Autopilot "dive of death" .... ?

[xwhitemousex]

This has happened a couple of times now after installing FSPassengers.

I run the game in windowed mode as I do with several games so I can poke around forums, watch a video or manage my music player.

I figured it would be nice to browse on some forums while my little cessna was on autopilot flying my 2 passengers safely to their destination. I'm in
calm winds, cruising at 4000 feet while i'm messing around on forums.

Then I click back into the game and my autopilot does an instant -2000+ FPM dive towards the big blue ocean below, passengers screaming, me choking on
my coke. I flip autopilot off, kill the throttle to idle and pull back to avoid overspeed, causing massive G as I pull out of the dive.

Inflight information:

Passengers current Opinion: Fear and Desperation.
-Are a little nervous because the aircraft is shaking due to wind.
-Were terrified by the excess G-forces. (+5.10).
-Didn't like that some passengers started flying around the cabin caused by your negative G flying.
-Were terrified by your "dive of death".
-Are actually terrified.

... so yeah... I kinda Alt-F4'd my way out of that thing.

So I flew again later, this time going into my options menu during flight in order to remap my Screenshot key which was default " v " but since V is
now used by FSP for the quick-input commands, I figured I'd remap it during my flight, again with autopilot on.

And once I click out of the menu and back into game... AAAIIIIIIIIEEEEHHHHHHH !!!... Another dive of death .... gah!

So now I don't touch anything outside of the game during flight... but is this supposed to be like this? Like a sort of penalty for "stepping out of"
the aircraft during flight?

[iflyfsx]

That's not a feature of the program. Are you using time acceleration?

[xwhitemousex]

No, I never use time acceleration... hence why I'm killing some time listening to music and websurfing during flight.

It's all running smooth until I click myself back into the FSX window, then the autopilot does a total nosedive as if the altitude just got set to
5000 feet lower and the VS set to -2000 or something.

Can't explain it.. happens instantly when clicking back into the FSX window (when in windowed mode)

[timtomairways]

This is a weird issue,

can you tell me exactly what aircraft are you useing, (Default 172 or addon) and are you useing the default panel.

also can you include the autopilot settings.

[xwhitemousex]

First time this happened I was flying IFR from ENZV to ENHD, cruise altitude 4000 feet, heading 320, with realistic weather (which was winds at around
15, and altimeter around 2955)

Autopilot was established at 4000 feet as programmed, I had my mixture set down to 25% and throttle at max.

It then did a dive of death when I "alt tab'ed" back into the game after using the web browser.

The last time it happened was also IFR flight, this time ENHD to ENZV, cruise altitude 4000 feet, heading 170, and realistic weather with heavy winds
@ 15-20 and similar altimeter settings). Again autopilot was established at 4000 feet, and mixture was down low. This time it did a nosedive after
entering game again after changing the keyboard settings under Options-Controls.

Both times I was flying the default Cessna172 with blue paint and default panels.

I have FSX Gold (Acceleration and SP2), as well as Ultimate Terrain Europe, Ultimate Traffic 2, REX2+Overdrive as well as a few aircraft addons like
C-130 hercules, ATR-72, Superpuma mk2, Fokker-50 and a few others.

When switching back into FSX I didn't touch any controls either. Feet off the pedals, no hands on the HOTAS. So not overriding the autopilot either by
excessive controller use.



Post Edited ( 10-07-10 08:42 )

[gbapache]

Patient: Doc, it hurts when I move my arm.
Doctor: Then don't move your arm.

[timtomairways]

This will requier some experimenting i shall return with the results soon.

[timtomairways]

alrighty then,

i tried a short hop flight, one with FSp and one without. sorry to say im not getting the problem your getting, i recreated your autopilot
settings and everything flew fine.

[xwhitemousex]

Did you run FSX with the "Pause when task switched" disabled, and in Windowed mode (not fullscreen) ?

My game is running while I'm clicking and messing around in web browser or my music/movie programs.

As default FSX will automatically pause itself whenever you switch out of the game, but I disabled that so I can do things on PC while I'm on an
established Cruise altitude.

[timtomairways]

Paues on task switch is off.

but i didnot run in windowed mode. But i dont think that would really caues any issue.

[whiskey-zulu]

Running in windowed mode should not cause any issues, infact it should enhance FSP use for some users as it will enable them to see the dialogue text
in the boxes better or completely.

[SoulFlight]

Strange issue....i regularily fly this way since my rank allowed me to really have long range birds. A/P on, cruise level and then I do what I have to
do this day, including leaving my home knowing the 8-hour-flight will take longer than my away time. A bit risky though, once I came back and had
suffered a mid-air-collision.

What are your controls doing the moment you switch back to FSX? Namely the yoke, does it move?

[xwhitemousex]

My sticks don't do anything when I switch back, and anyways the autopilot is on so it shouldn't affect it at all.

Going to do some more testing. I just recalibrated everything for my HOTAS (Logitech G940) just in case that was causing it.

Been too afraid to taskswitch during an FSP flight after those dive of death incidents.

Just got my promotion to C2 pilot though :D A few more flying hours and I'll be able to purchase and fly my brand new Cessna Seneca that I bought just
to have a nice plane I'm happy with for the hours it'll take me until I can fly the junior airliners like Learjet, Beech King Air and so on. Been
cheating a bit by practicing landings and the general cockpit layout with my Seneca already

[NYY11725]

I actually have a similar problem with default boeing, which is why I really only fly 2 planes from project open sky. I woud fly a default boeing,
and during the climb on auto pilot usually in the 20,000's or so..even if I DO NOT tab out .. all of a sudden.. the nose of the plane goes up....i end
uo losing speed and i stall. Does not happen all the time, but it usually does. I duno whty, but it seems not to happen with add on planes.

[xwhitemousex]

Yeah, I haven't had a problem with my PA-34 Seneca II which is an addon. Problem happened with the default Cessna172.

I have had the autopilot lower the nose during a cruise though, but that's because of turbulence prior to a thermal and then the
consequent altitude rise of the airplane due to the thermal (just like when soaring). To compensate for the gained altitude the autopilot
will go nose down to get back down to the altitude you set it to hold. However it never does a "dive of death" in those cases as it's set to
only give me a -700fpm decent rate so it doesn't go beyond that nomatter how fast or high a thermal adds to my altitude.

As for the nose going up suddenly, do you have the autopilot set to hold an airspeed or does your airspeed bleed off during flight (due to
N1 being set too low)? I had my C-130 Hercules go nose up and into a deep stall (with consequent crash) when on autopilot because I
set the throttle too low and it kept bleeding off airspeed without me paying attention to it (which I should of course). I was too busy taking
screenshots from different angles outside the aircraft, but that's another story.... Anyways, it went nose up as the autopilot attempts to
maintain it's set altitude. Less speed means you start to decend, so it lifts nose to go up, which causes it to lose airspeed even faster
which then results in a sudden stall.

Just a thought anyways.

Definately something spooky going on with the autopilot in default aircraft. Luckily I'm past the default ones now, and I'll only be advancing
to my different addon aircraft from now on.