Is the first officer flying or not?

[Bill A 68]

Hi guys, I have read the manual several times concerning this issue but Im still somewhat confused on the correct settings for the co-pilot to take command of the aircraft. All my plans seem to have the default FS autopilot with most freeware panels out there. Do I need to have BOTH altitude hold AND heading select activated only for this feature to work. I use the NAV via GPS feature and the plane rarley is set to heading unless during approach. But sometimes it seems that the copilot sets the correct attitutde on the autopilot, then instrued and then sometimes he/she seems to not set the altitiude when told so. Will it still work with the following settings...altitude hold & NAV via GPS, or does it need to be atititude hold & heading. If heading is required, then the heading is way off compared to what the GPS is indicating.Just need a simple explanation here.Thanks guys,Bill

[jd 57]

heading and altitude hold are required.jd

[Bill A 68]

Thanks Jd for the reply, but if I change the autopilot from NAV/GPS to heading, how does the copilot know which heading to fly in order to follow the flighplan on the GPS? The heading is not even remotely close to the GPS heading.Thanks,Bill

[Bill A 68]

Ok, now it seem to be working and the heading is following the GPS path. Dont know what I did to do this. Do I have to have everything setup in the autopilot..autopilot on with heading/atitude select before I have the copilot take charge? I think that was the problem.The copilot changed the altitude but did not change the verticle speed settings so we just stayed at the same altitude...is this a known issue?Bill

[jd 57]

when you are told to climb or descend, the copilot will make the change, if altitude hold is onjd

[Bill A 68]

Right, the copilot did change the atititude, however the plane stayed on its current altitude because the copilot did not put a descend rate on the vertical speed select.Bill

[jd 57]

i don't change the vertical speedif you get a new altitude that is dialed in, and the vs is changed on my planes by the fact the altitude has been changedjd

[nobleord 17]

Hi Bill,RC's Otto will not update the VS. When the altitude is changed, the default vertical speed that is set for that aircraft (in the aircraft.cfg) should be set by FS.

[Bill A 68]

Thanks, I did not know that there was a default setting for the VS.Where is it on the config file?Thanks for the helpBill

[nobleord 17]

Hi Bill,In the autopilot section there is a setting called default_vertical_speed. If, for example, you wanted your default VS to be 800 you would use an entry of default_vertical_speed=800.

[Bill A 68]

Cool, Ill go check this out...so if I want the VS to be 2000ft, then the copilot would be able to set for climbs 2000ft and for descents -2000ft?Looks like I have it covered.Thanks,Bill

[jd 57]

all the stock ms planes have that set, i wonder why yours are differentjd