Autopilot keeps disengaging NAV mode (VOR-to-VOR navigation)
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Found the report I was writing about.
Commendable effort on the side of the user, but I think he gave up in the end
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/bug-multiple-planes-change-from-nav-to-rol-hdg-mode-when-tracking-vor/762974/10
BTW. It not happening for me in the F28 and Bae146 might be suggesting that it's about the standard AP units. Both planes are larger and have the AP functions spread over the cockpit, with probably some custom coding involved to make it happen - and not just a standard AP panel.- decided to withdraw the conclusion as I just realized the 114 also has a custom AP panel and it also happened with the StarshipEither way, have some examples from YT (link should point to the specific moment):
https://youtu.be/1a-g3UMooCs?t=4393
On glideslope for some time now, clear view of the runway, APR randomly moves back to ROLL (the popped breaker is not about this, it's an icing sensor and was known).
Here a similar situation:
https://youtu.be/300F3IcCAqM?t=3593The same, but with only a localizer.
Normally it happens with VORs, was just easier to remember and find those two.
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Yep, that was my original post in the MSFS forums about this issue, and yes I've just lived with this for some months.
I am also getting this behavior in the Commander.I have a workaround I've set up in multiple planes with some Spad.Next trickery, where I can activate/deactivate monitoring for when Nav mode is lost. When that happens, it quickly turns it back on again. It works pretty well.
Ironically, it seemed that if I didn't have SPad.next running, this problem didn't happen in the first place. It makes me think that Spad simply listening or polling certain variables might be causing this, but it would take some deep debugging to troubleshoot this.
Feel free to add observations to that thread for visibility to Asobo. I'm doing a VOR tour of Alaska in the Commander (before it gets too cold/icy for this plane), so maybe I'll experiment a bit this weekend.
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Yep, that was my original post in the MSFS forums about this issue, and yes I've just lived with this for some months.
I am also getting this behavior in the Commander.I have a workaround I've set up in multiple planes with some Spad.Next trickery, where I can activate/deactivate monitoring for when Nav mode is lost. When that happens, it quickly turns it back on again. It works pretty well.
Ironically, it seemed that if I didn't have SPad.next running, this problem didn't happen in the first place. It makes me think that Spad simply listening or polling certain variables might be causing this, but it would take some deep debugging to troubleshoot this.
Feel free to add observations to that thread for visibility to Asobo. I'm doing a VOR tour of Alaska in the Commander (before it gets too cold/icy for this plane), so maybe I'll experiment a bit this weekend.
@SteveKane Thanks for the tip I must try your SPAD.neXt trick.
BTW, in my attempt to isolate the cause, I tested several scenarios that I described in my earlier post (see above). In the first scenario SPAD.neXt was not running, so I think this is not related. -
@SteveKane Thanks for the tip I must try your SPAD.neXt trick.
BTW, in my attempt to isolate the cause, I tested several scenarios that I described in my earlier post (see above). In the first scenario SPAD.neXt was not running, so I think this is not related.@HansDeVlieger said in Autopilot keeps disengaging NAV mode (VOR-to-VOR navigation):
@SteveKane Thanks for the tip I must try your SPAD.neXt trick.
BTW, in my attempt to isolate the cause, I tested several scenarios that I described in my earlier post (see above). In the first scenario SPAD.neXt was not running, so I think this is not related.Can confirm, never had SPAD installed and I don't have it now
I'm wondering if it's really a very small subset of users experiencing it or if the rest just thinks this is intended behavior and accepts it.
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@HansDeVlieger said in Autopilot keeps disengaging NAV mode (VOR-to-VOR navigation):
@SteveKane Thanks for the tip I must try your SPAD.neXt trick.
BTW, in my attempt to isolate the cause, I tested several scenarios that I described in my earlier post (see above). In the first scenario SPAD.neXt was not running, so I think this is not related.Can confirm, never had SPAD installed and I don't have it now
I'm wondering if it's really a very small subset of users experiencing it or if the rest just thinks this is intended behavior and accepts it.
@Tadeus72 I'll devote my final weekend flight tonight to test a flight without SPAD and see what happens. IIRC, even running SPAD early in the flight and killing it still had the disconnect behavior, so I'll start the sim afresh with no Spad running. (gonna be weird to "mouse" everything, lol).
Stay tuned!
