auto pilot

[SP77]

i have flown many aircraft with no problems. i just tried the 787-8 and i cannot get auto pilot to work. ive done it from the F10 menu, done it from the aircraft, the blue light lights up on AP and LNAV., my route manager is all set up but it will not fly on its own. any suggestions or is it broken

[kareembart]

hi im new and if anyone could let me know how to use the autopilot on the basic cessna ? would be great thanks

[wkitty42]

@kareembart: the autopilot on the c172p is very basic... it will hold your wings level at whatever climb rate you are in or have set, it will follow the heading bug, and it will climb or descend to your chosen altitude... other than that, nothing... it cannot follow a flight plan...

you can search the web for the KAP-140 operations manual... that's the AP in the c172p... it has a lot of technical information but will be able to help you to understand how to use the device in the craft... search for "Bendix-King KAP-140"... the PDF that i found was named as 006-18034-000_3.pdf... i think, but don't remember, that i was able to find it on the bendix-king web site but that was back in 2015 Feb...

[kareembart]

Thankyou! as you see I am a complete newbie.

[Bulldog 1]

hi im new and if anyone could let me know how to use the autopilot on the basic cessna ? would be great thanks

It hasn't got autopilot itselfs, Just trim the plane to a straight postition, Set-up the trim controls to your'e joystick by clicking Files -> Joystick Settings

[D-ECHO]

Err @Bulldog it actually has one, the kap140

[Octal450]

Yes, it's not a very stable one however

J

[wkitty42]

actually, the AP in the c172p is very stable... it is, however, quite simple... it only handles following the bug on the direction indicator, holding your craft wings level, getting you to a selected altitude... it isn't designed for much else and it can definitely get you into a stall if you try to climb too fast without enough speed... it doesn't do ILS or anything like that... certainly not waypoint following... that's what the human is for

the first thing i always do when i get into the c172p is to set it to my target altitude that i'm aiming for... as soon as i get off the ground and can get to it, i turn it on and let it stabilize the craft wings level and hold the climb rate... the very next thing is to adjust that to a reasonable climb rate because it will lock onto whatever f/s you are doing when it is turned on... most of the time i have to reduce that to something like maybe 1000f/s and then gradually adjust it as necessary... it works very well and i've used it to get me over the mountains east of KSFO many times... quite enjoyable if you want a nice sedate flight and to be able to look around at the scenery slowly creeping by you 13000 feet below

[PINTO]

it only handles following the bug on the direction indicator, holding your craft wings level, getting you to a selected altitude... it isn't designed for much else and it can definitely get you into a stall if you try to climb too fast without enough speed... it doesn't do ILS or anything like that...

Are we talking about the same aircraft here? The FGAddon c172p can do more than follow a heading bug. It can do ILS, follow radials, etc.

[wkitty42]

yeah, we're talking about that one... some things like those may be possible... i just don't know about them and haven't worried with them... just the basics seem to work for me

[kareembart]

sorry I was just talking about the basic Cessna that comes with the flight gear installation.

[wkitty42]

yep! that's the one i was talking about, too

[kareembart]

Since my first mention I have learnt allot about the aircraft, but I don't fly with it anymore.