Hey yall,
Im really new to flight sims and am learning as i go but i was wondering of there is a way to set and altitude for the autopilot to stay at or do i have to manually reach the desired altitude and activate the leveling switch on the autopilot?
This entirely depends on the Aircraft. Which Aircraft are you flying?
I’m flying the 747 and I can’t get the autopilot to hold an altitude. Hopefully they fix this soon.
I haven’t flown any jets due to Frame issues. The larger the aircraft, worst the frames are. However, normally you can select the Altitude Hold switch while autopilot command switch is selected.
You may need to program your Flight level on the FMS prior to departure. But, again, I don’t believe its that’s sophisticated yet.
Im flying the Daher TBM 930
You need to do two things:
Set the altitude you wish to stay at
Tell the AP how you want to get there.
Dial the altitude using the ALT dial to whatever you want to end up at. Lets pretend it 10000. You should see 10000 set at the top of the Altitude ribbon on the pfd. Then you need to choose how to get there. You can use VS, FLC, or VNAV. FLC and VNAV are pretty meh at the moment so VS is the way to go. Press the VS button and use the vertical dial next to it to select a climb speed. You will climb at whatever speed you set until you get to the altitude you chose at which point it will switch to holding that altitude automatically. Repeat to go up or down.
Yes, the autopilot can do all this for you. Bit complicated to explain via a forum post, but you should check out a few YouTube videos.
Try this and see if it makes sense : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdmBcsk6OA
It’s your game do as you please but if you really want to wrap your head around auto pilots and flying. Start with the 172 , it will make you a much better pilot in the long run plus it’s an awesome plane.
Learn to fly the c172 well and you will master any other aircraft later…
edit: plus atm the 172 is a lot less buggie 