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INS/Autopilot


petesmiffy

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Loving this aeroplane, but I cannot get the autopilot to follow the INS. Load INS with the flight plan loader. Startup the aircraft, INS to NAV, take off, engage the autopilot and select AUX, aircraft begins a slow turn to port.

AUTO/MAN switch on INS stuck in AUTO and only moves up and down.

Suggestions please- I think I followed the manual, but I may have missed something.

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If you are shutting down the aircraft, you need to align the INS.  And part of that process is entering the ramp position, even if it already shows that position.  It will never align properly until you do that.  I have to go off line for a few hours, but I can get into more detail tomorrow.   Take a look at the INS manual as well. 

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Had the same problem until I re-read the manual.  If it helps I created an INS "Reference Sheet"...kind of an (very) abbreviated version of the manual.  It's attached if it helps.  I also changed the Checklist slightly to put in some of these steps.  Works perfectly now.

 

INS Reference Sheet_v2.pdf

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The auto/man switch has its click spots offset to either side so the object itself can have a clickspot for the press to test function.  For the offset spots, left click on the left one and right click on the right one. 

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Not directly related, but has anyone had any problem with the Pitch portion of the autopilot not working... When I have the autopilot turned on and Pitch mode activated, the Up/Down pitch control has no effect.  I've done some due diligence in tracking this down and searching the forum, but have not seen anything... ???  Trim has been stabilized when the activated but then pitch wanders off with no autopilot control..

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You're referring to the pitch damping mode?  The vertical speed wheel doesn't operate in that mode.  Pitch damping is for when the VS/altitude hold mode is having trouble due to turbulence.  It disconnects the autopilot from the vertical control of the aircraft -- you then control pitch with trim or the control column.  From the manual:

 

The PITCH DAMP position of the PITCH SELECTOR switch sets the autopilot mode of operation for damping of airplane movements around the pitch axis -during turbulence penetration. In pitch damp mode, the automatic horizontal stabilizer trim is disengaged, and pitch manoeuvring is accomplished by manual inputs to the control column or the use of horizontal stabilizer trim.

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I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I cannot get the INS to follow a loaded flight plan either. I load the sim with the engines running, get everything else ready, then load the flight plan from the P3D flight plan loader. I have my current airport coordinates show up in the windows on the INS, during taxi I can get my ground speed readout, but when I click over to the WAY PT selection, nothing but zeros. The "alert" light keeps flashing all the time.

 

I used the Captain Sim INS extensively in their L1011/B727, etc, and didn't have problems. But for whatever reason, I can't get my head wrapped around this particular variety of INS. I've read the manuals and watched the tutorials that I could find.

 

Other than that - loving the aircraft.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Regards,

Scott

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Hi,

 

Which is your FP Route type, High Altitude Airways? VOR to VOR?

Do you say all of your WY PT positions (1-9) are in 0, instead of showing FP waypoint data?

 

Tom

 

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Hello, and thank you for the reply.

 

I create my P3D flight plans with Little Nav Map, the greatest freeware flight planner/moving map that is out there right now. I save them in the .pln format to my P3D directory. The flight plans I've been trying the past couple of evenings are very simple VOR - VOR...only about 6 or 7 waypoints. All of my WAY PT positions show 00'00.0/000'0.0 with the exception of position "0" (zero). That has the departure airport coordinates in it.

 

The flight planner I use has successfully created flight plans for PMDG, the Aerosoft Airbus, Quality Wings, in addition to the FSX/P3D formats, so it's not an issue with that utility.

 

Regards,

Scott

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3 minutes ago, Flugkapitan said:

very simple VOR - VOR.

 

I suspected that.

VOR - VOR routes are recognized by the FPLoader as DME type flight plans. Please check the example on page 51 of the manual.

 

Regards,

Tom

 

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Hi, 

 

Yes, but I am not using the flight plan importer utility that comes with the aircraft. Once the sim and aircraft are up and running, I open the flight planner & load the plan of choice. From Michael's posts and the tutorial I watched,  I was under the impression a person could select any P3D flight plan that was saved in the .pln format and it would automatically load in the INS when the aircraft was loaded with the engines/systems in running state. It is entirely possible that I did not understand what he was saying. Also, all of the VOR's that I included in the flight plans have DME capability.

 

"No, the aircraft loads with engines running and the INS aligned.  All you have to do is load a flight plan with the P3D menu. 

There is a way to do a quick alignment (when alignment is needed) but I need to recall how it works and check to make sure it's still in the release version before I post how.  It may be a while, as I will be offline much of today."

 

Regards,

Scott

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Yes, you can select any Flight Plan and it will be automatically loaded by the FPLoader(*). You don´t need to have the 2D popup interface displayed for that.

The only requisite for INS slots to be filled is that Type must be IFR and Route Low or High Altitude Airways.

If route is VOR-VOR, DME slots are going to be filled, not INS ones. This is a convention to facilitate the insertion of VOR (DME) data instead of having to type it.

 

Regards,

Tom

(*) FPLoader core runs in the background since flight start moment.

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And it's best to confirm the flight plan loaded correctly before proceeding further.  There are several way to check, but one easy method is to turn one CDU selector to DIS/TIME and see if the distance to the first way point displays. 

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Hi Tom/Michael,

 

Thank you for that clarification! 

 

The light bulb in my old bald head just clicked "on". 

 

Yes, that does make perfect sense. I can use the flight planner I mentioned to create those types of airways. I'll give that a go tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile, getting ready to descend into KFAR ^_^

 

Regards,

Scott

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