Two quick questions regarding the stock autopilot on the stock 172. What does “ROL” mean on the autopilot readout? Should it be on? If not, how do I turn it off? And, when I activate the AP, the yokes go hard right and will only return to centered if I turn off the AP. Yes, I have lots to learn and thanks for your patience…
Steve in Kansas
ROL is for holding the roll angle
I assume that we are talking glass cockpit and the Garmin G1000? This may not be the answer to your issue, but worth a look. If you allow the default CDI selection of Localiser (Loc) 1 the Heading Bug will default to 360 deg and as soon as you enable the AP the aircraft will turn towards that Heading Bug position. Try, before you switch the AP, to turn the Heading Bug onto your current heading or turn your aircraft to match the heading bug direction. Alternatively, you could press the CDI soft key (twice probably) until you get the magenta, rather than green, GPS compass pointer and the Heading Bug will become inactive unless or until you select Hdg mode on the AP.