Random Mid-Flight Dives and Crashes

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#1

Twice now, I have flown out of an airport at the beginning of a long voyage - (KJFK: B777 & FHAW: BC-17). After a certain and seemingly non discriminate amount of time, my auto pilot disengages and the aircraft plumes for the ocean, I attempt to pull up and level off but the loss in altitude does not cease. By this time the aircraft has accelerated drastically and is wildly overs-peeding , consequently I have incurred 2 speeding violations and the aircraft has crashed on both counts. With no response from the controls I was unable to level off and slow the aircraft down on both occasions.

This, coupled with the 4 other speeding violations I incurred in one single flight while cruising at an altitude of 22,000ft with an airspeed of exactly 230kts AS has cost me my place in the Expert Server for the time being as well as bumping me from being Grade 3 and well on my way to Grade 4 right down to Grade 1. This infuriating turn of events due to some issue with my app or the flight machine is causing me to consider terminating my subscription and deleting the Infinite Flight app. :(

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#2

You must have been doing something slightly wrong during your flight. What have you got your autopilot set to?

#3

At cruising (point when C-17 dive occurred)
Speed: M .85
Heading: 344
Altitude: FL42
VS: 0 f/m

#4

Unfortunately without some sort of video of it occurring it is near impossible to troubleshoot.

What was the last flight that this happened on? What was your callsign?

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#5

Are you saying you were at 42,000 in a C-17 going M 0.85?

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#6

I think I’ve got it. At the start of a long flight, your aircraft is very heavy. This means that you can’t climb to a high altitude. If you did, you’d end up losing speed, stalling and falling to the ground. You’ll have to climb to a lower altitude to begin with, and then climb higher as the fuel gets burned off. This process is called step climbing. Here’s a tutorial.

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#7

Last happened a few minutes before creating topic, shortly after take-off on a Boeing C-17 Globemaster flight from Ascension Wideawake > London Heathrow, as mentioned in my initial comment. Callsign N902OX

Referring to se second part of my comment, explains how I had incurred violations below the speed limit, I have noticed from other forum topics that this has been an issue for other IF users, perhaps this is a bug?

#8

that is correct, yes

#9

that may well explain it, however, on neither occasion was I over maximum landing weight and on the most recent occasion I was not mid climb.

#10

Your fight in the c-17 to EGLL you stalled. Your VS was probably around 2800 which is too high for this aircraft. Your VS needs to reduce as you get higher.

Someone can correct me with more real data but the C-17 should not be going to 42000 unless you are very careful. Typical cruising altitude is around 28,000 @ M 0.74.

As far as your second comment, it is hard to troubleshoot without some sort of video showing you receiving violations.

#11

It was operator error then. I was unaware of the climb performance stats of the aircraft, still, that speaks volumes for the realism of the app!

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#12

When I realized I couldn’t control the airplane anymore after I just got the violation warning(Yellow bar) I will just end the flight directly instead of getting any violations(Red Bar) then summarize myself what was the mistake and so on…

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#13

Thats a good idea, safe too. But after having made the flight plan, loaded weight and balance, I didn’t really want to end the flight.

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#14

It’s what you have to sacrifice in order to not get violations.

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#15

Well Grade 3 to Grade 2 then wait 7 days then u will be able to play expert server? or just simply end the flight? :D
I mean WE don’t end flight often :D

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#16

No one has ever produced a single image or video of this happening.

Consider the odds of it being a genuine bug when out of the hundreds of people who have proposed that arbitrary violations exist, not a single one of them has been able to produce so much as a screenshot.

Also remember that your AP setting is not “your speed”. It’s what you set your speed to, not the actual velocity. If you are in freefall, obviously you’re not going to be maintaining your set speed. Of course you’ll overspeed during a state of freefall.

Most of the time, what happens is pilots set a high speed at a low altitude but don’t adjust as the climb higher and the airspeed speed limit goes down. That isn’t a bug. That’s how airspeed functions in relation to altitude. Maybe that happened to you, maybe not. Doesn’t matter. The point is that there’s always an explanation, whether you can easily pinpoint it in your memory or not.

If it was indeed a bug, at least one person would be able to illustrate proof of it. So far, though we have had hundreds of threads about it, no one has ever shown a single image or video of an unexplainable violation. Not one.

The service ceiling for most airliners is FL410-FL420 (or FL430, whatever, something like that). That’s the ceiling, not the standard cruise level. The C-17 is not an airliner. It’s not intended to be anywhere near that level.

There are plenty of reasons why AP diengages. If you have it engaged for speed, but tilt the wings too far to the left or right it will disengage. If you’re climbing too steeply at too great a weight, it will disengage. It’s not a bug. It’s how it’s designed.

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#17

To high for the weight of the aircraft, causing a stall. Once the plane pitched up so much the AP will cut and then it’s basically game over in trying to save the bird.

As someone suggested, step climb that beast and you’ll be fine.

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#20