Working Title CJ4 Discussion Thread

Could someone please explain. I have been flying the cj4 9.01 mod and I am still trying to understand how the ‘True Air Speed’ is working. Today I flew from New Haven (KHVN) Rwy 32 (BHAVN9 32) to New London (KGON) (RNAV 33). I was flying at around 3,000 feet @ 4 Celsius. My Indicated airspeed read 230kts my Ground speed read 250 kts and the True air speed indicator displayed 260 as red lining the aircraft speed. Why is it that some times I can be 18,000 feet and fly at 270 kts Indicated Air Speed and the overspeed is around 300 kts. Wouldn’t the air be thinner and cooler the higher you fly where it would be a lower speed that causes the aircraft to over speed. I was flying between 2,000 ft and 3,000 ft.

Thanks in advance for any help.

The CJ4 max speeds are 260 kts IAS until 8000 ft, 305 kts IAS from 8000 ft to 28,744, and 0.77 Mach indicated above that.

I would recommend reading up on the differences between true and indicated airspeeds. It can definitely be confusing, but the speeds you see displayed there are accurate indicated, true, and ground speeds. True airspeed is a standard aviation speed, so you should be able to find a good deal of information on how those speeds relate to each other.

-Matt

It works! Using Axis and Ohs (AAO) from @LorbySI , I’m able to use hardware buttons to control the autopilot modes of the WT CJ4 by setting HTML variables. As the WT devs have explained above, controlling the AP modes of the WT CJ4 via SimConnect does not currently work. The AAO tool, however, can manipulate HTML variables within the simulator, and those can control the WT CJ4 AP modes.

It was quite simple, following the AAO documentation and the hint from the developer to experiment with the HTML variables. Here’s the basic setup procedure:

  • Make sure the CJ4 is installed in the community folder.
  • Before the sim is running, start AAO and collect the HTML variables from the simulator (“Read HVARS from sim” in the “Scripting” menu).
  • Run the sim and start a flight in the WT CJ4.
  • Add a button in AAO. When setting the “Key Down Event”, apply a filter for “CJ4”. The variables for the AP modes are in the “HTML-Variables” section.
  • Pressing that button appears to me to be equivalent to clicking the button in the virtual cockpit.

I’m very impressed that this is working. I’m excited to be able to use my Stream Deck via AAO to control the WT CJ4 AP. And I’m looking forward to setting up a Honeycomb Bravo device this way when it arrives. Thank you, @LorbySI ! And thank you to the incredible WT team for such an in-depth aircraft.

Tagging @Woodstock327 and @hendis55 who were posting that they were looking for a solution like this.

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Thanks for the info Matt

Awesome, thank you very much for sharing! This could be a game changer… Now, although I do have a StreamDeck, I was primarily looking into the ability to map stuff to my Logitech panels / spad.next, which probably won’t integrate like this. How is AAO communicating with the StreamDeck, do you need a StreamDeck plugin for AAO, or is it done differently?

In any case, even if I can just map the AP modes to the StreamDeck this will be a great improvement. AAO is payware, right?

Thanks again!

Dirk

Yes, it’s payware. https://axisandohs.weebly.com/

The demo has all the features but shuts down after ten minutes of running. You can restart it and keep running it for ten minutes at a time until you decide whether you want to buy it.

There’s a Stream Deck plugin on the downloads page. The plug-in and the AAO app communicate over an HTTP server that the app runs in the background. There’s a manual that’s worth reading to figure everything out. The developer provides support in this thread.

I use the Flight Tracker stream deck plug-in for everything except these functions.

Thanks for the pointers, should be enough to get me started! Looks like it does directly support the Saitek panels, so it’ll just be a question of whether spad.next and AOO can ‘coexist’, I’ll try out the demo!

Thanks again,

Dirk

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Just as a follow-up, I was able to set up all WT CJ4 AP modes on my Saitek multi panel using AAO and spad.next, no more mouse-clicking! The solution was to map simple curl calls in spad.next to AAO’s Web API, and it works very well. In general, using this approach, you can virtually map any LVAR / HVAR in MSFS to the Saitek hardware (e.g. I finally got the TBM 930’s Inertial Separator switch fully working).

