S-TEC 55 Autopilot Tutorial - Microsoft Flight Simulator

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Is there any particular type of video anyone wants made pertaining to this aircraft?

[@evidenceplz]

Hello captain, thanks for all the videos you are making for MSFS 2020. I have a request (since you ask): Some real world P-44 pilots are saying the single-engine performance of this Carenado P-44 in MSFS 2020 is wrong, while some other real world P-44 pilots are saying it's alright, and then there are others who think it's 50/50. This as you can see could be confusing to non-pilots like me. I wish you could take a look at the single engine performance of this aircraft again and make a video about it along with your final overall conclusion and thoughts. And also if you could test and tell us if this aircraft's mixture simulation is correct. Thank you sir :)

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

@@evidenceplz I've noticed the single engine performance is off too but it is of in fs2020, not necessarily just the PA-44. From a standing stop it's possible to takeoff with full power on one engine and stay on the runway which would not happen. I like your ideas. Both very good. The amount the mixture is leaned is way off. Most piston engine airplanes don't require leaning below 3000 feet.

[@stevecrim4249]

I’ve been practicing single engine landings since this plane seems to act like the real thing. Abeam the numbers on downwind, shut off one engine and try to make a decent landing. It’s fun. Will be much easier to accomplish with a Honeycomb Bravo.

[@davidneraas750]

I like how your guides and tutorials are short and to the point for new aviation enthusiasts it can be overwhelming with hour long videos, because there is a lot more to flying than just landing and taking off.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

So very true. And many new simmers jump into airliners in the sim. Start small like real life but go fly the big stuff for fun once in a while. My whole philosophy is make things simple and try not to use jargon.

[@jcbak]

Even when I think I'm fluent in a particular facet, you do a video and I never fail to learn a few things. Thanks.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

I did that video when I saw someone complain on another channel's comments section about the PA-44 not leveling off at altitude (even when there wasn't an altitude selector in the airplane). Seriously! I have another video coming out in a couple days with some flying tips and tricks.

[@z0688]

Great Job again, I gave up on the auto pilot until now -could not figure out alt. I will try it when I get back home. Kudos!

[@AvioMan]

Piper Seminole Pilot here, awesome video series you made here! Keep up the good work.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Thank you so much. I saw people having questions on the AP on other forums so I thought time for a new video and the PA-44 AP video was born. I never flew the Seminole in real life. I went from a Piper Apache to a Cessna 404 and 421 and that was 20 years ago. All fun airplanes though. If you watch my review video you don't have to message me about the unfeathering accumulator. haha. I have had 10 people message me that I was wrong about it. I added a correction in the description of that video.

[@AvioMan]

@@thecorporatepilotdad ahaha yeah I read all no worries, still good, I am also the co-founder of the Simwings Support Community, I feel like your content will be pretty useful, check us out when you got some free time at simwingssupport(.) org, there's a discord channel in there too. You got my sub :)

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

@@AvioMan Thank you. I will check you guys out.

[@parvildrobu]

I like how your videos are incredibly short, but very informative at the same time ;)

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Early on I saw an ILS tutorial that was 57 minutes long. After that I made an ILS tutorial that was 8 minutes long. I want watch time like everyone else, but I will not rob people of their time to do it. Also, no one likes dead air time. I appreciate the compliment!

[@aviatortrucker6285]

If you press NAV twice, when you’re in GPS mode, you will have GPSS, which stands for GPS steering. Another thing you can do is press both the ALT and VS buttons at the same time. Microsoft simulator if you position your mouse pointer directly in the middle of both those buttons you’ll see two arrows. In real life you just use two fingers. That will allow you to hold your altitude and you’ll be able to adjust your vertical speed up or down depending on which way and how much you turn it. To stop the altitude climb or decent, you just rotate back to zero.

[@RSfandude]

Thanks so much, rly well explained and easy to understand, flying this plane on FS is awesome 🙌

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

The Seminole is a nice flying airplane on MSFS. There are a few bugs with it, but for fun flying it’s great.

[@dillank3240]

Hmmm. I think that was helpful. I have to try it!

[@mr.stately9205]

Can you place a link to the manual you used for the S-TEC 55? The Carenado PA-34 uses this autopilot as well and Carenado's included manual for it is crap. I keep having an issue where my NAV button fails shortly after takeoff. In the annunciator panel, I see a warning saying Nav Fail. It seems to happen every couple of flights and I am not sure why.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

This may not be the one I actually used to make the video, but that video was made a year ago and I don't recall where I found it but here is a link to an S-Tec 55 manual: www.integratedavionics.net/IAS/manuals/STEC/SYS%2055poh.pdf

[@mr.stately9205]

@@thecorporatepilotdad Thank You Sir!

[@evidenceplz]

Fantastic. Thank you

[@gerardvanbeek6710]

Excellent video, just what i needed 👍

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Thank you. I'm glad it's helping you.

[@alessiolucchesi814]

Great video! Thanks

[@TouchdownFS]

I get a red flag at the HSI at NAV. Do you know a way to get rid of this red Flag?

