Getting back into it... autopilot and gun q

[grandkodiak]

Hey all,

 

Just getting back into the series, and brushing up on my ka50. I'm experiencing a strange thing with the autopilots autohover feature though...

 

sometimes when I enguage it, the helicopter rears nose up, and starts flying backwards at nearly 50-80 and stays like that, albiet level in flight and holding the same heading, just backwards...? I've experienced this a few times... ill be in all but a manually held hover maybe under 10kmh in any of the axis, press autohover and shes off backwards like it was a race! sometimes it works perfectly though... comming to a slow stop, leveling off and maintains a point position.

 

second, ive been practicing in my own test mission agaist some cargo trucks parked in a field right at the airport so i can practice taking off, hovering, comming to target, shooting and landing without worrying about transiting along waypoints or getting shot down etc. so when i start, everythings already running, but im having a problem getting the canon to work.

 

im in the right modes as far as i can tell, master arm is set... and i can shoot rockets/missles with no problems, but the canon trigger never works UNLESS i am in cannon mode with the "c" button pressed. I recall that the canon was like any other aircraft where it could be fired with its own trigger press even if other weapons where selected...? i can only seem to get it to do anything after entering "cannon mode". is that realistic or am i just missing a switch somewhere? :)

[Davis0079]

I think your mistaken, the cannon in the BS (in game) doesnt fire unless selected. atleast from how I've always played.

[grandkodiak]

its possible, i havent played in over a year and even then i didnt play often since it wasnt an apache or cobra :)

 

only thing that makes me think that it SHOULD be like that, is because all the other planes are, and there is a seperate binding for firing the canon from weapons release, why would there be if you couldnt operate the canon at any time?

[Davis0079]

Because the cannon in other aircraft has a self defence/Dogfight purpose and the blacksharks cannon is basiclly a air to ground weapon that in reality need to be setup and use the targeting systems like a missile or bomb in order to work properly. It does have a boresight mode and could be used like any other gun and you can fly around chasing things. But in the mindset of not dying alot the cannon needs to be use from cover in a stationary position. Not like the 50 cals on a p-51.

 

I do use my cannon with the HMS on the fly, but helicopters are meant to be used as extremely mobile missile platforms, not dive bombers. And the targeting computer and the helmet sight makes it so you can fly a straight and stable path instead of shifting the whole airframe to target things if you do try some dive bombing.

 

The cannon select overides all weapons modes when selected and the boresight switch is in plain sight (for the beauty of clickable cockpits). I have both bound to my controls for gunplay.

[sjpateys]

Hey all,

 

Just getting back into the series, and brushing up on my ka50. I'm experiencing a strange thing with the autopilots autohover feature though...

 

sometimes when I enguage it, the helicopter rears nose up, and starts flying backwards at nearly 50-80 and stays like that, albiet level in flight and holding the same heading, just backwards...? I've experienced this a few times... ill be in all but a manually held hover maybe under 10kmh in any of the axis, press autohover and shes off backwards like it was a race! sometimes it works perfectly though... comming to a slow stop, leveling off and maintains a point position.

 

 

 

The autohover will only work when it receives information from the navigation system regarding the helis forward speed. If you are almost in a hover to start with, then it isn't receiving sufficient data to stabilise the heli.

[WildBillKelsoe]

second, ive been practicing in my own test mission agaist some cargo trucks parked in a field right at the airport so i can practice taking off, hovering, comming to target, shooting and landing without worrying about transiting along waypoints or getting shot down etc. so when i start, everythings already running, but im having a problem getting the canon to work.

 

im in the right modes as far as i can tell, master arm is set... and i can shoot rockets/missles with no problems, but the canon trigger never works UNLESS i am in cannon mode with the "c" button pressed. I recall that the canon was like any other aircraft where it could be fired with its own trigger press even if other weapons where selected...? i can only seem to get it to do anything after entering "cannon mode". is that realistic or am i just missing a switch somewhere? :)

 

the cannon trigger is housed inside a flick trigger safety cover. when you press C, you remove the switch cover so the cannon is now accessible. you fire by weapon release (space).

