Autopilot disconnect.

[esurfman]

"Recently, in fact in my last 2 flights, the autopilot of the 744 is reacting in an odd maner. I get on the localizer and about 10 nm from the runway, the autopilot disconnect and the plane starts to bank to the right. Of course since the throttles are at low regime the speed goes down fast. Did it ever happened to anybody? Did not find anythin on the PDMG forum and thought of asking here before on the other one. Thanks "

[yoni63]

"Louis, never have had that particular problem, I did have it to develop a mind of it's own on a couple of occasions, but when I went back and checked the approaches I had selected, seems if I remember right, I had a couple of things that were not entered correctly on the FMC. Wish I could be of more help, but you might just double check your FMC entries on all screens of the FMC."

[rossspargo]

"Louis, Im sure the 744 has a mind of its own! I was in the cruise today, on NAT A, when all of a sudden a heard the whaler! I looked at the EICAS and the engines spooled to idle and then back upto full thrust! I then had to re-engage VNAV as the commandant for the speed! Weird! This can happen 3 or 4 times in the same flight."

[yoni63]

"Me too Ross, I have had to re-engage the VNAV as well on about 2 out of 5 flights. Mine just kept on building speed until I got close to overspeed, so I just puch the VNAV button twice and it settles down. I have triple checked my FMC inputs and I think it's just a little gremlin that has a nest down in the avionics bay! "

[Craig Applegate 1207]

Just remember on the 400 you have to hit the VNAV button twice to get VNAV to control the speed.

[Brogs]

"Had that myself a few times, the engines die and then immediately increase again can be a bugger on Takeoff, but it only seems to happen on the China Airlines Ship, why ? not a clue,but I,ve never had the Aotopilot trip out , but I,ve had the overspeed problem, just one of those glitches that plague us, try re-installing the Aeroplane. Safe Landings ,Mike "

[maj]

"Hmmm, never seen any of that. Guess I'm lucky..."

[esurfman]

"I think I might have found it. I recen tly installed Active Sky and I've checked the wake effect. As I was landing, a stupid 737 passed me by and soon after the autopilot disconnected. It was probably the wake effect. If it his, my hat off to Active Sky. Don't remember if there was a plane the first time it happened. I tried to put back the autopilot but to no avail."

[yoni63]

"Louis, how do you like that active sky? You mentioned wake effect? I am not familiar with Active Sky but it sounds kind of neat? How are framerates and does it give real world weather like in FS9?"

[esurfman]

"

Louis, how do you like that active sky? You mentioned wake effect? I am not familiar with Active Sky but it sounds kind of neat? How are framerates and does it give real world weather like in FS9?

Bryan, it is a little hard on my system since I have a P4 1.8 but I choose a lot of details anyway. It is very very nice (I don't regret it). It does give real weather and I think it has even more weather stations than FS9. Plus it is not that expensive. Just be careful of the wake effect though... "

[yoni63]

"Thanks Louis, next time I get my allowance I will have to check into it. I'm still behaving since I got to buy Ultimate Traffic last month "

[Brogs]

"I,ll second Louis on that Bryan. I,ve had it a few weeks and its great,must say I haven,t noticed any detriment to the frame rates, but I,ll have a look at the "wake effect" Mike "

[chevol]

"Activesky does take a few frames off but it is such a great programme. Never noticed the wake effect but I do have these strange ap disconnections, usually when my wife calls me for supper or when I go to the c... The reason may be that when I get up, I slightly touch the controls and then cause the ap to go off. Not sure but lately it did not happen and I was very cautious when leaving the cockpit. Happy birthday Mike! Luc"

[PAC1544]

"I think ActiveSky is a WONDERFUL program, but for long-haul, transoceanic flights I don't feel I get any use out of it for the framerates it east. I am running 3.4 GHz on a 2 gigabyte Ram machine and it hits my framerates too. ActiveSky does a good job transitioning the weather between stations, something FS9 and Squawkbox are horrible at doing. Also, it allows for turbulence that you don't see in the default, like over mountains and wake turbulence..etc. However, at FL370 I am not really concerned about the weather. That's the lure of pressurized flight in general, fly OVER the weather. FS9 and Squawkbox generally produce weather reasonably accurately at the origin and destination, so I don't think it is necessary for my Globe flights. Now if you are flying offline, or really want to watch the weather change, have at it, but it doesn't do much for the framerate suck that it provides."

[eek]

"There's definitely some bugginess in the 744. I get the disconnects and sometimes it just takes off on it's own. Most often, it stops following the LNAV and starts turning in a circle. Eventually it exceeeds the bank angle limit and begins diving. The most unusual was the time I stepped away for a few minutes leaving it at FL370 and returned to find it at 54000 ft. and climbing like the Space Shuttle. The Active Sky is great. It only has minimal effect on frames. I like the ability to download archived weather for the date and time the flight was actually flown. Also, it's cool that it links to Ground Environment and you can import your flight plan from FS and it will install the appropriate ground textures based on the average sky conditions along your route. "