I just spent four hours over two days trying to figure out why the parking brake was not working in the FlySimware Lear35A which, is my favorite plane and one I have flown several hours a day for the last month. 

The Parking Brake indicator  would blink on (sometimes) but not stay on.  When I set the parking brake ON while taxiing the nose would dip for a second then nothing.  The brake handle could not be pulled out. 

I verified the settings for my TA 320 were set properly and they were just as they had been for the last month or more.   I then used SPAD.nEXT to verify the proper command/event was being generated.

Nothing made the recently perfectly operating parking brakes work.

Eventually, I discovered that Button 45 on my Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant had been set to SET PARKING BRAKE OFF.  That Button is the PITOT OFF switch in my normal settings.  So - anytime I turned off the PITOT heat I really turned off the parking brake.  I fly mainly GA in low warm climates so seldom turn on the Pitot heat.  

I checked a profile backup file from last week and Button 45 in that copy was set to PITOT HEAT OFF. 

Who/What/How did a button on one controller get changed from it's correct value while the correct button on another controller stays the same?

This has happened many times in the past - is it really necessary to verify every setting on every controller in use?  I had not changed any Bravo settings in the past couple weeks.  

What a waste of time!

After many hours of wondering why that was happening to me as well, I discovered that profiles are saved on a per aircraft basis and sometimes (I think) maybe even on a sub-variant or livery) basis, so I have to keep reminding myself to check the assigned profiles before each flight with a new aircraft. I suspect that once I've worked my way through my "hangar" I may not need to keep checking, but that may take some time (!!).

Profiles management in MSFS (2020 or 2024) has always been a disaster - with instant CTDs when to try to apply/save profiles and now, with SU2, incredibly long wait times each time you step through each profile. Why on earth couldn't they design it as a drop-down? Sounds like SU3 is just as bad. Whilst the sim has steadily improved with time, I think the GUI needs a TOTAL rewrite ... it's simply awful.

I have profiles for majority of my planes that I just switch to when flying a particular planes that helps avoid these kind of issues.

For example PMDG doesn't use my full axis whereas FBW does. and so I have different profiles for that.

Did you say the binding changed randomly, or...?

And are you flying v2024 or v2020...?

Does Honeycomb have it's own control setup that sits in top of MSFS...?

And you also use spad.next...?

I've seen some add-ons with developer custom control assignments (e.g., BlackBird Sims) that can override or conflict with the native sim control bindings, and that kinda sounds like what you're describing.

The way I generally keep these things straight is to stick to the simulators native control assignment mechanics, have absolutely standardized button assignments, and to have control assignment profiles for each aircraft (or at least class of aircraft as they generally have much in common).

I also tend to use the virtual cockpit interface for things like Pitot Heat & Parking Brakes. I.e., the only things I have hardware bound are things I need while I'm hands-on, like radio, speed brakes, or critical phase items like AP or Beta/Reverse.

Sorry if that sounds preachy. I mean rather that I focus on keeping things as simple and standard as possible.

I always do a “ full and free” check of the flight controls now before rolling for take off, as on more than one occasion I’ve learned too late on the roll the yoke or rudder wasn’t responding 

The parking brake is usually a good sign something is off.  I also look around the cockpit.  If all that works, it should be ok.

The problem is, it takes several minutes to load into the control menu to check.

Sadly I think we've gone backwards with the controls.  Things seemed to be working after SU1, but 2 seems to have brought back a lot of strange behavior.  I still get a CTD if I try to set as default.  

17 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

After many hours of wondering why that was happening to me as well, I discovered that profiles are saved on a per aircraft basis and sometimes (I think) maybe even on a sub-variant or livery) basis, so I have to keep reminding myself to check the assigned profiles before each flight with a new aircraft. I suspect that once I've worked my way through my "hangar" I may not need to keep checking, but that may take some time (!!).

Profiles management in MSFS (2020 or 2024) has always been a disaster - with instant CTDs when to try to apply/save profiles and now, with SU2, incredibly long wait times each time you step through each profile. Why on earth couldn't they design it as a drop-down? Sounds like SU3 is just as bad. Whilst the sim has steadily improved with time, I think the GUI needs a TOTAL rewrite ... it's simply awful.

Never in almost 4 years have I had a problem saving profiles in MSFS 2020. 

I've never had a problem losing controls in 2020 or 2024. I use Steam and don't join betas, maybe that helps...

 

Anyone also having the extreme long spinning in MSFS2024 in controls check?

Michael Moe

30 minutes ago, Michael Moe said:

Anyone also having the extreme long spinning in MSFS2024 in controls check?

Michael Moe

It's noticeably longer now, but not excessively so to where I get the spinning ball.

My msfs2024 (SU3 beta) does not have any long spinning circle, nor wait time when changing profiles. There are hundreds of fixes in the SU3 beta. The controls window in 2024 is different (slightly) from SU2, and it is snappy quick on my installation. 

 

I think this first came with SU3:

Edited June 3, 20251 yr by Fielder

5 hours ago, Fielder said:

I think this first came with SU3:

When comes to control bindings, what is the purpose of "Essential", when and how would it be used?
Thx,
Al 

Edited June 3, 20251 yr by ark

I use my own checklists to cycle through, observing on-screen behavior in the sim. 

 

Edited June 4, 20251 yr by fppilot

I do not.

7 hours ago, ark said:

When comes to control bindings, what is the purpose of "Essential", when and how would it be used?
Thx,
Al 

Essential is those bindings that are required to make the sim work, Flight controls, engine control etc.