AP different climb/descend rates

[davemgill]

I have a suggestion for 5.3. I think it would be really useful to be able to configure (in the AP Setup page) a different VS for climb and descent. I fly an RV-9 and would like the climb VS to be 1000ft/min but that is a bit too quick for the descent, which I would like to configure at 500ft/min.

David

 

[dodsond]

I like that idea. Not as much as the AP76, but I still like it!

Doug Dodson
Glasair II-S FT

 

[Rob]

I have a RV7 and would also like a different rate for climb and descend ,Could it be put into the setup page the two rates and then for the AP to work out which rate to use ,If the Alt has been increased use the higher climb rate and if the Alt has been decreased use the lower descend rate .
Cheers Rob

 

[skysailor]

Any chance we could have an "airspeed hold" feature? This way, once trimmed to best rate of climb (or best angle or whatever you chose) the aircraft would just use pitch to maintain this speed. This would be a much more efficient way to operate in climb. For descent you could just hold present speed, turn off altitude hold (actually, engaging speed hold should cancel altitude hold) and then reduce power to achieve the rate of descent you desire. This avoids the problem with stall on climb and overspeed on descent. This mode (IAS hold) works very well on the jets I fly in my day job.

 

[PhantomPholly]

Any chance we could have an "airspeed hold" feature? This way, once trimmed to best rate of climb (or best angle or whatever you chose) the aircraft would just use pitch to maintain this speed. This would be a much more efficient way to operate in climb. For descent you could just hold present speed, turn off altitude hold (actually, engaging speed hold should cancel altitude hold) and then reduce power to achieve the rate of descent you desire. This avoids the problem with stall on climb and overspeed on descent. This mode (IAS hold) works very well on the jets I fly in my day job.

It is possible the AP already has an airspeed hold feature - it just isn't advertised as such.

Simply enter setup and set the minimum AP speed to your desired climb IAS, then dial in more vertical speed than the plane is capable of and see if it "bobs."  I haven't tried it for a long time, but I believe a competitor's AP does this...



Let us know if it works!

 

[skysailor]

Phantom,

That would allow a climb at Vx or Vy etc but does not allow full functionality which would include cruise and descent. I will grant you climb at Vy to altitude is more important than the other features but as long as we are asking........