Why might AUTO HOVER cause KA to leap and swing wildly

[mbolan]

Hi,

 

I'm making solid progress but am unsure of why AUTO HOVER frequently causes the Ka to swing wildly (up to 180 degrees), climb vertically and/or dive straight into the ground from 200 m up.

 

I'm steadying the Ka, coming to a hover manually, then hit ALT T and all hell breaks loose. This is happening in mission when the controls have all been set up by the mission designer (e.g. Miss 3 in Depolyment campaign). I haven't preprogrammed the Shkval, nor am I aware of any other action of mine that might do this. The resulting instability is most disquieting I must say.

 

Any ideas or useful comments appreciated.

 

Cheers/

 

 

English 1.0 DCS on full Sim

AMD 3700 2 Ghz 1 Mb cache

nVidia 9800 GT 1 Gb

4 Gb DDR RAM

[coolts]

You need to re-trim after coming to a hover BEFORE engaging auto-hover. That way, the autopilot won’t be fighting your previous trim settings. It’s annoying I know. I have stopped using auto hover most of the time now because of the whole 'spinning around like a merry-go-round' problem.

[JG14_Smil]

Hello,

 

Engaging auto hover before the helo is good and warmed up can cause a wild ride, but I don't think you are referring to that. If it was the situation, you would see the AP lights turn off when the helo goes crazy. Kill auto hover and get the AP lights turned back on when this happens.

 

it is kind of gaming the game, but you need to use the CTRL ENTER indicator to see how your control inputs are working with the trim system.

 

So, from forward flight, you need to trim you controls into a hover position (rudders centered or near it and joystick slightly forward) before hitting auto hover. As you trim back, you note your IAS (indicated air speed) drop.

 

if you are moving when you hit auto hover, you will see crosshairs on your HSI (horizontal situation indicator) that will indicate a hover or movement from the hover spot. This is on the HUD also. If you hit auto hover with IAS above 10, the auto hover will try to slow the helo and return it to the spot you pushed the hover button (within reason as the AP cannot fully fly the helo).

 

You can slow the helo by trimming as I stated earlier, then slowly toggling the hover control button. Each time you turn auto hover on, it will slow the helo more until it gets under IAS of 10. When under 10 IAS, the helo will settle into a solid hover. The HSI crosshairs will show you sitting in one spot and your helo will most likely sink as it needs more power to stay at alt when it loses lift from forward motion. If your trim is not correct, you will see the HSI crosshairs showing movement, you will then need to fine tune the trim to counter-act this (for example a wind blowing the helo).

 

People say you can't bring the helo to a stop with auto hover, but that is not entirely correct, you can, but it takes a very long time as AP only has 20% authority or so. With manual trim and repeated auto hover toggling, the helo will slow and go to hover.

 

Ap controls are there to help you. Do not stop using them. Master them.

Edited May 18, 2009 by JG14_Smil

[GGTharos]

What the above are trying to say is this:

 

If you bring your aircraft to a hover before engaging AH that's a good beginning.

 

The trick is ... if you let the controls go and you're still more-or-less in a hover, then you're ready to initiate AH ;)

[sobek]

What the above are trying to say is this:

 

If you bring your aircraft to a hover before engaging AH that's a good beginning.

 

 

If you bring your aircraft to a hover and don't engage auto-hover, it's even better ;)

 

Seriously, i can't understand people's obsession with auto hover, you have to be in a more or less well trimmed hover to begin with and from there on, what do you need auto hover for?

[mbolan]

Auto hover problems

 

Thanks guys...why didn't I think of that stuff??!!!

 

Seriously, there's a huge amount to this. What...a month to learn to start and fly the thing?

 

Brilliant sim

 

Thanks again for the info...will apply and get back into it.

 

 

Cheers

[GGTharos]

It isn't an obsession - it's there because it IS useful. It will hold you in place despite wind gusts etc while you operate your attack systems without having to worry about smashing into the side of a hill - thus you focus on those better, you operate them faster and with fewer mistakes - faster = more survival %. Don't knock it just 'cause you don't use it ;)

 

Seriously, i can't understand people's obsession with auto hover, you have to be in a more or less well trimmed hover to begin with and from there on, what do you need auto hover for?

[Sulman]

It isn't an obsession - it's there because it IS useful. It will hold you in place despite wind gusts etc while you operate your attack systems without having to worry about smashing into the side of a hill - thus you focus on those better, you operate them faster and with fewer mistakes - faster = more survival %. Don't knock it just 'cause you don't use it ;)

 

Precisely. I can hold a hover no problem. But when I get into operating systems, I find the pilot aids invaluable.

[sobek]

It isn't an obsession - it's there because it IS useful. It will hold you in place despite wind gusts etc while you operate your attack systems without having to worry about smashing into the side of a hill - thus you focus on those better, you operate them faster and with fewer mistakes - faster = more survival %. Don't knock it just 'cause you don't use it ;)

 

I don't want to knock it, i just don't see the usefulness, stability augmentation does the job quite well, methinks.

[coolts]

The trick is to know which pilot aids you have active at any given time to prevent getting on the “fighting the controls” problem. The other day I was trying to line up for a landing and fighting the controls when I noticed the “enr nav” light on the overhead. DOH! Now I have a scan routine before manoeuvring, (not necessarily in this order);

· Is nav active?

· Is hover active?

· Is alt-hold active?

· Am I trimmed properly?

Once you get used to scanning the instruments quickly, it becomes second nature and you don’t even notice it. You then start to become much less dependent on them.

[GGTharos]

Turn on turbulence ;)

 

I don't want to knock it, i just don't see the usefulness, stability augmentation does the job quite well, methinks.

[Dusty Rhodes]

LOL, yeah, it is all fun and no Auto Hover until you turn on Turbulence and some wind. Then let the fun begin. If you prefer to fight it and keep it in a hover then more power to ya. AH is there as an aid, to be used or not used. I prefer to use it as it improves my SA. One less thing to worry about when I put it in the hover. I gots killin' to do and I don't want to have to fight the wind and turbulence while I'm doing my killin'. :D

[sobek]

I, for my part, wouldn't try to hover in a turbulent environment to begin with. ;)

[LastRifleRound]

Really? I mean to each their own, but w/turbulence on, performing a pop up manuever 20 ft. from a hill slope i like not worrying about drifting forward into the side of a mountain. Then again, I don't have TrackIR, so it's a lot of work for me to scan my surroundings.

 

Try it at night with the soda straw goggles on and 0 depth perception and it's even more invaluable.

 

But point taken about it being better to hover on your own, definitely an essential skill you want to learn before you get the "crutches" on so to speak :thumbup:

[slug88]

I, for my part, wouldn't try to hover in a turbulent environment to begin with. ;)

 

Ok, so it's not that you find it useless, it's just that you arbitrarily limit yourself from using it when it's called for. ;)

[sobek]

No, i just do not cling to tactics under conditions where they become questionable ;)

[nomdeplume]

But if you used the auto-hover in those situations, the tactics would be perfectly sound. ;)

 

What do you do if your mission orders are to loiter near a suspected terrorist camp and provide immediate fire support if the s hits the fan? Fly in circles and then apologise when half your ground troops are wiped out because you happened to be facing the wrong way?

 

Or... do you just enable the autohover function and stay on station and do your job? :)