The calibration of the MS SideWinder seems OK.  Two features are apparent though:

1   With different aircraft, when I look at the control surfaces in outside view while operating the controller, the elevators do not appear to deflect       fully: only partially.  All other control surfaces appear normal.

2   When attempting a take off, trimming the elevators hard while pulling back, will get the aircraft off the ground (just).

On 18/10/2017 at 5:28 PM, Chock said:

I presume you mean the runway light textures which are of course 2D and are seen from edge on in the external view upon landing?

Sorry yes and also as seen at take-off. Big gap in my education as I've never seen (consciously) 2D runway lights before. They look terrible.  :)  At least they are not floating around like the 3D type I guess.

gb.

Might you be able to borrow a different type of controller? EDIT - or just to see, fly it with keys or mouse yoke?

Edited October 22, 20178 yr by HighBypass

As I said above, I have purchased a second used and working controller of the same type but get the same problem with this second stick.

I've also tried using the keyboard keys for controlling the elevators (num 8 & num 2) but these strokes only moved the pitch surfaces the same amount as the stick.

On some aircraft, the only way I can get flying is to trim hard on the elevator while pulling back on the stick.

Could it be the software for the controller?

I doubt the controller is limiting the input from the keys, but did you unplug the controller before using the keyboard?

When you say "with different aircraft" you mean it's not just the Hunter? In that case it might be the software...

EDIT - are the menus in FSX the same as those posted in the screenshot? The Sidewinder is Microsoft so could it have altered those to it's own settings?

Sorry, just wild guesses here.

It turned out to be that the A/P was on.  He hit the Z key and didn't notice it!

Thanks to all who helped me with this problem.

Yes Charlie. My fault. I had hit the z key the previous day to select the auto pilot.  When starting up on another day, I did not think that the autopilot would be still be engaged.

Are all key strokes not removed when starting FSX afresh?  If not, how do I check that certain key strokes may or may not be active when starting a new flight after launching FSX ?  The sort of key strokes I had been looking at were,

A/P on/off:    Z   key

Alt. hold:  Ctrl + Z   key

Heading hold:  Ctrl + H   key

APPR:  Ctrl + A   key

e.g. with the Hunter, is there somewhere in the cockpit I can see the autopilot engaged or not?

Raymond

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have the Hunter, since it's payware.  There should be indicators on the A/P unit that show

what's on.  Pressing the Z key will give an alert warning horn if the A/P was engaged.

No doubt Chock will know - he's reviewed it :)

Since the real Hawker Hunter did not have an autopilot, there is no cockpit indicator for it as far as I am aware, although for convenience, JF's Hunter does have a few of Flight Simulator's default things in there, such as the GPS panel, and although I've never tried it, it would seem it has a basic autopilot function, however, you could easily disable that by opening up the Hunter's config file and changing the bit to I've highlighted below (autopilot_available=1) so it reads =0 and then saving the config file, then it would not have an autopilot, so you wouldn't be able to accidentally turn it on:

[autopilot]
autopilot_available=1 
flight_director_available=1 
default_vertical_speed=1800.0 
autothrottle_available=1 
autothrottle_arming_required=0
autothrottle_takeoff_ga=0
autothrottle_max_rpm=90.0
pitch_takeoff_ga=8.0 
max_pitch=10.0

That's Chock for that.

To clear up my problem : now everytime I launch FSX and select an aircraft (or use the default flight which has been saved with the autopilot disabled) the flight appears with the autopilot engaged.  This happens even though I will have ensured that the autopilot was disengaged before I closed FSX previously.  Why is this happening I wonder?

 

 

What aircraft did you use as your default flight?

Charlie & Chock - thanks.

It has happened with various default aircraft.  It started of with the Hawker Hunter as default.  Then I switched to the Beechcraft Baron, and then to the SIAI-Marchetti SF260.  Each time at startup, the autopilot is engaged.  I will have ensured that the autopilot was disengaged before I closed FSX previously.

This all began when I started using some key strokes as commands, including the Z for autopilot.  I had never done this before.

Let me suggest this...Create a new default flight with the Baron 58.  Place it anywhere you want, any airport any parking spot.  Turn off all electrical (battery and generators), turn on Avionics switch, Make sure prop levers are fully upward, throttles at idle and mixtures at full rich, A/P off.  Hit ; semicolon key and check the box for "Save as Default Flight".

At this point, I never fly my default flight.  It's sole purpose is to make sure all flight, all aircraft with start in the cold and dark condition.

I take that point. It would clobber the problem on the head.  So I'll give it a go. Thanks.