Leaving the PC while on autopilot

[MSFSRonS]

Aren’t you the lucky one being that you were not in it.

[hobanagerik]

Any terrain around to hit?
What was the state of the plane i.e. fuel on board?
Was there icing present? The AP could have trimmed up as much as it could, then the plane stalled.

[BegottenPoet228]

@mercvrivs1760

But when you put it in autopilot and nav mode you have to make sure your plane is on the purple line and stays on the line. Otherwise its not following the set course.

@MSFSRonS

You don’t make sure of anything.
Autopilot will follow the Flight Plan.

Good luck with that unless you make sure you intercept the line before engaging NAV mode. And make sure the AP is doing its job before walking away from the sim.

[CD0139]

What about a USB hub going to sleep due to controller inactivity and causing control issues. I’ve seen a couple of YT vids where USB hub disconnects have caused issues.

Edit: Here’s a link to other issues caused by USB disconnects with info how to disable USB power save:

USB disconnect sound plays randomly and MSFS freezes

Hello, Randomly, the USB disconnect sound plays and msfs freezes for 30 seconds- 1 minute. I briefly seemed to of fixed this by dust cleaning my pc, but it seems to have returned after plugging in a steering wheel. I am not in any betas and the issues started about a year ago. This is very irritating on vatsim especially on approach as it can ruin controllers traffic management.

[SwiftTugboat430]

It should be remembered that, as IRL, the AP is not there to fly the plane for you; it’s there to reduce the workload. You still have to monitor it.

[Marklar666]

Yes, but it’s a game. You won’t die if AP disconnects while you are taking a shower or having a dinner in another room :). For that same reason I don’t bother with checklists and testing systems. Only handful of planes have implemented faults and store cockpit state between flights.

[SwiftTugboat430]

@Marklar666

Yes, but it’s a game. You won’t die if AP disconnects

But the plane will still go out of control, which is what the thread is about.

[Marklar666]

Does it? It happened to me maybe 2 times in over 1,000 hours of playing this game. Once because of a bug in A310, second time in A2A Comanche when fuel pump died in the middle of the flight.

My point is, gamers turn AP on so we can leave the PC (or xbox) unattended and do other things, not sitting for hours monitoring if AP is doing its thing. I did one transatlantic flight to get frequent flyer achievement. Shortly after take off I turned on ATC assistance, autopilot and went to bed. Woke up in the morning and to my surprise the plane was somewhere over Canada still following the pink line. This was around the time when a lot of people were reporting game crashes in long haul flights.

Unlike in real life, the AP is in MSFS to fly the plane for me.

[SwiftTugboat430]

@Marklar666

Does it?

To the OP it has, yes.

[mercvrivs1760]

I am re-flying this flight right now but i think i did set the altitude way too low. Originally i set the altitude at 8000feet.Just evaded a mountainridge. I think 15000ft will do for now. Also set De-Ice and oxygen on…

[LKFJP]

@mercvrivs1760

i think i did set the altitude way too low.

Encountered cumulo-granite enroute? Bad end.

[MSFSRonS]

@BegottenPoet228

unless you make sure you intercept the line before engaging NAV mode

I make AP & NAV& VS armed at the runway before takeoff.
If needed, you must fly to the magenta line for it to become active.

[mercvrivs1760]

Just left my plane in autopilot yesterday and found it belly up on the ground hours later. From now on i use active pause when i leave it for a long time. Like this guy on this said, autopilot is to reduce the workload. Not to leave the plane unattended for hours.. A flight takes lot longer this way though…

[s0cks182]

Even active pause can be unpredictable. Some planes don’t work well with it. Best option is to hit Esc.