What the heck does Flight Director do???

[Dillon 2,197]

Hi All,Can someone please tell me what good is flight director??? Everytime I turn the thing on all it shows me is a useless cross. I could see if it helped with the ILS but no it just sits there useless. Maybe it's just my setup but I really see no need for a useless crosshair just sitting on my display. It's really useless on the Bonanza because all you get is two pink diamonds that serve no purpose at all, I just shut the thing off most of the time. Also does anyone know why at 30,000 ft (or any altitude ware jet trails are visible) my jet smoke trails are either off to the left or the right of my aircraft? I thought at first it was due to the wind untile I started looking up at airliners overhead and found that they appear to flow directly behind the plane just as it should be. Just wondering and thanks for any feedback you guys can give...Leo--

[Guest Joshieca]

The director controls the creative side of the project and the producer controls everything else, including the money.....oh wait that's for film....sorry.... :-lol [br][br][div align=center]http://members.cox.net/joshieca/fstimeslink.gif

[Tabs 2,790]

The flight director shows you what the autopilot is commanding the aircraft to do.Try this:Load up the default 737, take off, turn on the FD, but DON'T turn on the autopilot. (CMD) Now, on the autopilot controls - raise the altitude and V/S and change the heading - activate the autopilot HDG and ALT modes. Notice how the Flight Director moves, showing you what the autopilot would do to command those values you've entered in. As long as you fly the plane so that the horizontal and vertical bars are centered, you're "flying the director." You can engage the autopilot, or continue to manually fly the plane to match what the FD is commanding...

[michal 44]

Leo,FD is one of those instruments that professional pilots happen to use a lot. After having "flown" in 767PIC for countless hours I can't imagine flying without the Flight Director.What it is for ? It gives you all the cues when you want to fly the aircraft manually but with great precision. The question however remains whether a simulated FD in FS works correctly. There is nothing more useless than a FD that gives you wrong information. There are some notable add-on payware aircraft that unfortunately belong to this category. However FD works correctly on the default Lear in FS2002 (didn't try other aircraft) and it of course works superbly in the 767PIC. It works well on the freeware ERJ-145 too.If you still doubt what FD is for and whether it is even important - search this forum for a word "DUD" and you will come across a huge post by a real 747 pilot with a title "Is your Flight Director a DUD ?". I highly recommend to read it in its entirety.Michael J.

[Guest artl]

Another link you might want to check:http://www.stoenworks.com/Tutorials/Flight%20Directors.htmlArt.

[Dillon 2,197]

Thanks all for the feedback by the way, what do you all make of the jet trails the vear to the left or right of the aircraft when flying at high altitude??? That was my other question....

[Guest Tim W]

That is due to wind effects at altitude. your aircraft is compensating for crosswinds. The effect in FS is a little unrealistic as the jet trails are not subject to winds, only your aircraft.RegardsTim