I really wish there was one additional setting in the AP- that for Max Pitch Angle. Since I live in Colorado, I fly often in mountain wave turbulence, and this results in rather strong up and downdrafts that can extend for hundreds of miles. Obviously there are times that the AP just won't be able to handle it, but there are many times that it is doable but I myself can do a much better job than the AP. Usually the reason is the AP will pitch up too aggressively in response to a downdraft, which is followed by overshooting the target altitude and then we go down and undershoot, starting the cycle all over. No matter which parameters I adjust, there is just no good way to tune for these conditions. It seems to me that having a "Maximum Pitch Angle" setting that would at least simmer down the AP's desire to correct for altitude excursions.
Request: Maximum Pitch Angle for AP
- Thread starter HFMan
- Start date
midlifeflyer
Member
I'm not sure I've come across any AP that can handle Colorado mountain downdrafts. I've always hand flown them. I guess IAS mode would be best if you really want to keep on but even then...
Not unreasonable, but every feature and setting in autopilot-land is laced with complexity, so changes or additional are hard for us to promise. But I'll definitely submit it to the engineering team.
I understand mountain downdrafts- I'm not expecting the AP to handle these. I'm talking more about the mountain waves that occur east of the Rockies, sometimes for a couple hundred miles. They are strong enough that they can push my aircraft down at 400 feet per minute or more for a minute or so, then lift me up at the same rate for another minute. The AP is overly aggressive in responding to this, pitching up in a desperate attempt to get me back on altitude. No amount of pitch axis tuning can remove this aggressive behavior.
Understood- I can appreciate the complex relationships in all the AP parameters. I do hope there is some way to eventually have the means to control max pitch behavior.
midlifeflyer
Member
Not surprising. Hand flying in mountain wave is a common technique pretty much regardless of what autopilot is being used. An autopilot generally flies better than we do, but we are still smarter.