SHaines

@Cameron Hey there Cameron. It's been a while since our last exchange. I read your note regarding the TBM 900 and appreciate what you said. Indeed, quality and accuracy are critical ingredients in a project as complex as the TBM. If the XP11 version is any guide I am certain the XP12 version will be terrific and well worth the wait. Take your time and do it right. And let us know the minute it's available — Steve H

@cameron I much appreciate your comment posted in June and understand that one must be patient for a product as detailed and complex as the TBM 900. I, like many others, am looking forward to the announcement that an XP12 version of this incredible aircraft is finally available. If there is an upgrade cost, so be it. I just hope it's soon. —SHaines

It's funny you mention Kinevo's video because I just watched it this morning and then purchased the two airports so I can recreate his flight. Not an easy landing for sure. I don't know what may have caused this, Goran, but I will keep an eye on it and if I run into it again will try to send you any pertinent log files or other info that may point to a cause. I am reluctant to use the vile "b" word but maybe this one qualifies. We'll see. Thanks for following up. I still think this is the best sim aircraft in the hangar. —SH

Goran, I just re-read the section of the QSG on the Yaw Damper where it states that turning off the AP automatically disables the YD as well. In addition, landing with the damper on is prohibited because it would interfere with manual controls. So I am certain I have not landed or done anything else with the YD before, during or after landing. And all of the instances I discuss here pertain to pre-start operations where I have not even turned on the battery. So I am wondering how it is possible to get this caution warning and resulting freeze up before I have even touched the controls. To nail this down further... I did not leave the YD on while landing or after landing. Any other possibilities?

Goran, Thanks for replying (again) and so quickly. The puzzling thing is I recall you or someone else saying this precise thing about this issue so I am always careful to turn off YD at the same time I disengage AP. Yet I still get this caution message. And as I mentioned, it is often triggered by going into the flight setup page and selecting a different startup point. That seems to send everything into a tizzy resulting in a total freezeup. I will keep track of this and let you know if it reoccurs. I will also keep my eye on the YD button to be certain it's off prior to landing. Thanks. —Steve H

I am puzzled by a caution message that occurs often when I first load the TBM900. "CAUTION: Yaw damper must be OFF the ground!" First of all I never left the yaw damper on the ground and have no idea how it got there. Nor do I have any idea how to fix it. Whenever I get this message I am stuck and have to restart XPlane. Does anyone (Goran?) know what causes this and how to prevent it in the future? Thanks for any advice on this. —SH Note... I discovered this problem seems to happen if I relocate the aircraft by selecting a new start location in the Aircraft Setup window. All of this, of course, happens before I have touched any controls, loaded fuel or anything else. Just open the aircraft, look around then try to change the location... Bing! I get the Caution message and everything freezes.

Hi Jean. You know, you may be right there, about the right side door. I guess the FO just has to climb in via the cargo door and slide in between the seats.

Don't know if this forum includes suggestions for future updates but here's one anyway... I notice the F.O. is missing a door and the emergency exit door does not open. I hope this omission will be fixed in a future update. There are so many other terrific functional features on this aircraft it seems strange to have these key doors missing or not operational. Just sayin'... —SH

Hi Goran, I considered doing what you suggest but then I am turning off every message, not just the offending one. So I just hit the "X" and make it disappear. Eventually the fringes of my monitor start turning pink at which point I finally open the door.

Yes. Full disclosure... shortly after I purchased my yoke I decided to "modify" it by replacing the springs for the roll axis with rubber bands. They produced a much smoother action. I left the springs in place for pitch but the friction of the yoke shaft (which I periodically lubricate) occasionally causes it to stick, resulting in the behavior described. Now that I see the result I will pay more attention to this detail.

I get this message band also, but only on the ground when everything is shut down or when I am inside prepping for a flight. In all cases the door is closed. It does seem odd that the only way to avoid getting this red banner alert is to keep the cockpit door open or start up the engines. Maybe a $5 battery driven fan would solve it. Or just disabling this message. But that may be unwise as you may need to see that in certain circumstances. Any thoughts Goran?

@jfjoubert I think you may have nailed it. I was just doing a flight and got distracted so I never checked during the short cruise phase. However during the descent I noticed the airplane doing it's "bobbing" motion as you describe it. Since we were on autopilot I didn't want to mess with the manual trim so i just tried first gently pushing then pulling back on the yoke. Two tries back and the bobbing stopped. Now my Eclipse yoke is anything but accurate so it entirely possible that it was just "fighting" the autopilot which kept trying to trim the aircraft up properly while the yoke kept trying to push it down. Ergo "bobbing" or "oscillation". Now it's nice and smooth. So thank you for that tip, Jean. It worked! Be well. —SteveH

I appreciate the reply. Not sure it applies in my case. I use a CH Eclipse yoke and have mapped an unused lever to handle rudder trim. And it works quite well. For vertical trim I use the #1 and #2 keys on my keyboard. And they work well also. I will try the #3 and 4 keys for rudder and see if that works as well and if it resolves this issue. As for the issue itself, it seems to occur during straight cruise flight, though I will check on that today to verify. And as I said, it is not a dramatic "shaking" or anything like that. It is rather a slight but noticeable "oscillating" of the nose/tail up and down, perhaps 2 or 3 cycles per second and about .5º of pitch. I will tinker with it further to refine exactly when I observe it and if any adjustments, particularly to pitch access, have an effect. Thanks for the replies.

