I've been struggling with myself whether to ask this question at all for some time, but decided to, because it's driving me somewhat insane. And has been for a while.

 

Sometimes (cannot reliably reproduce, and am not 100% sure what triggers it), I noticed that autopilot* (FD, FMC, again not sure) arms the approach mode without me being anywhere near approach, or doing so manually. This very often happens on departure, even though I've selected (armed) VNAV/LNAV, or if I haven't. I've observed aircraft happily do nothing about this, as well as attempt to fly some approach, after intercepting "something". This is particularly frustrating on departure, to the point I have a post-it note under the screen to check AP mode.

 

I've spent countless hours in NGX on FSX, and with all three aircraft in P3Dv3, and from I remember, I have not seen this in FSX. With P3Dv4, I've seen it with 747, but I have not spent enough time with T7 to "reproduce" the behavior.

 

Now for the real question - any ideas what I am doing wrong?

10 hours ago, icemarkom said:

I noticed that autopilot* (FD, FMC, again not sure) arms the approach mode without me being anywhere near approach, or doing so manually.

The AP doesn't do this. Nothing arms the approach mode automatically, at all, ever. My bet is that your system has some errant key command assigned to your yoke/hardware/etc and you're hitting it occasionally (thus the apparent "randomness"). Check the KEY COMMANDS CDU page for any key commands assigned to APP mode, and then check your hardware. Additionally, check your sim settings for any key commands or hardware buttons assigned to trigger the same.

Thanks for the answer, Kyle. My reluctance to ask here was exactly because I've suspected for long it may be something on my system, but I am still at a loss. Unfortunately, I can only look later today, but help is greatly appreciated.

 

Could you give me a hint what mapping exactly I should be looking for? I haven't changed anything in PMDG keymaps (those found in FMC), and I can't remember changing any default key mappings in P3D, either. Is the APP mode mapped to a key by default?

 

I don't use FSUIPC (I had it installed in v3, but don't in v4), and the only "advanced" keymapping I use are macros for my yoke and throttle buttons, but those are mostly just keypress sequences for my preferred views. The rest are simply button-to-key maps.

I looked through the P3D settings, and it seems APP mode is mapped by default to <ctrl-a>. I can see me typing that combination, as I use Linux terminals a lot, but it must be some subconscious action somewhere (I don't have this mapped to any controls).

In the FMC, it appears APP mode is mapped to the same key. I turned it off there, as well.

Thanks for the pointer, I'll observe if this comes back in some form.

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My reluctance to ask here was exactly because I've suspected for long it may be something on my system

 

Sometimes two heads are better than one, that's why there are forums :D

Tentatively, I think Kyle was spot-on.

 

But again, my curiosity is kicking in. Is this particular shortcut specific to P3D? Was it not there in FSX?