Let me just first of all say that I am a newbie to prop planes. Love the work you have done with the j41! I have a question regarding A/P and climbing to a specific altitude: I press the ALT on the mcu and the aircraft will hold at the altitude I am currently at or passing (if Im in a climb while pressing ALT and engaging AP the AC will start descending towards the alt I was at when engaging ALT). If I have selected FL160 by the alt select knob and press the alt select button on the MCU, it will only light up with "ARM". Why is that? The tutorial says that the alt button is actually working as a hold and select button at the same time, and if you are in a climb it will automatically assume that you want to climb to current alt select. At least that is how I read it. Why do we then have the separate alt select button on the mcu? As you understand, I am confused :) The tutorial is not going into any specifics here, so some help will be truly appreciated!

Let me just first of all say that I am a newbie to prop planes. Love the work you have done with the j41! I have a question regarding A/P and climbing to a specific altitude: I press the ALT on the mcu and the aircraft will hold at the altitude I am currently at or passing (if Im in a climb while pressing ALT and engaging AP the AC will start descending towards the alt I was at when engaging ALT). If I have selected FL160 by the alt select knob and press the alt select button on the MCU, it will only light up with "ARM". Why is that? The tutorial says that the alt button is actually working as a hold and select button at the same time, and if you are in a climb it will automatically assume that you want to climb to current alt select. At least that is how I read it. Why do we then have the separate alt select button on the mcu? As you understand, I am confused :) The tutorial is not going into any specifics here, so some help will be truly appreciated!

Hi!I haven

I am aware of the "altitude Select" button on the MCU. It's the one that only goes in to "arm" when I press it, and I wonder why it only arms and doesnt become active?

I am aware of the "altitude Select" button on the MCU. It's the one that only goes in to "arm" when I press it, and I wonder why it only arms and doesnt become active?

From what I can gather is seems altsel pre-arms the autopilot system to capture whatever altitude you have selected on the alt knob. When the selected altitude is reached then altsel extinguishes and alt hold take place.RegardsBryan Finegan.

So will that mean that you cannot engage AP before you have reached your altitude? If you try to push back the stick to get the nose up for a climb, the AP disconnects. So will you have to use the V/S to climb then?

So will that mean that you cannot engage AP before you have reached your altitude? If you try to push back the stick to get the nose up for a climb, the AP disconnects. So will you have to use the V/S to climb then?

From the tutorial:As you climb through 800

I use V/S intially to hold 1200 fpm (1000 if I am heavy or high) while she accelerates to 170 then change to IAS mode.Selecting ALT alone does not get you to the desired altude if you are not there, there is no VNAV per se. Use IAS or VS modes to get you there climbing or descending. Use ALTSEL to capture the altitude when you get there otherwise IAS or VS modes will keep on going up or down.

I generally wait until flap retraction and use IAS set to 170knots (set it with the selector wheel) and with alt select armed it will capture the selecte altitude. Or you can use VS.Alt select wont accend/decend for you, it will just capture the selected alt when you reach it. You will hear the aural tone 1000 feet from capture and you will see the selected alt flash and change colour on the EADI (top right corner).

Yep, ALT SELECT allows a capture of a pre-selected ALT... you need a pitch mode to get you there, either V/S or IAS... your choice... Andrew