by RollerBall » Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:26 pm
I've done hours and hours of experiments with fde/autopilot characteristics (editing the air and cfg files)and the thing you MUST remember is that the MS autopilot is far from perfect. At best it is a massive compromise between the various factors that have been built into the fde modelling - and unlike a real simulator costing millions of $$$$, MS have had to do the best they can with a relatively simple model that people can afford to buy and install on their PC.
Example - It is well known that MS have NOT created a fully working turboprop autopilot. They were unable to create one that has autothrottle incorporated - check it out for yourself on the Caravan, Kingair and Dash 8.
Without blowing my own trumpet too much I still think the best one I've come across is my own one in my updated fde for my Dash 8 (many months ago) that took me hours to do. That works to something like 95%+ capability but I still found that after extensive testing I had problems with speed control during turbulence (but not bad in still air at all speeds).
In testing I found that when modifying certain parameters I got some strange effects. For example, in descending turns to the left, the aircraft would dramatically begin to lose height while the turn was in progress - even to the point of crashing emabarrassingly if turning at low level on final approach. But it didn't happen in right hand turns!
I won't bore you with ay more stuff - I don't fly the default aircraft hardly at all so I don't know much about the Lear. As the Mooney fde is cobblers I would not be surprised if the Lear one is also. It certainly sounds as though you have been experiencing similar problems to the ones I found when I was playing around.
