Hello,I've read somewhere that a good airmanship is that during takeoff the SIDs to be flown by hand and AP to be angaged at the end of the procedure. My question is how can a SID be flown precisely by hand considering the height and speed restrictions, plus the continious heading changes on the same time?Does that applies to STARs too?

You could click vnav + lnav and follow the flight director. Its really straight forward.As for "if it applies to STARs as well", it depends. Some companies require the pilots to enable autopilot as quickly as possible during the departures, and as late as possibly during the approaches, other companies leaves it up to the pilots. Pilots do in general prefer to fly the plane tho, instead of relying on the automatics.

I'd never do that in FSX. Keep in mind that in real life there are two pilots sharing the workload. Within the sim, it's difficult to operate all the switches and knobs with mouse and keyboard and at the same time, fly the airplane. Not impossible, but why struggle when there's an autopilot. But I am sure there are people who love hand flying SIDs and STARs. The NGX is still one of the easier airplanes to be handflown, it is great fun to handfly it, and can be trimmed precisely.

I once flew dfw to las with only the fd guidance, no at or ap from wheels up to down. It'll keep you on your toes. Trim is the key!

Hello,I've read somewhere that a good airmanship is that during takeoff the SIDs to be flown by hand and AP to be angaged at the end of the procedure. My question is how can a SID be flown precisely by hand considering the height and speed restrictions, plus the continious heading changes on the same time?Does that applies to STARs too?

SOP for most airlines today (I have not said ALL) is to use AP and AT as much as possible for the most efficient operation on modern aircraft.Yes the aircraft systems do it better than the real life human in some respects.egOne local Airbus operator engages AP at wheels off and disengages at 50FT above threshold. Similarly for a boeing operator..AP on at 400FT (cause you can't engage below that ) and off at 50FT.some pilots do hand fly for recency BUT company SOP encourages use of AP and AT.High fuel prices..better aircraft efficiency..AP and ATnot sure who would say its good airmanship to hand fly a SID and STAR UNLESS company SOP dictates departure and arrival procedures will be hand flown below MSA though for the life of me that gives the crew an added workload they could do without in critical phases of flight.my 2.2 cents worth (GST or VAT inc)

Ryanair pilots fly the approaches manually in most (99 percent) cases, at least those I flew with based in EIDW.

Doing the workload of 2 people is tough. I do like to hand fly at least to 10k feet. any speed, altitude, heading changes you just set on the mcp and follow the fd.

I fly all approaches from 1000ft to the gate and I fly from the gate up to 1500ft .Then and only then do I engage/disengage the autopilot.Keeps you sharp and the feeling of accomplishment is very rewarding. After a few times the procedures (the flaps and gear etc. ) are 2nd nature.

I usually hand fly up to 5000 on the SID and I always disconnect the AP above 2500 on approaches (in good WX). Much more enjoyable and when you have FS2Crew doing a lot of the work it isn't hard at all :)Ethan

Building up on Ethans post, FS2Crew can be especially helpful with MCP commands when handflying.

Disconnect at 50ft? Seriously? That sounds.... I don't know whats the word but needlessly risky. I'd prefer to get stabilized in manual flight with a bit more time than that.Regards,GeorgeP.s. fs2crew is indeed the solution to workload management!

Thank you all for your valuable answers and opinions.To me it was obvious that engaging AP and AT at the early stages of an SID it minimizes the aircrew workload till I saw that article God knows where was it. On the other hand, think of aircrews that flying long distances. Perhaps they perform 2 takeoffs and 2 landings per month. This is not good for getting an experience. So logically some SOPs perhaps they demand from their aircrew to perform handflying the SIDs STARs takeoffs and landings. Contrary to the crews that fly regional routes.

Ryanair pilots fly the approaches manually in most (99 percent) cases, at least those I flew with based in EIDW.

Since Ryanair is king in fuel-saving that sounds weird.Bert Van Bulck

I think the key to hand-flying a SID is to have a plan. Think ahead. Certainly when you fly the thing by yourselve.About real life, most has been said already. Automation can take away a lot of work from the crew. Any decend pilot can judge wether he needs it or not. There are airports and times you would avoid flying anything by hand because of the path complexity, noise abatement, altitude restraints, ATC commanded step climbs and traffic density. (not to talk about fatigue, fuel bonusses and other factors). Thinking about it, you must be nuts to become a pilot these days :)I once saw a video on youtube of a 747 departing from EGLL wherer the crew had their hands full even flying on autopilot.Bert Van Bulck

I allways fly the SID manual till I´m on 10.000ft. The only help I do have is FD and VNAV+LNAV engaged. It´s really easy and keeps you trained. And on approach I disconnect the AP when I´m at the GS interception point and handfly the rest.