737 autopilot problem

[Guest calum1971]

Hi Guys, Most of the time when I swith the autopilot button on I can then click the necessary buttons to set heading and rate of climb etc. Sometimes though, The other lights won't go on when I press them and the plane starts doing dangerous things. If I keep trying and switching autopilot on and off, eventually it will work. Does anyone know how to stop this happening? I have looked for an answer in the manual. I am using only autopilot and not the FMC. Thanks Calum

[mburkhard 23]

>Sometimes though, The other lights won't go on when>I press them and the plane starts doing dangerous things. If I>keep trying and switching autopilot on and off, eventually it>will work. Calum,this is a somehwat vague description. What do you mean by "sometimes", the "other lights" and "dangerous things"? If the plane is doing something that you think it should not then you have to monitor the FMA to understand what's going on. So if you tell us what you do and what the plane is doing don't forget to include the things that are written on the FMA. This is much more important than the lights on the MCP.Also you say you don't use the FMC? Note that certain buttons on the MCP can only be used if the FMC is correctly programmed.Provide more information and I'm sure we'll be able to help you.Regards,Markus