Fellow simmers, I wonder if I could ask your helpI've noticed on my recent flights that about 400 feet from touchdown, usually flying an ILS approach, the nose of my a/c suddenly pitches forward and looses the glideslope. It doesn't matter what airport (ie, which scenery designer) and has happened to me with the Posky 757 and IFDG A320 and A321. Is there something wrong with my sim (are we talking a dreaded re-instal) is it pilot error, or the aircraft? As I say, its only begun happening recently.I look forward to your observations.Rob

I've noticed that too, it appears to be sometype of glitch with some ILSs. But by 400' agl you should be able to see the runway and if not, you've only got 200' to go until you hit CAT I minimums. Just hand fly it the last few feet.

Yeah, you're right, it's just odd it happens sometimes and not others. But, as you say, it's hand-flyable from there - just catches me out if I'm still on AP in an Airbus. Now I've just got to master the FeelThere CRJ...Rob

I always like to take control of my aircraft and hand fly it once I am on final, assuming I can see the runway of course. I believe that is closer to the way pilots fly in real life.Anyway, on my FS9, a lot of times I switch off the A/P on short final at around 400-2000 feet (by pressing the 'z' key on my keyboard), and the aircraft also does some weird things like trying to climb by itself and becoming hard to control.Ideally, after flying a stable ILS approach on final, I should be able to hit the 'z' key to stop the auto pilot and the aircraft should continue flying in the same path; but it doesn't, it doesn't react well when I switch off the A/P. I don't remember FS2002 having that 'feature'.This happends regardless of what aircraft I am flying, it happends on all aircraft. Is it only me?

It'd a well known aspect of FS slightly cranky autopilot. The a/p uses the trim system for elevator control. If you're not in trim when you engage the a/p, you won't be in trim when you disengage it either, and it will pitch exactly like you describe. Trouble is, for long flights that can be hour(s) ago, so its easy to forget.Trim the aircraft before applying the a/p and all will be well. If you're picking the flight up from a descent profile, briefly disengage the a/p and get trimmed manually, then re-apply the a/p.Allcott

The only time I see this is if my airspeed is too high for the approach. I believe what happens is the autopilot strugles to stay on the glideslope and when disengaged the aircraft readjusts its attitude. I just try to pay close attention to airspeed but as Allcott says proper trim should do the trick.David

Do real aircraft auto-pilots use the trim system for elevator control?I know you recommend to disengage the A/P at one point to trim the aricraft, but the problem is, since th A/P un-trims the plane, whenever I disengage the A/P, the airplane goes half crazy and for a few seconds it is hard to control.

No, real autopilots don't usually use the trim system. And it's not the autopilot that is `un-trimming`, it's the user. If the aircraft is in trim before the a/p is activated, it will stay in trim after it's disengaged. If it's not, it won't.That's why setting the correct trim is as important in FS as it is in the real world, and why force feedback with FS Force addon is the best approximation of real-life trim you can get.Allcott

It may also have to do with the postion of your joystick (if that's what you use). I've noticed that if I don't have my joystick centered when disengaging AP, I get a major pitch change. When my joystick is centered, I may get some minor pitch change, but it is easy to overcome.Alex M.

That's interesting, I'm using a yoke - so maybe that needs watching. In fact, it's occurred after installing CH control manager - before I used the default XP calibration wizard. I might change back.Rob