I was happily flying along when I got an altitude warning from the atc, and went to see my altitude indicator, and saw nothing amiss, though it did seem like it had frozen, I then noticed autopilot disconnect, I tried reconnecting it,but my aircraft only went faster up, then, dropped like a rock when I tried to correct the issue. So what happened? I've noticed a pilot response thing once in awhile. Could I have accidentally hit the autopilot button or is this something that happens when you don't put in a response of some kind?

Pilot response is when you don't touch the controls for a while. It does not affect your autopilot.

 

What is important to note to figure out what exactly the AP is doing is the FMA. This can typically be found at the top of your PFD. Typically when you are at cruise it should say:

SPD | LNAV | VNAV PATH

 

The only alert I was getting was sp disconnect, could I have just accidentally disconnected it without knowing it or is there anything that would cause it to disconnect without any interaction from the user? As far as I'm aware I didn't touch my keyboard for awhile and was just watching the scenery go y.

I've had AP disconnects in the cruise 3 times now. The beta guys suggested a controller spike which is something I have never suffered from in any other PMDG a/c. Anyway, I added spike elimination into FSUIPC and it's now happened twice since. Each time the horns go off; LNAV, VNAV, AP remain lit and the aircraft starts to climb dramatically and above MCP altitude. Meanwhile "autopilot disconnect' is illuminated.

 

On all three occasions I hadn't touched the aircraft for quite some time, it was just sitting in the cruise. No idea what's causing it but next month's CTP is going to be a nervy affair with minimal trips to the fridge (which is bad news).

 

p.s. FMA reporting correctly in all cases.

.....with minimal trips to the fridge (which is bad news).

 

 

 

 

Move the fridge 

I'm experiencing this as well on long flights, and all AP indications on the PFD are normal. I'll try the FSUIPC spike elimination option, but I'm keen to hear if others have solved this differently. Thanks.