I’m just curious how much Autopilot everyone uses. I can hand fly but lately in the 172 the aircraft keeps slowing going into a right-hand turn and I have not be able to figure out how to stop it. Other than continually correcting every 10-20 seconds. So I turn on the G1000 autopilot after I’ve climbed a few thousand feet and monitor it until I get to around 2 miles from landing.
So much do you hand fly and use Autopilot? You can brake it down by plane even (Props, tubeliners, ect)
As much as possible, as I use this game as a leisure activity, and what’s better than to see the world from a - virtual - pilot seat.
This being said, I enjoy hand flying classic aircraft.
To answer your question, use rudder trim!
Best,
Underbird
Autopilot I only use when going to toilet or when I need a new cold drink from the fridge.
I mainly fly the Freedom Fox or Fox 2, Spitfire, XCub, Extra or Cessna.
Rudder trim is what I need. Thanks for that. What is Aileron trim used for? I wasn’t sure which I should be using lol.
What does ailerons do?
Exactly, rolling the plane.
What is aileron-trim for?
Exactly, set the ailerons in a position that the AC rolls constantly. Or to set them in a position that it not rolls constantly.
You always need to trim an AC equipped with aileron and rudder trim that it flies in a straight way with as less as possible drag.
As much as possible when in Busy Airspace, and the ATC workload is high.
At other times, it’s rewarding to turn it off, and improve one’s smooth and accurate flying techniques !!
Yeah, that is why I tried using ailerons first when I would constantly bank to the right. Thanks for the information.
If you keep banking to the LEFT in say the c172 without aileron trim , it helps to have someone sitting in the right seat ( approx your weight) Then it will fly surprisingly level, and remain level , with your hand off the yoke.
Make sure your fuel is balanced in the wings, that will make a BIG difference as well.
as much as possible
Always during flight but also always turned off about 15nm from landing. Nice to always hand fly the landings.
We are already playing on a computer. Why let the simulated airplanes simulated computer make the landing on our real computer 
we cant let it have all the fun!
Im currently teaching myself to fly the Indiafoxtecho T45 Goshawk.
It doesn’t have auto pilot.
I just wish i knew how to turn on the ILS so i can land in very poor visibility
Given the majority of my flights are over 250NM, AP is on more than it’s not.
Exceptions are for planes that don’t have it, but then I try trimming for straight and level. I flew 125NM or so with the Staggerwing, that was pretty laborious.
For long range flights over 500NM and FL250 or higher, AP is a must.
I like to handle the departure abs climb, get on course and to cruise altitude then activate.
I’ll usually let AP fly the arrival and I’ll disengage as I get setup on final abs bring it in.
For GA flying I almost never use AP. I plan all the flights so they are under 90 minutes or so and fly 100 percent manually. I also have my own software that gives me a report on how well I keep within altitude constraints. EG: ±20 feet, ±40 feet, ± 60 feet, ±100 feet and > 100 feet. Acceptable, to me is ± 40 feet or less. I’m looking to add heading constraint checking too when I get around to it 
For the PMDG 737 and Fenix A320, I use AP petty much as much as real pilots do.
I mostly fly the Citation CJ4 and Longitude, and engage the A/P pretty quickly after take-off. For landing, I used to fly A/P almost to the runway, but since I recently transitioned from a HOTAS stick to a yoke, I’ve started hand-flying the landings maybe 1000 feet AGL to get better at it. The yoke definitely takes some practice.
Never! BLL X Cub or Got Savage Cub - in the wilderness.
It depends what mood I’m in. I like hand flying but it takes a fair bit of concentration so I tend to hand fly for relatively short periods. If I fancy a longer flight I tend to use the autopilot heavily and I find it just as fun working out how to make the autopilot do what I want. I hand fly all my landings, as I enjoy it and because using the automated landing system looks complicated and I haven’t worked that out yet.
I learned to fly IRL in smaller GA planes without autopilot. Therefore, flying GA planes without autopilot is most enjoyable and familiar. If I flew airliners I probably would use the autopilot frequently as that would be realistic.
Nearly everything I fly has modern avionics, and modern avionic (to me) calls for modern techniques. I usually set my -D> before engine start, along with altitude and vertical speed settings. This engages the flight director, but not the servos. Once cleared by the tower to turn out from runway heading, all I have to do is press the button on my stick that’s bound to the AP master and I can sit back.
The only times I don’t use AP are times such as dropping into the Grand Canyon to see how close I can stay to the Colorado River.
@Yuudai5178 How much do real pilots use AP? I’m not being funny as I honestly don’t know for those aircraft.