Aspen and autopilot issues

[theteeboy 0]

Having been teased into buying this very pretty addon by all the positive forum comments, I am hitting the frustration barrier pretty quickly! Never bought the A36, so I am struggling with the Aspen handling. How do you get the heading and course bugs set? managed it once with both but have been unable to locate the clickspots again. Carenado have taken their minimal documentation approach to new heights here - leaving a rather vital piece out altogether. Also at a loss as to how to get the autopilot to follow, well, anything - it just seems to go off and do its own thing! This is making an instrument departure very exciting...

 

But it is very pretty and doesnt seem to overtax my poor little i5 760, so its not all bad..

[onebob 125]

Having been teased into buying this very pretty addon by all the positive forum comments, I am hitting the frustration barrier pretty quickly! Never bought the A36, so I am struggling with the Aspen handling. How do you get the heading and course bugs set? managed it once with both but have been unable to locate the clickspots again. Carenado have taken their minimal documentation approach to new heights here - leaving a rather vital piece out altogether. Also at a loss as to how to get the autopilot to follow, well, anything - it just seems to go off and do its own thing! This is making an instrument departure very exciting...

 

But it is very pretty and doesnt seem to overtax my poor little i5 760, so its not all bad..

 

Having been teased into buying this very pretty addon by all the positive forum comments, I am hitting the frustration barrier pretty quickly! Never bought the A36, so I am struggling with the Aspen handling. How do you get the heading and course bugs set? managed it once with both but have been unable to locate the clickspots again. Carenado have taken their minimal documentation approach to new heights here - leaving a rather vital piece out altogether. Also at a loss as to how to get the autopilot to follow, well, anything - it just seems to go off and do its own thing! This is making an instrument departure very exciting...

 

But it is very pretty and doesnt seem to overtax my poor little i5 760, so its not all bad..

 

click on the turn knobs (repeat) and go through the squence until hdg is highlighted and then rotate the knob, same for the left had knob as well.

I found a manual on the web

 

bob

[squadros 2]

For the heading, you need to click the right button first. It will go from blue to pink, and then you can rotate. Make sure to select AP to follow heading.

 

The course works the same, with the left button, but defaults to auto (GPS) and to not show. First click on the central button, at the bottom, and it shows. Repeat, and you can change from GPS1 mode to VOR. Then you can rotate (after clicking left button, it goes pink, etc...).

For the AP to follow GPS, you need a plan on GPS1. I'm using F1 GTN. Oddly enough, the map in the Aspen shows the plan from GPS2, but the AP follows GPS1 (which in my case is the GTN).

 

Don't give up, you'll soon get the hang of it and it is a very good plane to fly!

[Jim Robinson 122]

Also after you left click either of the buttons, i.e. when HDG turns pink you can right click the button again to snap the HDG value to your current heading. Same for CRS, ALT, etc.

 

Sergio, the plan in GPS2 is the same as the plan in GPS1 (would be if you didn't have the GTN installed) which is the FS .pln you load or make from the Scenario > Flight Planner screen, if you want the AP to follow the plan in GPS2 you have to right click the SD card on the GTN. The plan in the GTN is independent of the sim, remember the Garmin trainer runs as an independent program on Windows so I don't think there would be any way to get it's flight plan imported into the Aspen which is simply an XML gauge. The G500 in the Malibu JetProp behaves the same way when the GTN is installed BTW.

[squadros 2]

Sergio, the plan in GPS2 is the same as the plan in GPS1 (would be if you didn't have the GTN installed) which is the FS .pln you load or make from the Scenario > Flight Planner screen, if you want the AP to follow the plan in GPS2 you have to right click the SD card on the GTN. The plan in the GTN is independent of the sim, remember the Garmin trainer runs as an independent program on Windows so I don't think there would be any way to get it's flight plan imported into the Aspen which is simply an XML gauge. The G500 in the Malibu JetProp behaves the same way when the GTN is installed BTW.

 

Yes, i know that. But with the integration, it should behave differently. There is no way to load a .pln to the GTN, we need to do it manually. End of story, in the Aspen, you get a plan "in the needle" (from GTN) and another one on the map (GPS2): not quite right and something Carenado needs to fix. (I know it won't be easy, or even possible.)

 

First time using the plane, I forgot to enter a plan on the GTN and the plane was flying in circles when I commanded NAV. But a plan was showing in the Aspen, so it was hard to understand what was wrong... If it is not the active plan, the Aspen should display no plan at all, I guess.

