Autopilot heading channel

Maybe this was discussed, and I couldn't any reference to it. I noticed during my flights that whenever I press the pedals the heading channel on the autopilot disconnects (the green light goes off and the indicator bar moves in the middle). In real life this doesn't happen, the channel stays ON until manually disconnected by a crew member or due to a system fault.

Anyone has this issue to? Any thoughts about it?

Bellow a small clip with the issue.

Working as intended.. In real life the autopilot is disengaged when you depress micro switches on the anti-torque pedals. Since this is not easily modeled in a sim, a compromise was made, and the result was that the disconnect is done by moving the pedals. Once the pedals are returned to the same position as they were when you engaged the autopilot heading hold channel, autopilot will resume control.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

So this is not a bug?

On the real Mi-17 during normal operation, flights are executed with both Heading and Roll/Pitch channels ON. The Heading channel is signaled as ON or Working by the small green light on the AP panel. When the pilot presses the pedal, the green light stays ON (red light OFF) signaling the Heading channel is not disengaged during the use of the anti-torque pedals. This works the same as with the cyclic trimmer, whenever you press the trimmer button the Roll/Pitch channel green signal light is still ON.

In the sim when I press the pedals the green light for the Heading channel goes off (red light is still off). In reality this means there's a AP system fault.

While the autopilot channel is active, the light stays green. If you interfere, the autopilot isn't quite off, so the lights are off.

Once you hit the off button, the autopilot is properly off, and the lights will reflect this.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

So I explained how it is in the real Mi-17 and what I have in the simulated Mi-17, is this a bug, or some sort of compromise?

Does the light come back on (and does the heading channel start working again) when you stop moving the pedals? Or does it not work at all until you manually re-engage the heading channel?

When I bring the pedals to neutral (the moment I stop applying input on the pedal) the green light turns ON by itself and the channel automatically re-engages.

So the behaviour is correct isn't it?

So the behaviour is correct isn't it?

That's my question too. As in real life it operates different than the sim.

Belsimtek discussed this in the early days of release, I believe Belsimtek set it up this way as a compromise. The real foot pedals have micro switches in them that engage when the pilot puts his feet on the pedals, this sets up the heading AP for Pilot adjustment. The switches simply allow for manual adjustment without the heading AP fighting the pilots pedal input.

I think the difficulty for belsimtek was how to reliably model these on/off micro switches to all of our analogue gaming pedals and there was simply no way to do it reliably.

So we now have this automatic disabling of the heading AP when the foot pedals are moved and automatic re-enabling of the Heading AP when the Pedals are set back to neutral, It works well for me.

Belsimtek discussed this in the early days of release, I believe Belsimtek set it up this way as a compromise. The real foot pedals have micro switches in them that engage when the pilot puts his feet on the pedals, this sets up the heading AP for Pilot adjustment. The switches simply allow for manual adjustment without the heading AP fighting the pilots pedal input.

 

I think the difficulty for belsimtek was how to reliably model these on/off micro switches to all of our analogue gaming pedals and there was simply no way to do it reliably.

So we now have this automatic disabling of the heading AP when the foot pedals are moved and automatic re-enabling of the Heading AP when the Pedals are set back to neutral, It works well for me.

Thanks for the answer. This is what I was searching for :)

you are welcome press.

So in-game and in real life they work the same. The only difference is that in-game, the heading channel light turns off when you move the pedals, but in real life the light would be staying on when you move the pedals, but that does not affect the functionality.

So in-game and in real life they work the same. The only difference is that in-game, the heading channel light turns off when you move the pedals, but in real life the light would be staying on when you move the pedals, but that does not affect the functionality.

English is not my first language, I might have explained it wrong or incompletly.

If you take a look at the small clip I posted and also I said it earlier, when I press the pedals the light goes off and the channel disconnects (the vertical bar that shows how hard the AP is working to keep the helicopter on the selected heading comes back to neutral). When I take my foot of the pedal and the pedals reach the neutral position the light comes back on and the channel reingages automaticly.

As far as I know on the real Mi-17, the light and the channel stay on until it is manualy turned off by someone (presses the red light-button on the AP panel or the AP Disconnect Button on the cyclic).

For instance, when ever you press the trimmer button on the cyclic, the pitch and roll channel lights don't go off and the channel doesn't disengages until I finish triming.

The question about the pedals / heading channel is: is this behavior (difference between sim and reality) normal in the sim, or is it a bug?

Don't worry, we are saying the exact same thing. It is normal in the sim, and it is a bug. It is extremely low priority, as far as I can tell, which does not mean much of anything anymore. SO I don't think we should expect this to get fixed anytime soon and be prepared to just live with it.

I understand. The matter is clear now. Thanks a lot to all. :)

how can you switch this channel on during the flight? for example, if the pedals are pressed too left or right and you want to turn heading on. but you need to release pedals correct? if you do so, helicopter acts like a crazy

I usually switch on Heading AP and then ease off the pedals.