Autopilot - Help!

[Saitek]

Hi all!
I know how to work part of this, but I desperately need to know how to use the others if I'm to make any success of flying the Boeings.



I can do some;

To set a desired height to fly on I type in on the Altitude Set my height then selcect AP then ALT.

To make the plane fly in a wanted direction I put the bug on the compass on the heading and then press HDG.

But that's where my knowledge ends. NAV and APPR look so useful, and I was hoping they would be the key for me to master these big planes. I have no idea what YD, B/C or FD do either - but I guess they are not so important.
I would really appreciate all help here - please bear with me - I'm pretty thick!

MAny thanks,

Ben

[BiggBaddWolf]

I know YD stands for Yaw Damper, not really sure what it does, or if it even works in Flight Sim, BC stands for back course, it tracks the back course of an ILS, and FD stands for Flight Direction, and not really sure what it does, maybe someone else can answer those for ya.

[beefhole]

F/D stands for flight DirectOR, and it's probably the most important system on that kingair.  Anyone have a good link to an AP tutorial?

[logjam]

The Yaw damper(YD) is useful when flying in mild turbulence and some A/C need to use it to stop the porpoise effect. However, I find a lot of 'planes it don't work. If you select YD, you should de select on approach. Which brings me to the APP setting. This is your approach aid setting. Set your Nav 1 to the ILS setting from the Map. There's a whole thread here on how to use it. The NAV button sets the course to the VOR selected on NAV 1 or the GPS course on your flight plan. Use the  B/C setting when you have the ILS frequency set to the opposite R/W to the one you wish to land on. The FD selects the Flight Director, which doesn't do a blind thing in FS except show your aircraft's attitude on the flight director display. Hope that helps  :P

[Nexus]

Biggbaddwolf covered some things already I see  :)
YD is the yaw damper. and it is basically a gyro operated SAAS (stability augmentation autocontrol system)...yes yes very nifty name, but what does it actually do?
Well, the yaw damper provides immediate rudder input when necessary, to aid in cancelling out YAW tendencies, such as dutch rolls. Its an autopilot for the rudder that nullifies the yaw so you can keep your feet on the floor  :)

The FD computes and indicates on the attitude indicator - with the use of Command bars - the attitude required to obtain or maintain a pre-selected heading, altitude, route or approach profile.
The flight director is the master. I say so because that is what thew autopilot is slaved to. Whatever the FD does, the AP will do when engaged. You can use the flight director as a guiding tool aswell (ie flying without AP)

Backcourse is  A "reversed" ILS approach (you're approaching the runway from the opposite direction). Though the glideslope won't work, you still have LOC information. There have been a few discussions about Backcourse lately, I suggest you do a search, and the APR (APPROACH HOLD) has been brought up quite a few times aswell, so look that up while you're at it.
I know some posters had WONDERFUL replies which gives you all the information you need.  :)

[Saitek]

Thanks guys... I'll do a search before I come back.

[wji]

good to hear you're all over it
Hal Stoen's site is the place to go to learn all this stuff
Ron Blehm's article is a good read too.

fly hi,
billHal Stoen's site

[Saitek]

Hey, that looks great! Thanks a lot!
I'll be back sometime Monday or Tuesday hopefully to try it out. I doubt I'll be on before then.

Thanks all

Ben

[WebbPA]

Here's a good training site http://www.emeraldair.net/training.html

[Saitek]

Well I did an approach, and it went fine until the end.
It lined me up wih the runway and I was all set for a good landing and I was jumping up and down with excitement , but right at the end, about 200 ft from the runway the plane crashed into a tree as the autopilot had taken me in too low. It also seemed to go wonky right at the last minute too. I know I have to disconnect it, but this seemed to early. I also kept hearing a bleep every so many seconds too as soon as the thing tuned in.

Any pointers?

Much appreciated.

Ben

[chomp_rock]

I don't think the autopilot is meant to land your plane in a King air, just keep you on the ILS. When using a real approach hold I disconnect at 200ft and finish the approach myself.

[Saitek]

Oh ok! Perhaps I was expecting too much. Would I get a better response in a Boeing do you think?
Also is that bleep noise every few seconds normal?

Thanks

Ben

[Saitek]

Also, if you use this approach, do you have to reduce power, put on flaps, etc or can I just reduce power to something sensible and ignore flaps etc?
In other words, how much does this part of the autopilot actually do? I ask this for the big aircraft like the Boeings too.

Thanks


Ben

[MadDriver]

The only thing autopilot does on approach, is keep you on the localizer and glideslope.  You have to put your flaps down and maintain your speed in a King air.... in a boeing, you can use the Autothrottle to maintain your landing speed...

[WebbPA]

You can turn off the beeping (that's Morse code telling you which signal you're locked on) by clicking the NAV1 button on your radio panel.  It doesn't turn off the radio, it just stops the annoying beeping.