Good Day,

Is it just me or is there an issue with the Vertx DA-62 Autopilot when tracking a Direct-to GPS route.

Had this issue using P3DV5.3 and now using V5.4. Did not own the DA62 before V5.3. Have lots of planes from various venders with G1000 series GPS units and the Vertx DA62 is the only one I have issues with the Direct-to function. 

If I start a flight and press the Direct-to button on the MFD or PFD and select a location, take-off and start flying, I cannot get the autopilot to track the Direct-to route.  Here is what I do and what happens once I get flying. I set an altitude and the autopilot will hold the altitude.  I set the CDI to GPS mode, press the Nav button and the GPS will never settle down. The CDI indicator also goes one direction a little and then when it looks the GPS will track, the CDI indicator goes the other direction a little and then the plane will change direction to chase the CDI indicator’s new position. This CDI indicator keeps on going back and forth and this continues until I turn off the Autopilot.

Please note I can create a flight plan from point A to point B and load it and the auto pilot will track ok.  I can also create a flight plan with multiple waypoints, load it and the autopilot will track it ok and turn to the proper heading at each waypoint.  Everything else seems to work ok as well. The fuel system work ok. The config works ok as well.

Is there something I’m not doing properly when setting up a Direct-to flight? Is this a known issue? I could not find info about it searching the internet or AVSIM.

John C.

4 hours ago, johncott said:

Good Day,

Is it just me or is there an issue with the Vertx DA-62 Autopilot when tracking a Direct-to GPS route.

Had this issue using P3DV5.3 and now using V5.4. Did not own the DA62 before V5.3. Have lots of planes from various venders with G1000 series GPS units and the Vertx DA62 is the only one I have issues with the Direct-to function. 

If I start a flight and press the Direct-to button on the MFD or PFD and select a location, take-off and start flying, I cannot get the autopilot to track the Direct-to route.  Here is what I do and what happens once I get flying. I set an altitude and the autopilot will hold the altitude.  I set the CDI to GPS mode, press the Nav button and the GPS will never settle down. The CDI indicator also goes one direction a little and then when it looks the GPS will track, the CDI indicator goes the other direction a little and then the plane will change direction to chase the CDI indicator’s new position. This CDI indicator keeps on going back and forth and this continues until I turn off the Autopilot.

Please note I can create a flight plan from point A to point B and load it and the auto pilot will track ok.  I can also create a flight plan with multiple waypoints, load it and the autopilot will track it ok and turn to the proper heading at each waypoint.  Everything else seems to work ok as well. The fuel system work ok. The config works ok as well.

Is there something I’m not doing properly when setting up a Direct-to flight? Is this a known issue? I could not find info about it searching the internet or AVSIM.

John C.

John...I just fired up my DA-62 and the below may not apply. I may be thinking about another aircraft and if so I am sorry. It looks like the on the DA-62 the way you described should work. 

Hi John....with the DA-62 by Vertx you need to hand fly or use heading mode to get the aircraft on a path that is in the general direction of your direct to path I believe the manual says like 30 degrees or similar then select nav and you should be good to go. the aircraft should lock onto the direct course as you arrive at the red course line on the map. 

Edited June 11, 20232 yr by shivers9

1 hour ago, shivers9 said:

John...I just fired up my DA-62 and the below may not apply. I may be thinking about another aircraft and if so I am sorry. It looks like the on the DA-62 the way you described should work. 

Hi John....with the DA-62 by Vertx you need to hand fly or use heading mode to get the aircraft on a path that is in the general direction of your direct to path I believe the manual says like 30 degrees or similar then select nav and you should be good to go. the aircraft should lock onto the direct course as you arrive at the red course line on the map. 

Thanks for your reply. Should have mention I do hand fly or use the heading mode until I get lined up with my direct-to heading and it still will not track properly. I will do some more testing and see what I can come up with or see if anybody else has the same issue.

1 hour ago, johncott said:

Thanks for your reply. Should have mention I do hand fly or use the heading mode until I get lined up with my direct-to heading and it still will not track properly. I will do some more testing and see what I can come up with or see if anybody else has the same issue.

It sounds like you have two things trying to set the flight path. All I can think of is maybe something in the mappings of your rudder pedals or buttons. I would look for dupes in those areas especially if you use both flight yoke and flight stick at times. anyway good luck! Oh and I love your specs!! LOL

Edited June 11, 20232 yr by shivers9

@johncott, I've flown the DA62 in both v4 and v5.3. I haven't changed to 5.4 yet.

With a flight plan loaded I selected the Direct To option to the right of the PFD. A dialogue box opens prompting input. What are you entering there?

The way I would perform a Direct To is via the flight plan on the right display. Using the inner/outer black knobs highlight the waypoint you wish to fly to and select Act Leg. That will then become the active waypoint.

17 hours ago, shivers9 said:

It sounds like you have two things trying to set the flight path. All I can think of is maybe something in the mappings of your rudder pedals or buttons. I would look for dupes in those areas especially if you use both flight yoke and flight stick at times. anyway good luck! Oh and I love your specs!! LOL

I think if this was the case, then it wouldn't track properly when I load a regular GPS point A to point B flight plan or a multipoint with multiple waypoints flight plan. When I load either type of these flight plans they work ok with the autopilot.  See more details in my reply to Ray Proudfoot in this topic.

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@johncott, I've flown the DA62 in both v4 and v5.3. I haven't changed to 5.4 yet.

With a flight plan loaded I selected the Direct To option to the right of the PFD. A dialogue box opens prompting input. What are you entering there?

The way I would perform a Direct To is via the flight plan on the right display. Using the inner/outer black knobs highlight the waypoint you wish to fly to and select Act Leg. That will then become the active waypoint.

Hi Ray,

After reading you answer, I gather the DA62 direct-to function works within an existing flight plan and not like the default 530 or the G1000 or the Carenado 530 or G1000.  With the aircraft using these GPS units, I do not have a flight plan loaded, I press direct-to, enter the airport I want to fly to and press the AP and then the NAV button and the autopilot tracks ok to the selected airport.  With the DA62 I loaded a multi-leg flight plan and took off.  The AP tracked ok and then I press the direct-to button of the PFD and selected one of the waypoints further down in the flight plan and it worked ok.

Thank you

John, glad you got it working. I have Aivlasoft EFB and I can generate a plan in that and it is automatically fed into the DA 62 flight planner. But if I use Direct To in EFB it doesn’t work. I have to use the options in the DA62.