OK, I tried a complete “manual” IF flight from Abbotsford in BC, Canada to Vancouver International (YVR) using the AP and everything worked as it should. Process was as follows:
For the flight I tried to set stormy conditions with base at 500ft, tops at 5,000ft with another layer above 10,000ft.
On the ground I set altitude to 5,500 ft; HDG to 300 degrees; NAV 1 to the 26R ILS at YVR and OBS at 260 degrees.
Took off, established climb and turned to approximately the right heading. Turned on the AP to HDG and the AP locked on and followed the heading bug.
Turned on FLC and the AP maintained airspeed and climbed as directed. Just before it levelled off at 5,500 I increased altitude to 6.500 and continued the climb. AP levelled off appropriately @ 6,500. At this time I was FULLY QBI.
At that time NAV 1 had picked up the ILS at YVR. Clicked NAV on the AP and it intercepted 260 deg.
Set altitude to 2500feet and set VS descent and dialled in -500fpm. AP sweetly complied. Increased descent to -900fpm, AP complied and eventually levelled off at 2,500 feet
For some reason the clouds were better closer to YVR and I broke out at under 3,000ft. Not sure what happened there or if it was just a natural variation of my selected weather. Will have to try something similar again. In any case: I pretty much ignored the outside.
Intercepted the glideslope and set the AP to APR. AP followed the ILS to 300ft where I disengaged to land manually.
Very nice description with some good logic. As per my post just now I followed a somewhat similar but slightly simpler process on an IF flight just now and everything worked beautifully.
I know I am late but this happens when I click VS but do not set an altitude. It seems without any specific requests, the plane just wants to climb as quickly as it can.
To fix this I just set an altitude and climb rate for VS before I active it, rather than activating it and then punching in your numbers. Also for me it is usually the target altitude not being set is what goofs the trim, not the FPM dial not being set.
With most (if not all) of the planes I’ve flown, activating Alt mode after AP is running will capture and hold your current altitude to the nearest 100’. After that, you first dial in a new altitude, then your vertical speed. If you use the Flight Director first, you can preset everything - heading or course for lateral guidance, plus desired altitude and vertical speed. Once airborne, just switch on the AP to activate all of the (virtual) servos and let the plane take over. The only exception to this that I’m aware of is the steam 172. You need to be in at least a semi stable flight path before activating the AP. The way I do it is to make sure my heading bug is set correctly, then switch on the AP first, then select heading, altitude, dial in a new height, then VS. If my nav radios are set correctly with the right course dialed in, then I can go straight to Nav instead of Heading. It takes a little practise to make it second nature, and planning ahead is always key.
