Help..Autopilot ALT Mode - Alabeo Chieftain

[Guest FlyBaby]

Hi,

I have the Chieftain with the Flight1 G500/GTN 750 package.

I am trying to figure out the best way to change altitude when in AP Mode - ALT Hold.

At a 4000ft, I set eh ALT selector on the G500 to 3000ft, but the plane does not change altitude to 3000ft. At one point (I think I remember), I set the VS speed and the plane descended to the desired level and the VS mode deactivated to maintain the set altitude. this does not seem to work now as the VS mode stays on beyond the desired level until I manually shut it off.

Also, while in NAV mode along with ALT mode, a "GS" also appeared next to the "ALT" symbol in the autopilot panel, but I don't know what that meant.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

[onebob]

12 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

Hi,

I have the Chieftain with the Flight1 G500/GTN 750 package.

I am trying to figure out the best way to change altitude when in AP Mode - ALT Hold.

At a 4000ft, I set eh ALT selector on the G500 to 3000ft, but the plane does not change altitude to 3000ft. At one point (I think I remember), I set the VS speed and the plane descended to the desired level and the VS mode deactivated to maintain the set altitude. this does not seem to work now as the VS mode stays on beyond the desired level until I manually shut it off.

Also, while in NAV mode along with ALT mode, a "GS" also appeared next to the "ALT" symbol in the autopilot panel, but I don't know what that meant.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

Yes the Flight1 G500/GTN 750 is a great addon for the Alabeo PA31 350 Chieftain, that's right changing the HDG, ALT and VS on the G500 is available however you still need to switch the ap/fd master switch on, located on the main panel, then switch on the autopilot itself. The GS mode is the glide slope mode when using an ILS approach. As you have these add-ons it may be of interest to you that there is an excellent mod for this airplane. see the Alabeo forum here at Avsim.

bob

[Guest FlyBaby]

On 5/7/2018 at 6:41 AM, onebob said:

Yes the Flight1 G500/GTN 750 is a great addon for the Alabeo PA31 350 Chieftain, that's right changing the HDG, ALT and VS on the G500 is available however you still need to switch the ap/fd master switch on, located on the main panel, then switch on the autopilot itself. The GS mode is the glide slope mode when using an ILS approach. As you have these add-ons it may be of interest to you that there is an excellent mod for this airplane. see the Alabeo forum here at Avsim.

bob

Thanks for you help.

I now an issue getting the autopilot to track the approach waypoints once they are loaded and activated in the FPL.

 

[onebob]

19 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

Thanks for you help.

I now an issue getting the autopilot to track the approach waypoints once they are loaded and activated in the FPL.

 

Sorry missed your post, How are you entering your flight plan, If you are using the P3D default flight planner then you will need to re- enter the flight plan into the Gtn750. (edit .. the default p3d flight plan will not show in the GTN750)

bob

Edit 2..   Entering a flight plan into the P3d flight planner does show on the 'Avidyne ' display but the autopilot will not follow the track. If you use ASP4 weather then using the P3D default planner is worth doing as this will be entered direct into the ASP4 flight Plan and of course you can also see the track on the Avidyne display.

bob

[onebob]

This is what you should generally see, ( bear in mind I'm have the MOD in stalled so yours may differ) note the GTN750 should be in GPS mode.

[Guest FlyBaby]

4 hours ago, onebob said:

This is what you should generally see, ( bear in mind I'm have the MOD in stalled so yours may differ) note the GTN750 should be in GPS mode.

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help.

Yes, I am using the GTN 750 to load the FPL and approach at KPMP on runway 33 using the CDI to GPS. I both load and activate the approach, but the autopilot (using either NAV or APP) always takes the plane directly to runway 33 without guiding towards any of the points on the approach.

I also use Antsairplanes Eaglet with the GTN 750 and have no problems with the autopilot and approach, so I believe that I am doing everything right for the GTN at least.

 

 

With autop

 

 

[onebob]

1 hour ago, FlyBaby said:

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help.

Yes, I am using the GTN 750 to load the FPL and approach at KPMP on runway 33 using the CDI to GPS. I both load and activate the approach, but the autopilot (using either NAV or APP) always takes the plane directly to runway 33 without guiding towards any of the points on the approach.

I also use Antsairplanes Eaglet with the GTN 750 and have no problems with the autopilot and approach, so I believe that I am doing everything right for the GTN at least.

 

 

With autop

 

 

Are you using the RNAV 33 GPS LPV approach at KPMP and the QEPRO transition, I'll try and fly the approach later.

bob

[onebob]

Just tried the RNAV 33 GPS LPV approach into KPMP and it worked out ok, that was using the Alabeo s-tec autopilot.

bob

[Guest FlyBaby]

1 hour ago, onebob said:

Just tried the RNAV 33 GPS LPV approach into KPMP and it worked out ok, that was using the Alabeo s-tec autopilot.

bob

Hey, thanks. I think you solved my issue.

I have been selecting [RNAV 33 GPS LPV], but choosing Vectors as the transition and not QEPRO.

Once I selected QEPRO as the transition, the flight director line (on the map) and the autopilot began to track QEPRO. 

So in short, I do not really know the difference between selecting vectors vs another waypoint as a transition.

[onebob]

38 minutes ago, FlyBaby said:

Hey, thanks. I think you solved my issue.

I have been selecting [RNAV 33 GPS LPV], but choosing Vectors as the transition and not QEPRO.

Once I selected QEPRO as the transition, the flight director line (on the map) and the autopilot began to track QEPRO. 

So in short, I do not really know the difference between selecting vectors vs another waypoint as a transition.

That's good news, had to do a search on the vectors ... 'Avoiding the Vectors-to-Final Scramble' came up and what I got was the answer to your question that if you go for 'vectors to final' it  clears out all the waypoints, fixes iaf, and faf , so if you get an instruction from ATC to go to a certain fix you would have to start entering info into the gps again, so by keeping to a a standard approach with the transition you able to call up and activate the last leg of the approach.

bob