Thank you Jean. I DO have that enabled. Are there any other suspects? I tried setting my yoke sensitivity to 50% but that had no effect (and might effect other controls.) To be clear, it's not a "violent" shaking or anything like that. It's just that instead of a nice steady view from inside the aircraft, or a nice steady view of the aircraft from outside, I get a repetitive up and down motion that causes the landscape to constantly bob up and down in the windscreen and the airplane to do the same from outside. Can't that setting as I do have that checked. Thanks for the reply, Jean. I am willing to try anything here. And to clarify... it's not a critical issue. It's just something I notice which i would like to cure if possible. —SteveH

Just want to throw a note into the pile here regarding a strange phenomenon I am seeing, still, in my TBM900 flight performance. After resetting my yoke to allow 30% less control sensitivity, which I thought would solve this issue, I still see my airplane "bobbing" up and down in level flight, at nominal speed, with no external (weather) conditions. I call it "oscillating" but maybe there is a better term. Regardless how you describe it I would like to know if it is intentional, i.e. "supposed to look that way to simulate normal aircraft behavior" or something that is out of the ordinary requiring external adjustment. Any takers on this? Appreciate advice on how this may, or shouldn't be corrected.

Jean, indeed you did. I just explained the entire procedure to a friend who was puzzled by the same issue. So you get a "two-fer" award for that tip! Be well. —SteveH

@jfjoubert Brilliant! Thank you VERY much for this tip. I will execute on my next flight. On my last flight (today), anticipating the veer to the left I held my right yoke paddle (right rudder) just a bit and it worked very well. Had a nice smooth takeoff straight down the runway. But I will definitely map the L/R yaw to either a button or maybe one of my unused levers. Thanks again! —SteveH

I have done a number of flights now in the TBM900 and notice often on takeoff that the airplane veers to the left. Ordinarily I would expect the opposite effect from the prop, however I notice the rudder trim indicator is always to the left of the centerline. I do not have rudder pedals in my sim setup. Instead I use the paddles on my CH Eclipse yoke, which seem to work perfectly. I tried adjusting the rudder trim with these and while it turned the actual rudder (and front gear) quite well, it did nothing to the rudder trim indicator in the MFD. Can anyone tell me if rudder trim has been implemented in this version of the TBM and if so how it's done? I have been unable to find any instructions for this in any of the documents that come with the aircraft. Thanks much for any guidance on this. —SH

I know that in Boeings and other aircraft, ILS landings require that the approach course be entered into the FMS in order to properly acquire LOC & GS. Can anyone tell me if that rule applies to the TBM900 G1000? If so, I have found that to do so requires making the course setting while in flight (since it cannot be modified while the airplane is on the ground) bu switching the CDI to NAV1, entering the desired course using the CRS bug, then switching back to GPS mode. To reactivate GPS mode in the FMA it is then necessary to hit the NAV button twice. Can anyone tell me if I am correct, that course is required for ILS acquisition in this aircraft, and that the procedure I outlined is correct? Thanks. —SteveH

@shredderguy72 Thanks for posting this reply. I was just about to post a note asking why my new TBM oscillates during flight (on autopilot). It is quite noticeable inside the cockpit and outside as well. It's like the airplane is flying through ripples of turbulence or something. I will try your suggestion and see if it fixes this. The other problem I have been having is the airplane just losing it's GPS location and flying off course. I will be flying a route, look down at something and discover that the airplane has suddenly decided to fly to Alaska. If it goes far enough off the line it causes autopilot to switch off and all hell breaks loose. Maybe all that is caused by this "simulate control stiffening" issue. We'll see. Thx.

In my new TBM900 v1.1.12, when I complete the payload, either selecting one of the set load percentages or selecting items manually I close the payload window then close the doors. I then look into the aircraft and am surprised to see no passengers when I had loaded three. Also I see a male copilot instead of the female I had selected. While this last behavior strikes me as poor social correctness I am more concerned that a) I am doing something wrong or b) the aircraft software has a defect. Usually it's "a" but in this case I cannot see any error on my part. I have read and followed the UIG carefully yet I still cannot seem to get passengers to load properly. Adding to this discomfort, when I am inside the airplane with the doors closed all passengers including myself disappear. That is most unfortunate. I appreciate anyone who has a cure for these conditions. —SH

To all of the good folks who replied to my post and to others asking this same basic question... thank you. Here's what I discovered... I have my CH Eclipse yoke/blue lever mapped to the throttle. It works very well. I also have a button mapped to activate REV. When I do that and move the throttle it moves into Taxi Range and ultimately Rev Mode. All good. I have read a dozen posts trying to explain how to map a switch to move the throttle from Flight Idle to High Idle and back. Nothing seemed to work for me including the LUA script graciously offered by @/Ch.Cole. I read further and one post seemed to say that assigning MIXTURE RICH A BIT to a yoke switch would cause the lever to move left if you move the switch up and right if you move the switch down. Well, not only does it do that, if you switch down (right) and then switch down again it moves the lever to low idle, do it again and it moves it to Cutoff. WOW! The holy grail of throttle automation! So thanks to all for steering me in the right direction so i could "discover" what you were all trying to tell me

I have successfully mapped my CH Eclipse yoke to operate the throttle through Flight Idle, advance, retard and Rev/Taxi modes. Works great. What I would like to be able to do is switch the lever over from Flight Idle to High Idle (or back) then by using an unused yoke lever, move it down to Low Idle and Fuel Cutoff and back up to High Idle. Does anyone know if and how this might be done?

Thank you Goran. Good info which I will add to my rapidly growing TBM notebook. This is one heck of a sim airplane. I love it.

At risk of sounding really ignorant... I have been trying to find out what the gadget on top of the glareshield in the TBM900 is and how to use it properly. I looked through all of the available manuals and other documents for the aircraft but cannot find anything on this implement. If someone has a link to what this is and how it works I would greatly appreciate it. Note... I have subsequently learned that this device is an "angle of attack" indicator or "Alpha Indicator". How it works and how to "read" the various indications within it is still a mystery to me. If anyone has that information... Thanks.