Auto hover behaviour?

[Chief Instructor]

Hello!

 

I am encountering a odd behaviour with the auto hover at very low levels and was wandering if I am doing something wrong....?

 

I can establish a stable hover higher up and after trimming, engaging the auto hover in conjunction with the clutch (f key) everything is sweet.

 

However, on a few occasions at around 10m height or less, I manually hover, trim, but when I engage auto hover, the nose pitches up and without intervention the aircraft would crash. I expect I am missing something but I'd love to know what!

 

Thanks and best wishes,

 

Luke (The CFI) :thumbup:

[SNAFU]

Hi Luke,

 

engaging autohover at heights below 10m causes your autopilot dampers to disengage, so your ka-50 looses it´s stabilization.

 

This is also outlined in the manual. I do not remember the reasons for that, but maybe this simulates the ground effects and interference of turbulences on the flow sensors at the nose, but that is just my wild guess.

 

Just do not engage autohoover below 10m, would be my advice. It works again after you switch on autohoover, stabilize again, reactive the dampers (blue lights blinking) until you are stable.

[Chief Instructor]

Thanks SNAFU. I can vaguely remember reading that about the dampers disengaging. I'll try it later on and see what happens!

 

Best wishes,

 

Luke

[Frederf]

It's 4 meters once the Doppler system is "warmed up." If auto-hover is on or engaged below 4 meters it will auto disengage the three necessary AP channels.

 

On initial start the Doppler system needs 3 minutes or so. If you engage auto-hover before you have a Doppler ground speed number in the HUD at any altitude the same thing happens.

[SNAFU]

Jepp, I guess that is something "russian". I always wondered if such a system behavior would be tolerated in western aircrafts, where everything is designed idiot proof/ fail safe. Russian pilots must be a little smarter, than western pilots I guess. ;)

 

I mean, instead of simply disabling the autohoover function below that critical altitude, the pilot can accidently engage the authoover find himself low and without any stabilization. ?:

[flanker0ne]

Because in the simulation you take off too soon.

Frederf told 3 min. I think 3 min is not too long for obtain a helpfull system like Doppler Nav in working order.

In Falcon the F-16 require longer time for INS align, but in case of scramble you can take off with no INS ready losting some precision and feature.

 

Same in the Ka-50, if you TakeOff everytime like a Scramble!

[SNAFU]

No, for the autohoover it doesn´t matter how long you fly. If you engage him at too low alts, the AP stabilization quits and you find your self in a rodeo ride, fingering for the the AP switches.

 

I rarly use autohoover and I usally take my time for take off, due to that I like to customize my flightplan in the ABRIS and PVI, which always takes some time. ;) But on a multiplayer server with enemy jets looking for you the autohoover becomes handy to hide somewhere in a city and go for a coffee, while you wait till the jet gets bored or runs out of fuel.

[Frederf]

The INS in Ka-50 is under modeled. You flip on the switch and it's aligned instantly. In real life it could take 10-30 minutes.

 

SNAFU, both can cause AP channel automated disconnect.

 

If you start real fast and take off, engage auto-hover at 30m but Doppler isn't ready yet... AP channels (3) will disconnect. Altitude doesn't matter in this case.

 

A long time after start and Doppler is ready then <4m while in auto-hover, AP channels (3) will disconnect too.

[SNAFU]

Ok, I misunderstood you.

 

I personally never experienced that after take off, but I think I never engaged autohoover shortly after takeoff. ;)