A funny thing happened on final to Elmendorf.

KevinJarvis · Post by **KevinJarvis** » 05 Nov 2007, 02:44

Not sure what was going on here. Maybe the pilot spilled hot coffee in his lap or something.
I was spotting at Elmendorf when I came across this fellow.

I followed using Traffic Toolbox and this C17 was nose up and down the whole time. Gear and flaps are down too.

Any hints on what is happening here?

KJ

Here's an update.

I thought we were on final since the altitude was dropping at a steady rate.
But finally the gear came up, airspeed climbed and held a steady 154kias and we started gaining altitude.
The porpoising finally stopped but the aircraft then developed a wing waggle from side to side. This eventually stopped as we gained altitude.
At FL100 the aircraft is almost stable. But the flaps are still fully deployed.

Climbing thru FL300, airspeed is dropping and flaps are still deployed.

At FL460 the airspeed was 104kias and the porposing started once more.

btaylo24 · Post by **btaylo24** » 05 Nov 2007, 03:03

FL460? A bit high for a C17!

Barry

KevinJarvis · Post by **KevinJarvis** » 05 Nov 2007, 03:19

Still shadowing this flight and we're well above FL500 now.

I switched to Traffic View Board in hopes of seeing something different and I sure did. Not that this is the problem with this flight, but it looks a bit odd.
The cockpit view in TVB of this C17 actually shows a C130.

I'm going to disconnect TVB and see what happens.

I shut the power off on TVB and continued to follow with TTbox.
At FL550 and 104kias, I was suddenly disconnected from this aircraft and never did reaquire it.
KJ

MIKE JG · Post by **MIKE JG** » 05 Nov 2007, 05:37

Aliens I tell ya.

scottr5213 · Post by **scottr5213** » 05 Nov 2007, 10:53

Getting ready for a HALO jump?

ronniegj · Post by **ronniegj** » 05 Nov 2007, 12:33

Just a thought. Since this is an a/c that has been around for a while, with no reported problem like this, it is possible that somehow the air file has become corrupted. Try overwriting with a fresh copy from you source files and see if that helps to correct the problem.

Ron

Savage · Post by **Savage** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:01

Could simply be a one-off error, I've seen freak things like that happen before just once.

MIKE JG · Post by **MIKE JG** » 05 Nov 2007, 14:57

Another theory I have is that since there is terrain that surrounds PAED, these AI aircraft develop strange behaivors from time to time as they fly through mountains. Sometimes they survive and come out the other side, other times they simply vanish. Then at times I've seen them exhibit very odd behaivor like the kind Kevin is describing. Weird, I tell ya.

ronniegj · Post by **ronniegj** » 05 Nov 2007, 17:04

You know, I was just re-reading the TrafficTools Manual, and there is mention of odd problems created by the AI engine regarding terrain avoidance algorithms in the engine, and the need to sometimes use AFCAD or adjustments to the prevailing winds to cause a/c to use another runway to avoid problems.

We've all seen instances where the AI a/c was barely missing terrain, or unable to avoid penetration, and subsequent odd behavior.

I recall at least two examples from previous MAIW packages where I was following along and suddenly got crazy behavior, and in each instance (widely diverse parts of the world) mountains were around and associated with the flightpath. I use a world wide mesh upgrade, so that might be a factor as well.

Ron

BadPvtDan · Post by **BadPvtDan** » 05 Nov 2007, 18:05

You can just never tell with FS9.

KevinJarvis · Post by **KevinJarvis** » 05 Nov 2007, 18:54

ronniegj wrote:You know, I was just re-reading the TrafficTools Manual, and there is mention of odd problems created by the AI engine regarding terrain avoidance algorithms in the engine, and the need to sometimes use AFCAD or adjustments to the prevailing winds to cause a/c to use another runway to avoid problems.

We've all seen instances where the AI a/c was barely missing terrain, or unable to avoid penetration, and subsequent odd behavior.

Ron

If something like this were in fact the problem it appears that altitude from the terrain does not factor in. I mean, this problem continued past FL550. Certainly high enough to miss anything north of Elmendorf.
Plus, if you notice, when I took the 2nd pic, the altitude is listed as only 68ft. I have a snap of TToobox from the same instant which shows the altitude well over FL500 at that time.

I'm not a big fan of mesh since my computer is ancient by todays standards. So unless I see this more often, I'll just consider this a freak occurance.

KJ

BadPvtDan · Post by **BadPvtDan** » 05 Nov 2007, 22:34

If it helps, I did not flightplan anything even remotely close to 55k

KevinJarvis · Post by **KevinJarvis** » 05 Nov 2007, 23:42

Danny,
Are you sure?
We know how you Texans like to do things in a big way....

KJ

BadPvtDan · Post by **BadPvtDan** » 06 Nov 2007, 00:13

It might be fun but no...
AC#64,99-0169,20%,WEEK,IFR,1/16:44:56,1/20:25:12,230,F,0069,KSEA,
2/12:59:25,2/14:55:05,210,F,0069,CYOD,
3/15:59:56,3/19:47:35,220,F,0069,PAED,
4/14:44:32,4/21:35:30,230,F,0069,PHNL,
5/19:59:11,6/02:51:23,230,F,0069,PAED