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Have your "virtual" co-pilot manage your throttles?!


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While I realize that auto-throttle isn't simulated, it would be cool if we could get a modification (or third-party trigger) that would allow you to tell your "co-pilot" to manage the speed for you during cruise. That would make really long flights much easier where you want to get a break from managing the throttles (I had this challenge yesterday when I needed to multi-task around the house :))

 

It's a thought that went through my head the other day and it is still lingering. I'm assuming in real world, the pilots take turns managing the throttle during cruise and making fine adjustments? On a 3 hour flight, that would stink to do it all yourself!

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

It does not stink IRL. This is your job as an RW CRJ pilot. And the pilots do not take turns during one flight. 

 

While we are at it, why not install an autoland and all the protections an Airbus FBW has. Next auto wind updates via ACARS with auto climb and descent functions. Best would be two buttons. START FLIGHT and END FLIGHT. It would make this hobby so much easier, and think about all the time we would have for other things in life. ;)

 

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1 hour ago, Chris Smith said:

While I realize that auto-throttle isn't simulated, it would be cool if we could get a modification (or third-party trigger) that would allow you to tell your "co-pilot" to manage the speed for you during cruise. That would make really long flights much easier where you want to get a break from managing the throttles (I had this challenge yesterday when I needed to multi-task around the house :))

 

It's a thought that went through my head the other day and it is still lingering. I'm assuming in real world, the pilots take turns managing the throttle during cruise and making fine adjustments? On a 3 hour flight, that would stink to do it all yourself!

is not simulated becuase real CRJ does not have autotrottle

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I actually love that there is no "shortcut", and I don't mean to be disrespectful to the topic starter. It's truly amazing how much we rely on auto throttle - I've already had 2-3 stalls at cruise or during descent, which I can't even remember that happening for many many years.

 

I'm in love with this plane, but I'm also very biased as I learned its systems and to fly it (sim only) when I got my wings in Sanford FL at the formerly named Comair Aviation Academy a looong time ago ;-)

 

Cheers,

Pete

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FWIW, while it's not a huge deal since most CRJ flights are fairly short, but I do think that being able to use time compression is really valuable for an entertainment product.  The lack of an auto-throttle does make it harder to use time compression, particularly if you have to step away briefly for real life intrusions.

 

I certainly don't think it's a deal breaker or anything, but it would seem like a cool "value-add" feature.  (To be clear....I would think something like enabled through "Dave"...not implementing a "fake" autothrottle switch or something similar).

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In defense of the CRJ: Probably not everyone read the CRJ preview thread in detail - there it was mentioned several times that the CRJ has no autothrottle and therefore demands a lot more handflying than the Boeing 737 NGX or the A320 families. And in a way, even if it is less comfortable and still a bit unusual to me, I like that the CRJ has such kind of "old-fashioned" quirks (including the lack of a full VNAV). I wonder how I did my flights and managed to arrive safely without having any kind of autothrust in the Learjet in FS5 many, many years ago. But you know what: It worked back then and will work now, too. It's a bit like returning to reading a printed newspaper instead of reading online articles, facebook posts and tweets on the smartphone. We weren't necessarily less informed when we still had to rely on newspapers, television and radio in order to get the news. And we weren't necessarily worse virtual pilots when we had to get along without autothrust, VNAV and a FMC and had to navigate in instrumental flight with the help of charts, VORs and NDBs. So isn't it nice to return to one's roots at least once in a while? ;)

 

And in order to be a bit less philosophical: I like about the CRJ that it seems to be a pretty tolerant plane, i.e. that it doesn't enter a deep stall immediately as soon as your airspeed at full flaps drops below 130 knots. So there's still plenty of space to recover if you didn't watch your airspeed meticulously during approach. And that's why I did surprisingly well during my first approaches with it, even without autothrust.

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I like that there isn't to much automation in this aircraft. As others have posted, if you need to step away just press the pause button. The aircraft is designed for short hops anyway, and if you fly long enough to need time compression maybe this isn't the aircraft for you. It's just a matter of adjusting to whats available.

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I actually think Chris's idea is rather a good one. It would be just an option in the cruise, if you're hard core, ignore it. RW CRJ pilots, even when they are PF, step away from the controls for calls of nature and leave the PNF to monitor during this period. Many, many add-ons have short cuts/virtual FOs/virtual FEs to compensate for the fact that you need more than one person to fly an airliner properly. The real CRJ doesn't have a Dave to enter V-speeds or fill in the performance data either (or a pause button for that matter), but no one is shouting for that functionality to be removed. 

 

Cheers

 

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I second this suggestion:

 

We already have panel state "cheats" (cold&dark, ready to taxi etc.), so why not add an option to "Dave" to toggle a speed hold cheat on or off?

 

Especially since we cannot (yet), as a precautionary measure, save the CRJ in midflight before leaving our computers unattended. If you consider issues like "broken weather", wx anomalies etc. it's kind of adventurous to leave your CRJ alone with manual throttle.

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I must admit that I actually like the idea. What I could do is enabled the default FS autothrottle feature and allow speed hold mode during cruise. However, I see that as a part of a more complex "Virtual Co-Pilot" feature for the future. First, all issues must be sorted, then comes the CFD (Connected Flightdeck) and after that I'll start thinking about more features.

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We are having a drought in Seattle (as we often do in the summer) and the idea actually came to me because I had to go water the plants (which takes about an hour). I kept running into the house to make sure I  wasn't over-speeding or stalling. I thought it would be nice if I could tell the co-pilot to manage things for a bit :)

 

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23 hours ago, FWAviation said:

I I like about the CRJ that it seems to be a pretty tolerant plane, i.e. that it doesn't enter a deep stall immediately as soon as your airspeed at full flaps drops below 130 knots. So there's still plenty of space to recover if you didn't watch your airspeed meticulously during approach. And that's why I did surprisingly well during my first approaches with it, even without autothrust.

Agreed; it helps it being pretty tolerant on approaches etc; well modeled while reflecting the aspects of a home simulator.  Makes it quite enjoyable in certain phases of flight.

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I don't understand why this is needed? If you set up the speed properly at cruise you should just be able to walk away for a while and not have any issues. The dash 8 q400 is the same in this regards as the crj and I often get up and make a cup of tea etc and leave it cruising below the barber pole with no issues. 

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I have to agree with all ajpongress said, I'm a regular Dash flyer, for this sort of short hop aircraft I prefer a more hands on aircraft. It gives it more charm and keeps you on your toes.

 

Rob

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6 hours ago, gjharrall said:

I don't understand why this is needed? If you set up the speed properly at cruise you should just be able to walk away for a while and not have any issues. The dash 8 q400 is the same in this regards as the crj and I often get up and make a cup of tea etc and leave it cruising below the barber pole with no issues. 

 

FWIW, this has not really been the case for me.  I've not been able to set a single thrust rating and keep it throughout cruise...eventually the speed will decay, or creep towards the red line.  It's seemed considerably harder to keep a consistent speed in cruise with the CRJ than the Q400 for me.  I assume just because the CRJ has a lot more power.

 

I don't think this is a huge deal....but a "virtual co-pilot" for managing thrust would be a cool feature for the longer flights.  Sitting at 1x for a couple hours in cruise isn't super thrilling for me.

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14 hours ago, gjharrall said:

I don't understand why this is needed? If you set up the speed properly at cruise you should just be able to walk away for a while and not have any issues. The dash 8 q400 is the same in this regards as the crj and I often get up and make a cup of tea etc and leave it cruising below the barber pole with no issues. 

 

Is is not needed, but why be pedantic about it. If people want it as a comfort option whats the big deal? Because it is not in the real CRJ? Hate to burst your bubble but this is a simulator, anything is possible within reason and really if some buyers feel comfortable with this option I say let them have it.

As for getting up for a cup of tea in the cruise, I have done this only to find a stable speed on leaving the simulator,bleed off to stall as ASN downloaded automatically and introduced strong head winds just as I was returning to the simulation hot tea in hand.

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No bubble to be burst as far as I'm concerned. I really couldn't care less what people do in a simulator. But If I was the developer, I wouldn't waste my time putting a fake autothrottle in either. It appears aerosoft agree. Go and ask PMDG to put an autothrottle in the DC6....I can tell you what the answer will be. Same with Majestic Q400. Nobody complains about it with the Q400. There are choices. If you want a simulated aircraft that can handle speed automatically there are lots to choose from. Grab one and be happy. 

 

As for speed changes due to a weather program injecting headwinds that cause such a drastic shift......get a different weather engine?

 

i use Opus FSI and it appears to be able to not suffer from this issue with upper level winds. I'm surprised ASN isn't better in that regard. 

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On ‎8‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 1:50 AM, Paul Hand said:

I actually think Chris's idea is rather a good one. It would be just an option in the cruise, if you're hard core, ignore it. RW CRJ pilots, even when they are PF, step away from the controls for calls of nature and leave the PNF to monitor during this period. Many, many add-ons have short cuts/virtual FOs/virtual FEs to compensate for the fact that you need more than one person to fly an airliner properly. The real CRJ doesn't have a Dave to enter V-speeds or fill in the performance data either (or a pause button for that matter), but no one is shouting for that functionality to be removed. 

 

Cheers

 

I can literally count on one hand how many times I've stepped away and out of the cockpit of a CRJ IRL since 2008. It just doesn't happen often, it truly is a rare thing.

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To simulate the real CRJ you need a co pilot punching in frequencies, doing cross  checks and managing the throttle if you urgently need to go to the bathroom in cruise mode after an ill timed drink. The work load on the CRJ for a single simmer is fairly busy and it is not an option in the real world  - that is why there is a copilot. I think if your look up your aviation data on the CRJ you will see no Single pilot operating option. So some here have suggested they don't like the idea of baby sitting the throttles - i say again - fine. Whether or not Aerosoft does a virtual co pilot or not I am just not so religious about it  - thats all.

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