Autopilot not homing in on active flight leg, flies in circles

[cwjohan]

After takeoff and turning on the autopilot, it seems necessary to orient the TBM 900 to fly toward the active flight plan leg before pushing the NAV button -- either manually (CWS?) or by going into HDG mode.  Otherwise, the aircraft will fly in circles.

 I've also observed this when the autopilot or G1000 switches automatically from GPS to LOC 1.  In most cases, the aircraft will start flying circles even though NAV was on.  I've observed NAV turning off at this point.  Shouldn't happen, right?  Even after turning NAV back on, the aircraft does not home in on the locator.  The pilot must manually orient the aircraft to fly toward the locator beam, otherwise they end up going in circles.

1.) I realize that this could be a "works as designed" issue, but are the autopilots on real aircraft actually that fussy?  Many, if not most, of my X-Plane aircraft seem less fussy and will home in on the active leg if heading in approximately the right direction, which is more how I would expect a real autopilot to work.

2.) This circling business seems illogical.  When turning on the autopilot, shouldn't the autopilot maintain the current heading, bank, and pitch?  Then, after one presses NAV but the heading is not sufficiently in the direction of the active flight leg, shouldn't the aircraft continue to maintain heading, bank, and pitch and not start going in circles?

Comments invited from all TBM pilots as well as the developers, thanks.  Are others experiencing the same issue?

Is this more an issue of how the built-in X-Plane autopilot functionality works or is it something the TBM 900 developers can modify?

[JetNoise]

Didn't see that behavior. As long you are on a inbound course to an active leg it should catch. AP on, NAV on, GPS mode (magenta) active.

Or use the Direct to....

 

Next thing: maybe the G1000 did not sequence the waypoint correctly since you passend it already, When arming NAV (GPS)

 

Watch closely what (active/armed) indications are on the PFD.

 

Short video could shed light to what is wrong...

JetNoise

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G925F mit Tapatalk