Senior Telemaster SAS Test Day #2

System updates for this video:

  1. We added some additional logic to slowly roll the wings to perfect level if the pilot puts the bank angle within +/- 10 degrees of level.  It’s really hard to get it exact from a ground perspective, so the idea is to let the pilot get in the ball park and the system will take over and finish the job.  Auto-leveling will only kick in after the pilot centers the stick so it doesn’t fight the pilot if the pilot is intending to bank the aircraft.

  2.  To mimic more natural flight behavior we automatically pitch the nose up by a few degrees when the pilot adds throttle and pitch the nose down by a few degrees when the pilot pulls the throttle back.  This is much more “intuitive” for a pilot and makes the system more predictable and easy to fly.

This was unfortunately another windy day, and the telemaster is a self stable, “trainer” style airframe and thus roll and yaw are very coupled and the aircraft’s natural flight dynamics react quite a bit to even small wind gusts.  This means the SAS isn’t shown yet in it’s best light.  I guess I’ll keep apologizing for the weather and at some point move to a more stable airframe, or try to find nicer days to fly.

I will say one thing.  Even when the aircraft is bobbing around on final approach in the turbulence, it’s nice to be able to fly hands off the aileron stick and trust the SAS system to immediately return the wings to level, even when we get knocked 10, 20, or even 30 degrees off kilter.  I’m still fiddling and improving and I’m not totally in love with the system yet.  But it’s good enough already that I miss it when I turn it off.

So here’s some fun video from the day: