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Auto-Pilot is NOT Engaging

Featured Replies

23 minutes ago, skelsey said:

Bill -- I'm 100% certain it's the trim. To replicate what Ken's situation is, what happens if you hold the stick out of centre and then try and engage the autopilot?

That's what he's doing...

of  course  the  ap  wont  engage   since  your  holding  the  joystick  out of  centre, since  just  tried it  then  held the  stick   out of  centre   ap  would  not  engage,  soon  as I released  stick  to centre  ap  engage  with no issues ps  didn't  touch the  trim  at any stage  which  suggest  its  the  op  joystick  is  at fault.  Only  way  to find  out  if it is  for the op  to remove  his joystick and  use the  key  board   controls

Edited by pete_auau

I7-8700k,Corsair h1101 cooler ,Asus Strix Gaming Intel Z370 S11 motherboard, Corsair 32gb ramDD4,, gtx 1080ti Card,  RM850 power supply

 

Peter kelberg

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12 minutes ago, pete_auau said:

of  course  the  ap  wont  engage   since  your  holding  the  joystick  out of  centre, since  just  tried it  then  held the  stick   out of  centre   ap  would  not  engage,  soon  as I released  stick  to centre  ap  engage  with no issues ps  didn't  touch the  trim  at any stage  which  suggest  its  the  op  joystick  is  at fault.  Only  way  to find  out  if it is  for the op  to remove  his joystick and  use the  key  board   controls

Pete,

That's exactly what people are saying about it being out of trim.

Ken has disconnected the power cable which returns his joystick to the centre postion, therefore when he lets go of it it stays exactly where it is, i.e. it does not return to centre.

So yes, it kind of is his joystick but only because he has changed the way it operates. If he restores the centreing function then he will be able to do as you and Bill describe and all will be well!

Simon Kelsey

sig_FSLBetaTester.jpg

 

12 minutes ago, skelsey said:

Pete,

That's exactly what people are saying about it being out of trim.

Ken has disconnected the power cable which returns his joystick to the centre postion, therefore when he lets go of it it stays exactly where it is, i.e. it does not return to centre.

So yes, it kind of is his joystick but only because he has changed the way it operates. If he restores the centreing function then he will be able to do as you and Bill describe and all will be well!

Yep,  but  I  keep  saying  one  way  to  find  out if  it  his  joystick  either  its  not  returning  to  centre  to which  some  thing  else  could be  wrong  with  his  joystick other  than the  springs  etc  is  for  him  to  completely  remove  his  joystick   from  his  pc  and  use  the  key  boards  to test  if  he  has  the  same  issues,  other  than  doing this  we  are  going  around  in circles here

I7-8700k,Corsair h1101 cooler ,Asus Strix Gaming Intel Z370 S11 motherboard, Corsair 32gb ramDD4,, gtx 1080ti Card,  RM850 power supply

 

Peter kelberg

6 minutes ago, pete_auau said:

Yep,  but  I  keep  saying  one  way  to  find  out if  it  his  joystick  either  its  not  returning  to  centre  to which  some  thing  else  could be  wrong  with  his  joystick other  than the  springs  etc  is  for  him  to  completely  remove  his  joystick   from  his  pc  and  use  the  key  boards  to test  if  he  has  the  same  issues,  other  than  doing this  we  are  going  around  in circles here

Normally I'd agree with your approach to troubleshooting -- the point though is that the fact his joystick isn't centering is not in dispute -- we know, and Ken knows, it is not centering because it has deliberately been made so.

Yes, one would expect it to work with the keyboard (perhaps: how does the pitch axis behave when controlled using the keyboard? Does it 'spring' back to centre or if you make an input is the yoke held back in that position, as is the case with the mouse yoke, in which case it still won't work) -- but that won't actually prove anything unless the centering function is restored on the joystick...

Simon Kelsey

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  • Author
1 hour ago, BillC said:

 just let go of the stick (spring centered) and engage AP, job done. It's not the correct way to do it but it works anyway.

So, something other than trim is causing the problem. IMO.

No, it's not the correct way. I was holding the yoke back following the flight director bars, as stated in the manual. But I haven't been trimming the airplane so that I'm not having to told back pressure. Try it. If you hold the yoke back, the auto-pilot will not engage if there's quite a bit of force being exerted on the yoke.

Ken. 

  • Author
13 hours ago, Ephedrin said:

Ken,

I found this

When checking the elevator she holds it back to center but doesn‘t move it herself.

Yes, that's a great video. It does return to center, but it doesn't look like it returns with as much force as a spring joystick. But it does return to center. It also looks like the pitch returns to center.

Ken.

  • Author
1 hour ago, skelsey said:

Bill -- I'm 100% certain it's the trim. To replicate what Ken's situation is, what happens if you hold the stick out of centre and then try and engage the autopilot?

That's what he's doing...

That's correct.

Ken.

On 10/9/2018 at 9:30 PM, kmanning said:

Hi all,

In the actual 737NGX, you turn the yoke either fully left or right and you let go of it, does it actually return to center?

Ken.

Yes the yoke will centre itself if hydraulic pressure is available. This centring applies in both pitch and roll axes.

Re force feedback joysticks, this isn’t very realistic as typically implemented. But disconnecting the power to disable all feedback is even less realistic. It might feel like a Cessna on the ground but in flight aero forces will centre the controls quite strongly. With powered flight controls, as in the 737, this is even more the case.

FS Force might be a solution for you but only if you also reconnect the power to your joystick. That is essential to any solution.

Edited by kevinh

ki9cAAb.jpg

  • Author

Hi all,

I thought I've mentioned this but I have reconnected the power cable and the joystick has the return to center force. I've made several flights in the 737NGX and when I trimmed the airplane to relieve the back pressure and so that it holds the same pitch when I let it go, the auto-pilot has worked every time so far.

Ken.

11 hours ago, pete_auau said:

of  course  the  ap  wont  engage   since  your  holding  the  joystick  out of  centre, since  just  tried it  then  held the  stick   out of  centre   ap  would  not  engage,  soon  as I released  stick  to centre  ap  engage  with no issues ps  didn't  touch the  trim  at any stage  which  suggest  its  the  op  joystick  is  at fault.  Only  way  to find  out  if it is  for the op  to remove  his joystick and  use the  key  board   controls

No need for him to do that. I already did that a while back once when I was too lazy to grab my joystick from the top shelf of the truck for a quick test of something. If you use the keyboard, you would have to know when the elevators are actually centered because if it's not centered, the autopilot won't engage. The only way to know that would be by looking at the flight control indicators.

Captain Kevin

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7 hours ago, Captain Kevin said:

No need for him to do that. I already did that a while back once when I was too lazy to grab my joystick from the top shelf of the truck for a quick test of something. If you use the keyboard, you would have to know when the elevators are actually centered because if it's not centered, the autopilot won't engage. The only way to know that would be by looking at the flight control indicators.

well it  a  simple  test  to find  out   anyway  the op  has  it  solved

Edited by pete_auau

I7-8700k,Corsair h1101 cooler ,Asus Strix Gaming Intel Z370 S11 motherboard, Corsair 32gb ramDD4,, gtx 1080ti Card,  RM850 power supply

 

Peter kelberg

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