Auto Pilot Altitude

[Guest Savage]

Hi,I've got something weird going on with my A330 and A340. All the planes in the package does exactly the same.In a quick example, I followed the tutorials provided on the web site. After enabling the auto pilot, the plane will start to climb and (for a example) reach FL250 as it was programmed to do. However, after reaching the programmed flight level, the plane will start MASSIVE increases and decreases in altitude in order to (what seems to me) maintain speed. On a programed flight on FL250, the plane will go as high as FL340 and then decent again to FL180 before climing again to the programmed FL250. Then, when on FL250 the speed will again increase, and the plane will again climb to at least FL350 and decent to atleast FL180 (depending on what the speed does).From what I can further gather in the flight plan, my speed is also programmed into the auto pilot, but the auto pilot seems to disregard this completely. I've tried pushing as well as pulling the knobs and allot of other things as well, but I am yet to have a flight in the Airbus where the speed and altitude is maintained as programmed in the flight plan with any of the airbus planes... Does anyone have something for me to look at????? It's a BRILLIANT plane and I'd LOVE to fly it very often, but it is extremely difficult to say the least. I almost fell of my chair the first time I flew it... There's absolutely NO comparison between the AB package and the "default" planes shipping with FS9. I'd like to purchase more of the packages as well (especially the concord and boeing ones), but I need to get a working airbus first :) Thanks,

[Guest Calum]

Hello Chris ,a few q's i would like to know before offering ( if any ) help.Have you tried cruising at very high FLs ( 390 ) and very low FLs ( say 210 ) ? This might change it and you can let me know if this affects it.What weather ( especially wind ) have you got set at the time.You have ZFW and BLOCK fuel in " INIT " page before take-off ?also , what Cost Index do you have , also situated on " INIT " page , have you tried changing it between high CI and low CI ?Let me know if any of these things make a difference. :)Calum

[Guest Savage]

Calum,From what I can remember...Cost Factor is definately 50 (as stated in the tutorials). Weather conditions, I normally fly with real-time weather updates. Just for interest sakes, I will try a 'clear skies' to disable it.I have not tried very high / low altitutes, will give that a go. ZFW and Block feul, is affirmative, I will however confirm.So let's go flying. :) Will more than likely be back here posting my results within the next 30 minutes... Perhaps even a screen capture of the MCDU (Just for 100% clarity).What I am also picking up, is that the PFD does not behave as indicated in the tutorials. Again, I will double check and come back with more information / updates... I want to beat this baby and take her to the skies!!!! It's addictive :) lol.

[Guest Savage]

Ok, let's rather take thing from the start. From what I am seeing, I may be doing something wrong prior to takeoff which is more than likely affecting the AP.I followed the KMIA-KJFK Tutorial, step by step, word for word. Every command and every instruction in the tutorial was accepted.In the "Before Takeoff" section of the manual (Page 28), it is suggested to check and verify the upper ECAM T.O Memo. Everything matches on my plane, except that I am not seeing the LDG LT (what is this in any case?)Running T.O. CONFIG TEST, my T.O. CONFIG returns NORMAL.At Take Off, I apply thrust, and press + twice for FLX/MCT. T.O. INHIBIT does apear on the ECAM (nice and pink), however, my DFP displays TOGA instead of FXL 42. From there onwards, everything is completely wrong and almost nothing as indicated in the manual works during the actual flight. Frankly, if I can even manage to get the plain in the air it is a miracle.I had about 5 unsuccessfull takeoffs now, and the process is starting to become a bit to long to restart FS9 from scratch every time to get the AB to reset.... I'm however very hopefull that my mistake that I am making is related to the above two items that do not match the tutorial however, so hopefully we can get this resolved and I can take to the skies :)Thanks in advance.

[Guest Calum]

