I have a super simple request. I understand that Asobo is not comfortable with unlocking the .cfg files for their payware airplanes. That’s fine. In FSX, we could enable autopilot by changing the autopilot line in the aircraft.cfg to equal 1. It’s not possible to currently use generic autopilot in some of the planes because the aircraft.cfg is locked. It is an unfortunate problem, but there are ways that Asobo can help the quality of life for some of these airplanes that we’ve purchased. For example, the Asobo Aviat Husky does not have autopilot anywhere and it likely does not have autopilot enabled in the systems.cfg, but it’s a very fun aircraft to fly. But for longer flights, having autopilot would be very useful. Can you guys post a patch where you change the autopilot=0 line to autopilot=1 in the systems.cfg?
This will allow generic autopilot to be enabled which can then be controlled by keyboard commands or external/3rd party autopilot panels. It’s a quick and easy fix and I’m sure many people would appreciate it. And for users that are worried about realism or immersion, just don’t enable the keyboard controls for autopilot in the airplanes that you wish to not use autopilot. There really is no downside to this request and it is very beneficial for the quality of life of more casual audiences as well.
AFAIK the husky doesn’t have an autopilot IRL and I prefer to keep it that way.
This plane is very well trimmable so all you have to do is directional correcting a bit.
Have to be admit that I’ve altert the autopilot line in the Gravel Cub but that plane doesn’t even exist IRL so I’m ok with that.
If you are on PC you can do this yourself.
Asobo already removed the autopilot from the JMB VL3 with the reason I’ve heard being that the version they are simulating isn’t supposed to have it.
That’s fair enough. I altered it myself when it was my favourite runaround (and because it’s actually optional in the real aircraft so I wasn’t breaking realism to hard)
The Savage Cub? It doesn’t have any avionics at all, it wound feel wierd to press a key and have it fly a course so I flew across the Sahara in that just by trimming and hand flying.
Note also that some of the aircraft you mention are used in achievements where hand flying a certain distance is the goal of the achievement. It would not be fair to give “casual users” an autopilot option which other users never had.
On the assumption that MSFS-2020 is an upgrade to MSFS-X, please restore the ability to to place any kind of plane into an “autopilot” (hands off) mode, even if the model is not equipped with an autopilot (e.g. put J3 in autopilot/hands-off mode).
I’ve tried the following and it wouldn’t keep the plane straight and level. Is there something else?
Toggle Delegate Control To Copilot: CTRL + ALT + X
Hmm. not sure about the keyboard binding since I cleared them up. But I would try using the Assistance menu from the top toolbar and manually switch the AI control on.
I love the “IRL doesn’t have” excuse. However, in reality you are flying a make believe cartoon plane on a computer. And is great, been doing it for some 30 years now. And I lost account how many times I turned on the autopilot because I had to help the girlfriend for half an hour, or going for a drink or the toilet. Answering the phone or the door. You name it. Almost none of those things are present when flying “IRL”. You may want the hard core super imersive realistic experience and by all means do it. I do it myself from time to time. But it suchs to not been able set up the AP on a brand new T-6 from Reno when life gets in the way for 10 minutes.
I fully support being able to use autopilot on ALL aircraft in the Sim whether or not the aircraft have it IRL. One advantage of a Sim is being able to do things that cannot be done in IRL. For those who want realism all of the time, well do not activate autopilot. For those worried about cheating in Achievements, well prevent autopilot from working there. Etc etc. Where there is a will, there is a way. Cheers.
Honestly I’m with you on this one. Being a pilot(student) in real life. As well as working at a private jet center. There are retrofits for so many aircraft when it comes to autopilot. Also gone flying is wrong Garmin GFC 500 for Aviat Husky Digital Autopilot
(Garmin GFC 500 for Aviat Husky Digital Autopilot) its an almost 10k part plus whatever your AP will charge to install and certify. In real life flying isn’t a game, the reason most planes have autopilot or retrofit them is it takes the workload off of the pilot. Should you always rely on it hell no. In a long xc flight paying attention to your instruments, or being IFR capable is always a plus. I agree there should be a add on maybe not as simple as it was in FSX where you can throw a 737 auto pilot system into a war bird, but something more realistic like that garmin where it’s the basic’s or even one that just allows for heading or altitude hold.
[[[BE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE DOING THIS]]] With a little bit of trial and error, the best work around that I can find for this is to find a similar aircraft in your collection (with autopilot features) to the aircraft that you are wanting to configure. Copy the “systems.cfg” file from that similar aircraft and replace the file in the folder of the aircraft that you are wanting to have autopilot capabilities.
I have found that it works, but unfortunately you are using autopilot blindly. Meaning that you can only use the keys/buttons mapped on your keyboard and/or controllers to control the autopilot. You will have to set your key maps for the vertical speed -/+ and “LVL” and base your autopilot settings on counting your keystrokes and the visuals of the aircraft.
It is not perfect as (in my experience) the exterior lights are not in the correct spots and you have to do a bit of trial and error yourself to find the aircraft that best correlates with the aircraft you want to have autopilot. It is not THE solution, but it is A solution. I hope this helps.
I’d lay 5 to 1 odds that the requests for “more realism” FAR outweigh the requests for “less realism” in all aspects of the sim (or game, or cartoon, or whatever you want to call it…)
You want an autopilot so you can ‘help’ the girlfriend for half an hour?
Simple answer is: Fly a plane with an autopilot.