[Yurgon]

sometimes when I enguage it, the helicopter rears nose up, and starts flying backwards at nearly 50-80 and stays like that, albiet level in flight and holding the same heading, just backwards...?

 

I think there are two possible explanations for this: [1] Stability Augmentation Channel disengage or [2] Returning to the last assigned hover position.

 

[1] Stability Augmentation Channel disengage

That happens when auto-hover is activated before the Doppler Navigation System is online. IIRC, Doppler Nav takes about four minutes to come online, so if you start up very quickly (assuming you do a cold start from the ramp), get airborne and turn on auto-hover, the conditions for this to happen are met. The most solid indication that Doppler Nav is ready is when you get an airspeed reading in the HUD - so never engage auto-hover when you have no HUD airspeed indication.

 

Another reason for the Stability Augmentation Channels to disengage is when you get to 4m AGL or less while in auto-hover.

 

[2] Returning to the last assigned hover position

When auto-hover is activated, it sets the current position as the "assigned hover position". The chopper will do it's best to keep you right over that position or get you back to it. If you activate and deactivate auto-hover several times, the chopper may simply be trying to get you back to the last assigned position (although I've never seen it fly backwards like you described). To update this assigned position, simply click the trim button once.

 

In the HSI you'll also see the markers show the current deviation from the assigned hover position. As the manual says: "Ideally, you want the horizontal and vertical lines to form a cross in the center."

 

Track playback is not very reliable these days, but if none of the above apply to you, you should try reproducing the problem and upload a track.

 

im in the right modes as far as i can tell, master arm is set... and i can shoot rockets/missles with no problems, but the canon trigger never works UNLESS i am in cannon mode with the "c" button pressed.

 

That is correct. Take a close look at the manual, Cockpit Controls -> Cyclic Control Stick. There are two triggers on the Cyclic, one is called "Onboard Cannon Trigger" and one is called "Weapon Trigger", and they are mutually exclusive:

 

For cannon employment it is necessary to flip up [C] the “РС” weapon (large) trigger. When that is done, the weapon system transmits the signal for cannon operation and the “ВПУ” cannon (small) trigger may operate

[Yurgon]

The autohover will only work when it receives information from the navigation system regarding the helis forward speed. If you are almost in a hover to start with, then it isn't receiving sufficient data to stabilise the heli.

 

I'm sorry, but that is completely wrong. Being in a hover to start with is exactly what a pilot should be aiming to do before engaging auto-hover. You are right on so far as a navigation system is involved in auto-hover, but no forward airspeed is required to use it.

 

Let's check the manual:

 

To hover automatically over a ground-point after decelerating to near-zero airspeed, you can engage HOVER mode using the following procedure: ...

 

You may have misinterpreted that paragraph. It doesn't mean: MUST NOT reach zero airspeed. It means: MUST reach zero or near-zero airspeed.

[Devrim]

I'm thinking like what @Yurgon says about autohover.

 

By the way, no one has mentioned about trimming.

@Grandkodiak, before engage autohover, do you trim Ka-50 well?

[Dejjvid]

Trim so you're in a stable hover with maximum 5km/h before enabling auto hover.

After the speed have dropped to 1km/h quickly press and release the trim button to move the auto hover point to your current position. After 5 sec you should be in a stable hover.

 

Lock at your cyclic when you press C and you notice that you flick the trigger switch. The Ka-50 have two triggers. One for the cannon and one for the weapon stations.

[BigfootMSR]

Yurgon pretty much got it right. When auto hover is activated, the helicopter will attempt to fly backwards to the point that the auto hover was activated. Its recomended to have as little foward momentum as possible when you activate it. You would certainly want the shark well trimmed at all times. "When in doubt, trim, trim, and trim again" - Cant remember the source.