Few issues with the 1.1 patch
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I'm actually intrigued by this one because all of the illustrations I've seen on directional gyros show the push knob gear directly coupled to the compass card. So then I asked ChatGPT about it and it mentioned that if the gyro isn't spinning then you don't have an inertial reference frame that the card would spin against... Taking that with a grain of salt but then thinking about how those things work on the inside I guess it's because you push and turn that knob and then you end up turning both the compass card and the gyro's gimbal at the same time because the gyro isn't spinning (at all) to keep itself steady in space.
So I guess it now makes sense in my head.
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I'm actually intrigued by this one because all of the illustrations I've seen on directional gyros show the push knob gear directly coupled to the compass card. So then I asked ChatGPT about it and it mentioned that if the gyro isn't spinning then you don't have an inertial reference frame that the card would spin against... Taking that with a grain of salt but then thinking about how those things work on the inside I guess it's because you push and turn that knob and then you end up turning both the compass card and the gyro's gimbal at the same time because the gyro isn't spinning (at all) to keep itself steady in space.
So I guess it now makes sense in my head.
@fizzboy said in Few issues with the 1.1 patch:
So I guess it now makes sense in my head.
Isn't it funny how we can wrestle with something inside our heads until the 'sense' of it finally registers! What's confusing me about the DG is how the autopilot can follow the correct heading even when the compass card AND the heading bug are not aligned. Does the autopilot get its heading from the magnectic compass or some other 'bit of magic' behind the panel?
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@fizzboy said in Few issues with the 1.1 patch:
So I guess it now makes sense in my head.
Isn't it funny how we can wrestle with something inside our heads until the 'sense' of it finally registers! What's confusing me about the DG is how the autopilot can follow the correct heading even when the compass card AND the heading bug are not aligned. Does the autopilot get its heading from the magnectic compass or some other 'bit of magic' behind the panel?
@SkipperMacz what directional source are you using for the AP? HDG or NAV? If it’s the latter then it’ll be taking its guidance from whichever nav source you’re using, if it’s the former then I’m not sure what’s going on

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This is observed in HDG mode, so no nav source involved. For instance, I can be flying 360 deg on the magnetic compass, but with the DG showing 010 deg, the heading bug on the 360 deg mark but rotated left by 10 deg. Does that make sense (the explanation I mean lol)? So the aircraft is following the correct heading, but not that indicated by the bug.
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I just tested it and it's working correctly. I made sure the compass and the directional gyro agree, set heading 102, engage HDG mode on the autopilot, the airplane held steady, then I pushed in the gyro adjustment knob, turned it a few degrees left so that the direction gyro read 095 and the autopilot corrected by banking the plane to the right to get me back onto the "correct" heading of 102.
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Hmmm, that's interesting. I'll experiment again when I have time this evening (UK time) to see if 'mine' still tracks the correct heading even when the DG and bug are offset. The difference could possibly be that I'm engaging HDG mode when the DG is offset, whereas you engaged it when it was aligned and then fed in the offset?
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Ok, after brief testing, mine is definitely tracking the heading from the compass. It doesn't matter what the DG is reading, the HDG follows the compass according to the reading from the (offset) bug. Strange!
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Ok, after brief testing, mine is definitely tracking the heading from the compass. It doesn't matter what the DG is reading, the HDG follows the compass according to the reading from the (offset) bug. Strange!
@SkipperMacz What primary and secondary avionics are you using in the Commander?
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@SkipperMacz What primary and secondary avionics are you using in the Commander?
@fizzboy 750 and 530 ... but I'm not tracking a flight plan, just flying a heading hold.
Correction: 750 & 650!
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... and after further flying I can confirm that in HDG mode I can rotate the DG anywhere and the autopilot still tracks the requested magnetic heading via the heading bug.
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Just so you guys know, this behavior likely differs depending on the avionics used. I've programmed it so it works with the native autopilot, but other GPS units may carry their own autopilots, which I have no control over.
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Just so you guys know, this behavior likely differs depending on the avionics used. I've programmed it so it works with the native autopilot, but other GPS units may carry their own autopilots, which I have no control over.
@Black-Square ... it doesn't make sense (to me lol) that the Heading mode should be dependent on the avionics installed. But who ever suggested that Asobo's internals made sense. Next flight (tomorrow probably) I'll test it without the fancy GPS's and see what happens.