Simviation Forums

As I approach the runway on autopilot, must I turn off the autopilot or will it turn itself off when it reaches a certain point?
Thanks,
DF  

The autopilot won't autoland for you, or switch itself off - you'd normally switch it off yourself at around 2-300 feet and then land manually.

Well, I did do an autopilot-on landing once in a Mooney...it does take more work than manually landing the plane, though, and has a higher risk factor. Just switch the thing off when you call in to ATC for pattern entry instructions. It will make you a better pilot and make the sim funner to play. It will not shut itself off, most APs are running on 1970-80s technology or even earlier (APs have been around since the 30's).

I THINK most airline regs say you have to turn it off at 500 Feet AGL.  The rest is hand flown unless the aircraft and crew are rated for autoland.... and both plane and crew have flown the required number of landings in the last X days and so on and so on.

best,

...................john

It is possible to 'fool' the FS autopilot into making a kind of semi-automatic landing, but it relies on the pilot to cut the thrust. With the autopilot on and the APR selected, go to manual thrust control far enough out from the threshold so that you can stabilise the speed at about 4 to 5 knots less than you'd normally approach at. To stay on the glideslope, this will cause the aircraft nose to lift a little, so that when you get over the runway threshold, your main wheels will touch down first. Then cut the throttle as you normally would, and the plane should touch down OK.

Thanks guys! Also, are there planes which will say the countdown to touchdown?

This feature is normally provided by a gauge, often identified in the panel.cfg as a 'callout' gauge. If you want it on all your planes, identify one of your panels that has it, then copy-and-paste into the panel.cfgs that haven't got it (main window section):

- remembering to increment the gauge number by 1
- remembering to take a backup of the panel.cfg first.

This feature is normally provided by a gauge, often identified in the panel.cfg as a 'callout' gauge. If you want it on all your planes, identify one of your panels that has it, then copy-and-paste into the panel.cfgs that haven't got it (main window section):

- remembering to increment the gauge number by 1
- remembering to take a backup of the panel.cfg first.

Could anyone tell me of a panel that has this considering I do not have a plane with one?

if im flying the usual 737 i turn autopilot off when im just outside the ILS feather.

Could anyone tell me of a panel that has this considering I do not have a plane with one?

I believe it can be found on a few of these panels:

http://simviation.com/fs2004panels30.htm (The photoreal 747 panel)

http://simviation.com/fs2004panels23.htm (737 - 700 / 800 / 900 Series (Final Release) Panel)

Hope this helps.