is it possible to have no heading hold with ap on

[G3]

after flying the shark for a while now,

i am slowly getting my head around most of it's functions.

the biggest complaint i get from new pilots trying out the shark is the heading hold,

obviously because they and i don't fully understand how it should be done,

and they fight it rather than embrace it.

 

so the question is:

 

for general hacking around,

lets say you take off and trim for hover,

is it possible to not set a heading hold?

 

thanks.

Edited June 24, 2009 by G3

[Zembla]

Of course it's possible, it's just not SOP :)

 

Personally, I retrim for every change of attitude of the aircraft. I am by no means an expert, but at least this way the heading autopilot channel doesn't give me too much issues.

 

-Z

[Distiler]

Patch will change HDG autopilot behaviour. Instead of maintaining the heading, it will maintain the turn rate, as it is in the real helo AFAIK.

[Zorrin]

In that case use the Flight Director. It will give you the dampening without the heading hold. (The fifth blue autopilot button)

[EinsteinEP]

Check the big blue button on the right panel that has an "H" on it. If it's not lit, you don't have Heading Hold on. If it is, press it. It should go dark. You now don't have Heading Hold on. Voila!

 

I use the method Zorrin suggested: using the Flight Director. The purists in this forum will argue that that's not how Real Pilots do it, and they're probably right, but I find flying with Flight Director with all 4 autopilot channels engaged gives me the best control of the Ka50. I turn Flight Director off when 1) engaging route mode, 2) engaging auto-hover, 3) utilizing auto turn to target, but other than those scenarios, it's pretty much on the whole time.

 

Once the patch comes out with the new Heading Hold logic, I plan on giving the autopilot a fair shake again, as proper use of the AP does significantly reduce the pilot's workload.

 

Good luck!

[ericinexile]

...The purists in this forum will argue that that's not how Real Pilots do it, and they're probably right...!

 

That could be true but the manual says:

 

This mode is most often used instead of automatic enroute flight.

 

So I follow the manual's lead. Like you, I use the the Flight Director whenever my head is outside.

[G3]

thanks to all for your input,

i will check but i am sure i jump into running heli,

with heading hold off bottom left blue ap button,

trim for hover around 10m alt

and still have influence from heading hold ap.

will check it out again, and confirm one way or the other.

(edit: i wrote top left originally but meant bottom,

hope i wasn't hitting top right AP)

 

as for the flight director, i have tried it and liked it, but need to read up

more about it as once again, shock horror i don't yet fully understand it :)

 

i like to have all autopilot options on, also using the alt hold/brake on my collective,

after trying to fly with all AP options off you really appreciate the stability AP gives,

she's a touchy ride with them all off.

 

have been slowly reading the manual, but it is only now after doing some hours that

i am actually absorbing the content as i become more familiar with the terminology,

and also know where things are in the pit, and to some extent what they do.

 

such a helpful bunch of sim nuts :D cheers.

Edited June 24, 2009 by G3

[JG14_Smil]

hi,

 

you can disengage the HDG HOLD to manually change heading while in a hover, but as said, it is against SOPs :)

[EinsteinEP]

thanks to all for your input,

i will check but i am sure i jump into running heli,

with heading hold off (top left blue ap button),

trim for hover around 10m alt

and still have influence from heading hold ap.

Hmm, in my humble experiences, if Heading Hold's off, it's off. You may have some rudder input trimmed in that you weren't expecting. The fact that rudder position gets trimmed is a big surprise to many pilots. Here's how to verify:

 

Press Rctrl-Enter to bring up a display of your virtual control inputs. Note that these control positions are the positions actually being input to the sim, and do *not* include any autopilot effects. If your feet are off of the pedals and the bottom marker isn't centered, you have some rudder trimmed in. To trim the rudder inputs out, apply the appropriate amount of rudder pressure to center the mark, then re-trim. If you're hovering and there's no wind, centered rudders should prevent any yawing. While in forward (or sideways or backwards, for that matter) flight, you'll need some rudder input to counteract the net yawing moment generated by the coaxial rotor system. This is also *not* due to autopilot, but to the dynamics of the Ka50 rotor system.

[ericinexile]

I think the confusion with those "Blue" buttons lies in the fact that these buttons all have multiple functions. They all engage axis dampening. And, if the Flight Director is off, they also engage axis HOLD. The Flight Director is the most confusing because the name describes the most insignificant function of the button. Who cares about the HUD symbology? It's real function is to disable the Axis Hold functions of the other blue buttons. The trim also has multiple functions: with the FD ON (OR with ALL buttons OFF) it just trims. Otherwise it also commands the attitudes for the AP to hold.

[Cap_Z]

Patch will change HDG autopilot behaviour. Instead of maintaining the heading, it will maintain the turn rate, as it is in the real helo AFAIK.

I can hardly wait for the patch. If the AP fix works as I think it will we should hear a lot fewer complaints and confusion over using trim. Of course the people that insist the AP works correctly now may complain about having to relearn trimming the KA50.

[GGTharos]

There isn't that much to relearn.

[Cap_Z]

Good to hear!

[ARM505]

Beginner scenario follows:

 

Flying along, sort of vaguely trimmed, but the nose is not quite on the heading cursor (let's say it's to the right of the cursor), so the heading AP is trying to yaw back to the cursor (in this case, left). So, the pilot compensates by adding right rudder (mistake), then trims (double mistake) - this then re-centres the cursor on the new heading, causing the heading AP to stop making inputs (it's now happy the aircraft is pointing in the 'trimmed' direction), BUT the loss of the heading AP inputs (which were to the left), AND the input of right rudder trim now results in a very strong yaw to the right, and confusing chaos for the new pilot.

 

Something like that - hence, in the beginning, simply turn the heading AP channel OFF (regardless of real SOP), and learn to fly, without having to worry about where the AP thinks it should be heading. It can be unnecessarily confusing in the beginning, IMHO.

[G3]

the scenario in the above post sounds kind of familiar :)

 

flew a quick mission tonight and turned off the heading hold AP,

and sure enough it went where i wanted to go,

so god knows what i was doing before.

 

found myself feeling out of control at one point tonight,

but think it may have been excess rudder at high speed,

falling into a slip rather than a rolling into a smooth turn.

 

looking fwd to the patch :thumbup:

and a lot more seat time

Edited June 24, 2009 by G3