Approach Hold on Auto Pilot

[markmajor10]

Hi all
I have been playing aroung with the a/p on my aircaft.
I normaly fly a dash 8 but have this problem on most of the default aircraft too.

When i am coming to land i have trying to get the Approach Hold to work and land the plane for me...lazy i know but just experimenting!
The problem i have is that every time i press it it makes the aircraft go into the most steap climb which ends in stall and crash.
I have played around with the NAV/GPS switch but same results on both setting..
Any ideas? What i am doing wrong?

Cheers  ;D

[TSC.]

Sounds like you haven't got the ILS frequancy dialled in & the course set for the AP (or runway heading on the VOR1 dial).

Have a look here for an ILS tutorial: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 1111322151

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[BFMF]

When i am coming to land i have trying to get the Approach Hold to work and land the plane for me...lazy i know

Wanna watch an aircraft land by itself? Youtube has thousands of cockpit videos....

[garymbuska]

Approach hold basically does what it states - it hold the ILS glideslope and runway heading through the entire approach. Do not confuse this with autoland though, as that is not what it does. You must disengage the autopilot shortly before landing, and flare the aircraft manually.
What you need to do is to set nav 1 to the ILS frequency of the runway and then set the course or obs to the heading of the runway, you then make sure your altimeter is set correctly. 8-)

[TSC.]

You also need to intercept the glideslope from below.

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[757200ba]

Well i guess the most important has been said dont confuse APP with autoland.Some planes dont have the sys.

[an-225]

You also need to intercept the glideslope from below.

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This is VERY important - my planes porpoised and chased the glideslope too, until I was told to intercept it from below.

[commoner]

Although the localizer is pretty accurate and finds the runway extremely  well (Providing you are set up correctly) I never found the glideslope to be quite so good.....I find that my a/c only follows the "down"slope if I get the speed and trim right; in other words; it's not auto land....commoner

[TSC.]

in other words; it's not auto land....commoner

Nail on the head there - I think the main problem with ILS is that a lot of newbies to the system mistake it for an autoland function. What they're really after is a big button marked 'Land Now'. There's a lot more to completing a successful ILS approach than just feeding the numbers into the AP.



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[Brett_Henderson]

There's a lot more to completing a successful ILS approach than just feeding the numbers into the AP.

Amen brother !  You should be able to land perfectly and effortlessly, sans autopilot, before even THINKING about flying an ILS approach.

And even then; you gotta be able to fly the ILS by hand before you start watching the autopilot do it.

[Nav]

And even then; you gotta be able to fly the ILS by hand before you start watching the autopilot do it.

Sorry, BrettHenderson, have to disagree. We've both done the 'hard yards' in real aeroplanes, having to do the whole thing 'by hand and eye' before we were ever allowed to use the 'aids' - but there's no need for us to inflict the same 'torture' on people who are just interested in flying to the extent of purchasing a fifty-buck game.

To refer to my own ILS tute, I stand by this advice, as being the most relevant to people trying out FS and interested in 'flying':-

[quote] You can also use a practice flight to work your way up to landing manually, instead of relying on the ILS. First turn off the auto-throttle early on, and practise handling the power yourself.

[commoner]

And even then; you gotta be able to fly the ILS by hand before you start watching the autopilot do it.

Sorry, BrettHenderson, have to disagree. We've both done the 'hard yards' in real aeroplanes, having to do the whole thing 'by hand and eye' before we were ever allowed to use the 'aids' - but there's no need for us to inflict the same 'torture' on people who are just interested in flying to the extent of purchasing a fifty-buck game.

better!

Got to agree with that...get in there ...you won't kill anybody....commoner

[Brett_Henderson]

Sorry, BrettHenderson, have to disagree. We've both done the 'hard yards' in real aeroplanes, having to do the whole thing 'by hand and eye' before we were ever allowed to use the 'aids' - but there's no need for us to inflict the same 'torture' on people who are just interested in flying to the extent of purchasing a fifty-buck game.

No need to apologize

[757200ba]

Well lets see if i can say anything, because this last post took me 2 hours to read.Bed time reading.

We all agree that the fun of flying is on HAND flight.But the thing is (talking about sim) we are presented with systems, and we like to test them.Specially when on a grey day with fog, we see the heavy metal landing like nothing was going on.

AP cames to play.Its very easy to say "dude read this".That reminds me when i took my instrument checkride, one of the things you learn is keep headings and fly leveled. To my surprise i done most of my exam on AUTOPILOT, even compass turns.
So we have someone with a app, ils problem so we should at least give them 3 pages of auto pilot to read, not demonstrate how admired we are, that people want to play with systems.
i know my english is not the best, but i hope you understand.

Dude (lol) app works with frequencies. ils localiser all those have them.
usually (acording to manuals) when you start the app your ap must be off. Some heavy metal turn it off at 1000 feet all depends on company politcs. Some have autoland, those do the entire job. SO explore. And most of all HAVE FUN.

WOW this is for bed time reading too.

[aviator_boy]

Hi,

slightly off topic here but what would be the best Alt above ground level to disengage autopilot ILS, i normally do it at around 150-200ft (let speed hold and main AP off) and flare and let the plane settle itself at it's landing speed.

by doing this, I get this: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_UlUF4_JCaA

I am not advertising by the way, I am just asking if this landing is acceptable by doing this. Do not click the link if you dont want to.

cheers