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

I got it too. I think it is a new bug since the last update. I did an ILS approach and the glide slope indicator is missing and the Nav flag is showing. It works for VOR, GPS, and LOC. If you push APPR on an ILS or will follow the GS but no indication.

[@TouchdownFS]

@@thecorporatepilotdad Thank you, so lets wait for Carenado to fix the plane

[@CCitis]

This airplane is currently on sale. I have enjoyed the mooney. Do you think it is a worthwhile buy?

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

It depends on the buyer. I was on the fence about it for 30 USD but I am glad I bought it.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Well lookie here, a tutorial on the PA-44 autopilot. ;)

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Who would have guessed? :)

[@davidneraas750]

Could you make a start up from dark checklist of the seminole.? Im well that aware that the plane has a checklist pad ,but it only says what Button to push it doesnt indicate visually like the default sim checklist.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Great idea. Yes. I'll go write that down on my list of future videos. I'll try to get an actual checklist to use with it but if not I'll make one.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

I am working on your video idea right now. I just have to narrate it. I should get it out tonight or tomorrow night. Hopefully tonight. I added every phase of flight from cold and dark before the flight and cold and dark after the flight and will put my tailored to FS2020 version of the checklist in the description for printing.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Here you go ..... kzbin.info/www/bejne/ip-tpKSZa5tmkNE

[@carpenterpilot487]

what computer are u using to run ur sim.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

Intel Core i9 - 9900KF - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER - 1TB HDD + 480GB SSD

[@tdown43]

How do I adjust the backlight on the autopilot??

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

There does not appear to be a way to adjust the brightness. There is a NIGHT DIM/DAY switch that would possibly adjust it in the real airplane, but in MSFS, that button is inop.

[@Henkerhaus]

I have wondered, when creating a Low Altitude ILS flight plan in MSFS 2020, and specifying a max altitude for the plan... say 4000 ft (in the world map, not on the unit), why the plane in NAV mode just continues to climb past the specified altitude. Are you saying that this will happen for all planes that have auto pilots that don't support this feature? (I was not aware that some auto pilot systems don't support this feature) Would this feature then only be in aircraft models with a G1000? (Haven't tried it with the G1000 yet. Not a big fan of the G1000 panel... I prefer planes with the standard gauges) FYI I am not a real world pilot, but am trying to learn how to use the auto pilot system as much as possible. I have been using the Honeycomb Alpha Yoke, and just got the Bravo Throttle quadrant on the 29th (Christmas present to self), which has an auto pilot very similar to the one in this plane. Thank goodness for KZbin! I really appreciate all the videos that people have posted, that provide a wealth of knowledge that otherwise would not be available to the general public. 2020 may have been a tough year otherwise, but Wow, what a time to be alive in the Flight Simulation world!

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

The STec55 AP does have vertical speed mode but no altitude selector so it isn't smart enough to level off without pilot interaction. I have used autopilots that only hold altitude and heading. I also prefer steam gauge panels. Glass panels are nice but to me, there is something comforting and simplistic about a basic panel.

[@Farmer_El]

I have a panel that I purchased, and it does stop at the height selected. I thought this was normal, but now I see it must be a bug.

[@swflKVNC]

Nicely done. Thank you. tomswfl

[@bee_finally_306]

The master switch! I feel so dumb.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

I think the master switch got me when I first flew the PA-44 on FS2020, but once I was on to it, it was easy. I love that AP the most. It's very easy to use.

[@andrewstraatsma3136]

When I am in Nav/GPS mode flying a Rnav course, the plane follows the magenta line perfectly but when it comes up on following the Rnav course the plane just keeps going, it does not follow the Rnav course to the runway, what am I missing? Thank you for your time.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

The RNAV course to the runway.. as in an RNAV approach? Are you activating the approach after selecting it or just loading it?

[@andrewstraatsma3136]

@@thecorporatepilotdad yes, as in a Rnav approach, I did not activate the approach button, just flying GPS, following the red magenta red line, when it reaches the Rnav approach part the magenta line turns white but the plane does not follow it, it keeps going on the same heading as it was on.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

@@andrewstraatsma3136 The PA44 has the Garmin 530. When you select the approach go back to the PROC screen and select ACTIVATE APPROACH. That should draw that crazy arc and then it will fly the approach. From there, you can select FPL and then cursor over the final approach fix, select MENU and then hit ACTIVATE LEG. If it's not ACTIVATE LEG it is something very similar. I'm just going off memory. That will at least draw a final approach course to intercept and the AP will fly it. I have a two videos doing the same thing on the G1000 and G3000. It's the same concept: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5fNmIl4qpKop5o You might also like this little trick doing the same steps: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5nNdpKNe7R3rbs I hope that solves your problem. If not, let me know.

[@andrewstraatsma3136]

@@thecorporatepilotdad Thank you so much for your help. Appreciate it.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

@@andrewstraatsma3136 You are welcome. Did that work for you?