New FSXBA Hornet

[jimi08]

Do you have the same problems once the flaps are in UP/AUTO?  If not, try fully retracting the flaps and see if that fixes the problem. 

Hope this helps,

Jimi

[PhantomTweak]

If not, try fully retracting the flaps and see if that fixes the problem.

Just a quick note on that: Bear in mind that the FLAPS switch in the cockpit is eye-candy only. To extend, or retract the flaps, you have to use the keyboard key-combination for flaps. F5 through F8, are the default keys. F5 fully retracts the flaps, F8 fully extends.
Just double checking. Hope this helps some...
Pat☺

[RagingBlue]

I use a Slider on my throttle quadrant for flaps, Flaps are always fully retracted in flight, I've tried Auto and full and still get the same results. I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had this issue? I have a previous version from FSXBA website in D variant and it doesn't do it.

[PhantomTweak]

The FCS controls the flaps. Above 270 KIAS, the flaps stay retracted, depending on the AOA. Below that, you can select Flaps Full, or Flaps HALF, but until you get slow enough, they won't fully extend. Again, the FCS controls. All you can do, is, essentially, ASK the FCS to fully or partly extend the flaps. If the conditions are right, it will, otherwise, you will be over-ridden.
It's the basic fly-by-wire principle. You tell the planes computers what you want the plane to do with the stick and rudders, and if it's safe, and physically possible, the computers will then move the control surfaces to accomplish the requested maneuver. Or as close to it as possible for the plane to do. Yes, you can stall the plane, spin the plane, over-G it, and so on, but fly-by-wire makes it more difficult to do these things, by far, and may even ameliorate (big word, huh?) such things. It also makes recovering from such maneuvers faster and easier.
SO, in any event, that's why you're seeing the behaviour from the flaps that you are. YOU don't actually control them, the FCS does, you just ask it to do something specific.
Also, please see my previous post about the flaps switch in the VC.
Hope that helps
Pat☺

[jimi08]

Just to piggyback off of Pat (thanks by the way), although the FCS controls the amount of flaps deployed (which is based on AOA and airspeed), the FLAP SETTING controls which control logic the FCS will use to control the aircraft.  With flaps at HALF or FULL, stick movements control the target ANGLE OF ATTACK (AOA) the aircraft is shooting for and moves the control surfaces accordingly to accomplish.  This is usually where you will notice the lag that you were referring to as aggressive back still will exceed temporarily exceed the max assigned AOA limit, and will cause the jet to enter stall recovery mode, which will momentarily cause the jet to hang at a nose high attitude while pitch trim tries to recover the aircraft.

Placing flaps in UP/AUTO changes the FCS so that stick movements control the target PITCH RATE or G, depending on which speed the aircraft is flight at (~310 KTAS).  In UP/AUTO, you should not be experiencing the issues that you've described earlier due to the change in control logic.

As mentioned before, flaps will always be in motion, and their positions are primarily based on airspeed, AOA and flap switch setting.  Even with flaps in HALF/FULL, they will still raise and lower automatically based on the conditions mentioned previously, but their max deflection allowed changes (Trailing Edge Flaps (TEF) 30 for HALF and TEF 45 for FULL).  Regardless of what flap setting is used, the jet will automatically transition to UP/AUTO (flaps & control logic) at around 240 KCAS and then back to whatever flap setting previously dictated once speed goes back below 240 KCAS.  I think 1 of 2 things might be happening if your flaps aren't automatically moving when doing aggressive maneuvers while in UP/AUTO.  1. There is a problem with your system running the FCS coding (usually you will get an "FCS Fail" on the HUD), or 2. Your flap/slider assignment, is overriding flap movement, which prohibits the transitions between modes.

I would recommend, temporarily un-assigning your flaps from the slider, and reassign to a non-axis switch or button.  Not sure if it will work, but increasing the null zone on that slider might work as well.  Jump into FSX and once airborne, make sure you have the flaps in UP/AUTO (I think the F8 key will accomplish this also) and try some aggressive maneuvering.  Let me know how it goes please...

Hope this helps.

Jimi

[PhantomTweak]

...(I think the F8 key will accomplish this also)...

Actually, the F5 key is FULL UP for flaps (by default) and F8 is FULL DOWN.

ust to piggyback off of Pat (thanks by the way),...

