I’m not saying it is perfect, like I said I am experimenting The ailerons are used at the same time as the tiller in the same direction (I just added the tiller to the axis so both work at the same time). I have thought about using a trigger key in AAO to turn on/off the Tiller but so far I have not messed around with it yet. If the on-ground aerodynamics was better then it may be more of an issue but I feel like keeping the aircraft on centerline during the roll is much easier with this setup rather than fighting with my rudder pedals at the lower speeds. With my old CH rudder pedals with a 10% dead-zone it is hard to keep the centerline until I get to the higher speeds. By the time I begin to rotate I have transitioned to full pedals and apply aileron as needed as I leave the runway.
Again not saying it is right, I am just experimenting with different ways to control the Tiller.
Yeah, uh I don’t think I’ve ever used the rudder pedals in flight and if I eluded to that it was not intentional. I use them for ground maneuvering, taxi and landing control (as in after touchdown). I’ve not yet encountered enough wind to require de-crabbing and I’m not confident enough in my piloting skills to enable failures yet. Someday soon though!
I have an Xbox controller that I use for my drone camera and slewing (the few times I need to). But it works well as tiller axis too.
But I found the I was always pulling to the right when taxing. My cromulant Logitech pedals were to blame - sending an input (without an input for me and a 10% deadzone set) until I gave them a press left and right to centre them. Don’t skip my ‘flight surfaces free and correct’ now…
I currently use my rudder pedals to steer on the ground. It’s hardly ideal but it mostly works. The bigger problem I have with the PMDG737 right now is that sometimes one reverser doesn’t engage and I end up doing donuts in the mud between runways and/or taxiways.
IMO, one of the hardware manufacturers oughta make a cheap and cheerful desktop tiller control. Just a small plastic box with a scaled way down self centering twist handle that doesn’t take up a ton of space. I’d probably buy two if they were under $100 just to support the cause. The trend towards well built, full scale high end sim hardware is both cool and interesting but not particularly practical for those of us that need to use our PCs for work in addition to play.
Three times today my landing gear just suddenly deployed while at cruise FL. The first time it happened I immediately got a “buffeting” alert but not knowing what the cause was I couldn’t react. I was at FL 360 and being pestered by P2ATC to climb to FL370, my final climb level and as soon as I tried to climb I went into a stall. It completely ruined my APL2 flight so I abandoned the flight and started over.
Then it happened again. This time while connecting my headset into a USB hub in order to not lose too much battery on the long flight. At the time I noticed my gear indicator lights on my Bravo TQ all go green. Then I saw my virtual gear knob in the down position. “What the heck”, I immediately thought then quickly hit the Bravo lever down and up again to retract. Then watched the gear retract in external view. Then it happened again and I was not even near any controls or any of my computer peripherals. I just all of a sudden noticed those three green lights on my Bravo again. I immediately hit the lever down and up and no harm done but it is quite perplexing.
I’ve been flying the Cargo variant for the my past 20 or so flights with no issues whatsoever. I just switched to the standard (148 pax) version and this is now happening.
So has anybody else experienced this? I searched here and also on the PMDG forums but didn’t find anything similar.
Definitely sounds like a duplicate controller binding somewhere. Or a glitchy G key!
I’ve had the gear deploy mid flight also, but in my case it’s because I have a second screen extended to the right, but even with the mouse cursor in the center of the non MSFS screen, it will still activate clickspots in the VC until focus shifts to another application.
That was my first thought as well but the fact that I’ve been flying this plane exclusively since I purchased it in mid May and never had this problem until today makes me scratch my head in wonderment. I’ll look through all the assignments again. Thanks for your suggestion.
I do have an Xbox controller but it’s mounted on top of my Alpha yoke and clearly not being unduly influenced and also there are no bindings associated with the gear on it however I think I’ll disconnect and re-connect all USB peripherals. Since that was the cause of one incident for certain, maybe just a re-connect of all might be needed.
