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Autopilot Altitude Mode


abennett

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Just tried a climb with the autopilot, it climbed straight through the set altitude, now I have set a negative VS and it just wont descend instead keeps on climbing. So it climbed straight through the selected altitude and now won't descend. so pretty non-functional.

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  • Aerosoft

I have seen at least 20 videos in the last two days where this worked fine. Have you checked out any of the tutorial videos already?

 

Bit hard to see, but in the image I do not see the altitude mode active, only heading and that would of course explain what you see.

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4 minutes ago, Mathijs Kok said:

I have seen at least 20 videos in the last two days where this worked fine. Have you checked out any of the tutorial videos already?

 

Bit hard to see, but in the image I do not see the altitude mode active, only heading and that would of course explain what you see.

 The alt mode should have engaged when reaching 15,000 in the the climb, but it never did, hence it is not activated.

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I will keep testing, maybe it was climbing to steeply to activate or something. I will try and work out why. I don't think it was my error, been doing this stuff for a long time, in a lot of detail.

 

Thanks as ever.

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  • Developer

I found that it's easier to just select the altitude, switch the AP on and then set a VS with the UP/DOWN keys - this will get you to the selected altitude. The ALT key itself is only for ALT HOLD (= hold current altitude). To change to another altitude, select your target altitude, press VS and then UP/DOWN again.

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13 minutes ago, Mathijs Kok said:

I have seen at least 20 videos in the last two days where this worked fine

 

It doesn't work fine. It is a random process that mostly works fine. But sometimes it just doesn't work. Today I flew something like 25 short flights. It malfunctioned on more than 5 occasions. It behaved differently than supposed, although I am pretty sure I know what should have happened. FD logic in this autopilot is seriously flawed and any deviation from the narrow procedure taken into account by the developer makes it malfunction.

Please, do not ask whether anyone watched tutorials. KAP 140 is a pretty simple system. Manuals are available and many of your customers know how this system works - from how it is simulated on several payware aircraft in P3D or XP or from the real-world experience. It is a frustrating design choice to force people to unlearn how to use it and then to watch tutorials showing how to operate it in this rendition of a payware plane (mental note - this will probably change as the system is updated - if it is).

I understand your explanation about the compatibility with xbox, but as a PC user and customer I would assume that this part of the market is also considered. Judging from the number of users complaining for the AP - this frustration is rather common.

Unfortunately, unlike the real world pilots, I do not have a buddy sitting next to me in the cockpit and I do not have physical switches and knobs and I could really use a properly working AP when I depart an airport and need to setup my GPS.

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20 minutes ago, Hans Hartmann said:

I found that it's easier to just select the altitude, switch the AP on and then set a VS with the UP/DOWN keys - this will get you to the selected altitude. The ALT key itself is only for ALT HOLD (= hold current altitude). To change to another altitude, select your target altitude, press VS and then UP/DOWN again.

 

Just tried again and it captured my selected altitude and engaged ALT, last time, it just went straight through it.

 

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When using VS mode, keep airspeed in the range 120-140 kts, below or above seem to give the KAP140 autopilot problems.

The KAP140 is the default Asobo Autopilot.

 

Maybe some tweaking of it's settigs in the systems.cfg could help it, but it´s known for having issues.

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I just flew TNCM-TFFJ-TNCS-TNCM.

On the first two flights the AP worked fine and I was was able to hold the selected ALT of 1,300ft.

On the last leg I wasn’t able to hold the ALT at all. It always pitched down and I would have ditched into the water if I didn’t took manual control of the aircraft.

 

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Well well well, turns out it is not Asobo's issue with the autopilot, but rather Aerosoft's inability to make proper cfg files. A few changes to a cfg and the AP works perfectly... I'll wait for the apologies but I doubt they will come.

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5 minutes ago, Huwieblue said:

It would have been far more constructive to post what you actually did to supposedly fix the issue, would it not?

I do not know comfortable Aerosoft are with people tweaking their cfg's so I am reluctant to post it here, but you can check on the official forums https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/aerosoft-twin-otter-baby/395128. This post has all the info. I am glad a persevered rather listened to those telling me user error and read the manual. I know what I am doing, been doing it for years.

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22 minutes ago, abennett said:

I do not know comfortable Aerosoft are with people tweaking their cfg's so I am reluctant to post it here

 

I'm sure they will be fine though as they had just left them at the default c172 value rather than editing them specifically for the aircraft like the vast vast majority of other 3rd party developers.

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1 hour ago, abennett said:

I do not know comfortable Aerosoft are with people tweaking their cfg's so I am reluctant to post it here, but you can check on the official forums https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/aerosoft-twin-otter-baby/395128. This post has all the info. I am glad a persevered rather listened to those telling me user error and read the manual. I know what I am doing, been doing it for years.

