Occasional aggressive pitch-down events on approach
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Did you see this recent post, by any chance? I've had two reports of "uncommanded departures from level flight" since Starship's release, and both were caused by interference of some type with another application. However, since you indicate nose-down, I don't suppose this could be an activation of the column pusher? It should be disabled in the landing configuration, and should not activate until the aircraft is approaching a stall, but I just wanted to check.
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I haven't seen that, thanks for pointing it out. I suppose it's not impossible that it could be software interference, though the only flight sim-related software I have running simultaneously is little navmap (alongside the usual suspects, firefox, spotify, discord, steam). I'm doubtful it's the column-pusher, though, because it's happened way above stall speeds, and I can't emphasize enough through text how rapid the pitch change is. The first time it happened, I thought it was just some particularly brutal turbulence combined with the odd design of the starship, but it's happened too many times since then.
I'll take software interference into account, though - Next time I fly the starship, I'll record the approach and close all other non-sim software (aside from the recording software) and hopefully I can capture a video if it happens.
Thanks for the help. -
@MiRexer yes, I'm limited by the number of USB ports on my motherboard so there's never anything plugged in that's not immediately being used. On top of that, I've seen it happen while the autopilot is on and both my hands off my desk.
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Ive had this happen too, both in up and down directions. I turned off "realistic turbulence" after that, thinking it was some kind of crazy misinterpreted data causing an insane up or down draft. Recently I turned "realistic turbulence" back on, because medium seemed to really mean 0 turbulence. Hoping it doesn't happen again. Also I think that was before the most recent Starship patch had come out.
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I had something like this happen to me the first time as well. It was extactly on the IAF of the approach (LJLJ ILS30 via DOL) while on AP. When entering the STAR into the FMC, I already entered DOL before selecting the approach, so could it be that the waypoint was in the FMC twice (manually + as approach transition) and it confused the AP?
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I also have this issue, but not limited to the Starship. Mine seems to be a byproduct of the Turtlebeach Velocity one yoke and I have heared other people have issues with the turtlebeach units. Mine also have a random left roll input that happens from time to time and I have no way to know why. I have recalibrated the controls countless times, I have taken it apart to find any loose or damaged parts and nothing found.
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I've had this type of behavior on many coupled approaches with a large number of aircraft in FS2020 (still getting 2024 set up). In all cases the "aggressive pitch-down" occurred when I released the AP.
For instance, if I maintain coupling all the way to the MAP, the aircraft (could be any of them) will immediately go out-of-trim with a pitch-down (even though it should maintain the trim that was there). I've resolved this for the most part by simply uncoupling at least 100' above the MAP - this usually results in a stable glide path and the trim being spot-on. I've always attributed this to a fault in the MSFS AP though maybe it's an issue with my stick (Thrustmaster T.16000M).
I've never had this happen with the Starship, though that may be due to my early AP release procedure.
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Yesterday and today (2.1.2026) I had very aggressive pitch down in a reproducable setup on short final at ELLX runway 24. The airport is on an elevated plateu, together with the wind 25012KT this creates quite some turbulence when entering the plateu. However, with Starship this seems especially bad, causing a pitch down that I couldn't recover from (AP and handflying) at first, and finally managed to just barely catch with full elevator deflection when expecting it beforehand. I tried the approach with another aircraft and while it got violent turbulence as well, there was not nearly as much pitch down as with Starship. Speed is not the issue. With calm weather there is no issue. Is Starship especially vulnerable to this kind of turbulence? Should it be?
I also had something similar happen at Rimini in the meantime, though it was higher up and gave me a chance to recover. -
Yesterday and today (2.1.2026) I had very aggressive pitch down in a reproducable setup on short final at ELLX runway 24. The airport is on an elevated plateu, together with the wind 25012KT this creates quite some turbulence when entering the plateu. However, with Starship this seems especially bad, causing a pitch down that I couldn't recover from (AP and handflying) at first, and finally managed to just barely catch with full elevator deflection when expecting it beforehand. I tried the approach with another aircraft and while it got violent turbulence as well, there was not nearly as much pitch down as with Starship. Speed is not the issue. With calm weather there is no issue. Is Starship especially vulnerable to this kind of turbulence? Should it be?
I also had something similar happen at Rimini in the meantime, though it was higher up and gave me a chance to recover.@kletzi said in Occasional aggressive pitch-down events on approach:
Yesterday and today (2.1.2026) I had very aggressive pitch down in a reproducable setup on short final at ELLX runway 24. The airport is on an elevated plateu, together with the wind 25012KT this creates quite some turbulence when entering the plateu. However, with Starship this seems especially bad, causing a pitch down that I couldn't recover from (AP and handflying) at first, and finally managed to just barely catch with full elevator deflection when expecting it beforehand. I tried the approach with another aircraft and while it got violent turbulence as well, there was not nearly as much pitch down as with Starship. Speed is not the issue. With calm weather there is no issue. Is Starship especially vulnerable to this kind of turbulence? Should it be?
I also had something similar happen at Rimini in the meantime, though it was higher up and gave me a chance to recover.It might be exaggerated in starship because of the methods the developer has to use to get the canard wing to properly behave and feel within the confines of the sim. I notice a few developers of planes with complex flight dynamics, specifically airliners, recommend setting the msfs turbulence from realistic or medium, all the way down to low. Low is not as fun but it might be worth the try to prevent this kind of odd behaviour.
