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IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Controlling your aircraft, using the autopilot etc.

Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Octal450 » Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:07 pm

Hi Adrian,
I disagree. sometimes if I quickly need to hit a button, it is easier to just hit F11, and hit the button. But to each his own :D

Kind Regards,
Josh
Skillset: JSBsim Flight Dynamics, Systems, Canvas, Autoflight/Control, Instrumentation, Animations
Aircraft: A320-family, MD-11, MD-80, Contribs in a few others

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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Maerchenprinz » Sun Nov 11, 2018 2:05 am

Hi Josh!

it0uchpods wrote in Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:07 pm:sometimes [...] it is easier to just hit F11, and hit the button


I agree, "sometimes" it is! I'm flying the AN-24B right now and just gave it a try: It's definitively not faster to use a dialog, though it might really be easier. But we're flying airplanes, not smartphones, aren't we? :wink:

Ciao,

Adrian
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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Octal450 » Sun Nov 11, 2018 2:37 am

Hi Adrian,
This is very true! But for me, to move the view, then the click, the move again -- I am very lazy :D

Kind Regards,
Josh
Skillset: JSBsim Flight Dynamics, Systems, Canvas, Autoflight/Control, Instrumentation, Animations
Aircraft: A320-family, MD-11, MD-80, Contribs in a few others

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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Maerchenprinz » Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:37 pm

Hi Josh!

Don't say you're lazy, say you are an expert in reducing workload!

Ciao,

Adrian
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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Octal450 » Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:03 pm

Hi Adrian!

That made my day. Thanks very much! :mrgreen:

All the best regards,
Josh
Skillset: JSBsim Flight Dynamics, Systems, Canvas, Autoflight/Control, Instrumentation, Animations
Aircraft: A320-family, MD-11, MD-80, Contribs in a few others

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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby naplesAPF » Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:38 am

Can't seem to get the autopilot or route mgr to work in MD-11x. It's probably me, but if not will appreciate some instruction. The route mgr. seems pretty straight forward - add departure, arrival, & waipoints, then activate. But, Looked all over and can't find any explanations on how to use the autopilot. Will very much appreciate for someone, who knows a lot more than me, to explain the IT-autopilot in this plane.
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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Octal450 » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:23 am

Hi naplesAPF: We have a dedicated thread for questions about the IDG-MD-11X here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=32822

But to answer your question, the MD-11 uses a customized autopilot to better match the real plane, here is the basics:
AUTOFLIGHT button turns on both AP (autopilot) and ATS (auto-thrust-system). when the speed area of the FMA shows PITCH, the aircraft will maintain speed by adjusting pitch, with throttle at a amount, this can be seen on the pitch FMA, something like "CLB THRUST, IDLE CLAMP, T/O CLAMP, T/O THRUST, etc". When the speed FMA shows THRUST, the throttles are adjusted to maintain pitch, and the aircraft pitch is controlled by the active mode (usually HOLD for altitude hold, V/S, or FPA). The center part of the FMA is the roll mode, which is something like "TAKEOFF, HEADING XXX, NAV1, etc".

The knobs work as follows: adjust them with scroll wheel to set values, Pulling them (middle-click) makes your selection active (for example, pulling altitude knob engages CLB THRUST/IDLE CLAMP mode to climb/descent to new altitude, pulling heading knob makes aircraft turn to the new heading, and pulling speed knob makes the aircraft adjust power/pitch to maintain the new IAS or Mach). Pushing them (left-click) tells the AP to hold the current info (for example, pushing altitude knob engages HOLD mode at the nearest 100ft altitude, pushing heading knob makes the aircraft hold the current heading, and pushing speed knob makes the aircraft hold the current IAS or Mach).

Once you get near the selected Speed, Heading, or Altitude, the system automatically captures and holds it. For Speed and Heading, this happens silently, but Altitude, you will notice the system changes from CLB THRUST/IDLE CLAMP to HOLD mode.

The NAV button below the heading knob is for follow route manager. PROF/FMS SPD aren't simulated yet, but they are the VNAV functions.

The APPR/LAND button arms the localizer. Once captured, the glideslope is armed. If both are captured, at 1500ft a self check is performed. About 10 seconds later you will see something like DUAL LAND indicating sucessful engagement of the DUAL AUTOLAND system. (If one AP fails, you may see SINGLE LAND, or if some other problem prevents autoland, you will see APPR ONLY). If the AP is off, the system reverts to APPR ONLY, because no autoland guidance is available for the flight director with the AP off.

Disconnecting the autopilot, just push the AP DISC button on dialog, or yellow button on the yoke. Bitching Betty will start whining, and a red AP OFF flashes on the PFD. Press AP DISC or yellow button again to silence the warnings.
Disconnecting the auto-thrust-system is the same, push ATS DISC or the black buttons on the side of the throttles. No aural warnings for ATS, but a flashing ATS OFF flashes on the PFD. Press the ATS DISC or black button again to silence it.

