Greetings all,Earlier today I attempted a practice takeoff. I programmed the plane for a KPHL-EDDF flight. Followed the checklist, and just before taking the runway I pressed the 'NAV" and 'AUTOFLIGHT" buttons. I noted the "NAV ARMED" and "ATS OFF" indications on the display. I also noted the "green box", which should have indicated everything being configured correctly. I then pressed the F3 key on my keyboard (should I have pressed F4?). I never heard the 2 "clicks" nor any verbal announcements, but did see the "T.O. CLAMP". The aircraft seemed to take forever to get up to speed, and at the end of the 9500 ft runway it was just approaching 100 kts, not fast enough for takeoff. Any idea what I might have done wrong? Thanks,Ron Priever

Hi Ron, you should press the PROF button as well, you'll then see the ATS ON in the display and it'll work right. You can use hdg instead of NAV but you need PROF to get the autothrottle working.John Ellison

Is that necessarily so? You should be advancing your throttles on takeoff and then you press autoflight. That enables the autothrottle and will set the T/O Clamp to the pre-selected takeoff thrust setting.

Sounds like you may have had joystick throttle axis noise. Can you show us a few screenshots please?You do NOT need to have profile armed on the ground for the ATS to work. After the first press of the AUTOFLIGHT button, the ATS OFF message will still be displayed in white, but the box is removed. For safety, at ~80kt TO THRUST disengages and TO CLAMP engages. This removes power from the servos. Depending on your settings, the joystick may be holding your levers back, then you're clamped at at power setting that's too low. Did you get the "THRUST SET" callout?Paul

screenshot would be the best thing to provide us with on this situation

Greetings all,Earlier today I attempted a practice takeoff. I programmed the plane for a KPHL-EDDF flight. Followed the checklist, and just before taking the runway I pressed the 'NAV" and 'AUTOFLIGHT" buttons. I noted the "NAV ARMED" and "ATS OFF" indications on the display. I also noted the "green box", which should have indicated everything being configured correctly. I then pressed the F3 key on my keyboard (should I have pressed F4?). I never heard the 2 "clicks" nor any verbal announcements, but did see the "T.O. CLAMP". The aircraft seemed to take forever to get up to speed, and at the end of the 9500 ft runway it was just approaching 100 kts, not fast enough for takeoff. Any idea what I might have done wrong? Thanks,Ron Priever

Hi Ron, Not sure if you still have this issue, but seems that you explained it fine, and don't understand why people want a screen shot? The statement of" "I pressed the 'NAV" and 'AUTOFLIGHT" buttons. I noted the "NAV ARMED" and "ATS OFF" indications on the display. I also noted the "green box"" should give people a good enough picture, and only thing other than that, that a screenshot (or easier, a question) would help with is of your FMC perhaps. Anywho, I 'think' what paul is saying about Throttle axis noise, may be, if you started the sim and hadn't moved them around to resync them in the sim. Such as, when I get into FSX, after I load whatever panel state, I move all of my throttles forward and back real quick to let them be seen and shake off what might be seen by FSX prior to engine start. If I don't, then I sometimes kill all engines or bring them very low for several seconds before they move up again. This is all just because I moved a throttle lever for the first time. That may be it, but I doubt it since you would have had ample time to build thrust over 9500'. My quess is the Flex temp. Did you enter a much higher Flex temp than you entered for your OAT? I had the same thing happen to me in Canada, where just as I hit VR I was in the fence =_=Also, there have been times to where I have thrusted too fast that I didn't hear the clamp or it didn't yet engage and I pulled throttles back and tried again and that messed things up. I would increas throttle gradually until your engines are about 1.1 EPR, then gradually increase (This is according to the Tutorial and what I've been doing). Over 65kts it should kick in. Also, you may not always here it.Oh and also, no you don't need to hit Prof, but you could prior to take off. It doesn't really matter in this case.Hope this helpsPS. Please correct me if I'm wrong about my interpretation of "Throttle Axis Noise". I have always wondered if my guess was right or not, or if there was anything I could do to fix it.

Since our throttles, rudder pedals and Yokes are a lot more flimsy and unreliable compared to the real deal it's just as important to do the preflight T/O warning test and the after start flight control test. I learnt that the hard way a while back after rushing my preflight when trying to depart on time during a Vatsim flyin, my throttle and rudder pedals worked fine but only found out My yokes USB cable had been accidentally unplugged when I tried to rotate! Rob

Since our throttles, rudder pedals and Yokes are a lot more flimsy and unreliable compared to the real deal it's just as important to do the preflight T/O warning test and the after start flight control test. I learnt that the hard way a while back after rushing my preflight when trying to depart on time during a Vatsim flyin, my throttle and rudder pedals worked fine but only found out My yokes USB cable had been accidentally unplugged when I tried to rotate! Rob

:( Nice on Rob, this gave me a real good chuckle on what was starting out as a dull day. I cant say that I have had a usb pop out unrepentantly but I did have a button programming issue where I somehow managed to get the gear up and the fuel cut off switches mixed up, now that was exciting.@ Ron

Since our throttles, rudder pedals and Yokes are a lot more flimsy and unreliable compared to the real deal it's just as important to do the preflight T/O warning test and the after start flight control test. I learnt that the hard way a while back after rushing my preflight when trying to depart on time during a Vatsim flyin, my throttle and rudder pedals worked fine but only found out My yokes USB cable had been accidentally unplugged when I tried to rotate! Rob

Don't leave us in suspense. What did you end up doing?Paul

Not much I could do lol! I was at MTOW VR was around 170kts using Flex thrust, after a few seconds of pure confusion pulling on my yoke and a number of words I wont repeat here, I engaged full reverse and manual brakes and prayed! the airport was Stanstead Extreme so I ended up coming to a rest among the motorway traffic. Not my finest moment online! and I'm sure the other guys holding short had a good laugh :( Rob