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Update and Autopilot not working.

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rodtod11 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 3:03am
I did the update according to the instructions. However , no matter how many times I read the instructions, I cannot get A/P to work. How do you get Autopilot to work?  It simply will not hold an Altitude. And I can change the vertical speed up and down, but I cannot set an altitude. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodtod11 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 4:56am
In comparing the manual to the cockpit, I was missing the altitude and heading switches along with the Autothrottle switch. They just weren't there after loading service pack 2! I removed the DC 8 from Control Panel, then re installed using the original install program I bought in Fall of 2013. Now it works. There is something wrong with SP2! 
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sevenflyer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sevenflyer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 12:56pm
I have the exact same issue. I cannot hold altitude either climbs or descends, and although it will intercept the nav path while following a GPS route, it continues flying the current heading when the GPS route turns. I added a new window to the panel cfg, and put the default 737 autopilot in it. Dialing in the required altitude in this makes it show up on the DC8 autopilot. When I reach that altitude, it will hold it.  It will also correctly follow the Nav/GPS route, although I have to use a keyboard stroke to enable the Nav/GPS switch. The DC8 one doesn't seem to do anything. At the same time, I noticed that the "yaw damper" position of the autopilot does not turn on the yaw damper. I had to enable that function in the aircraft cfg.

- Roger


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ftwd View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ftwd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 1:57pm
Have a look in your windows start menu just flight DC-8 folder, there is an update for the manual. Once you have used the VS to level off at the altitude you want, you have to centre mouse click to hold the altitude. The auto pilot is from the original DC-8 21 aircraft, no auto throttle, no altitude capture and no heading capture. It's all in the sp2 extra manual.

Cheers,

Nathan.
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rodtod11 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodtod11 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 3:16pm
Yea, I deleted the plane and reloaded SP1. Now I can fly it. I'll check the manual, but it was impossible to fly without being all over the sky. 
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rodtod11 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodtod11 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 3:20pm
Ok, checked out what the manual said about SP2. I'll stick with SP1 thanks! 
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BobKay View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BobKay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Feb 2014 at 3:42pm
The new SP2 version definitely does not work the way it did previously.  That means it's a more accurate version, not that it's broken.  It's especially important to read the documentation that comes with the update, it explains what's been changed and why.  And there has been a lot of change to the autopilot.

It took some getting used to, but I'm liking the new version.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote YYZSimmer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Feb 2014 at 1:52am
I respectfully disagree. It does NOT work. It cannot hold pitch or heading and it cannot follow a GPS flight plan as it had before.   Have read the AP instructions in the manual and have followed those to the letter. The AP is not responding.   Also the aircraft is disappearing again and causing strange anomalies with scenery and CTD's -which it had not done before
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Mike Hart View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike Hart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2014 at 7:37am
I agree re Autopilot. The vertical speed wheel reads the desired rate but will not hold that rate or alter that rate and it definitely cannot be activated by the mouse, why? as I like most have a mouse with two clickable sides left/right and a central wheel not a button one cannot 'hover and central mouse click....'as per the new manual. I tried everything as per the manual and it appears to me that the autopilot does not respond properly to mouse controls. If I cannot get the auotpilot to work then I cannot properly fly instrument approaches or really go anywhere else as I have to fly it manually. Seems heading will select but not ALT.

Oh and the altitude alert selector uses 1 ft increments not 100 ft, so is also useless.

Oh and the Flight Navigator station can no longer be accessed with A key selection to cycle views.

So dissappointing given all the other great fixes and enhancements in SP2.
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sevenflyer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sevenflyer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2014 at 11:35am
I  checked again to ensure I hadn't missed anything, and this time tried using "Ctrl Z" to hold altitude, and that worked OK. (my mouse must not be set up properly). I still have no V/S control and it will not follow a GPS path. It did follow the path for the first several waypoints, but then would not. The only thing I did differently before the AP wouldn't follow it, was to line up the heading pointer to the course being flown.
As well, the generator switches do not move. Clicking them gets the state to change from on to off, but the switch itself does not move.
There are lots of good things in this plane, but still needs some work.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote flyforever Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2014 at 2:02pm
I had suggested that the autopilot have a 2d pop up window, given that it requires careful handling during flight.
Unlike in real life, if one spends too much time fiddling  with the autopilot window , the airplane will lose control.
Not to provide the creating of 2D pop up windows make this sim terribly challenging, if not unusable.
tony
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodtod11 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2014 at 2:54pm
I got lucky. I had saved the original download and went back to prior to SP2. Works fine now.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jettrader Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2014 at 4:05pm
Unfortunately the "new" Autopilot doesn't perform as it should. Here's an extract of a DC-8-32 manual:

