I was always afraid I would have to write a post like this one day: confessions of an autopilot. Here's my problem:Since 5 years I have always used the autopilot to take off my planes (simply engage the altitude hold of the autopilot, and off you go...). Great, because I did not need to use a joystick and so I could play FS on my laptop without having to carry around a joystick. And I never had to worry about things like trim.But with the Project Airbus this does not really work: the plane takes off but does not take up enough speed or even stalls. Can anyone give me some procedures? 1) By how much do I need to lift the nose, how much trim do I need to apply? 2) At what point can I engage the autopilot? 3) When flying on autopilot, how much climbrate can the PSS Airbus take?4) For all of this: do I absolutetly need a joystick, given that trim and nose can also be controlled over the keypad?No need to give me other explanations, I am familiar with gear and flaps and lights and all of that, I simply have never MANUALLY flown a plane in my entire years of FS...Thanks

Hello there,I don't know if this will work specifically with the PA A320s, but I've noticed something with most FS2002 aircraft that have animated stabilizors instead of trim tabs. If you engage the autopilot too soon, the stabs tend to automatically move to the 'fully down' position (I've experienced this with the MJ 777, FFX 737 series, and the PA A320). To prevent this from happening, what I normally do is set the autothrottle and flight director, and manually adjust the trim during the takeoff roll. Once Vr speed is reached, I switch on the autopilot and alt hold button, and I'm off! Try that and see if it works for you. I dont have a specific trim setting to give you; just try trimming up as you roll down the runway (perhaps 3 or 4 notches if you use the mouse). Good luck.George

Are you flying Project Airbus's Freeware A320, or PSS payware A32x series? If you are using the PSS bus, then you really need to get into the manual a bit deeper. You should check the part about the different throttle modes.

I am using the payware version.What are animated stabilisers (gosh, how ignorant can one be after several years of simming and several hundred takeoffs and landings...)?

The PSS airbus is a complicated plane. It is one of the only add-ons for FS which you cannot just hop into and take off. You really need to go through the tutorial flight a few times. Don't get discouraged, many of us went through the same troubles getting going.

No, not frustrated yet... actually good news to know there still are some challenges out there.Just to come back to one of my questions: is this plane flyable without a joystick?

I've always flown the PSS bus on a laptop only (the budget could'nt support a desktop too :) - but someday soon!)- this is where the autoflight capabilities of the bus really come in handy.First - you will never be able to control the ailerons and elevators without a joystick, but you can control the rudder for ground steering (i reasssign laft/down/right arrow keys for laft/right/centered rudder)To take off: i usually input 4up trim before rolling, then add more trim up at v1, yes v1 so that at vr she usually lifts off herself - its nasty I know but effective - then engage autopilot at 100ft.From then on its managed and selected guidance till touchdown. I know I'm missing a lot without the stick, but still a lot of fun.this is all of course assuming you already know every other blessed thing about correctly preparing and autoflying this marvellous aircraft.Regards,Markps: I find it useful to save a copy of fs2002.cfg just for the pss bus - easier than having to reassign keys every time.