SAS: Hold Horizon

[MajorNr01]

I would greatly appreciate an SAS mode that holds the navball orientation at the horizon, perhaps locking all remaining degrees of freedom (like roll and rotation along the horizon).

 

This would allow aircraft to fly long distances across the planet without player intervention, which would be especially useful for long flights to contract related sites, e.g. on Kerbin.

 

I do think it is reasonably simplistic to warrant being an SAS feature.

 

[Vanamonde]

I support this. 

[Brent Kerman]

I support this.

[SolidJuho]

I support this.

[Ultimate Steve]

I support this.

[Wjolcz]

I support this.

[MinimalMinmus]

I support this.

too.

[KerrMü]

I support that.

[Jarin]

I support this. I've been using Atmosphere Autopilot to basically do just this, and I couldn't imagine life without it now.

[Deddly]

I support this

[Dfthu]

I support this.

[TheRagingIrishman]

I support this

[rkarmark]

I support this

[razark]

This, I support.

[Blaarkies]

I support this. 

[KSK]

I support this.

[CaptainTrebor]

I support this.

[MiffedStarfish]

Everyone supports this!  I agree, it would also be useful for VTOL hover.

[Azimech]

I support this.

Until that day comes, here's a stock solution I invented:

Place a tiny docking port on top of the fuselage of your airplane pointing at the sky. Use Part Angle Display and Editor Extensions to change the angle a few degrees, rotating it towards the direction of flight. Make sure you have a pilot, avionics nose cone or drone core capable of maintaining all SAS functions.

Load the simulation. Choose "control from here" on the docking port and observe the Navball. You should see the sky with the heading 090 at the lower edge of the navball. If not, go back to the editor and turn the docking port 180 degrees.

Now take off, choose your required heading and altitude. Choose "control from here" on the docking port and immediately switch to SAS mode "radial out". After that, use the control authority slider on the ailerons and give it a negative value.

Manual control input is reversed for some functions: yaw will be controlled with Q & E, roll with A & D.

You can place multiple docking ports at different angles for different "autopilot presets"

It's not perfect and a bit of a hassle but does the job.

More info here, page 15: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6u6n7cqw880897ick2ukc/Titan Series Helicopters.pdf?dl=0&oref=dn&r=AAWMdaNcnerpHzwVlTkT4unl6Ra3us9SkjSipSJ7UOCV4TFH20JyMvn2hrMnVUzZtgs63AEHs_gAtJfFLdDrrPWLKpiK6wFWSNoHEV-PHSCNAsSy6YOPORtKxZ9fy-niyMNHg5bOfhqA9coUdWW1Cdrj0lbEciB9uCZ5ZCbsBMStnA

[Mad_Scientist]

I don't even understand how it was not in stock before. It is so obvious function of a pilot.

[swjr-swis]

Instead of just this one special case, I would support a generic 'Hold Current Navball Pitch and Roll Angles' setting.

This would provide what you request for the one special case of the horizon (zero pitch angle), plus any other pitch up or down angles one would wish for a controlled ascent/descent/reentry situation.

 

[pandaman]

I support this too.

[Martian Emigrant]

I support this.

How many times I have wished for some kind of basic autopilot.

With Heading hold, Attitude hold, Altitude hold and a yaw damper.

 

ME

[cubinator]

Support this, I do.

[TheKorbinjer]

Or, a UI in which you can have multiple modes of control besides the ones we already have + horizon.. you could set it to hold a certain degree above/below the horizon.. Would be especially great on my shuttles during reentry.. or altitude hold.. <3 I'm sure a lot of people could support me on this..

 

I SUPPORT THIS

Edited March 10, 2017 by TheKorbinger