Once I engage either heading hold or heading select, I cannot disengage them. I can shift back and forth btwn hold and select, but can't get out to fly the plane by hand. Bear with me as I just got this bird yesterday.Thanks, Adam

Hey Adam, no worries, we've all been there. Here's what you do. Pull down the auto pilot dissconect bar on the right of the MCP just under the three CMD buttons or just hit Z on your keyboard. Best Wishes,Randy J. [email protected]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"AMD XP 2100 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ] K7S5A MB |[b]GF3 64 MEG |WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"

Hi Adam,I must tell you: you HAVE to READ THE MANUAL!!!!!This is not an average FS-airliner. This is a "real airliner". Things you've maybe learned, flying with FS, are not the same here.One example is the "problem" you mentioned. In most real airliners you're not able to engage the autopilot without engaging any (so called) mode (e.g. HDG, LNAV, and so on). You can only disengage the different mode by disengaging the autopilot master. Regards,Watsi

Its an all or nothing principle ;-)You can either have the a/p engaged to control vertical and lateral modes, or nothing at all :-)Ian

Thanks guys for the help.Ian, is this the case for the real aircraft? I had PMDG's 777 for Fly! - an incredibly complex a/c to fly - and I seem to remember that I was able to disconnect heading hold during flight with AP engaged.Watsi and Randy, I did disconnect the AP last night, but the heading hold/select would not de-highlight on the HSI. I used to know the complete procedures for the 777, but I will take the advice and read the appropriate manual sections as recommended.Thanks again, AdamA wonderful panel!Oh and Randy, thanks for you HOW TO on the merge. I followed it and it worked great. And ofcourse thanks to Lee of course for making the merge possible.

Yes its true adam...On the dc-10 there is another mode we use. Its called cws or control wheel steering. There are two types available. The most frequently used type alows you to steer the aircrafts heading with the yoke while the ap is engaged and maintains altitude. Very similar to the old flight sim. This mode is selected by pressing the cws button on the flight guidance panel. The other mode acts as super power steering by maintaing what ever bank or attitude you place the aircraft in. Its engaged with the auto pilot levers...There are a few commercial and military jets with this feature...rich

"I did disconnect the AP last night, but the heading hold/select would not de-highlight on the HSI." Adam, this seems a bit odd. What patches did you use? Are you running FS2002?Best Wishes,Randy J. [email protected]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"AMD XP 2100 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ] K7S5A MB |[b]GF3 64 MEG |WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"

No, this is not odd. The autopilot is not flying the aircraft any more but it is still calculating the commands and driving the flight director. The only way to remove the annunciations from the EADI (not the HSI, Adam) is to turn off the flight director.

>There are a few commercial and military jets with >this feature...... including (some) 767s and 737s. It doesn't seem to be a very popular feature among many airlines though, so as far as I understand pilots are not encouraged to use it, and some airlines have it removed. (Look at the "empty buttons" below the CMD switches on the 767 PIC MCP - there used to be CWS switches there.)Martin767 fetishistIt's a lot like life and that's what's appealing

OOPS, I misread that, thought he meant the light on the HDG SEL button heheBest Wishes,Randy J. [email protected]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"AMD XP 2100 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ] K7S5A MB |[b]GF3 64 MEG |WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"

You know it is strange alot more pilots dont use it....In the kc-10 we will usualy use cws while circling to a runway at minimums or while refueling an aircraft in the ar track. The autopilot will abruptly rack the aircraft to the bank setting quickly causing the guy on the boom to fall off. So when approaching the turn its easier to select cws and gently roll into the bank making it easier for the reciever aircraft.......rich

Hi Randy, Sorry for the late reply to your post.Yes, I can disconnect the autopilot. It just seems strange to me that you can't just deactivate heading hold and still have such functions as alt hold. Surely this cannot be the case for the real aircraft. What if you just wanted to steer but manitain a level alt?I doubt that the real world pilots would have to trim and use yoke to keep level.As mentioned in a previuos post, I used PMDG's wonderful 777 for Fly2 and I could disconnect heading hold while maintaining alt hold etc.Oh well.Thanks, Adam

Hi Rich,Thanks. I understand what you're saying, but am I right that one cannot do this with PIC?Adam

No, CWS is not available on PIC. Only a few real 767/757's have CWS, but as stated above, pilots are not encouraged to use it. In this regard, 767PIC's autopilot works the same as the real one. The only way to get rid of all modes is to disconnect the AP and disengage both (on 767PIC only one) FD.Hope this clears it up for ya,RegardsMark

Actually, that's EXACTLY how a real airplane works.And a real world pilot absolutely does "have to trim and use yoke to keep level". That's what flying is. Even a student with less than 2 hours is going to be doing precisely that. In fact, he'll have no option because a) trainers don't have autopilots (generalization but mostly true) and :( no instructor would let him do otherwise.cz