February 21, 20188 yr Hello With the AP of my F50, I select the altitude but nothing happens (AP is active, and Altitude is active). Could you explain how to use the altitude selector of the AP and that my altitude changes. thank you JDoe
February 21, 20188 yr Hi JDoe... ...yeah thats a real pity that Carenado lacks on documentation a lot. ALT is more the ALT hold. If you want to go to a specific altitude dial in the number and then go via ALT SEL and then use VS for vertical speed (done via the pitch trim on the lower pedestal) or IAS hold where so select climb/descent rate via throttle. If you reach your selected altitude the AP will switch from ALT SEL to ALT and level off. Cheers T.
February 23, 20188 yr Author Hi Torsen Thank you very much for your help, I tested it's ok now.... I found this url that it explain the AP for Fokker 50 : http://www.smartcockpit.com/docs/Fokker_50-Automatic_Flight_Control_System.pdf JDoe
February 24, 20188 yr Thank you Jdoe. Just grabbed a copy for myself as I had the same questions as you it seems. -Braun
March 3, 20188 yr On 21/02/2018 at 3:24 PM, Torsen said: If you reach your selected altitude the AP will switch from ALT SEL to ALT and level off. It should level off and most of the time it does, but I have found that very occasionally it doesn't and the aircraft will climb/descend through the selected altitude. I am not sure why this sometimes happens but wondered if anyone else has noticed this? Bill
March 3, 20188 yr 49 minutes ago, scianoir said: It should level off and most of the time it does, but I have found that very occasionally it doesn't and the aircraft will climb/descend through the selected altitude. I am not sure why this sometimes happens but wondered if anyone else has noticed this? Bill Do you have ALTSEL selected? .. and are you climbing/descending in VS mode? Bert
March 3, 20188 yr Yes I do Bert. I select the altitude in the altitude window, select ASEL and VS and then set the vertical speed by rotating the pitch wheel on the AP. Most of the time it captures the selected altitude but on the odd occasion it doesn't and the ASEL button remains illuminated even though I have passed through the selected altitude. Bill
March 4, 20188 yr So far I've done 21 flights (42 climbs or descents) using the AP on the F50 and I guess this has happened on maybe 4 or 5 occasions, where the aircraft has continued past the selected altitude although the ASEL button has remained illuminated. I now just keep an eye on the vertical speed indicator as I approach the selected altitude and am ready to engage ALT mode if it doesn't capture, but as I said, most of the time it does! A slightly separate issue is that there also have been a couple of occasions where the ASEL button has disengaged without me realising it and I have overshot the selected altitude. However I think in these instances I may have inadvertently moused over the pitch wheel, which according to the AFCS manual could cause a problem: "Rotating the PITCH wheel, located at the autopilot control panel, will change the pitch altitude and will cancel ASEL capture and ALT mode. For VS and IAS mode, rotation of the wheel will change the air data hold reference (only with AP engaged) as displayed at the PFD." Still doesn't explain why the AP overshoots the selected altitude while the ASEL mode is still engaged though! Maybe I just need to try a reinstallation if no one else is seeing this. Bill
March 4, 20188 yr 3 hours ago, scianoir said: Still doesn't explain why the AP overshoots the selected altitude while the ASEL mode is still engaged though! Maybe I just need to try a reinstallation if no one else is seeing this. Bill If you are using my mods, you are also using my edited autopilot code... so reinstalling is not going to help Bert
March 4, 20188 yr 17 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said: If you are using my mods, you are also using my edited autopilot code... so reinstalling is not going to help Thanks Bert, as it happens infrequently I will just keep an eye on it for the moment. It is of course quite possible that I might be doing something wrong without realising it !! Bill
March 4, 20188 yr 1 hour ago, scianoir said: Thanks Bert, as it happens infrequently I will just keep an eye on it for the moment. It is of course quite possible that I might be doing something wrong without realising it !! Bill OK - let me know if you can pinpoint the circumstances! I hate to open up the autopilot code because it is such a dog's breakfast.. but if I know what I am looking for, I may be able to fix something.. Bert
March 4, 20188 yr Please don't go to any trouble over this - it isn't a big issue. I'll watch things more carefully and if it crops up again try I will try to identify the circumstances more clearly and let you know. Bill
March 7, 20188 yr On 04/03/2018 at 6:45 PM, Bert Pieke said: OK - let me know if you can pinpoint the circumstances! I hate to open up the autopilot code because it is such a dog's breakfast.. but if I know what I am looking for, I may be able to fix something.. Have now done a few more flights with an additional 34 successful ALT captures while in ASEL mode (lots of stepped climbs and descents!) without a problem. Thinking about it, it is possible that those few instances where ASEL failed to achieve capture happened on the original F50 installation before I installed your mods, as I only installed them on February 28th and had done quite a few flights in the aircraft before then. I will however let you know if it happens again. Bill
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