KAP140 & Honeycomb Bravo: Autopilot forced on

Bug Reporting Hub Hardware & Peripherals
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1

I’ve got a very nasty problem with the Honeycomb Bravo Quadrant: Autopilot is forced on in all aircraft equipped with the KAP140. It’s impossible to turn it off.
Happens with the default C172, Milviz Porter, Milviz C310 and probably others.
With the C310, I can pull the AP circuit breaker, but that’s not a smart solution.
I’ve searched a fix on various forums to no avail.

Any idea?
Thx!

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2

I think it was coded wrong vs real life and that’s something they’ll need to fix. You should be able to hit HDG, VS, ALT pick your altitude and ARM it. Then when you want engage the AP.

3

The KAP140_Push_ARM function in the Asobo default version of the Kap150 AP, does NOTHING, except Animate. It has no programmed function.

ie Kap140.js

           case "KAP140_Push_ARM":    
           break;

Been like this from day of release… never been added to or coded.

4

I believe that it should arm the level off altitude as in real life. If you don’t hit that button IRL then you just keep on VS’ing up until you catch your own mistake.

5

The KAP140 is a somewhat older and simple autopilot. When the AP is off, pilot can set up the target altitude with the knobs and the heading bug. That is about the limit of what can be preset.

And the Real-life KAP140 has auto-arm feature when new altitude is set with the knobs. See discussion about ARM here Good to see smeone taking on the KAP140 · Issue #2 · FS2020-USER-TESTER/KAP140-MOD-PACKAGE · GitHub

  1. With the AP off, set the target altitude.
  2. Turn AP on - it will enter ROL/VS modes. The AP will capture the current VS and if heading in the direction of the target altitude the Armed message will appear.
  3. If you wish faster or slower VS, use the UP or DOWN buttons.
  4. HDG or NAV heading mode can be selected as needed.
  5. When target altitude is reached, the vertical mode will switch to ALT automatically and plane will level off.
  6. A new target altitude can now be set as needed. Hit ALT to leave that mode and return to VS.
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6

One source of confusion when using external control like Bravo, is the standard Sim Events available for mapping ALT to external control do not change the mode exactly as defined for the KAP140 or seen when using mouse. I use AAO to fix this.

The standard Sim Event for ALT toggle will drop AP into Pitch hold mode instead of VS.
Here is the script for ALT button which forces ALT button to switch to VS when turning off.

(A:AUTOPILOT·MASTER,·Bool)·1·==·if{·(A:AUTOPILOT·ALTITUDE·LOCK,·Bool)·1·==·if{·1·(>K:AP_PANEL_VS_ON)·}·els{·1·(>K:AP_ALT_HOLD)·}·}

Alternatively you could hit ALT then VS buttons on Bravo, but KAP140 does not have VS button so that is not as realistic. The other Sim Events work correctly, and I have not needed to override.

The PMS50 GTN750 mode has a great AP utility page that can show what is going on with AP and allow switch to modes not supported by the KAP140.