Hello Chris ,well in order of me reading them :) ....- the LDG LT is just that , the Landing Lights , these should be on , the switches for these ( and other lights ) are located in the lower left overhead panel , also remember the LDG LT on the ECAM WILL show when they are on ( some people think its supposed to dissapear once landing lights are turned on , as if it is a memo , but it isnt , it will show when the landing LTs turn on , and go off when the Landing LTs are off ).Anyway ...- The T.O CONFIG should return normal as you say , good good :)- All i can say to this bit is , if you only want Flex power on Take-off , all i think you can do is press the " + " or " - " until you get it , it is nothing technical or a problem or anything , i think it is just you are pushing the " + " button one too many times ;) So , the first " + " should show " CL " , this is Climb Thrust when airbourne but this ARMS the autopilot when on the ground , does not activate it , so the engines wont power up ...then the second " + " push should take you to " FLX " power. If pushed once more ( maybe without realising ) , then TOGA thrust will be activated.- you say " from there on nothing works ". Well , basically , you just have " FLX " or " TOGA " power , keep on the runway ( always helps :) ) , and then just rotate at the speeds on the speedtape ( which by the way , as the tutorial says , are 10knts to high ... you should rotate the aircraft at 10knts BEFORE the VR/V2 speed ( which doesnt show on the speedtape , just note it down from the " Take Off " page ( accessed through " PERF " page on MCDU ). ...From there , rotate it up to about 9-12 degrees of pitch , and shortly after the wheels will leave the runway. Then , its wings level and follow the Flight Director on the PFD to watch what pitch you should have ( one of the good things about a nicely programmed MCDU , once airbourne , you just follow the FD and it does the hard work for you , just keep the bars crossed in the middle ). At any height above 400ft ( usually ) , just push " AP1 " ( the autopilot on FCU ( on Glareshield/top part of main panel )). ...The aircraft should continue in the climb ( maybe after a short " adjustment period " depending on how well you followed the FD ;) ) , following the SID/Heading and the speed will comfortably increase as you retract the flaps on schedule ) :)o.k , sorry for long post , and if i explained alot of that far too " simply " , i just need to make sure you understand what i'm talking about :)Finally .... DO NOT GIVE UP , like you said , the Airbus PRO series are amazingly detailed and well made , and both A320PRO and A340PRO work fine for me and others , so soon we can get it working for you as well :) ( actually , i think i remember having some trouble with the A32PRO the first time , i just wasnt sure of it :) )CalumP.S Check your Private Messages

[Guest Savage]

Ok... Am I allowed to say HOLY MOTHER OF *BEEEEEEEEEEP!!* (Moderator, please excuse me!) :)From what I can see, my main problems:- I for some reason battle REALLY HARD to control the aircraft on the ground with a keyboard (yes, I know not the best way to do this,but it's all I have).- I take to long to activate the AP after takeoff.Given I get the above right, and maange to get airborn without running of the runway.... MAN!!!! I just finished flying KMIA - KJFK, and WHAT A RUSH!!! I can now TRULY understand what a brilliant piece of machine the AB340 is... From starting my holding pattern (and decent) to landing at KJFK, I honestly did not know what hit me... :) I think I'm still on the coulds here.Ok, fair enough, I do have allot of "traning" and "learning" to do here, but thankfully at least now I know everything works and I did make my first successfull flight.There was one or two errors in my flight plan which was a bit strange though. After I finished my decent and exited the holding pattern at 3500ft, the plane flew BACK to SSE and wanted to "re-fly" the entire flight plan from SSE to CL04R (pardon me, I hope I remember these names correctly). A quick intervention in the flight plan ment that I flew back to SSE and from there straight through to CL04R - sure, I realise that ACT more than likely would have shot me!Just one more quick question if I may... Do you exit your holding pattern immediately af 3500ft, or must you wait untill the plan is again flying at least in the direction it is supposed to? I waited untill I made my second turning coming back into the direction I was supposed to go, but the plane simply held the altitude constant and waited for me... I guess no harm will come exiting immediately.If I may just also say with the best intentions possible. I have read all the manuals, and are working through all the tutorials. Flying the AB340 is a *MAJOR* leap from flying with the "Standard" Microsoft planes (as well as more common freeware addons). Whilst I appreciate that the tutorials are a "parrot" way of learning - designed to get you to fly as quickly as possible, I will DEFINATELY appreciate some sort of manual that tells a "newbie" WHAT IS WHAT, and WHAT it is for. For example, what all the different settings on the PFD means (such as TOGA, FLX 42, etc)... I'm sure you get where I'm going... :) This is a MAJOR learning curve, and there's very little material in any of the PPS Manuals to actually TEACH you HOW to fly the AB. As I said, I mean this with the best intentions possible, I'm not stepping on any one's toes (at least I hope not). I guess it can very likely be that I missed the docs I was supposed to be reading in the first place, so please feel free to push me in the right direction here if I am mistaken.Other than that... All I can say is WOW... It's BRILLIANT. Anyone know a good tutorial on entering flight plans for the AB340? :)

[Guest Calum]

