Question about autopilot and gps

[Demious]

I'm new to flightsims and I"m trying to figure out now how to work with autopilot and gps and ran into some questions. It would be very appreceated if someone could help me out here.

To start, I have my flightplan programmed through the menu-bar on top, which appears in my gps system, but I cant find how to get the plain to follow the plan on autopilot. Could someone please explain to me how to do this?

When I program my approach, I often get a pattern that doesnt start at the point my flightplan sends me to. I sometimes get a pattern that makes one continuing line, but mostly it seems to me the GPS wants me to teleport from the end of my last route, several miles across the map, to the start of the approach. Of course I can just pick a random path to fly there, but closing on an airport it seems unlikely to me that I just choose a path allong the crowded airspace, to find my approach directions. Can anyone advise me to an explination on how to fly into the approaches, from the last route of the flightplan?

[rvtmendoza]

I cant also make my plane follow the path from the gps on autopilot, but there is a nav/gps switch on the panel. I think it holds the key.

[Radio Homer]

well this is what i do to get it to follow the GPS

i load the flight plan
climb up to alt i want
then turn on the autopilot
followed by flicking the switch from nav to gps
then engage the VOR/LOC autopilot


it also depends on what aircraft you are flying i based the above on a Boeing 737-800

[rvtmendoza]

So that is what is missing in the steps I am making. Cant believe simple things do great effects

[Demious]

Thanks Homer, I found what went wrong, the plane I was trying this with doesnt seem to have the NAV/GPS button, at least I cant find it anywhere.
Tried it with another plane and it indeed works now.

Mendoza, this is what I did:
I started with loading my flightplan from the menubar on top, took off and then switch the NAV/GPS button to GPS, but also turn on NAV on the autopilot itself(thats another things where I went wrong, I didnt figure this button would be needed for the GPS as well), instead of HDG. For me the native mooney bravo was a very clear plane to try this with and I saw the native Cessna C172 isnt that much different. If you try one of those, dont use the glass-panel versions, those got way more buttons to get lost in.
And I also finaly found a video for autopilot landing, from someone who doesnt explain like we all already know everything, maybe this will help you a little further as well.

http://www.youtube.com/my_favorites?feature=mhum

Good luck.

[Demious]

I indeed got several aircrafts that have no NAV/GPS swtich, mostly glass-panel models, but also others. How do I connect autopilot to the GPS in those models?

[rvtmendoza]

Thank you demious for the link, but I prefer landing aircrafts manually. It give me more experience and a challenge, even though I crash most of the time in jets and repeat it over and over again

As for your question, maybe there is a control button for the nav/gps switch.

[D. Miller]

I had this same problem when I started using FSX.  Not all my planes had a NAV/GPS button or switch that was on the VC or panel.  I went into where you make keyboard shortcuts and mapped a keystroke to the NAV/GPS toggle.  I believe the default is CTRL+N.

Hope this helps

[Demious]

CRTL-N is mapped to the NAV button on the auto-pilot, if I'm right, I think the NAV/GSP is not mapped at all, by default. I got it at CTRL-G now, but the problem is here that you cant on the panel in which possition it is, when you do it like this.
And me begin a total noob and with everything I have to think of when flying the plane, I tend to forget, hehe.

However, with the glasspanel models it doesnt seem to work, they also dont have the radio-stack as the older models do, so they're wouldnt be a NAV-function, but only GPS, am I right?