placards were retained from that aircraft. Those details reproduce the surveyed V5-NCG cockpit.
PMDG DC-6 Pilot Introduction, June 2021; archived version and its documented assistant limits · PDF pp.5,12
DC-6 · PMDG · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Understanding the automated flight engineer
The automated flight engineer maintains its selected phase, so it can override manual power, mixture or carburettor-air adjustments. The June 2021 guide describes Abort as the return to manual systems management. It also separates the assistant's responsibilities from the pilot's: the documented version does not operate the autopilot or start the engines. Its cruise setup is a chosen compromise among several settings in the handbook.
PMDG DC-6 Pilot Introduction, June 2021; archived version and its documented assistant limits · PDF pp.12–14
DC-6 · PMDG · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
A short first trip with modern navigation
PMDG's first tutorial uses a Portland-to-Seattle flight to introduce the propliner with GPS navigation. The route is explicitly a modern approximation, and the exercise uses clear weather so the pilot can concentrate on the aircraft. Its setup highlights elevator and aileron trim, flaps, and the separate gyropilot and mechanical-disconnect assignments. The guide then takes the flight through climb, cruise, approach and shutdown.
PMDG DC-6 Tutorial 1, June 2021; tutorial scenario, not a historical airline flight · PDF pp.3–6
DC-6 · PMDG · MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
A second trip using radio navigation
The second PMDG tutorial moves from Seattle to Vancouver with the Bendix radio option and no GPS. It adds a cold-and-dark start, VOR-to-VOR navigation and an ILS arrival to the earlier exercise. The guide again uses clear weather and describes its route as an approximation of period flying. Together, the tutorials offer two different ways to learn the same simulated aircraft, with navigation equipment and preparation setting the workload.
PMDG DC-6 Tutorial 2, June 2021; tutorial scenario, not a historical airline flight · PDF pp.4–6,9