Dirk

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Question regarding cruise speed at FL410 for example. I always have the problem that if the the aircraft levels off at FL410 it built up speed until the overspend peep is coming and then it’s difficult to find the correct setting for me to get a good cruise.
The N1 for example shows 88.7 in CRU mode with gives me a M.765. So how I maintain a good cruise speed when I reach it? With FLC it doesn’t work right? Thx in advance

I have found that with relatively small changes in speed, and I have to trim the plane because there is not enough yoke travel (every 20/40 knots), I hope it looks like real life;
The yoke movements along roll and pitch have become more sweeping and this is more convenient of course, so I would like to know what curve settings are planned with the improved plane dynamic? Linear or curved somehow?

The CJ4 does not have an auto-throtte, so just like in the real plane you just have to make small adjustments from time to time and as conditions and winds change in cruise.

Well, firstly, every airplane would definitely require trim changes with 20-40kts IAS change, as that is actually a pretty significant airspeed change. So that actually sounds OK. You should be trimming to keep the control pressure off the yoke with any configuration change (pitch, power, speed). As in the real aircraft, you will find that it wants a good 60-80% nose down trim after the acceleration height.

Well, no aircraft has a linear response. The yoke response is a complex interaction based on angle of attack, lift, speed, etc. In the current revamped FM, you will find that control authority is less at low speeds, and higher at high speeds (up to a point), directly related to the amount of air that is moving over the control surfaces.

-Matt

FLC is a vertical mode just like VS. Instead of holding a rate of climb it holds a speed in climb or descent.

If anyone wants a great, simple summary of what FLC mode is on the autopilot, go to YouTube and watch one of Premier1Driver’s videos on it. I actually find Greg’s channel very informative about flying the Citation in MSFS, probably more than CitationMax’s channel, simply because Greg’s avionics suite is the same as the MSFS/WT CJ4.

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Thx for your feedback guys, sorry but another question coming up…as you see on my screenshot…FL320, Throttles/Fadec on T/O but only 174kts even wit tailwind…whats going on?

Check your gear there @TBM9009319 :wink:

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■■■■ :wink: Didnt see it really at night…must hit it somehow. Thx for the input!!

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I use VNAV for programmed descents in the FMS. Works all fine. Is it possible to use VNAV for programmed step climbs?

Thank you, Matt. I am delighted with the new FM. Sorry, perhaps my “curve” question was incorrectly worded.
And of course you are absolutely right talking about yoke and aircraft response. If I understand correctly, sim yoke curves map my game device yoke movement to “real” aircraft yoke movement or/and which is typical for “non-computer” aircraft, the movement of control surfaces (left behind bracket speed depends controllers and so on)

Correct me if I’m wrong, we are forced to use non-linear response curves to compensate for the small distance a game stick can travel compared to a real yoke. In order not to move the game stick by millimeter, but to make sweeping movements. Of course, this has a price and as soon as we cross the middle, the response becomes too harsh (Or we can use a game yoke with a big travel stick distance compared to a real yoke. Still trying to find with reasonable price… b@&.#&… resellers).

I was just wondering exactly what settings are recommended with the latest dynamics. By default, I have

So maybe it’s a good idea to make it more linear. Did the FM creators have any thoughts?

Answer to myself: for current model, there are so huge stick movements - linear response better, than curved. You move yoke behind the middle point often, so I prefer to get the same response from yoke at all along the way.

I would like to say thank you guys, I am delighted with the work done. Great job.

Not exactly, no. VNAV climb in the CJ4 (in ours and in real life) is only there to automatically level you off at any procedure constraints. It has no concept of performance based climbs.

For VNAV climbs, you use either VS or FLC to climb and then turn VNAV on. It will then level you off where required by you procedure/flight plan.

-Matt