And you might have noticed, if you move the yoke, the AP will disconnect, accompanied by the Bitching Betty and red AP OFF. Just press AP DISC or yellow button to silence her.

Also, whenever in PITCH mode, the pitch FMA shows something with CLAMP, like IDLE CLAMP, or T/O CLAMP, the throttles CAN be overridden by the pilot. In IDLE CLAMP, this happens once the throttles reach idle. For T/O CLAMP, this happens whenever T/O is engaged.

Takeoff ATS procedure:
First go to aroud 60% N1 (or 1.05EPR), then push the AUTOFLIGHT button on the ground, to arm ATS. Then push the throttles all the way forward. You will hear an aural click as the ATS servos engage to the throttles, and T/O CLAMP changes to T/O THRUST. The FADEC automatically set the takeoff N1 or EPR. At 80 kts, it will revert back to T/O CLAMP with another aural click, and you CAN now override the throttles. I recommend keeping them fully forward to maintain takeoff thrust. At around 1500ft, the system automatically switches to CLB THRUST, and climb power is set by the FADEC.

Landing ATS procedure:
When ATS is engaged, regardless if AP is on or off, at 50ft AGL, THRUST will change to RETARD, and ATS moves the throttles to idle for you. On reverse thrust engagement, ATS automatically disengages.

The system reverts back to the takeoff configuration when the engines are shut down (PITCH | TAKEOFF | T/O CLAMP), or if autolanding, as soon as the AP is turned off by the pilot.

Hope this helps!

Kind Regards,
Josh
IDG Team
Last edited by Octal450 on Sat Aug 31, 2019 6:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Skillset: JSBsim Flight Dynamics, Systems, Canvas, Autoflight/Control, Instrumentation, Animations
Aircraft: A320-family, MD-11, MD-80, Contribs in a few others

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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby naplesAPF » Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:58 am

Thank You So Much!!! Josh. Really appreciate your quick response and most of all the detail.
Note: You should really put this great info someplace where those interested, & bewildered like me, can find it easily.
Thank You again,
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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Octal450 » Mon Jan 28, 2019 5:11 pm

Good idea. I will put it probably on the wiki.

You are very welcome! Enjoy the -11!

Kind Regards,
Josh
Skillset: JSBsim Flight Dynamics, Systems, Canvas, Autoflight/Control, Instrumentation, Animations
Aircraft: A320-family, MD-11, MD-80, Contribs in a few others

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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby kwanza » Thu Oct 03, 2019 7:59 pm

Hi Josh,

I'm trying to add the module to some existing aircraft, in one case using YASIM (C-2A/Hawkeye), and the other using JSBSIM (vulcan2b). in the first case, I do get the AUTOFLIGHT menu but none of the affect the flight. Some will increase the values (e.g Alt) but most don't appear to do anything. In the Vulcan's case, the menu does not change from the original one, so I cannot even test it. (And I did copy the file from the 'JSBsim Only' folder). To be clear, I have not attempted o tune the parameters yet - I was more concerned to get it to work in the first instance.

I largely followed the Wiki for version 4.0.1 with some changes as I will explain:

  • I create a file "Systems/it-systems.xml" with the following contents

    Code: Select all
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

    <PropertyList>

      <sim>

        <systems>

           <autopilot>
             <name>IT-AUTOFLIGHT</name>
             <path>Systems/it-autoflight.xml</path>
           </autopilot>

          <autopilot>
            <name>IT-AUTOTHRUST</name>
            <path>Systems/it-autothrust.xml</path>
          </autopilot>

        </systems>

      </sim>

    </PropertyList>

  • I create a second file "Systems/it-nasal.xml" with the following contents:

    Code: Select all
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

    <PropertyList>

       <nasal>
        <itaf>
           <file>Nasal/it-autoflight.nas</file>
        </itaf>
       </nasal>

    </PropertyList>

  • Then I create a file "Systems/it-config.xml" based on the 'ITAF CONFIG.txt' file, starting from line 6, but with the following preface:

    Code: Select all
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

    <PropertyList>

       <sim include="Systems/it-systems.xml"/>

       <nasal include="Systems/it-nasal.xml"/>

       <it-autoflight>
        :
        :


    As you can see, this file calls the previous two files above.
  • Finally, I call this last file from "c-2a-set.xml" (for example), by adding a line just above the </PropertyList> line this:

    Code: Select all
         <inherits-from>Systems/it-config</inherits-from><br/>

    </PropertyList>

Could you please correct me with what I have got wrong in this process? Thanks a lot.
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Re: IT-AUTOFLIGHT

Postby Octal450 » Thu Oct 03, 2019 8:58 pm

Hi kwanza,
The official IT-AUTOFLIGHT help thread is here, I've answered you in there :wink:

Kind Regards,
Josh
Skillset: JSBsim Flight Dynamics, Systems, Canvas, Autoflight/Control, Instrumentation, Animations
Aircraft: A320-family, MD-11, MD-80, Contribs in a few others

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