Autopilot

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Has anyone been able to get the autopilot to work consistently?

 

Autopilot on/off switch only goes up, not down..

I guess it is right click left click only :wink:

 

Pitch mode sometimes activates, sometimes not..

 

Left click and mouse wheel confusion..

 

The popup autopilot seems to have the pitch wheel wired backwards..

 

Need to locate the manual for the real world unit and figure out how it is

supposed to work..

 

Edit: Found a Century III manual in my stack of things....

[onebob 125]

Has anyone been able to get the autopilot to work consistently?

 

Autopilot on/off switch only goes up, not down..

I guess it is right click left click only :wink:

 

Pitch mode sometimes activates, sometimes not..

 

Left click and mouse wheel confusion..

 

The popup autopilot seems to have the pitch wheel wired backwards..

 

Need to locate the manual for the real world unit and figure out how it is

supposed to work..

 

Edit: Found a Century III manual in my stack of things....

Hi Bert.. The pitch wheel is working ok on mine, push mouse wheel forward to reduce pitch down and pull mouse wheel towards me to pitch up...same on both pop up and vc

the auto pilot switch left click ..up right click down.

if you had ask the question yester day the answer would have been different because the pitch button wasn't working, ie it was moving together the 'ALT' button. most odd

 

bob edit that's testing it on tarmac, !!

edit2 after takeoff now not working, acting as above

edit 3 After take off now not working, so if I turn off the 'RCLL' switch (+ HDG, ALT and PITCH ) and then turn the 'PITCH back on I can have the function to switch between 'ALT and 'PITCH.

 

edit 4 The HDG switch needs to be off.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

According to the manual, HDG mode on the autopilot is modified by the Source Controller, from NAV to HDG.

 

Can anyone confirm that you need to select Heading to have NAV control?

[onebob 125]

According to the manual, HDG mode on the autopilot is modified by the Source Controller, from NAV to HDG.

 

Can anyone confirm that you need to select Heading to have NAV control?

entering a vor and tuning the course select and switching the LGS to either OMNI or NAV will fly the bearing.

I did note however flying a 'DIRECT-TO' the OMNI setting was required.( with the GPS)

 

bob

[MartinRex007 390]

Bert, 

 

I started off with HDG selected, flew 10 miles or so then entered a direct course into the GTN 750 and then hit NAV and she picked up the new course and disengaged the HDG.

 

Cheers

Martin

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

If I read the factory manual correctly, to get NAV tracking, you should switch off HDG, turn the selector to NAV, and then re-engage HDG.

 

Quoting from the manual:

 

The heading mode switch is located directly adjacent and
to the right of the roll engage switch. It is the function of
the heading mode switch to remove the roll command
knob from the autopilot circuit and add the D.G., heading
command and coupler functions to the basic roll attitude
control. This switch is interlocked with the roll engage so
that the roll function will be engaged simultaneously with
the heading mode switch. Prior to engagement of the
heading mode, the D.G. course selector and coupler
modes should be set. (See sections on coupler operation
when optional coupler is installed.)

[MartinRex007 390]

It doesn't appear it is modeled correctly if that is the case.  If you click on HDG after selector to NAV, HDG takes over? 

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Correct, and worse than that, if you are in NAV and ALT mode, and dare to engage Pitch

mode, you lose the NAV tracking 

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Remember to engage the ROLL Axis switch (after engaging the Master Autopilot switch first) before trying to engage anything else. I needs to be on before any other mode will work. I've not tried it, but I did read that in the enclosed manual.

[JYW 2,980]

Correct, and worse than that, if you are in NAV and ALT mode, and dare to engage Pitch

mode, you lose the NAV tracking 

 

Yes, agree.

 

Carenado have been using this AP in a number of planes, since the Commander 114, Bert.  It's just a slave of the default autopilot.    Pitch hold will come on when the unit is turned on (even without pressing the 'Pitch' button), and ALT is not selected.    But if you later have ALT on and turn it off, and turn pitch on, the (default) AP "resets" and you lose your lateral setting.    You can get around it by using the FSUIPC key assignment for AP PITCH HOLD.    If you press your assigned key for that, while ALT is on, the AP will correctly switch to Pitch mode and the lateral setting will be maintained.

 

It doesn't appear it is modeled correctly if that is the case. If you click on HDG after selector to NAV, HDG takes over?

That's right. The Nav control does not work realistically (with the Omni rotary selecter).   As the AP here is nothing more than the default AP, it's only interested in basic AP HDG HOLD or AP NAV HOLD modes. Exactly as said above, if you turn the selector to NAV but then press the HDG switch, it will turn HDG HOLD on - incorrect behaviour.

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Please send you problem reports to Carenado directly, only they can fix this.

 

Unfortunately we, the users do not have access to the autopilot code that is embedded in the model, only the 2d popup can be edited..

[JYW 2,980]

Unfortunately, I doubt they'll see this as a "fix".   More just "limitations of the FSX autopilot"  :wink:   /  partial simulation of the featured unit.

 

Ticket sent though - we can always live in hope.

[onebob 125]

Unfortunately, I doubt they'll see this as a "fix".   More just "limitations of the FSX autopilot"  :wink:   /  partial simulation of the featured unit.

 

Ticket sent though - we can always live in hope.

Tried your suggestion of using the key assignment but couldn't spot the 'AP PITCH HOLD' in the list. (P3D v3.23)

 

bob

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Would someone please check something on their install?

 

I am fussing with the autopilot code, but am stuck on the PITCH button.

 

On my system, if I have the autopilot engaged, in HDG mode, I cannot engage PITCH.

 

I  cannot identify why this would be...  can someone confirm if they are experiencing the same issue?

[RamonB 449]

On my system, if I have the autopilot engaged, in HDG mode, I cannot engage PITCH.

I cannot identify why this would be... can someone confirm if they are experiencing the same issue?

 

I can confirm that.

 

Also, if PITCH is disengaged I get a very awkward number in the mouse tooltip.

(instead of -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, etc)