Hi fspilot, I appreciate your thorough testing. Very simply put: I keep having the same issue, and as a final test, I set the VOR1, moved the arrow to track the 360 radial, and enabled the autopilot. Then, I went into "aircraft">>"visual flightpath", in the FSX menu bar, and enabled the visual flight path of the 360 radial, with the red squares in sequence. Well, once the CDI centers, the aircraft passes through the visual path, and keeps flying until the CDI is not centered anymore, and then reverts back to track the 360 radial, and it keeps doing this, back and forth, zig zagging...I was flying on IVAO last nite, and the controller called me thinking I was having problems with the aircraft, as he saw me zig zagging around a radial...to tell you the truth, I am kind of disappointed, never had so many issues with an autopilot in NAV mode, all I can do now is ask a friend of mine who just bought the King Air 200 from Carenado. Let's see whether he experiences the same problem...I am sorry, but I'll leave it at that for now, as I do not have any answer. To me this is an issue with the Carenado flight model, but then again, I could be wrong. All you C90B pilots, I hope you are ok with the autopilot, I am not, and won't fly this airplane, not like this....regards,

 

Enrico :(

If you are experiencing problems like you describe with this model you should remove then re-install this C90 model. Please see if that cures the wandering you describe. I am dubious. I suspect it is more understanding and technique. I am an experienced real life pilot who was at one time for a several year span fully instrument rated, and that at a time prior to GPS. I also have thousands of hours in flight simulation and do mostly instrument flying. This C90 model and its autopilot when using radio navigation is spot-on. The autopilot in this model does not stay connected when passing a station or when transitioning from one station to the next. That is realistic for many autopilot applications. Such an AP feature set actually provides a measure of safety. I explained that in a way in my last message.

 

As far as comparison to autopilots in other models let me say in the real world you use the resources as they are provided to you as a pilot and manage them accordingly. IFR navigation with analog instruments as such is work intensive. Much more work intensive than the more modern GPS navigation. If you move from one aircraft to another, even within the same type, you would be presented with significant differences in the avionics, and must master them all. Such is life in the world of shared ownership and rental aircraft, which is the norm for most FA pilots. If you concentrate on NAV 1 and the heading bug with this C90 autopilot, and understand the transitions that must be managed, you can do so easily and accurately.

 

Now, stepping off my soap box, let me extend thanks to you for it challenged me to return to my IFR roots. I got a lot of satisfaction from this experience because I found that after a short period of insecurity, I fell right in to course management routines drilled into me by two CFI's that nurtured me, and sometimes humiliated me as I learned. I guess it is for that reason that I feel compelled to challenge you on this model.

 

Reinstall. If you find similar results to what you describe?....... Then learn. This is an excellent model and one not to be discarded!

Hi fpilot, my deepest thank you for all your testing and precious input. I am not sure I deserve this much attention!! You are a real life IFR pilot, I am just a sim pilot, with limited experience, and probably I should not judge any flight model, as I did, maybe in a hurry as well. I like this C90B a lot, maybe too much, and this is why I keep trying to understand what causes this issue. As a matter of fact, I have not bashed the product, and I am not going to.

I notice as you point out, that the AP disconnects when passing a station, or transitioning, that was never an issue, I thought it is a mode of operation of many, if not all APs.

Tonight, I will reinstall the C90B, with the Service Packs released, and let's see what happens. I know I challenged you, although that was not my intention; by the way, congratulations on your Saitek AP, it is neat, I was looking at it on the Saitek website, on Friday, and then I saw your cockpit, maybe it is a sign I should buy it....lol...will report back in the next few hours, or days, with more info; again, I appreciate your help and support, take care for now....

 

Enrico :wink:

Hello fppilot, I am back, after a little bit of more testing. I have included some shots for you to see:

 

 

Here I am 102 miles from the CHI VOR, the NAV1 mode is on, and tracking at FL230

 

 

 

 

Here is another one, 23.9 miles to the GEN VOR, at FL150,still no erros

 

 

 

 

 

This last one shows a perfect track, as you can see, the wind is from 210, perfect tail wind, at about 26 knots, so no cross wind, no deviation from the track, needle centered.

 

 

 

All I did was: I uninstalled the aircraft, and I installed it again, that was it, and all the wandering was gone. Somehow, the first time I installed the C90B, something went wrong, and I was sure I was not doing anything wrong with the autopilot, or else. Tomorrow I'll do another flight on IVAO, IFR, just as an extra checking, but mostly to have fun and enjoy this aircraft. Thanks for you help and suggestions, at the end, just like you said, a clean reinstall did the trick, you take care,

 

Enrico :smile:

Enrico! Great news! Now we both got something of value from this discussion. I got to refresh my skills on VOR navigation, which I really enjoyed. Brought back my learning and experience from 30 years ago, and I fell right back into it during the first hour in the air back working with it.

 

Are you tuning the NAV radios with the radio panel? You should try the RXP GPS add-ons. The RXP GNS 430 fits right in the C90 panel.

 

In an earlier message you noticed my Saitek Multi-Panel. I find it particularly useful with the C90 since the autopilot location on the console is challenging. I also have yet to grasp the C90's autopilot altitude functions. I need to pull the real world manual back out and review it. You are aware there is a low cost pdf of that manual available on a website?

Hi FP, I have the POH, I received it for free from a King Air instructor. I am going through it, very useful, you can really fly the C90B by the book. I am thinking also about getting the RXP GPS, I already have its big brother, the 530, very neat. Well, what else can I say? Let's go do some flying, you enjoy your evening, and thanks for your support, and patience,

 

Enrico B)