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Yep, that was my original post in the MSFS forums about this issue, and yes I've just lived with this for some months.
I am also getting this behavior in the Commander.I have a workaround I've set up in multiple planes with some Spad.Next trickery, where I can activate/deactivate monitoring for when Nav mode is lost. When that happens, it quickly turns it back on again. It works pretty well.
Ironically, it seemed that if I didn't have SPad.next running, this problem didn't happen in the first place. It makes me think that Spad simply listening or polling certain variables might be causing this, but it would take some deep debugging to troubleshoot this.
Feel free to add observations to that thread for visibility to Asobo. I'm doing a VOR tour of Alaska in the Commander (before it gets too cold/icy for this plane), so maybe I'll experiment a bit this weekend.
@SteveKane said in Autopilot keeps disengaging NAV mode (VOR-to-VOR navigation):
Yep, that was my original post in the MSFS forums about this issue, and yes I've just lived with this for some months.
I am also getting this behavior in the Commander.I have a workaround I've set up in multiple planes with some Spad.Next trickery, where I can activate/deactivate monitoring for when Nav mode is lost. When that happens, it quickly turns it back on again. It works pretty well.
Ironically, it seemed that if I didn't have SPad.next running, this problem didn't happen in the first place. It makes me think that Spad simply listening or polling certain variables might be causing this, but it would take some deep debugging to troubleshoot this.
Feel free to add observations to that thread for visibility to Asobo. I'm doing a VOR tour of Alaska in the Commander (before it gets too cold/icy for this plane), so maybe I'll experiment a bit this weekend.
Hi SteveKane,
I contributed to your post in MSFS forums some time ago, sadly without much response.
Maybe some of those reporting here can contribute too over at MSFS.
I found the problem in many BKSQ aircraft, and some others, but curiously not in the Commander 114. At least not until now, after several flight hours in VOR NAV.
At least I can confirm that it has nothing to do with add-ons, since I don't use any - aside from aircraft and scenery.
And it does not depend on signal strength, since it happens in all distances. -
Interesting, as I've seen this behavior in I think all BKSQ aircraft, including the Commander.
I've got a couple of scenarios I want to try tonight:
-Try using the RNAV receiver with distance = 0.
-Start with SPAD, track VOR, wait for it to disconnect once, then kill SPAD and see what happens. (I think I've tried that before, and the disconnects continued, but that was months ago.) -
@Black-Square
Thanks again for taking the time to take a look at my issue.
I'm afraid I don't know an awful lot about the magic behind the interacting between add-on airplanes and the simulator, but I understand what you're saying. I don't use FSUICP but use SPAD.neXt instead to manage my hardware. In this case I use the Honeycomb Bravo's autopilot feature.I must say this is the first time I run into this. I have a fair collection of Black Square aircraft and I don't recall I saw any disconnection issue before. I am not sure about the Dukes and Starship but I did quite a lot of hours in the TBM 850 and the Bonanzas.
What I will do is empty my Community folder except for the Commander 114 and do a test flight without SPAD.neXt or any other program running besides MSFS2024. Then I'll do a flight with my "normal" setup in one of the Bonanzas to see whether it occurs or not. After that, I'll report back.@HansDeVlieger Hans, I read your post and wondered if you have tried using ‘empty” hardware control profiles in MSFS to find the problem, not just an empty Community folder?
I had a related problem with the Honeycomb Bravo where commands pre-assigned to the default Honeycomb Bravo controller profile conflicted with a command that I was trying to assign in Axis and Ohs (similar keyboard software to Spad.next).
Once I created an empty hardware profile for the Honeycomb Bravo, my problems disappeared. After that I was able to add commands back in step by step. I only mention this as the Bravo fires commands constantly and the default Bravo profile contains commands for all of the autopilot controls and something there could potentially by causing your problem.
I could also be completely wrong but wanted to let you know my experience and how I solved it, in case it helps you too.
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I tested as follows: used Spad, climbed to 11000 feet. It took a while, but finally got a disconnect. Turned off Spad, eventually got another. It seems at higher altitudes, there are much longer intervals between disconnects than my current flight at 6000 feet, have had six disconnects in about 12 minutes all with SPAD. I'm using SPAD to output a voice when it runs my auto-reset to NAV mode code. (In fact, as I type, it's now up to 11 instances.)
Anyone else note a correlation between cruise altitude and disconnect rates?