It’s pretty disconcerting to have the gear deploy at FL380 and mach .78
Could it be the switch on your controller that has suddenly developed a tendency to activate, even if you haven’t pressed it? Temporarily mapping landing gear to another control might remove this from the list of possibilities.
Another thing that I’ve found, to my cost, in the past, is that if you plug too many USB controllers into the same port, via an unpowered USB hub, you might get some rather unpredictable behaviour.
I understand that this has only just started happening to you, but I’m just trying to cover all possibilities.
Along that theme, making sure that power management is turned off on your USB devices, via device manager, might be worth checking too.
While I’m on a roll, as the 737 landing gear lever has a central/off position, have you applied any fancy mapping “tricks” to allow your controller to move the lever to that central/off position? Logically, this shouldn’t make a difference and probably won’t but maybe worth checking that nothing has gone amiss there.
Oh, as for this issue only just appearing, hasn’t there been a fairly recent update that might have changed things?
Hm that´s interesting! Today I have tested engine failures based on low oil, overheating oil, or engine vibrations on the Fenix Airbus - and suddenly the landing gear rushed down with some alerts.
I also don´t know why it happened because the ECAM had some new engine alerts and I don´t know yet how to scoll up the ECAM warning messages to see if there was some hydraulic fluctiation or whatever that caused the gear to drop.
Well that’s the thing. I’ve flown nearly every day for 7 weeks, multiple flights and all in the 737. Without changing a thing except for AP configuration. I’ve been using A Pilot’s Life 2 (career sim) and have flown the Cargo version (HDL) for more than 20 consecutive flights with no issues whatsoever. I just signed a new contract with Westjet so I switched to the pax version but I’ve flown this AC previously and not had a problem either.
I think it has to do with my Bluetooth headset and the hub that the dongle is plugged into. Using P2ATC it sometimes doesn’t like to switch between desktop speakers and the headset. On long flights I’ve been plugging the headset in to keep the battery charged during long legs of the flight where no coms are needed. Plugging in the headset to the same hub is what caused the problem the first time. However the other 2 times it may have been merely switching the headset off and then on again. I’m going to avoid doing that and simply plug it into a separate charging device not connected to my PC. Hopefully that will do it.
Hmm I have noticed when simulating twin engine failures caused by bird-strike to test my landing skills in rivers or open fields, that the Fenix Airbus and the PMDG 737 remain fully controllable.
And this is kinda strange because I always thought both engines out and no APU running gives a full hydraulic outage and the airplane will only fly straight ahead with no ailerons and elevators reacting to my control inputs.
Only kicking out the RAT ram air turbine or starting the APU should make an airliner controllable again after a double engine failure.
Is this a limitation of the simulator - or are real airliners controllable and glide like a sailplane without being in need of start the APU because the batteries drive electric emergency hydraulic pumps for some time?
I’m not a 737 driver, so I’ll have to defer to the experts.
The two main hydraulic systems have an engine driven pump, which can continue delivering hydraulic pressure when the associated engine is windmilling. Therefore hydraulic flight controls are still available without the APU operating, although I’m not sure if full control authority is available.
It’s for this reason the 737 doesn’t have an RAT, it simply doesn’t need one.
You can’t use the obvious mappings for your Bravo TQ for the landing gear or you get random extensions. I’m not anywhere near my machine right now so you will have to search the PMDG forum, but there is plenty of discussion on how to set it up properly. IIRC the setup is backwards.
The ailerons are used at the same time as the tiller in the same direction (I just added the tiller to the axis so both work at the same time). I have thought about using a trigger key in AAO to turn on/off the Tiller but so far I have not messed around with it yet. If the on-ground aerodynamics was better then it may be more of an issue but I feel like keeping the aircraft on centerline during the roll is much easier with this setup rather than fighting with my rudder pedals at the lower speeds. With my old CH rudder pedals with a 10% dead-zone it is hard to keep the centerline until I get to the higher speeds. By the time I begin to rotate I have transitioned to full pedals and apply aileron as needed as I leave the runway.
