Take off gently press Num + 8, engine throttle stops working (748), drone view question

I am finally getting around to trying FS2020. Super stoked. For now I’m simply using a standard keyboard as I haven’t gotten a joystick yet.

I go straight into free flight mode and plug in 747-800, KJFK and a destination airport. The program starts with me lined up on 31L at KJFK. Perfect. But then it all falls apart…

  1. When I increase the throttle and the plane rolls down the runway a pop-up appears telling me that in order to take off I should “Gently press Num + 8”. Huh? That would push the nose into the ground for pitch down. It should be “Gently press Num + 2”.

  2. After climbing out for a while and checking other things out like the map, ATC window, etc. I no longer have control of the engines. Throttle (F1/F2/F3) do nothing. However, other F keys work like F5/F6/F7 to play with the flaps. So I know it’s not some keyboard lock preventing the function keys from working. What gives?

  3. Is there a (drone) camera mode that allows me to slew around the aircraft like FSX? I want to get to the outside of the aircraft and then have it roll 360 around the plane like FSX. All I have found so far is the ability to move left/right/up/down using WASDFR keys but that simply moves along a plane (horizontal or vertical line) and does not rotate to keep the plane in view. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance. First post. I tried searching for these but didn’t come up with anything.

-RM