Improved control swapping for multicrew aircraft

[KlarSnow]

The current manner of swapping controls between pilots by pressing “c” and then the pilot in command has to click an “allow” option is perfectly functional.

However it is a bit cumbersome, in dual control aircraft there is normally a positive change of controls that can be initiated by either aircrew

Pilot: “you have the aircraft”

copilot: “I have the aircraft”

usually a firm stick shake by the taker is used to positively confirm that they have the controls.

 

now in DCS we have a lot of limitations with this, namely our controls are highly unlikely to be force feedback, much less both aircrew having force feedback,and you have the perpetual issue of people abusing the control swap in an online situation that needs to be considered.

 

my suggestion is that the “take controls” ( C ) command becomes a generic context sensitive button that initiates and accepts the transfer no matter who starts it. And add an emergency “MY CONTROLS NOW” command, for emergencies when time may not allow or you may not want to permit the other player to have the option of relinquishing the controls.

 

how this would work is if either player presses the “C” (take controls) command once, while in command of the aircraft controls, it immediately asks the other aircrew if they want the controls. The receiving player then just has to hit “C” (take controls) to acknowledge it and Immediately has control of the aircraft, this way a pilot and copilot can quickly with a simple hotas push (no need to click the current dialog box) swap controls back and forth.

 

if you are not in command and you press the take controls command once, it should request the controls from the other player, which they can again acknowledge with a single press of the take controls command.

 

for an emergency situation, a double press feature could be implemented. If either aircrew double taps the take control command within a second, the controls are immediately transferred to their station.  
Obviously this could lead to fighting over the controls, so in order to prevent that, disable the copilots ability to double tap and take command for an amount of time after the pilot emergency takes command, that way the pilot/whomever the aircraft “owner” or “commander” is always has the ability to override and take the aircraft back in an abuse or griefing situation.

 

the normal single tap request and then acknowledge method should still work however during the pilots emergency command lockout of the copilot. This way if for example in a trainer, the copilot is flying, the pilot takes the aircraft briefly in an emergency, they can then immediately hand it back if desired.

 

finally in cases of egregious abuse their should be a way for the aircraft commander to completely lock the other aircrew from the emergency command function. I’d recommend this be a long press of the “take controls” command by the aircraft commander, which then pops up a dialog they can click on to lock the other aircrew from performing the emergency command control. This way you can pass the controls if desired, with a standard request and acknowledge but they cannot take the controls from you without permission.

 

Essentially pressing the button once should request or acknowledge control transfer.

 

Pressing the button twice should immediately transfer controls to you.

 

if the aircraft commander presses the button twice it prevents the other aircrew from doing the double button press for a set amount of time (30 seconds to a minute).

 

if the aircraft commander long presses the button they have the ability to remove or enable the other aircrews double press action for the rest of the flight.

 

Bit of a long explanation but I think this would be intuitive, cover most use cases, and be quick and easy with most hotas out there.