Wow - using the Kodiak values fixed the VS behaviour for me.

Now it keeps VS regardless (Well not below stall speed offcourse) at what speed I fly and captures the altitude just fine and smooth.

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1 hour ago, abennett said:

 

I'm sure they will be fine though as they had just left them at the default c172 value rather than editing them specifically for the aircraft like the vast vast majority of other 3rd party developers.

We (mostly you, really) did quite a bit of testing on this whole AP fiasco over the last few days and I can’t thank you enough for finding a fix… and apparently an easy one, at that. 

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6 hours ago, swjneufy said:

We (mostly you, really) did quite a bit of testing on this whole AP fiasco over the last few days and I can’t thank you enough for finding a fix… and apparently an easy one, at that. 

 

Thanks. Yeah I have spent hours and hours and hours testing over the last few days. Why one may ask? Because I adore flight sim, I adore the way we can discover more about our planet, I adore the way it can give us structure in our ever messy lives, I adore the fact that we can meet and get to know others from all across the world who share a passion despite many other differences, I adore the constant improvement in technology, I adore the fact that I learn something everyday from simming whether it be a little tip about how to better fly an aircraft, or a little little tip about a new program I can run on the side. But most of all. I just want other people to experience and relish this passion I have, and the joy it has brought to me over the years. Anything that I can do to make it more enjoyable for someone else, I gladly do, as do so many others in the community. So I test, and test, and test to find bugs, not to be awkward or petty, but just simply to try and improve a product. If one person finds something that is wrong, it is so worth correcting even if others wouldn't notice, because for that one person, it might make a huge difference, and if you can make a difference in one persons life, you should do it.

 

So, Aerosoft, please learn from this, there are so, so many out there for whom flight sim gives real joy and happiness, so stop releasing half-finished products that haven't been properly tested, and listen to your community when there is a problem, instead of the usual response of, not our fault, it is user error or read the manual. You guys have the capacity to give people so much pleasure, and that is a big responsibility, but with it great reward and satisfaction. You guys should have acknowledged this rather than blaming others, or better still, never let it be an issue in the first place. I have other stuff to do you, you know, like my job, not spend all my time since release time trying to fix your problems. But I do it gladly, because the satisfaction when it all works is like nothing else.

 

Just try harder next time, rather than make the quick buck, because it matters to some people.

 

Looking forward to further development of this aircraft and rejoicing in the pleasure it will give to many, so thank you for that, and I wish this project all success. I am sure you have countless offers, but I am always happy to test things, I guarantee you, I will find something to be fixed...

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

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I know Aerosoft's v/s behavior is bad and there is need to fix it, but i hope its not an over fix that is so stable where we don't need to make manual adjustment everytime on climb and descent. The old 300 series here pilots rarely use the v/s to climb or descent cause it is very unreliable and slow. Typically V/s speed is used until 1000feet before the selected altitude where pilot would disconnect it and use mostly pitch trim adjustment and memorizing what power torque, and prop settings to use before arming the alt+ap. Some would go for a very shallow v/s climb of 200fpm-400fpm at final climb or descent. For approach it is entirely manual just before localizer capture and following the glideslope indicator and that was it and for stolport operators ILS/Vor DME approaches are simply rare. A flightplan that has a moderate turn on a waypoint requires the crew to disconnect the ap and manually turn the yoke.

Over here replacement 400 viking series that came to replace them had the entire autopilot system removed cause they were barely used. There were some pilots complaining about the removal(Them needing to keep an eye out more and have one flying has his hands on the yoke all the time as a nuisance) but the aircraft itself even without autopilot is very stable even in some weather as long the correct trim and power settings is used. Added benefits on the viking was the easier to read glass cockpit. Capability of RNAV GPS approaches, Dedicated weather radar, Added awareness for night flying, There was a joke that one can even book a hotel room using the the center column keyboard on the ground lol. The plus points outweights the negatives of the autopilot removal.

 

So all in all, there needs to be some form of middle ground.

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On 1/21/2022 at 11:41 AM, Finn said:

Wow - using the Kodiak values fixed the VS behaviour for me.

Now it keeps VS regardless (Well not below stall speed offcourse) at what speed I fly and captures the altitude just fine and smooth.

hey there, i've been looking around on how to fix the AP but haven't been able to find out how. can you either paste the steps you used or link to the steps?

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3 hours ago, dresoccer4 said:

hey there, i've been looking around on how to fix the AP but haven't been able to find out how. can you either paste the steps you used or link to the steps?

PM'd

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1 hour ago, Jan R. Storelvmo said:

There should be an update out tomorrow according to what @Mathijs Kok said in another thread. It fixes the autopilot issues as they've sorted out all issues with it. No need to make any tweaks with an update so close. 

Well unless you want to fly before the fix and the AP is driving you crazy I guess :)

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