SP 3:Auto Throttle not keeping the speed [resolved]

[JonathanBleeker]

Possibly. The autopilot is being updated this side (bit of a slow process as tuning is time consuming).

[Ephedrin]

allright, thank you for the answer. I guess I will have to wait for the hopefully upcoming update. But nevertheless the Sp77 version is a masterpiece and a joy to (hand)fly

[DaveDewhurst]

Should this issue still be happening in FSX? I see the previous poster has P3D and that is possibly the issue there
My A/T wont hold a speed (it either wants full or idle power)
My FD is missing (enabling through Ctrl & F) brings it back and the A/T then behaves.
I only purchased it end of April from FSPilotShop so assume it will be the latest version (I haven't got the version number to hand but if you want it I can check).

I was wondering whether I could work around the issue
I was going to try and use an lua script to toggle the FD on/off to make it match whatever the cockpit switch is set to
So if the VC FD Switch is on and the FSX FD isn't, automatically switch the FSX FD to on
Do you happen to have a list of FSUIPC offsets? or just for the 2 FD switches

Dave

Edit its v3.160428

Edit 2
Actually, is the answer a lot simpler?
Am I right in thinking the FD only appears when both the FSX FD and the cockpit switch FD is on, if either is off the FD Bars don't appear.
If so could I just force the FSX FD to be on?

[JonathanBleeker]

You don't have EPR hold set do you?

[DaveDewhurst]

No, no EPR hold set.

Dave

[JonathanBleeker]

I should have asked that question this way....Did you have EPR hold set at any point during the flight?

[DaveDewhurst]

Couldn't be 100% certain but I've just tried some more stuff and didn't touch the EPR.
A/T still couldn't hold a speed set on the MCP and wouldn't react to a speed change set via the MCP.
(didn't auto spool up to max or down to idle though)

Dave

[Ephedrin]

that's exactly the same I notice on v3.2..

engaging the A/T moves the throttles VERY slowly (approx half a minute for the whole way) to the max or min position but won't bring them back to hold a speed.

Greets,
Marc

[JonathanBleeker]

I find this really odd because the speed hold part uses the default FSX speed hold which works fine for us. I was able to trace down the LVL CHG problems in P3D v3 and the A/P system is in the process of getting an upgrade but I'm still scratching my head on this one as I can't replicate it. Will keep on looking.

[DaveDewhurst]

Here's what I get on mine if you can replicate

Firstly the Flight Director
There are four possible combinations for the flight director (just counting the left hand seat)

VC Switch Off / FSX FD Off
VC Switch On / FSX FD Off
VC Switch Off / FSX FD On
VC Switch On / FSX FD On
and the two systems are not connected, turning the VC switch on/off, doesn't turn the FSX FD on/off.
turning the FSX FD on/off (via Ctrl&F) doesn't turn the VC switch on/off (reasonable as it wouldn't know which one you wanted (L/R)

I noticed an artefact (don't know whether its purposely there) that enables you to tell whether the FSX FD is on. There is a small (almost 1px green/white stripe at the lower left of the attitude indicator, I have enlarged it in the following shots

VC switch Off, FSX FD Off, No FD Bars

VC_Off_FSX_Off.jpg (483.51 KiB) Viewed 2183 times

VC Switch On, FSX FD Off, still no FD Bars

VC_ON_FSX_OFF.jpg (479.59 KiB) Viewed 2183 times

VC Switch Off, FSX FD On. No FD Bars but notice the small green/white stripe

VC_OFF_FSX_ON.jpg (474.09 KiB) Viewed 2183 times

VC switch On, FSX FD On, Bars finally appear

VC_ON_FSX_ON.jpg (481.96 KiB) Viewed 2183 times

These shots were all taken with the Canadian north 737 (sp177 AP) on a cold & dark start, the same test was done with a "ready to start" and "ready to taxi" startup state with identical results
Also the FSX FD will switch off if the battery is turned off and will stay off when the battery is reconnected.

I've got some shots about how this seems to relate to the A/T but it in short it seems that the VC switch and the FSX F/D have to both be on for the A/T to work.

Does yours do the same?
Dave

[JonathanBleeker]

Good catch. That might be why I can't replicate. Will check.

[NunoPinto]

It's probably not setting up FSX/P3D flight director when you act on the VC switch?

I also have the same issue and my P3D config is a "cold and dark" setup made on a default aircraft. This probably sets the P3D FD to "off". My 732 also zooms past the configured speed up or down.

NOTE: No additional hardware at all.

[NunoPinto]

I can now confirm that if i press CTRL-F to enable the simulator's flight director after starting up the APU, the aircraft follows autothrottle perfectly later on in flight.

Engines also fail to start properly unless i press CTRL-E, so something's also badly initialized there?

[N4GIX]

Engines also fail to start properly unless i press CTRL-E, so something's also badly initialized there?

Make sure that the sim's "mixture controls" are set to full rich (if you have hardware, use the lever(s)) by hitting Ctrl+Shift+F4 before trying to start the engines.

[NunoPinto]

Thank you Bill, that might be it.