 

Only when using GTN integration, of course. When using the original GPS, no problem: both GPS1 and 2 share the same plan (the loaded .pln), and needle and map agree.

[tttocs 301]

The plan in the GTN is independent of the sim, remember the Garmin trainer runs as an independent program on Windows so I don't think there would be any way to get it's flight plan imported into the Aspen which is simply an XML gauge. The G500 in the Malibu JetProp behaves the same way when the GTN is installed BTW.

 

It's certainly doable, as I can drive the Aspen in the A36 with the RXP GNS430 and the 500 and 600 in the JetProp and Seneca with RXP GPS's as well.  The RXP gauge has a parameter called LinkGPS - when set to on, the 500, 600 and Aspen in other Carenado planes featuring integration can all be driven.  Does the GTN not have something similar?

 

Scott

[Jim Robinson 122]

What I usually do is make my flight plan in the Garmin Trainer outside the sim and make one at the same time in Plan-G. Sometimes you have to add user waypoints in Plan-G where current real world fixes don't exist in the FSX/P3D database. When I start the flight I'll load the Plan-G flight plan in the flight planner and then the Aspen, G500 or whatever shows basically the same thing as the GTN, the waypoint sequencing works, etc.

 

Scott, there's a "Link CRS" option for the GTNs but I think that just makes the CDI needle auto-adjust between flight plan legs. I'm not sure but I think the GTN just sends "direct to" commands to the FS autopilot depending on which leg of the GTN flight plan is active.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

It's certainly doable, as I can drive the Aspen in the A36 with the RXP GNS430 and the 500 and 600 in the JetProp and Seneca with RXP GPS's as well.  The RXP gauge has a parameter called LinkGPS - when set to on, the 500, 600 and Aspen in other Carenado planes featuring integration can all be driven.  Does the GTN not have something similar?

 

Scott

 

The Flight1 GTN does not have that feature (future enhancement..?)  :wink:

[tttocs 301]

Thanks Jim and Bert.  I've yet to pop for the GTN for a number of reasons and unfortunately this just added another.  The addition of LinkGPS was one of the best (and last as it turned out) enhancements to the RXP GPS's and I'd hate to lose the ability to have the GPS flightplan driving these displays rather than FSX's.  Hopefully this will show up one day as an enhancement for the F1 units.

 

Scott

[squadros 2]

The GTN is fantastic! And you can use it with no problem at all. It drives the AP. The only thing is that the Aspen shows plan from FSX, but the needle comes from GTN.

 

Just turn off the Aspen map. Who needs it if you have the fantastic GTN750 map?

 

My only point was that Carenado should not have included a second GPS showing FSX .pln on the GTN integration. Why bother? It only adds confusion, and no gain whatsoever.

 

The panel would be cleaner also.

[theteeboy 0]

Thanks for the tips onebob, squadros and Jim. I am using the RXP integration which works great once the LinkGPS option has been set. Shame Carenado cannot remember to include a manual for the EF1000 as they did for the G500 and 600 stuff in other addons.

 

Now I'm only peeved at the usual glaring problems with the annunciators. I have corrected most of these on the 404, just flogging through the same ones on this offering (generator lights that only respond to a switch position, low hyd warnings that dont, AC warnings that dont, etc...). If I feel brave, I may offer them here when done.

 

Cheers,

Nick

[dscalora 0]

Thanks for the tips onebob, squadros and Jim. I am using the RXP integration which works great once the LinkGPS option has been set. Shame Carenado cannot remember to include a manual for the EF1000 as they did for the G500 and 600 stuff in other addons.

 

Now I'm only peeved at the usual glaring problems with the annunciators. I have corrected most of these on the 404, just flogging through the same ones on this offering (generator lights that only respond to a switch position, low hyd warnings that dont, AC warnings that dont, etc...). If I feel brave, I may offer them here when done.

 

Cheers,

Nick

 

Please do! I sent a list of annunciator faults to Carenado hoping they would get fixed

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Has anyone figured out the two ways of setting Target Altitude for the autopilot?

 

The Aspen unit has an ALT setting, but there is a separate Altitude Preselector in the panel.. which one takes command?

[Jim Robinson 122]

The one in the panel, the Aspen then usually sets itself to the selected value when you press the ARM button. Only reason it does that from what I can tell is so it can flash a yellow alert box on screen at +- 1000'. I haven't seen where it's possible to set ALT in the Aspen beyond use as a visual alerter, it seems to just sorta follow along (which I doubt is the case in the real world).

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

OK, I'll use the one in the panel  :smile: