So what is this "warning" sound I hear on nearly every flight :

 

1. cruising

2. only amber lights overhead on pressurization panel is "Auto Fail" and cruise altitude has been replaced by a series of dashes

3. goes away when autopilot disabled.

 

I have flown many tutorial flights and studied documents, but cannot seem to find a source.

 

Dave

That's your pressurization failing, something isn't set up right. Are you setting your cruising altitude on the overhead during pre-flight?

 

Bigger question: Are you running through the Normal Procedures to correctly configure the aircraft and then the Normal Checklists to check that the important things are done? I'm specifically thinking of the first 2 items on the After Takeoff Checklist, I suspect your answer lies at least partially there. Also in the Before Taxi Checklist there's an item about the Isolation Valve.

Failing to set the cruise altitude should not cause an AUTO FAIL. There have been a couple posts that sound similar to this. Check this thread out. http://forum.avsim.net/topic/422254-overhead-autofail-on-and-autopilot-unresponsive/

Thanks, Steve, for the reply.  I usually follow procedures exactly and set cruise altitude in the Pressurization pane, but may have changed it during flight doing a step climb ( I suppose it should be changed if you change your cruise altitude during flight ?).

 

I shall have to particularly conscious of this information from now on.

 

Dave

Did you forget to turn the PACKS back on after engine start?

Or the pressurisation mode selector could be set to manual? Then flying above 10000f.

Thanks for the suggestions.  I sometimes miss some checklist items in my "hurry up" mode.

 

Dave

Thanks for the suggestions.  I sometimes miss some checklist items in my "hurry up" mode.

 

Dave

You can hurry, but at the minimum try to at least hit the recall and see if you've missed anything.