Autoclimb Mode is bogus

[Slyder]

IMHO the autopilot in Autoclimb Mode is all wrong!  First of all it only has one default setting, somewhere around 1,000fpm [in a B17 anyway].  This is just not realistic.

And no matter what your attitude is at the time it's engaged [whether you're in level flight or already in a climb].... the aircraft balloons skyward & kills all, or most, of whatever airspeed you had built up until you're somewhere just above stalling speed - then settles into a climb rate somewhere around 20-40fpm or so higher.  This is also definitely no where near realistic.

When Climb Autopilot is set you should be able to smoothly pull back on the stick & lift the nose - and as long as you stay within the performance envelope - engage the autopilot and the aircraft should maintain the current climb speed & attitude [there may be a slight momentary drop in airspeed & altitude - then a recovery - while the aircraft "settles" into its new attitude.]

Doesn't this explaination & definition sound more like RL?  It is you know.

Can the Autoclimb Mode in AH be changed to reflect this modeling?

[Azrael]

There are three different "autopilot" settings in AH, and neither of them is a real autopilot. Actually these are autotrim settings.

• Trim on level - trims plane to fly level.
• Trim on speed - trims plane to fly at a given speed, defaults to best climbspeed at sealevel.
• Trim on angle - trims plane to fly at the current angle.

The autoclimb you are referring to is in fact the trim on speed. It has the desired side effect that the plane climbs when the set speed is lower than level speed, but you can also use it to descend the plane.

Trim on angle is obviously the feature you are asking for?

Az
381st BG (H)
 

[Sorrow[S=A]]

oh- and BTW slyder a B17 makes just about 1000 fpm at full throttle at sealevel- that IS realistic. (By all rights she shouldn't be allowed to run forever at full throtlle/1000 fpm without overheating...   but this is just a game afterall)

[funked]

Slyder you can set the climb speed of the auto-speed mode with the .speed command.

[Slyder]

A-ha! Thanks for clearing this up for me!

I've been using ALT-X as my climb autopilot cuz that's how it's labeled in the default key command list, I'd suggest that it should be changed & correctly labeled as AUTO PILOT SPEED.  It also wouldn't be a bad idea to include your description on how they are supposed to be used in AH.

[skippy]

Have to agree. the less automation the better