http://abload.de/img/manual_1z6k6o.jpg

http://abload.de/img/manual_2zikh2.jpg

http://abload.de/img/manual_37bj7m.jpg

The autopilot defenitely doesn't work as described. If you know a little bit about panel editing, you can implent the autopilot of another aircraft into the cockpit, but this is only a workaround.

Also it seems that the PDI of the HSI doesn't function anymore. With a VOR tuned in, no matter what course I select, the PDI (pictorial deviation indicator - the deviation needle) will remain centered. 
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rodtod11 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodtod11 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Feb 2014 at 4:51pm
Just Flight needs to dump SP2 and make the original download available.
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sevenflyer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sevenflyer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Feb 2014 at 6:39pm
Well, there is one really good thing about SP2, at least the fuel system seems to work as it should.

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flyforever View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote flyforever Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Feb 2014 at 1:57pm
Since I am a great believer in 2d pop up panels for "sane" flying, that is, without 2d panels, one can lose control of the aircraft very easily during the critical phase of flying, ie, takeoff and landing,  after installing SP2  I also installed a dc8 autopilot panel from one of the freeware planes. Especially with this DC8, there's  no way that I could maintain control of the plane while I am looking at the autopilot panel and trying to figure out how it works.
With this  autopilot generic DC8 panel, I was able to take off, set the vertical speed and the heading bugs, turn the autopilot on  and see the plane maintain a very stable  climb profile.  No bobbing on turns, and smooth response to my changes.

Once I reach the desired altitude, I clicked on the alt  and the plane steadies on it very nicely.

I have not tested the NAV features other than the ILS, which worked fine.

Again, my feeling about all sim planes is that we need to have easy access to 2d pop up panels, and in this I am very disappointed that JF did not force the developers to implement them.

tony


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BobKay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Feb 2014 at 3:33pm
I'd agree that a 2D popup for the autopilot would be great to have.  What I've been doing in the absence of same is, at the start of the flight (usually while the engines are starting up if I used Ctrl-E), use the A key to cycle through the VC views then use the shift/ctrl/enter/backspace keys and the top hat to tailor the views to just what I want.  For instance I'll move the camera down a bit and adjust the angle of the view of the autopilot (second "A") to give me a clearer view of just the autopilot and not much else.

Once I've done that I can hit "A" twice in rapid succession to get to the autopilot, then F9 to return to the "main" VC view.  Hitting "A" three times takes me to the flight engineer's panel, a fourth time to the overhead panel.

The key is to adjust the camera positions for each of the alternate views before you start the flight.

Yes 2D popups would be better, but my system works for me.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote flyforever Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Feb 2014 at 4:33pm
I agree with your approach to switching back and forth to the Nav panel. What I failed to say is that with the DC8  in particular, it's tough to learn to fly it without crashing it, given that the nav panel is not an easy one to understand.
So imagine one taking off, changing the view, going through the manual, and hoping to maintain control of the aircraft while trying to figure out the autopilot.

With many other aircrafts, I eventually do away with the 2d once I fully master the VC way of doing things.

tony
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BobKay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Feb 2014 at 2:17pm
This is what the pause key is for.  Nothing wrong with pausing the simulation when necessary while still learning the idiosyncrasies of new/unfamiliar systems.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jettrader Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2014 at 9:06pm
Originally posted by sevenflyer sevenflyer wrote:

Well, there is one really good thing about SP2, at least the fuel system seems to work as it should.


can you tell me how? For some reason I am not able to crossfeed one engine from another tank
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