When activating FLC In the Cessna 172, the Nose Up and Nose Down buttons are used to set the climb rate and you can see the rate change each time you click the button. When you activate FLC in the Caravan 208, how do you adjust the climb rate and where does the climb rate show up on the instrument panel? Thanks
Set an airspeed to maintain, then adjust power to increase your rate of climb. If you set say 140 knots, when you increase power you should see the nose automatically rise, allowing for a steeper climb.
I may be remembering this wrong, but I don’t think the 172 has FLC. If you are using the up down buttons, you are using VS, not FLC.
FLC will climb or descend to maintain your set speed. If you engage FLC at 160 kts you can increase your throttle and the aircraft will climb to stay at 160 kts, or you can reduce throttle and the aircraft will descend to stay at 160 kts.
The set speed will start at your current speed when you engage FLC, but I believe there was a scroll wheel to manually adjust the set speed.
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You should use VS for descents, not FLC, if I remember correctly. Though I have used it in the sim.
VS is used when you want to maintain a set rate of climb or descent. So for example if you want to climb or descend at 700 fpm you would use VS.
FLC is used when you want to climb or descend while maintaining a set speed. If I want to climb or descend but want to stay at 140 kts then use FLC and adjust your throttle to get the rate you need.
The other posters have already said this in some form in the above posts, but I wanted to explicitly state that this is incorrect. FLC does not set a climb rate. V/S sets a climb rate. FLC will set a target airspeed.
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Yes, something I missed from my earlier post. You can set a slower speed, and not increase power, and your climb rate will change as well.
The Cessna 172 has FLC. I use it all the time. Before takeoff, I click FLC and then the Nose Up button to the recommended rate of climb for the 172 at 74 knots. After takeoff, I activate autopilot and the airplane climbs at 74 knots until it reaches the target altitude I set with the ALT knob. This process is so simple I have been trying to duplicate it in the Caravan 208.
Every video and written source I’ve seen says that the best “rate of climb” at takeoff is 74 knots for the Cessna 172. Before takeoff, I click FLC and then the Nose Up button to the recommended rate of climb for the 172 at 74 knots. After takeoff, I activate autopilot and the airplane climbs at 74 knots until it reaches the target altitude I set with the ALT knob. This process is so simple I have been trying to duplicate it in the Caravan 208.
The C 208 does have a FLC and the place it is seen is above the speed tape in a different colour when you scroll the wheel. It is not obvious but it is there. Scroll in to PFD a bit and you will see the numbers change at the top.
It does not highlight on the vert mode advisory but see below this screenshot
Here you will see it as 48kt on top of speed tape. It works if FLC is activated
Here you can see I set climb at 86kts - for demo purposes - and the little blue marker is next to that on the speed tape while she climbs and you can see FLC on the annunciator bar at the top.
The bit of information you missed here is you are using the C172 G1000 panel. The steam gauge panel doesn’t have FLC as that’s an autopilot function and the older KAP 140 autopilot doesn’t have that, where as the GFC in the glass cockpit aircraft does. What also didn’t help is the reference to climb rate. As others have pointed out FLC doesn’t set climb rate it sets airspeed. What you referenced was something Cessna established during aircraft development testing. The C172 will achieve its best rate of climb at the given airspeed. Note though that you are setting airspeed and the by product of setting the specific airspeed is its best rate of climb.
I never use the G1000 version, only steam 172, and variants of it, which is why I was surprised about the FLC in a 172 discussion. I know the G1000 has it, I just forgot it even existed. 
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I finally had a chance to apply the information you provided but I still could not get the FLC to work. Here’s the steps I took: I set the desired altitude with the ALT knob (5000 ft for example). I clicked the FLC button to turn it on. I roll the Up/Down wheel to try to set 95 knots. Nothing happens and no amounts show up above the Speed tape. Am I missing something? It seems like this should be very simple,
I can’t understand why yours is not, Did you click the FD to ON?
I think I might know why now. These are the exact things I do in sequence - however, when you get to the last screenshot, you will see the wheel states DN at the top and UP at the bottom - scroll the other way - they are reversed - I think this might be why you get no indication of the FLC speed.
You could use FLC for descent but it is more common to use FLC for climb and VS for descent while controlling speed with power.
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I tried your suggestion and it worked. It is totally counter intuitive - up is down and down is up, but I am just glad to know that there is a way to use the feature. Surprised that in all the videos and msfs 2024 reading material there is no mention of the need to reverse the wheel when setting the FLC value.
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Hi,
Actually the pitch wheel sense of rotation is just like a trim wheel. Maybe that’s why it has the “reversed “ sense. Pilots learn from the beginning to “push “ on the trim wheel forward to lower the nose and vice versa to raise it. Just like pushing on the yoke or joystick. The same thinking applies to the autopilot pitch wheel. Many autopilot controls were mounted horizontally on the pedestal. And at that location it would make more sense.
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That is an interesting insight into IRL.
Here one scrolls up towards the DN arrow. I am not sure what an IRL C208 does but it either needs the labelling to be corrected and swapped or the scroll action corrected as in the real aircraft. .
Agreed, also the tool tip, which normally displays the Kts while scrolling doesn’t work. So when you scroll the wrong way and are new to the plane it sure doesn’t help. Anyway, glad you finally got to use the FLC.