strange flight behaviour

[mrtube]

I was just flying a mission, when I experienced a strange occurance. I stopped to go auto hover, I had just pitch and bank hold engaged, and alt hold came on as I engaged auto hover. As I tried to adjust the horizontal atitude of the helo, it became increasingly difficult to control, wanting to turn back in the direction I had just came from.. i had to use full rudder to stop it, then it started going in the opposite direction, until I was just spinning back and forth as i wrestled with the ruddr. The rudder was not trimmed as I had reset it and eventually my wingman crashed into me as he tried to follow my manouvres. It was as if the helo was trying to follow another direction, but auto headinhg hold was definitely off. Prior to this happening, I had turned on auto turn to target , while i engaged my helmet sight, but befoore i could lock anything, this started happening and I turned it off again.

Does anyone have any ideas what was going on?

thanks, Mark

[JG14_Smil]

you may be confused about AP button use.

 

leave the heading/pitch/bank AP controls on. Make sure Route mode is off before going to hover.

[Belphe]

Check if you don't have the "O" key mapped to something that keeps it pressed or pressess it all the time as it looks like the Helmet Mounted Sight (and turning your head) started the "dance"... :noexpression:

[mrtube]

Hi, I have spent lots of time reading through the posts regarding autopilot and while i admit I have not fully grasped all the sublties, I have deduced the following from the threads:

 

If Heading hold is not disengaged, the helo will try and return to that heading after you input change of direction. I find the helo much easier to control with just the pitch and bank buttons on.

 

What would cause the symptoms described? This is where I am confused, as having heading hold on or route mode on would cause this surely?

I am sure neither of these were in operation.

 

Does anyone have the definitive on exactly how best to use the auto pilot system? MY understanding from the post by Ivan and the subsequent replies is that there are many interpretations of how best to use and which combination of buttons on and off to use, depending on what you doing. Some replies and opinions seem to be in direct opposite to others. It is still very confusing. I have been experimenting , not using route mode yet, as i am working up to that, but just trying to find the best way to fly the helo in basic flight and manouvres, without crashing and found it is easiest with just pitch and bank hold on. Cant make up my mind wether adding flight director as well helps at all. But I still struggle with the rudders, even in the settings above, the helo often seeems to want to return to the heading it was on. Why is that?

[mrtube]

Mangaroca, what does the O key do? I am using the viper profile for my cougar. This has been a one off so far, but I am keen to understand why it happened, so as to learn from my mistake, whatever it was!!

[Belphe]

Since you're using a verified controller setup it is most likely NOT the case... :huh:

 

The "O" key uncages the Shkval but used together with the Helmet Mounted Sights and Automatic Turn To Target would point the nose of your Shark towards the direction you are looking...

[ZaltysZ]

The simple answer: trim while heading, pitch and bank channels are on.

 

Don't think that trim button is only for "locking" positions of controls. It is also used for controlling AP. You should almost always make corrections only when trim button is pressed (and is held pressed) and release it only when you are happy with attitude of your helicopter in pitch, bank and heading. This means that if you are hovering and want to change the direction you are facing to, you should press and hold trim button, apply rudder to change direction, stabilize the helicopter with opposite rudder when new desired direction is reached and then (only then) release trim button, so that AP would get right (the one you want) direction, which should be kept by AP.

 

If you are hovering with heading channel turned off and you helicopter seems to be turning wildly, you may be over controlling it. This can be very likely when helicopter is controlled without stabilization and dampening due to its high inertia. Also keep in mind that with heading channel turned off, you probably won't be hovering nicely with centered rudder (you will have to hold/trim it a little bit to right or left).

[mrtube]

Thanks for the help, I guessed it was probably something to do with autopilot and trim, plus my hamfisted flying. I cant believe how much fun ( and frustrating ) it is, learning to fly this bird, Falcon4 is sytems really, the flying itself is easy. This however, is a whole different ballgame, I see it being many hours before I am even remotely reliably proficient!!