Ideal Flight Accessibility phase 3

[Steve Waite]

Can the Ideal Flight throttle assist work with a autopilot autothrottle on? I thought that it would've been disabled once the autothrottle in the aircraft armed itself. I think I have Ideal Flight assist to try and auto switch presets, and while I was on final the preset switched to parking and messed me up...

Not the fault of Ideal Flight!

After some testing, I found every time, that when I.F. Autothrottle was on, and I then turn on the aircraft AP Autothrottle, I get the message that I.F. Autothrottle is turned off. So your request to have I.F. Autothrottle turn off when you use aircraft AP Autothrottle was in error because that system has been working since the I.F. Autothrottle was incorporated into the program.

If any input on the throttles is done from another source I.F. turns off its Autothrottle. So the problem you had is caused by something else affecting your throttles; for example, you have a physical throttle lever and switches, and you press one of those switches, and the sim takes all the inputs from your physical throttle lever and assumes you moved the throttle.

What I find is that using the I.F. Autothrottle is easier than using the aircraft AP Autothrottle.

[Steve Waite]

To use the I.F. Autothrottle: (using default hot keys)

I press CONTROL+SHIFT+S, that turns I.F. Autothrottle to ON in any speed mode, which assumes your current speed to start. You can adjust that speed with CONTROL+SHIFT+N for speed up, and CONTROL+SHIFT+B to speed down.

I press CONTROL+SHIFT+S again and the I.F. Autothrottle moves on to Preset Speeds mode. Those speeds are the ones set up in the Aircraft Parameters. Now when I use CONTROL+SHIFT+N the system cycles through the preset speeds and CONTROL+SHIFT+B cycles back through the preset speeds.

When you select the third preset speed that is Climb rate. The program will operate your throttles for take off and you will take less distance than with the in-aircraft autothrottle which takes a bit more time to operate the throttles. So I prefer the I.F. Autothrottle for takeoff.

During takeoff the speed is limited until the aircraft is gaining altitude properly and some distance from the runway, and then adjusts to your preset climb speed.

When you reach cruise altitude the I.F. Autothrottle selects the cruise speed preset. When you land the I.F. Autothrottle selects the landed preset which is the same as braking to a halt.

The in-aircraft autothrottle does none of these things which I have programmed in I.F. to help you.

So to recap, for takeoff I press CONTROL+SHIFT+S twice to get to presets mode, and then I press CONTROL+SHIFT+N three times to get to takeoff and climb mode. Before use, I make sure the aircraft parameters page is properly set up for those speeds.

[Steve Waite]

Another aspect of the IF Autothrottle control worth mentioning is that when you set a speed that speed is sent to the AP and when you turn on the in-aircraft autothrottle that speed is the reference it assumes. When you start a flight the in-aircraft Autothrottle speed is already set to climb rate.

So even if you don't use the I.F. Autothrottle the climb speed is already set up for the in-aircraft autothrottle.

[Steve Waite]

I have included in the next build a confirmation click sound when activating Ideal Flight hot keys.

To check and or set Hot Keys, in the Assist window choose the Hot Key button and a popup displays the current selected key combination which can be edited over with any desired CONTROL+SHIFT+KEY selection. The stock selection is chosen to avoid conflicts with the simulator but it doesn't know about other addons that may be programming keys in the sim.

To check which keys are set up for the simulator itself, choose the menu item "View Prepar3D keyboard settings" ("View FSX keyboard settings") and your browser window will display a page generated by Ideal Flight that lists the complete set of keys and their meanings in alphabetical order, by key order and follows by function name order. (IF 10 Special Edition >augmented and IF Professional only);

[Steve Waite]

...at the top of the keyboard html page are listed the I.F. keys:

Keyboard Ideal Flight
CTRL+SHIFT+F Key Down = Surface Ideal Flight
CTRL+SHIFT+B Key Down = Sets Back
CTRL+SHIFT+N Key Down = Sets Forward
CTRL+SHIFT+K Key Down = Information Pages
CTRL+SHIFT+J Key Down = Cycle Assist Actions
CTRL+SHIFT+S Key Down = Cycle Throttle Assist

The list displays what is currently configured in I.F. and the sim. So if you change keys in I.F. or the sim, check out this page for a reminder.

[Steve Waite]

1/September/2022

Preview build 06:

Ideal Flight Professional P3D v4/5
Ideal Flight 10 Professional P3D v2/3
Ideal Flight 10 Special Edition
Ideal Flight 10 Original

Please allow this version to re-index the scenery.

Please see the report page for more details:
https://www.codelegend.com/idealflight/report.htm

[Orinks]

Is this the build that disables/ignores the IF assists when the throttle is on? Preview 6?

[Steve Waite]

Do you mean when the in-aircraft autothrottle is on the I.F. autothrottle is off? If so all the versions do that.

[Steve Waite]

In Preview build 06 the climb assist VS (feet/min) changes to the high ascent rate when the pre-set high altitude is reached - that was introduced in 06 - (for ascent rates and altitudes refer to settings in Aircraft Flight Parameters).

[Steve Waite]

Is this the build that disables/ignores the IF assists when the throttle is on? Preview 6?

Maybe you could add more detail to your question/request as I am unable to be certain what you mean.

For example:

if you want the I.F. autothrottle to turn off when the in-aircraft autothrottle is on - well, it has always been that way since the I.F. autothrottle was introduced - as I explained a few posts ago.

Or:

Do you want the Assists such as Vertical Rate to turn off along with the I.F. autothrottle when the in-aircraft autothrottle is on?

Or:

Do you want to use the I.F. autothrottle settings and hot keys to operate the in-aircraft autothrottle when the in-aircraft autothrottle is on and have the I.F. autothrottle ignored?

Or do you want something else?