Glad I could help out a little bit

Now a question of my own, if I may: A guy over on FlightSim is using the v16.1 and loves it. He ran into a problem though. When he tries to END FLIGHT or select another aircraft (although I can't imagine why he'd want to do that!) he get's a quote runtime unquote error. He didn't post an example screeenie, however. Has anyone encountered this before, and if so, how did you fix it, if you did?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide!
Pat☺

[RagingBlue]

I took of my flaps axis from the controls menu and still having the same issue when maneuvering. I decided trying to monitor the stick in the VC and when releasing my joystick, The stick in the VC will remain slightly pulled back for a few seconds before snapping back to neutral, I never realized it before but it does the same thing when rolling the aircraft as well, I've turned up realism settings I've used two different joysticks, I've doubled and tripled my null zones to have nothing changed. I couldn't imagine what it would be about my flight sim that causes only one plane to have this issue I guess until I figure it out I'll be flying the older version D model. In any case I seriously appreciate the help, And if any possible solution comes to mind, I'd be very glad to hear it

[PhantomTweak]

To the best of my knowledge, limited as that is, the Null Zone settings for pitch and roll should be almost full left, and Sensitivity, full right, or very close to. That's where I keep mine set. You can have the rudder Null Zone a hair or three farther right, as it's just human nature to not be able to hold your hand perfectly still in yaw as you make inputs to the other two axes. Just a note.
Remember, the FLAPS switch in the cockpit is eye-candy only. It has no effect on the plane. It moves, but doesn't do anything. Personally, I use F5-F8 to operate the Flaps. Essentially, F5 is equal to UP/AUTO, F7 is FLAPS HALF, and F8 is FLAPS FULL. I hit F7 for takeoff only, and upon acceleration above about 240KIAS, I hit F5, to make sure the Flaps are in UP/AUTO. Or, as I am coming up off the runway, I put the gear up, and hit F5 immediately.  For landing, at 250KIAS, slowing down, I hit F8 when I put the gear down, and let the FCS control the flap extension, as it's designed to, as the plane slows to approach speed. The rest of the time, whatever my speed, or AOA, or maneuver, I leave them in UP/AUTO. If I'm not sure, I hit F5 just to be certain.
Do you have FSUIPC Payware version? If you only use the freeware version, ignore this, but if you use the payware version, does it adjust the pitch axis input from the joystick? If so, I would set it to default, so it doesn't modify the input in any way. Be careful, the settings can seem to change on their own, sometimes, so if you have the payware version, definately check all 3 axes. Like I said, if you only use the freeware version, as I do, ignore all of this I trust you DO vae FSUIPC installed? The latest version? I can go check what the version number should be if you want.
When you look in the VC at the stick, and you let go of your controller, watch the checklist display on the MFD immediately in front of the stick. It has, at the very bottom left the control surface position. Does that return to 0 what ever the stick does? Is there any trim indication on the bottom right, and does IT change at all during all this, without you commanding it, anyway? You can also call up the SHFT+8 page, and on to top right area it has the control inputs the plane is receiving. You can monitor the joystick inputs and see if they match what the plane is really doing.
I am sure it's something in your controller setups, calibrations, the game settings, your FSX.cfg, something along those lines. We will find it!
Pat☺

[RagingBlue]

I do have a free version of FSUIPC and the MFD is pretty much reading out exactly what I described, Also landing isn't the issue for me anymore with flap controls, As I realize I was letting to plane slow down to much on approach. Now its just the control surfaces sticking, which is as described, I release the stick and the Jet continues to roll or pull slightly for a few seconds before snapping back to neutral. The length of time it does so or the amount it rolls or pulls seems to differ based upon my speed. I've ruled out any problem with the flaps on this matter, if it was my joystick it would do it with every plane but it doesn't even do it with the older version of the FSXBA jet that I fly occasionally

[jimi08]

RagingBlue,

Just curious here, but can you download, install and fly the jet provided at the link below:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3So3WwTLPRZZXVhWVJoQXJkdWs

This is one of the later prototypes that I've been working on (ver. 17.1.6) and shouldn't give you the same issues that you've mentioned before.  If you still are, I suspect it might be a controller issue on your end.  Since it's a separate jet, you shouldn't have to uninstall any other previous versions of the jet.  There is only one jet (VFA-147 Argonauts/Training) included in the file to keep the file size down.  Thanks and good luck.

