Hello everyone, can someone tell me the difference between the A/P disconnect bar and the A/P button? I`m just wondering witch one should I use in final when I have to disconnect the autopilot. Maybe some RL pilot can explain this. Thanks in advance, andalusi.

Hi there, The forum likes you to put your real name on posts. Not a real pilot but basically the disengage bar disconnects BOTH autopilots and prevents AP engagement. The autopilot button just disconnects that autopilot. Mark

When I am on final and want to disconnect A/P im using the A/P DISCONNECT on the YOKE and not the buttons on the MCP or BAR (but also no RW pilot)

I never use the hard disconnect bar, there is no need, I soft disconnect only.I have the disconnect buttons (both AP and AT) mapped to my flight stick.

I've been flying the 737 for ten years now and have never seen anyone use the disconnect bar. I think it there as a backup if all else fails. There are several ways to disconnect the AP but everyone pretty much uses the button on the yoke.

the disengage bar disconnects BOTH autopilots and prevents AP engagement. The autopilot button just disconnects that autopilot.

Hmmm. I don't think that's right. The last place I flew had us always plan an autoland, so you flew down the ILS with both A/P's. If I wanted to land manually, I used the yoke A/P disconnect both A/P's. Never used the bar in flight. I think I've touched it once on a pre-flight where it was down for some reason.

The disconnect bar is a HARD disconnect. A/P may not be activated when it's pulled, obviously. The yoke button is a "soft" disconnect, no physical disconnection in the system with this button. Use whichever is most convenient. (That's been mentioned a few times in this thread. Obviously setting the soft disconnect yoke switch to your hardware is more convenient, and the disconnect alarm can be silenced by pressing the yoke button again. As an aside, I've hear of real world cases of rare "uncommanded" A/P engagement with the bar up. I'm not sure as to the validity of the stories, but my 737 pilot friend mentioned it one time.

Thanks guys!

In real life you hard disconnect autopilot and auto throttle by pressing thumb buttons located on the actual control column and the thrust levers. The first time you press these thumb buttons these systems get disconnected and the disconnect bar will descend. Tone sounds and the corresponding disengage indicators will light up. For resetting these aural and visual warnings, you press these bluttons a second time. So, it is common to see some pilots go click click click click when they go manual.... and one more click just to make sure. Also, on boeings you'll hear the autopilot really disengaging mechanically from the control column. You can map keyboard commands for the disconnect bar and autothrottle in the CDU menu. Then you can map those keys to your yoke's buttons with FSUIPC.

I didn't even know where that disconnect bar was! First time I heard of it.

The forum likes you to put your real name on posts.

Yes, the full name. Not just the first name. If you can't keep yourself from playing deputy at least adhere to the rules yourself that you try to enforce.

Most pilots don't use the AP disengage bar (even in real life) when proceeding from automatic to manual flight. Either map the AP disengage to your joystick or a keyboard shortcut - this is called a soft AP disconnect.

No need to post over and over what everyone already posted before!

No need to post over and over what everyone already posted before!

I'd guess he's politely trying to correct your "use whichever is most convenient" comment.

I'd guess he's politely trying to correct your "use whichever is most convenient" comment.

This is a sim, unless I'm mistaken. So wouldn't you use whichever is most convenient? What if he's unable to use a hardware command for the soft disconnect? Use your head, Matt. This isn't pprune.