flying the airbus manually

[Guest king10]

hello i need help fast, im running flightsim 2002 and and i runningthe airbus pro series in it but i have a questionis it possible to engage the autopilot and disable the HDG hold that appears on the hsi cos wen i press the HDG button on it changes toNAV , , , , , i like to fly dme arcs manualy but have the a/p engagedto hold the altitude , , , , but because i engage the a/p the i cant turn the plane left or right unless i disconnect the a/p.......Is there a way i can engage the A/P to hold altitude and still be able to turn left or right manualy please help as its a big turn off for me thanks king 10 any

[Guest vrandar]

"Is there a way i can engage the A/P to hold altitude and still be able to turn left or right manualy"Ther is indeed. One of the crucial things you need to know about flying the Airbus is the difference between managed and selected modes. So with the autopilot engaged, in managed mode you push (left click) the heading, speed or alt knob and these parameters are controlled by what is in the fightplan in the MCDU, the constraints put in and so on. When you are in managed mode the speed and hdg in the FCU are shown as .--- but not the alt.But if you, for example, pull (right click) the heading knob you have Selected heading and what you dial in to the FCU is what is flown. You would use this for eaxmple with vectors given to you by ATC; you certainly wouldn't re-program the MCDU every time you were given a new vector. Even with heading in Selected mode you can still have the alt and speed in managed mode.Think of managed mode as being long term control and selected mode as short term control.Rob Elliott, EGPE InvernessPSS Airbus Support andAirbus Fleet Training Captain, British Airways Virtual airbus@speedbirdonline.co.ukhttp://www.speedbirdonline.co.uk/airbus.htmlhttp://www.bavirtual.co.uk