XR Flight Operations Manual Version 3.0
Copyright 2006-2018 Douglas Beachy. All Rights Reserved.
47
KEYS. Refer to the
Custom Shortcut Keys
section earlier in this document for a
detailed list of autopilot mode keys.
Note: You may also hold down the mouse button on the pitch/AOA and bank arrows
to rapidly scroll the pitch and bank rates. The ship's current pitch, AOA, and bank
are displayed on the MDA screen.
ATTITUDE HOLD Autopilot Engaged in AOA Mode
With bank set to 0 degrees you can hold a maximum pitch of +/- 87.5 degrees; with
bank set to non-zero, you can hold a maximum pitch of +/- 60 degrees. Similarly,
with pitch set to 0 degrees you can hold a maximum bank of 75 degrees; with pitch
set to non-zero, you can hold a maximum bank of 60 degrees.
A NOTE ABOUT TIME ACCELERATION:
With a decent frame rate (60 fps or higher) you should be able to run the
ATTITUDE
HOLD
autopilot at 100x in space and 4x in an atmosphere, even during reentry:
great care was taken to make the autopilot as fuel-efficient and stable as possible. If
you attempt to engage time acceleration at 1000x in space or 100x in at
atmosphere, the autopilot will switch to SUSPENDED status (this will be shown on
the MDA screen); it will automatically re-engage when you switch back to a lower
time acceleration again.
As you reenter the atmosphere you should typically hold 35-45 degrees AOA. NOTE:
be sure your ship's mass is not too great -- if the ship is too heavy you will likely
overheat your hull! Use the fuel and/or LOX dump buttons on the lower panel to
lighten your ship if necessary. For a nominal one-degree-slope reentry and
assuming a normal payload your fuel mass should be under 50%, although it is
possible to “baby the ship down”
with a higher ship mass if you expertly vary your
pitch to reduce the rate of aero-braking.
As you enter the denser part of the atmosphere keep an eye on your hull
temperatures! The vertical gauge on the left side of the
Temperature MDA
screen
(mode 3) is especially useful because it shows you exactly how close your hottest
surface is (percentage-wise) to going over-temp. This makes it easy to see exactly
how close you are to overheating your hull. If the indicator reaches the top, one of
your hull surface temps is over maximum and you will shortly damage or even
destroy your ship!
