Auto Pilot crashes plane

[Guest ahunter]

Hello. When I select the auto pilot and it says center in command all *$@) breaks loose. The planes take an uncontrollable nose dive and the only way to recover is turn the auto pilot off. This does not happen if I am not using FS Crew. Any thoughts, help, suggestion or otherwise? Thanks for your time.Aaron.

[byork 2,258]

Hello Aaron,We had a large beta team and FS2Crew was extensively tested prior to release.No one had or reported that issue.My thoughts, make sure failures are disabled in the Level D menu to rule out that possibility.FS2Crew does not change or touch any of the Level D's internal autopilot logic, so I'm afraid there's not much more I can really say at this point regarding your experience.I might however suggest doing a clean re-install of the Level-D.Doing a clean re-install often clears up weird little gremlins that somehow show up out of the blue.Cheers,Bryan

[Guest ahunter]

Well I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling and it still is doing the same thing. All goes well until after takeoff and I engage center in command. After that is dives the plane in the ground everytime, making this program at this time unusuable. Surely I can't be the only one? Help.Aaron.

[byork 2,258]

Hello Aaron,You have the Level-D Service Update 3 installed I assume?I really don't know.When are you trying to engage the autopilot? What altitude? Does the EADI indicate that the Autopilot is in command?Also, the First Officer will engage the autopilot when you command: "Climb Thrust, VNAV, Center in Command" during the climb.I might also suggest posting this on the Level-D forum. All the best,Bryan

[Guest ahunter]

Bryan, I am trying to follow the tutorial as best I can. I am having lnav selected at 400 and climb thrust vnanv and center in command auto pilot after 1000. Like I say, once this auto pilot takes over it dives. One other thing I have also failed to mention is that everything seems fine on takeoff but when I get VR and pull back on the yoke it does not become airborne until well past where it should. It seems to climb slowly for awhile and the speed does get up past where it should, or past v2 anyway. In other words the takeoff roll is fine, but trying to climb out is not right either. I have the trim set to where it should be based on the configuration. I just wanted to add this other problem as well, which I bet is associated with the other part. Thank you.Aaron.

[byork 2,258]

Hello Aaron,Based on what you're telling me, I might suggest checking your fuel load and your takeoff trim.Maybe you're over weight or out of trim or both?FS2Crew doesn't touch the handling characteristics of the Level-D 767, so this is my best guess.Cheers,Bryan

[Guest ahunter]

Bryan, I think I found the problem. Somehow as I kept going through the checks over and over I finally noticed that for some reason the elevator appeared to be stuck in the down position. I have no idea how it ended up being there or doing that. I recalibrated the joystick and it put it back where it should be. I really don't think your program did this at all. After I recalibrated, things pretty much seemed to work fine as far as takeoff and auto pilot goes. I still have a learning curve to overcome here knowing when and what to push etc. So hopefully all will work good now. This is really a great program. I would like to thank you for your help andquick response to my crazy problem. I don't think one could find any better customer service in this field out there.Aaron

[Guest Skiff]

On one flight I was doing the other night, when the FO was doing the eleveator checks I noticed that it wasn't returning from the down position. Nudged my yoke a bit, and the indicator came back to center.I wonder if this is a similar problem? I would imaginge it had resolved itself when rotating off the runway, but you never know. Also, you may want to try try mimicking the procedure without using FS2Crew to see if it's a problem with the plane itself.Jon (KSEA)

[Guest Hesynergy]

Yeah...exactly the same for me...I was climbing thru 4000 and set 33000 as the cruise alt...and total loss of control when I pressed the alt set button..which I believe auto sets the AP on....I am using an old MSt Sidewinder ...it looks like a fat boomerang...and it's the most intuitive, sensitive controller I've ever used...I did Calibrate it....I'll let you know the results when I go to Alt hold at 33000 as in the tutorial....welllllll...I didn't crash...but neither did I run the strick tutorial...flight director and/or AP/AT/head...did NOT maintain throtle settings or alt or heading...I had to disengage AP and Flt dir and fly to LA manually...landed at 200mpg after a harrowing descent in waaaaayyyyy too few minutes from 33-21-15-8-2.8-1.8 kfeet and stopped at the end of the runway...with a crease on my seat where my butt was grabbing...I got a lottttttttt to learn...so the question is...does the AP work?...does the flt computer have to be completely set up to engage all the auto stuff?I'll try the sfo/lax tutorial again this weekend.CChas