Aerofly FS 2: the good, the bad and the ugly

    • Official Post

    Just make sure the flight directors are set correctly when you engage the autopilot. When you have them on, you can perpare set the FCU and already pick heading select etc. When you then engage the autopilot it uses the presets that you put in.
    When you just turn the autopilot on without the flight directors enabled before then you will engage the autopilot in basic mode, that will try to maintain your current vertical speed. And if that was already big, then it will continue to descent...

    The parking brake issue should not happen. I can't see any reason why it should do that, there is no feedback loop or anything like that. With parking brake set it just adds brake pressure to the normal braking that you do with your pedals.
    Which airplane are you talking about here? The DR400 has a bit of a difficult system for the brake. Make sure the handle is not locked (for the parking brake the handle is rotated), otherwise you will have no normal brake...
    Obviously thats one of the things we need to test before we release the parking brakes. Thanks for the hint!

    Cheers,
    Jan

    Yes, did another flight and also still get that drive down when I enable the AP. Still haven't figured out the proper sequence for it all, I guess...

    EDIT
    O, you posted while I was typing. I did enable the FD and then setup everything... I will try it once more, making sure I am not pressing buttons on and off all the time.

    O, wait, you are talking about flight directorS... I only enabled the left one so far. Aerosoft Airbus habit, I guess? I will see what happens with both FS's on.

    Quote from Jet-Pack

    Just make sure the flight directors are set correctly when you engage the autopilot. When you have them on, you can perpare set the FCU and already pick heading select etc. When you then engage the autopilot it uses the presets that you put in.
    When you just turn the autopilot on without the flight directors enabled before then you will engage the autopilot in basic mode, that will try to maintain your current vertical speed. And if that was already big, then it will continue to descent...

    Hm, well, I found a method that seems to work everytime but you have to be careful. On my PC I can not setup the FCU as I'd want to after turning on the FD otherwise things will go wrong. The main culprit seems to be the SPD and/or ALT options: as soon as I press one of them, to go to managed mode, I see the vertical line of the FD dive deep into the ground (while still standing on the ground). I think this is why the plane dives as soon as you turn on the AP after setting up the FCU. Seems to me something is a bit wrong...?

    Anyway, this worked for me:
    - check T.O. config, make sure everything is green
    - turn on FD (no need to set both)
    - set desired altitude (do NOT push or pull the knob!)
    - set desired V/S (do NOT push or pull the knob!): I use 3500
    - do NOT touch SPD and HDG which should both show --- (after enabling the FD)
    - set full throttle and take off
    - gear up after positive climb
    - A/THR on
    - AP on: it will keep the HDG for now (should be runway heading automatically) and start to climb using set V/S
    - press SPD (to go to managed mode)
    - press HDG (to go to managed NAV mode)
    - press ALT (to go to managed climb): the plane will level of at first (for quite some time) but than continue to climb
    - flaps up at S on the speedtape (whenever that happens during the above)

    This seems to work everytime. Again, whenever I press or pull knobs on the FCU before take off things go wrong afterwards. The steps from A/THR to the last one can be done in quick succession: no need to wait for anything. I've tried it a few times now and so far so good. Not entirely as it should be but hey, it works! ;)

    • Official Post
    Quote from J van E

    Hm, well, I found a method that seems to work everytime but you have to be careful. On my PC I can not setup the FCU after turning on the FD otherwise things will go wrong. The main culprit seems to be the SPD and/or ALT options: as soon as I press one of them, to go to managed mode, I see the vertical line of the FD dive deep into the ground (while still standing on the ground). I think this is why the plane dives as soon as you turn on the AP after setting up the FCU. Seems to me something is a bit wrong...?

    Yes that is wrong, that is one of the things on my list of: we need to change the autopilot :D
    You can pull the hdg knob on the runway, that will give you the exact runway heading even before takeoff.

    BTW.: I found out why the windows are not working, there is a switch directly behind you in the overhead that is activated. (A bug of course). For now you just need to make sure you hit the clickspot where all three mouse icons are active.

    Cheers,
    Jan

    Quote from Jet-Pack

    Yes that is wrong, that is one of the things on my list of: we need to change the autopilot :D
    You can pull the hdg knob on the runway, that will give you the exact runway heading even before takeoff.

    BTW.: I found out why the windows are not working, there is a switch directly behind you in the overhead that is activated. (A bug of course). For now you just need to make sure you hit the clickspot where all three mouse icons are active.

    Cheers,
    Jan

    Good to know it's on the list! As I said before: as long as I know how to get things done it is fine with me and so I am fine now! ;) But of course it will be even better when things work the proper way. ;) BTW I have the impression the HDG is set to the runway heading already, even without touching the HDG knob but I might be wrong. Will check that later.

    I will check the windows later on! First I have to safely land my Airbus in LA. :D

    Thanks Jan for your feedback and also J van E for testing and good info!

    Regarding brakes it is the A320.
    The problem starts after releasing park brakes, then there is no "pedal braking" possible.(if key B was pressed with park brake set.
    No big problem when i found out how to restore normal braking by turning park brakes on/off again),
    Copy of my first post below:

    Jan, i tried to activate park brake by removing // in the control file, and it worked!
    But i think i found one small bug: if i push B or my joystick button wich is programmed for brakes when park brake is on, i have no brakes after i release park brake( hitting B does not activate normal braking anymore). It becomes normal again if park brakes are set and turned off again without hitting B inbetween. A minor bug but maybe someting to look into before you activate this officially?