-Jimi

[Azframer]

I Have been waiting for a response to Jimi's post and still nothing. Remember I had something similar to this happen with one of the earlier jets and I put it off on my not so great computer and stopped my replies to this thread. The newest version I tried to see if it had stopped doing the pull and it did.
I can't even remember the version it was that gave me a fit but it was in step with the last NH release and it did the exact same thing. I would pull back on the stick and release and the pull would continue. I try all kinds of things to fix and no joy. It was less likely to do this with flaps full up. When it did lock up elevator after release I'd give a sharp pull and release and the pull would stop.
The newest Hornet does not do it to me nor does the (ver. 17.1.6) test plane. All is going well now.

Rick

[jimi08]

Copy AZ.  Thanks for the report!  We are moving in the right direction!

[RagingBlue]

Sorry it's been some time since my last reply, I haven't had much time to get into the sim and test the bird. But I was finally able to and the one that you provided Jimi is perfect, No more issues with the controls, in fact I love the way it handles. It feels a little more natural. At least from my viewpoint!

[Wolverine1621]

Hi! I just had a few questions about some issues I'm having with the Hornet. The addon itself is phenomenal, by the way, and I'm looking forward to flying it more! Especially if I can get a few issues smoothed out.

Firstly, I'm having an issue with the nav radio. Specifically, whenever I enter a select TCN and enter a frequency into the scratchpad, it seems to be -.01 off after actually entering it. For example, if I'm trying to tune the nav radio to 115.95, I'll press TCN and enter either 115.95 and press enter, or 106 and select Y to the right. Either one results in no VOR indication, and the nav radio tuned to 115.94, verified by switching to another aircraft and checking the frequency. The aircraft isn't unusable like this, but having to navigate with the default GPS just isn't as much fun!

Secondly, this one I'm a bit more confused about, I can't actually tell if the FCS is working properly or not. The aircraft seems to fly well enough, and the addon "shows up" in the addons tab, but if I pull up one of the info windows (shift-8 specifically), the section referring to the FCS and its features all read "OFF". Flipping the spin recovery switch on does seem to have an effect, and makes the airplane much more "squirrely" in a way, if that makes sense.

Both issues have persisted through resinstalls of FSX and the aircraft. It also should be noted that the default hornet, including the nav radio, is working fine. Hope you can help.

Lastly, what exactly is the most current version of the addon? I'm not at home to check right now, but I believe I've got 16.2. Thanks!

- Wolverine

[PhantomTweak]

Hiyas Woverine
Yes, this IS a great plane. I, personally, have never encountered the .01 frequency error, nut I've seen others that have. A workaround I've heard about is to load in the Hornet, and once it's totally set and ready, switch to another bird, the default C172 for example. Set the radio's in that for the freq you need, then switch back to the Hornet. It should be correct. I'll read up on this more. Check the HOW-TO on radios and such stickied at the top of this forum for more possible solutions.
For your FCS question: If you DO NOT get an error about the FCS on the HUD, or a green banner at the top of the screen indicating an error, when the plane first loads in, the FCS is working correctly. The "gauge" contained on the SHFT+8 page is very old and hasn't been updated in a long time, and doesn't indicate correctly. Especially concerning  the FCS info. Ignore the FCS info. All the ON/OFF indications are inaccurate, especially. You may PRESUME the FCS is working correctly, as long as the two error indications I mentioned don't show. Promise
As to the Spin Recovery switch: When it is turned ON, the FCS is turned OFF entirely. It's a great "reset" for the FCS, if you suspect it's allowed errors to creep in, as does happen. The plane IRL has an FCS Reset switch, but in this bird the Spin Recovery switch fulfills the same function. Just open the cover, flip the switch to ON, then back to off, and close the cover again. That's it. The FCS is now reset to all default, or starting, parameters, and will work from there. As it's name implies, however, the Spin Recovery switch is also handy for trying to recover from a spin when nothing else works. If I were you, I would read the Spin Recovery section of the NATOPS on what to do if you do manage to spin the bird. Which, incidentally, is quite difficult to do, unless you really try hard. The NATOPS may be downloaded from the net. Google F-18 NATOPS. I can post a link to a site that has the NATOPS for download for free, if you need. I read it all the time. After all, the NATOPS are the Navy's bible for the plane you're in...
The most current version is the v16.1, with a link to it in Jimi's sig. They are currently working on a v17.1.11 ATM, but it's not ready for release yet. Look back through the recent posts by Jimi for a link to it. It only has one loadout and one paint ATM, while in Beta testing. It also lacks the self-installer, so you have to do all the installation steps yourself.
Hope this helps some
Pat☺