Hi IPACS team,
First of all, I want to say that the Dash 8 Q400 is a great addition overall, it’s clear a lot of effort went into it, and it shows in many areas. I started flying it more and more often, and i’m enjoying the whole turboprop experience so far.
However, after spending more time with the aircraft lately and comparing it to real-world footage and behavior, I can't help but notice a strange visual issue that’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore, specifically with the propeller rendering at high RPM.
Right now, the “fade-out radius” effect used on the propellers is not accurate at all. At higher speeds, a significant portion of the prop disc, particularly the outer radius, disappears entirely in your model. This results in roughly half of the propeller disc becoming invisible, which is not how the Q400 propeller looks in real life.
If you look at real-world references, see this Video 1, this video 2, this Video 3 and this video 4, you can clearly observe that even at high RPM:
- The outer radius of the propellers remains visible
- The yellow tip markings are still distinguishable
- The prop disc maintains a more complete visual presence
In contrast, the current in-sim implementation fades out too aggressively, removing the outer portion altogether, which breaks immersion and does not reflect real-world operation.
I’ve also attached screenshots from the current Q400 in AeroFly for direct comparison, I’d strongly encourage you to review those alongside the videos to better understand the discrepancy. (Please click the picture below to see my 3 examples from 3 different Q400 flights)
I must add that this issue isn’t a minor detail for an aircraft like the Q400, where propeller visuals are a defining characteristic. It would be great to see this addressed with a more accurate rendering approach.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope this can be considered for a future update.