Hello Chris ,very well done on a succesful flight :)-The garunteed way to get rid of the trouble controlling the aircraft on the ground ( and actually in the air ) , is buy a joystick , i recommend it to you , any one , just with one or two buttons to go on the side ;)-About engaging the "AP1" , if you want to fly the SID / STAR , just disconnect , if not , as long as you are above 400ft , you can let it do all the work if you want.-I think you " runnning off the runway " is just that it was very diffucult to conrol without a joystick.-Your descent and appraoch to JFK sounds like it was a good one ;)-You may have lots to learn and try out , so any q's needing answered or even just wanting to make sure you have something correctly set , always just PM someone on the AirBus forum , or post a topic about it and i am sure you will get a helpful answer.-Sometimes on the Airbus Series MCDU , if you select a SID/STAR , if appears twice or even three times in the Flight Plan page , i dont know why this is ( maybe PSS will work on a small patch for it after their next two big releases ) , but the best way ( for the moment ) to make sure you have it exactly what you want , just go to the " PLAN " dial selector on the EFIS control panel , and go through the MCDU , down the flight plan while checking the ND to make sure it is what you want. ...There is a good rule ( for all airliners but especially the new airbus series ) , it goes :"Never let the MCDU/FMC contain something you are not willing to fly."Basically dont take-off without you being sure about your route programmed into the MCDU , so you dont get a surprise when you push the "AP1" button ;)-The hold you did , it sounds like you did everything right. You can leave the HOLD at anytime , place or altitude , but it is usually good to let it fly the whole thing and just watch it to make sure.Lastly ,You are right about the PSS Airbusses. The A319-A340 are brilliantly modelled , made , and programmed , soon you can know alot more about the systems specific to the type you like flying ( althought they all only have minor differences ) Just keep working at it and i can talk to you on MSN sometime soon and maybe take you through a flight in FS :)Good Luck and keep at it Calum

[Guest Savage]

I should more than likely stop replying to this :)You are right Calum. "running of the runway" is because I cannot control the aircraft on the ground. I will invest in some hardware (decent headset + joystick - at least) soon, and I'm sure it will make things allot easier for me. My takeoff procedure right now (please don't laugh) is to turn of collission detection, get the speed going, get the landing gear up (whilst running down the runway!!!), and then I wait for the aircraft to "bounce" (technically crash) on the ground. FS9 then resets with your aircraft a couple of hundred ft in the air, and I quickly enable the AP before I hit the ground again :) lolI did KMIA-KJFK again, and this time it was flawless (except the takeoff obviously)... Not the same major "rush" as it was the first time, but still a good and successfull flight. This time I flew directly to the approach after my holding patters, so the first time there was obviously just something wrong in the flight plan that I didn't do right. For the fun of it, I did this time let ATC now I was on my way, they wanted me to land on a different runway as I had programmed (according to the tutorial) - and this is obviously expected. I said to #### with it and landed on th wrong runway :) Time, patience, and practise will make it all come right over time.Just a recommendation to PSS (as I did indicate to Calum on MSN as well). Whilst myself, and I am sure allot of other not so skilled (yet) pilots enjoy flying the tutorials and getting things perfect. The MCDU is extremely complex and complicated. Frankly, I've discussed this in great detail with Calum as well and he will now be making a couple of flight plans for me. Will it at all be possible to open up another forum or perhaps a section on your web site where we can discuss, download, and exchange flight plans specific to the PSS aircraft? Having looked at the "standard" flight plans (even those posted on the AVSIM Forums), these plans are for some reason very different from what you actually enter into the MCDU. Again, I am missing something yes, but that only comes with experience :) Us newbies need to pick up that experience and knowledge from somewhere :) Perhaps PSS (or someone) can just slap a small howto guide together explaining how to get these "standard" flight plans into the MCDU - that would already be extremely helpful.

[Guest Knikolaes]

If you ever get the money, I every so very highly recommend the CH Pro Flight Yoke and Pdels. They are roughly 100 to 150 bucks each depending on where you get them, but MY oh MY they are a blessed creation for me. I have had my yoke and pedals for goping on 3 years now and they have not failed me once, and when all keys are assigned right, it makes flying a whole new experience.I used the config for the PSS series to map my joystick keys in such a way that I literally do not have to touch my keyboard at all -- except to load FS or manage the lights and radios/ATC communications. The rest -- flaps, throttles, pitch, views and all that is on the yoke. And most of the crucial switches are on the right side, so you can fly like student pilots are usually trained to do -- keep one hand on the yoke (left hand) and right hand stays OFF the yoke and does the workload around the cockpit.And she performs beautifully on everything from default AC to the Carenado GA aircraft to the PSS aircraft and my most recent addition - the Level-D 767. I cant wait to place the PSS's upcoming 757 by her side.Just thought I would share that with you.OH . . . and CH . . . . they do awesome for customer service. My first flight yoke had a bad spring in it and that was after owning it for 1 year. They replaced it with full shipping paid and a quick RMA. That's customer service :-)

[Guest Savage]

Just further to this issue... I don't know how this happened, but to 'pull up' from the ground is no longer key '2' on my keypad. Instead I have to use '1'. Don't ask me, I don't know, but it works like a charm :)