Hello,

 

for the second time I had today a problem with the autopilot. I can not turn the AP on. The switch flashes green for a millisecond and turns off by itself.

I have set "easy AP engangement" on in the fmc. Joystick is calibrated and set to neutral. APU is off. FDs are on.

Everything else should be fine. For crosscheck I have attached some screenshots of my panel.

Surprisingly after making these screenshots I was able to turn on command B. Command A did not engange till the rest of the flight.

Why is this? What am I doing wrong? The only thing I could think of is that I do something wrong with the IRS alignment? Is this a possible reason for this AP behavior?

How can I see if the IRS is properly aligned?

 

greetings

Lukas

 

 

 

Go in to the failure menu of the fmc. There you will (probably) see an autopilot A failure. Reset the failure and you´re good to go. The reason for that is that you moved the yoked while the autopilot was engaged. In the 737 there´s a link between the yoke and the autopilot. If you move the yoke too far while the autopilot is engaged, you will breake this connection and that´s why you can´t reconnect the autopilot. Happend to me twice :) maybe somebody else has some more details on this topic, or just read the manuals. There you will find a much more detailed description...

thanks for the response. but I have set failures to off and its not a problem with reengaging the AP. I takeoff with to/ga, gear up and then I try to engange cmd a for the first time and it doesnt work (not always. on some other flights it works). I also have set realistic AP engagement to off like I stated before which should ignore the yoke position to my understanding.

Hey Lukas, you know about the printscreen button right? Lol! I was trying to figure out why the picture was so blurry (I thought you were using the ENB shader mod) but then I saw ASUS on the bottom.

You don't have to take a picture of your monitor man, just printscreen! So much easier! :)

Hey Lukas, you know about the printscreen button right? Lol! I was trying to figure out why the picture was so blurry (I thought you were using the ENB shader mod) but then I saw ASUS on the bottom.

You don't have to take a picture of your monitor man, just printscreen! So much easier! :)

Or hit the button 'V' midflight, that will take a photo, and automatically save it to your My Photos/Flight Simulator X Files

C:\Users\Name of your user name\Pictures\Flight Simulator X Files

It will allow us to see the flightdeck better and may help you identify the problem quickly.

 

Try taking off from a designated airport ; as usual set up for takeoff and then unplug your Joystick/Yoke or hit 'Ctrl+K,'. If you can get the A/P engaged then you may have an issue with your joystick. If the problem persists, then you can rule out Joystick issues and move to other factors, maybe an issue with FSUIPC, the NGX itself, maybe an interfering software of some sort.

Hi guys,

 

thx for the replies. Of course I know there is a screenshot button on my keyboard but I dont know which one it is and beeing in the air it was much easier and faster for me taking photos with my iPhone ;)

 

Back to topic. I think the screens are clear enough to make out to which positions my knobs and switches are set. I dont have a general problem with the AP. Its just from flight to flight that it wont engage even thought it enganged the flight before without any problems. It wont engange either if I disable my jostick completely just to make this clear. It has to be something wrong with my panel configuration. My favorite is still the IRS not alinged properly. So my question was: Is there a connection with false/incomplete IRS alingment and AP not enganging? How do I know when IRS alignment is finished? Or is there something completely different wrong with my panel configuration? How can it be that I could engange CMD B but not A without any failures (failures are set to OFF in the FMC).

 

I have read dozens of such AP problem threads before I posted here to make sure I do not make a mistake that has been discussed before. This thread is my last hope ;)

First, setting failures to off will not prevent mismanagement failures, such as snapping the AP to controls link.

 

For IRS, look up, locate IRS panel and confirm no lights.

 

Also try losing from PMDG default panel state.

Hi guys,

 

thx for the replies. Of course I know there is a screenshot button on my keyboard but I dont know which one it is and beeing in the air it was much easier and faster for me taking photos with my iPhone ;)

 

Back to topic. I think the screens are clear enough to make out to which positions my knobs and switches are set. I dont have a general problem with the AP. Its just from flight to flight that it wont engage even thought it enganged the flight before without any problems. It wont engange either if I disable my jostick completely just to make this clear. It has to be something wrong with my panel configuration. My favorite is still the IRS not alinged properly. So my question was: Is there a connection with false/incomplete IRS alingment and AP not enganging? How do I know when IRS alignment is finished? Or is there something completely different wrong with my panel configuration? How can it be that I could engange CMD B but not A without any failures (failures are set to OFF in the FMC).

 

I have read dozens of such AP problem threads before I posted here to make sure I do not make a mistake that has been discussed before. This thread is my last hope ;)

Hello, during pre flight, the FMC asks you to enter your current position, try entering your actual current position from the information provided by hitting 'Shift+Z' Twice. Instead of using the last position reference.

Do not move the aircraft while it is aligning so this should be done with Chocks or parking brakes on, never while taxing. I am, however doubting this is an IRS issue, otherwise you'd have warning lights 'ALIGN' I think.

What version of the NGX are you using?

Hello, during pre flight, the FMC asks you to enter your current position, try entering your actual current position from the information provided by hitting 'Shift+Z' Twice. Instead of using the last position reference.

Do not move the aircraft while it is aligning so this should be done with Chocks or parking brakes on, never while taxing. I am, however doubting this is an IRS issue, otherwise you'd have warning lights 'ALIGN' I think.

What version of the NGX are you using?

 

I entered the departure ICAO and the gate I was at and used this reference from the fmc in the fmc. This is the 800 version with winglets.

 

 

@fabio: what do you mean by "Also try losing from PMDG default panel state."

Of course I know there is a screenshot button on my keyboard but I dont know which one it is

 

It's the one labeled "Printscreen" on the top right. :Big Grin:

This is the 800 version with winglets.

 

I think he was asking about SP installed.

 

what do you mean by "Also try losing from PMDG default panel state."

 

Before you fly try to set up NGX cold&dark or NGX short or NGX long startup state from FMC PMDG menu.

I think he was asking about SP installed.

 

 

 

Before you fly try to set up NGX cold&dark or NGX short or NGX long startup state from FMC PMDG menu.

 

double check. lates SP installed and panelstate short was selected....

I know that you have turned off your failures, but just to be sure, go to the failure page of the fmc and look up if any failures are active. As Peter allready mentioned; "setting failures to off will not prevent mismanagement failures, such as snapping the AP to controls link."

 

Other than that, I really can´t think of a reason why this is happening to you...

yep by losing I meant loading. Autocorrect...

Are you ensuring that your flight controls are centred prior to trying to engage autopilot?

 

If your flight controls aren't centered/back to their neutral position, autopilot will not engage. To do this, just release/take your hands off your joystick and then click the autopilot.

 

Michael McKenna.