TLDR
Engaging the AP causes the plane to drop a wing and nose dive.

FULL
Ever since I got the game about 3 weeks ago I have had no issues with the autopilot. I am now on version 1.16.2.0 and the experience of flying has been absolutely ruined. This happened in  light default GA planes. Mostly the (steam gauge) C172 and the Cub. I plan a flight using the GPS. In the AP I enter ALT=3500, VS=500FPM, make sure the primary souce is GPS. The usual.  

I take off and fly manually until cruise altitude, make sure its all trimmed and engage the AP.....and then the fun starts...😏

Immediately the airplane drops a wing, the trim goes full nose down in less than a second and the plane heads towards the ground in a dive.

This was in the C172. I then tried the Cub. Same thing. I did a test where I planned a GPS flight but deliberately went off course  and then engaged AP to see how it would capture the magenta line. It corrected well for a few seconds and then went ballistic and flipped the plane around the sky before diving again. 

I'm out of ideas. More baffling is that just two days ago the game was just fine (same version 1.16.2.0), the AP was fine. So I cannot point a finger at the update. Would be grateful for any ideas.

Below are two videos I shot. They are very short (under a minute). Please check them out to see what I mean. Thanks for any advice!

C172

 

CUB

Had a similar problem quite a while ago.  Turned out that during a game update (steam) some of my keyboard keys were remapped so that what I expected to be a view left or view right (or something similar) was now a full aileron deflection, which of course, resulted in a sudden roll.  As I then moved the view back to straight ahead, I only worsened the roll/aircraft attitude.

Corrected the key mapping and no problems since. 

It might be an incompatible mod in your Community Folder. Added anything there lately - either a livery or airport or maybe some other enhancement? If you do have stuff in the Community Folder remove it all and test again to eliminate that as an issue. Also check that you have the latest versions of mods.

16 minutes ago, ThrottleUp said:

I'm out of ideas. More baffling is that just two days ago the game was just fine (same version 1.16.2.0), the AP was fine. So I cannot point a finger at the update. Would be grateful for any ideas.

You might try reading this topic from yesterday.

Edited June 3, 20215 yr by fppilot

Strange.  Message self duplicated twice. I never even hit the Save button for the original post.   Removed dup contents.

Edited June 3, 20215 yr by fppilot

Strange.  Message self duplicated twice.   Removed dup contents.

Edited June 3, 20215 yr by fppilot

3 hours ago, ThrottleUp said:

Immediately the airplane drops a wing, the trim goes full nose down in less than a second and the plane heads towards the ground in a dive

When this has happened to me, it was because the aileron (yoke) was slightly off center.  Recalibrating the yoke has restored sanity to my AP.  This happens with some regularity in my GA airplanes, so I now calibrate the controls before takeoff as a "checklist item"..

Don't know why folks are setting VS prior to taking off. ????The only thing to be set before takeoff should be takeoff trim and heading. 

6 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Don't know why folks are setting VS prior to taking off. ????The only thing to be set before takeoff should be takeoff trim and heading. 

I would say that is personal preference.  In P3D, I regularly preselect all the AP modes before takeoff, but in MSFS, the autopilot is finicky and does not always do what is described in the RW Pilot's Guide..

3 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

I would say that is personal preference.  In P3D, I regularly preselect all the AP modes before takeoff, but in MSFS, the autopilot is finicky and does not always do what is described in the RW Pilot's Guide..

I have never turned on  AP prior to takeoff and in the real world, I don't know any pilot that would do that. The AP does something funky at low altitude and airspeed and you will be the first person to the crash. Preset heading and altitude, and once flying and stabilized at a decent climb rate and altitude, then turn it on. 

 

Edited June 3, 20215 yr by Bobsk8

51 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

The AP does something funky at low altitude and airspeed and you will be the first person to the crash.

OK, that makes sense to me... Maybe I have been trusting Otto too much in the past. 😉

I am certainly more wary in MSFS than I have ever been...

Edited June 3, 20215 yr by Bert Pieke

5 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

OK, that makes sense to me... Maybe I have been trusting Otto too much in the past. 😉

I am certainly more wary in MSFS than I have ever been...

Even with an Airliner, they can't engage the AP until they are over 600 Feet AGL> 

49 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Even with an Airliner, they can't engage the AP until they are over 600 Feet AGL> 

That would be an additional precaution... but even 600 feet AGL is not really enough if the AP acts up and wants to kill you.. 🙂

I do buy your previous statement though, that you are better off in a GA airplane, starting the AP in heading mode until it proves itself to be controlling the airplane, rather than jump straight  to NAV and VS as you might in an airliner..

Edited June 4, 20215 yr by Bert Pieke

6 hours ago, TacomaSailor said:

Had a similar problem quite a while ago.  Turned out that during a game update (steam) some of my keyboard keys were remapped so that what I expected to be a view left or view right (or something similar) was now a full aileron deflection, which of course, resulted in a sudden roll.  As I then moved the view back to straight ahead, I only worsened the roll/aircraft attitude.

Corrected the key mapping and no problems since. 

✅Solved
This was it 😃😃 You fixed the problem!! Thank you very much. I went to my keyboard button assignments (I'm also on Steam). Sure enough the numpad had been mapped to control the flying surfaces. I use the numpad for my hotkey views. So for example numpad 4  = left wing. However the sim by default had this tied to full left aileron so whenever I looked at the left wing I guess the control input overrode the AP and it was all downhill (literally) from there.

I deleted all the keyboard hotkeys for primary control surfaces and now I can drone along on long cross countries on AP all day long! Thanks again!

This forum needs something all the other forums have -  a Mark as solution option. 

 

3 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Don't know why folks are setting VS prior to taking off. ????The only thing to be set before takeoff should be takeoff trim and heading. 

I set all the options (VS, ALT, HDG etc) but I only engage the A/P long after takeoff. I fly manually until on course and 500 to 1000ft below the planned ALT. Only then do I press the AP button 🙂 For very short hops I dont use the AP and just trim the plane which is not easy on any platform Ive used (FSX,XP11 and this MSFS) but sometimes I manage to find the sweet spot and it stays nailed. 

>>>>>>

Thanks to everyone who replied, Avsim hive mind rules 🙂

Edited June 4, 20215 yr by ThrottleUp

18 minutes ago, ThrottleUp said:

This was it 😃😃 You fixed the problem!! Thank you very much. I went to my keyboard button assignments (I'm also on Steam). Sure enough the numpad had been mapped to control the flying surfaces. I use the numpad for my hotkey views. So for example numpad 4  = left wing. However the sim by default had this tied to full left aileron so whenever I looked at the left wing I guess the control input overrode the AP and it was all downhill (literally) from there.

I am still not quite there... if that is what was happening, the autopilot should disconnect. 

What I encounter, is the AP staying connected, but flying me into a spiral dive.

When this happened to you, did the AP disconnect?