Autopilot

"John Gaquin" wrote

Of course, all plans are amendable. ;-) In the 747, there was
time for newspaper, dinner, coffee, a nice nap, and breakfast.
That plane carries too damned much fuel!!

Yeah, but it sure cut down on trips to the airport! :-)
That's why I preferred the 707 over the 727, never did the 747.
11 hours in a 707 was long enough for me.

Bob

"Bob Moore" wrote in message

Yeah, but it sure cut down on trips to the airport! :-)

Too true!

That's why I preferred the 707 over the 727, never did the 747.
11 hours in a 707 was long enough for me.

I can't imagine doing 11 hours in a 707, frankly. Long legs weren't so bad
in the 747, particularly since most of my 747 time was cargo, where there
was no aft cockpit bulkhead, and an open upper deck. It was like having a
40' long cockpit. Of course, in cargo you get loaded to the gills, so long
legs (over 7 hours) were relatively rare - ferries, usually. Had one
contract where we'd fly loaded Kennedy-Moscow with a fuel stop at Prestwick,
but we weren't allowed to carry cargo outbound. We would overnight in the
hotel there at SVO, and then ferry to Hong Kong the next day. Not permitted
to overfly China, we would go all the way east in Russian airspace, and then
down the coast to HKG. About 11 hours. God I hated that trip! :-)

wrote:
Salutations All,

I know this isn't a flight-simulator group, but I've got a question
for all the real pilots out the In general, how much do commercial
aviation pilots use their auto-pilot?

I've been spending time learning IFR navigation in FS 2004, and while
up and about I'm constantly getting different instructions from the
controllers, things like "climb to FL200" or stuff like that. What
I've found, though, is that the easiest way to make these minor
course and altitude corrections is to just punch it into the
autopilot, and let it do the work. This is, of course, exceptionally
boring - and thus my question!

Anyways, any insights anyone can give would be most appreciated!
Thanks!

Bryan Porter
==

Many commercial aircraft have an Altitude Pre-select window on a Flight
Guidance Control Panel or something similar. The autopilot will not go
through that pre-selected altitude even if the Flight Management System has
a further altitude selected. On preflight the routes and altitudes are
preprogrammed into a computer which can (if engaged) control through the
autopilot. Say you filed for a cruise altitude of FL 350 and entered it
into the computer. After takeoff during climb to cruise altitude ATC
doesn't normally clear you to the final altitude due to traffic. The
computer/AP tries to climb to the cruise altitude but when it encounters the
last ATC clearance altitude which the crew always sets in the Alitude Alert
window it levels off. Some aircraft automatically switch to altitude hold
and others may enter a cruise level mode. When ATC clears you to a higher
altitude it is set in that window and Vertical Nav (FMS) or another climb
mode will continue the climb to that new altitude.

--

Darrell R. Schmidt
B-58 Hustler History: http://members.cox.net/dschmidt1/
-

"Dan Foster" wrote in message ...
In article ,
.Blueskies. wrote:

The 747 has been capable of this for years, since ~69 or so. The pilot
does have to advance the throttles though...

With the 744, I don't believe VNAV kicks in until 400 ft AGL. Below
400', you've got LNAV/FD/autothrottles.

-Dan

Yup, folks don't realize they are flying in a human monitored robot...

When the L-1011 came out, the joke was that the pilot sat
behind a glass wall and had a hammer in case of an
emergency.

On the other hand, a couple of rubber bands will serve in a
J3 for a while.



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


".Blueskies." wrote in
message
t...
|
| "Dan Foster" wrote in message
...
| In article
,
| .Blueskies. wrote:
|
| The 747 has been capable of this for years, since ~69
or so. The pilot
| does have to advance the throttles though...
|
| With the 744, I don't believe VNAV kicks in until 400 ft
AGL. Below
| 400', you've got LNAV/FD/autothrottles.
|
| -Dan
|
| Yup, folks don't realize they are flying in a human
monitored robot...
|
|

"Ramapriya" wrote in message

Don't ask me why such Airbuses aren't certified for pilotless flight;
union pressures, perhaps )

Unmanned flight has been feasible for several years. There is no concerted
effort to implement such a program in the airline world for the simple
reason that no one would get on the airplane.

".Blueskies." wrote in message

The 747 has been capable of this for years, since ~69 or so. The pilot
does have to advance the throttles though...


Not in all cases. I flew -100s and -200s. Some of the -200s were
autothrottle equipped.

".Blueskies." wrote in message

Yup, folks don't realize they are flying in a human monitored robot...


You don't get paid for pushing the button.

You get paid for knowing which button to push.

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
news
Unmanned flight has been feasible for several years. There is no
concerted
effort to implement such a program in the airline world for the simple
reason that no one would get on the airplane.

Basically, "If I'm going to die in this plane, I want there to be a
reasonable chance that the pilot will also"...

John Gaquin opined

".Blueskies." wrote in message

Yup, folks don't realize they are flying in a human monitored robot...


You don't get paid for pushing the button.

You get paid for knowing which button to push.

Don't you really get paid to know what to do when there isn't a right button to
push?

-ash
Cthulhu in 2005!
Why wait for nature?