F-18 pitches steeply and cannot reset trim

I've had this happen a few times and I'm not sure what's happening. Most recently it happens when I try and fly the "Eastern Friendship - An F/A-18 Single Player Mission by Sedlo (ver 1.5)" mission.

When I take off the plane pulls up steeply and basically does a loop that I have to push hard nose down to try and correct.

I've tried resetting the FCS. I have manually cycled through the flap positions and they make no difference.

What am I missing or doing wrong?

I should also note that other missions it doesn't happen. Example, the Takeoff and Navigation in Caucasus works just fine. And like I said, another mission I flew, I think one I made myself, I took off and flew just fine. Landed at Nellis, went to take off again, and the stabilizers seemed stuck in a pull position and without any input on the joystick the plane pulls back hard into a loop. And I have no idea what I'm doing wrong or what happens to cause this.

Make sure there aren't another other controllers connected to your PC with the axis set for pitch control. Make sure you press the T/O trim button prior to taking off.

Flaps Auto ASAP after take off

I tried the AUTO Flaps after takeoff and that worked. Strange things is another time it didn't work. I've assigned that control to a switch on my throttle so hopefully it won't be an issue anymore. Thanks!

As soon as you go Flaps auto Trimming is automatic. With Flaps Half Full "Trimming" is required but you are not actually moving the stab. Its pretty complex but in fact all you are doing is setting a reference AOA in the FCS that becomes part of the calculation and provides feedback loops for he pilot.

This is a known bug and has been reported. IRL you wouldn't raise the flaps immediately after take-off as the aircraft could easily settle back down again. A few Hornets were lost as a result of this. Ideally and IIRC you want to wait until approx 4 degrees AoA and then bring them up as this is how the FCS schedules to 1G flight.

I've had something similar on a bolter ... stick full forward and the nose keeps climbing.

I've had something similar on a bolter ... stick full forward and the nose keeps climbing.

Because you have your flaps out and you're probably leaving the power on. Climb out at your "on speed" speed.

I had a bug happen to me few times where no matter what I do.

Flaps to AUTO AP hold or anything really would make my F-18 pitch up like crazy.

The only way I found a fix for it is to disable the FCS circut breakers then enable them again and pressing FCS reset

Happens to me aswell - only after T/O and I fix it by going through FLAPS settings (full -> half -> auto) quickly and it's gone.

The inability to push the nose down after a bolter is wrong, AWE pointed this out in his youtube videos.

The inability to push the nose down after a bolter is wrong, AWE pointed this out in his youtube videos.

has this ever been fixed?

has this ever been fixed?

No, the PA mode still has issues.

It's a known bug. If you take off with Flaps Auto, the jet will enter an uncommanded, unrecoverable pitch-up. Take off with Flaps Half in accordance with normal procedures and this won't happen, anyway.

It's a known bug. If you take off with Flaps Auto, the jet will enter an uncommanded, unrecoverable pitch-up. Take off with Flaps Half in accordance with normal procedures and this won't happen, anyway.

hmm...:smilewink:

You can fix this in the air....

Go under 250kts

Dump gear and flaps 1

Press takeoff trim (yes, in the air..)

Clean up

Pitch up issue is resolved.

To prevent, always make sure to flaps 1 and takeoff trim before you roll. Also prior takeoff, but after startup etc, if you type Y into chat, ie "hi Billy" then it will reset you FCS, so just press takeoff trim again

Take off with half flaps. This is in the manual. Then set to auto after take-off and you won`t have the issue.

Take off with half flaps. This is in the manual. Then set to auto after take-off and you won`t have the issue.

If you accidentally do this, it is possible to trim it out if you hold the trim down button long enough. It takes almost a full minute.

Well we all learn to deal with unfinished parts of PA mode in couple of flights. Well, maybe 3 ;)

In the properly functioning FCS logic leaving the flaps down (half or full) would not cause indefinite pitch-up to maintain your initial T/O pitch setting.

For instance, if after T/O you raised your gear and left your flaps down the FCS would take care of the mode transition to UA. The flaps would be raised at proper speed (AOA) with the flap switch still in down position on whatever setting you left it. The flaps light would be on (amber). Slowing down to below 240 (?) would start a smooth transition to PA mode again unless the flap switch was raised to auto before.

Druid touched on this in his earlier post.

I am experiencing this right now. Started happening about 1 week ago. F18 and F14 when using default missions, such as Nevada Free Flight under instant mission. MP my trims seem to work fine.

I have found ensuring we have set the flaps properly right from the get go always prevents this from happening...

However, It is good to know a work around in flight for when I experience a little lack of awareness and get careless while taking off from the carrier. When I have tried taking off with the flaps in an incorrect setting then once in the air and the gear is raised the aircraft might pitch up strongly, seem somewhat unresponsive to trim adjustment, have an auto-trim setting that shows the stabs making the aircraft pitch up and it doesn't want to seem to reset the flaps. I found that slowing right down, lowering the gear and putting the flaps in the take off position then raising the gear and putting the flaps up before gaining speed will re-trim the aircraft via the FCS. This allows to get control of the aircraft without having to restart. I am sure some more capable people will help with more of the technical voodoo.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck and happy flying!

I had this happen alot even when taking off even with half flaps. Now i always wait for my AoA to reduce to 4 or below before going flaps auto and the issue has disapeared.

I just had a thought. About a month ago I switched the setting for 'synchromize w/ hotas at startup' (or similar) to be on. Prior to that, when starting one of the built-in missions on the carrier, the flaps were always automatically set to 'half'. Now the flaps are automatically set to what ever position my switch is in. I am learning to always check it now because it depends on how I ended the prior flight. If I had landed and then hit 'restart' my flaps switch is in full so I'd be starting in full. If I hit 'restart' while flying the flaps is in 'up' or 'auto'. So maybe some problems for some people might depend on their 'synchronize' setting.