Autopilot route mode - ball is not centered

[Shaman]

I have a question to all the AP gurus out there.

 

During leveled route flight, with AP in route mode, following the reprogrammed WP to WP course, the steering ball in turn coordinator is always quite much off-center. Flying like this in the helicopter will actually cause terrible back-pain to the pilot after-hours. I truly believe this is not the way it should be in a simulator - I know this first hand (RL) that pilots do everything to keep the ball centered, especially the helicopter pilots (because of the infamous back/spine pains). So why AP behaves like this and flies the craft improperly? Am I missing something here?

[VMFA117_Poko]

Good question. I always hit the Director Control Mode or hold trim and correcting this myself then go back to route mode again.

[Arclight]

Perhaps in route mode, AP has no authority over yaw? :unsure:

 

Or the required amount of correction simply exceeds the 20% max control authority? :ermm:

[EinsteinEP]

Looking at a track may help, but I think Arclight's nailed it: unlike convetional single rotor choppers, the Ka-50 needs right rudder and left cyclic to maintain level coordinated forward flight. The amount of rudder and cyclic needed increases with airspeed. While you may have had the controls trimmed nicley for a hover, as you pick up airspeed, the amount of rudder needed in cruise can be more than the autopilot's control authority. Trim, and trim often, to keep the controls within the autopilot's control authority!

[morg]

slightly off-topic, is it possibly to see what the autopilot is actually doing? ie, how much it is adjusting rudder etc. Even if it's not possibly in the real copter it might be nice when trying to understand how the AP works

[Speedbrake]

I think it depends on your last trip point. You could be flying in a sideslip. Take a look at "Ctrl-Enter" which I believe should bring up your trim visual. I tend to think that your rudder isn't centered.

[nemises]

slightly off-topic, is it possibly to see what the autopilot is actually doing? ie, how much it is adjusting rudder etc. Even if it's not possibly in the real copter it might be nice when trying to understand how the AP works

 

hmm...not directly AFAIK, but, say for eg when you are in Route mode, you can see the flight director guides in the HUD which indicate the logic that the Autopilot will try to re-center...ie, you can see the +/- Vertical speed in the bottom right, +/- airspeed in the top left etc...you will see the needles move away from 0 , then you will see the autopilot compensate to get them back to 0..