I know you 727 folks are going to blow me out of the water but "How does one get the Autopilot Engaged". I'm an old aircraft engine maintainer that strongly beleives in use of checklist but just have not been able to figure it out. Completed Tutorial flight No. 1 tonight flying manual. Have flown other 727s with no autopilot problems. I love flying the aircraft - manual with about seven hours but ATC kills me with alt deviations. Thanks much!Erv/KSDFASUS P4C 8000-E Deluxe, P4 3.0,Win XP Home Editions Service Pack IIATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128 MB2ea Corsair 512 MB DDR400 PC3200 Double DataAntec SL400 W 12V ATX Power SupplySeagate 40 GB 7200 RPM

Erv, one thing to check, make sure the yaw damper is on ( overhead panel). Autopliot kicks off if this is not engaged. The autopilot switches are on the center console. Best regards, Jeff

Erv, As mentioned earlier, make sure the yaw dampers are ON. Also make sure the electrical system is on-line.regards,Macs.

Ops! Egg on my face. How did I over look the darn yaw dampers - thought they were on with the switch cover closed. Got think "detail"! What a super job DF did with this program. Thanks much folks! Now back to flying with those ATC folks off my back. Thanks again.Erv

Followup. Completed the Tutorial flight No.1 again last night - great with autopilot. Thanks again you'll.Erv

Hi ErvDon't miss out on the joy of hand flying her all the way.With all the high tech offerings now available, I use my DF727 to get back to the basic joys of flying/navigating and ignore the somewhat basic autopilot anyway.Wonder how others feel?RegardsGraeme

You are correct Graeme - hand flying this thing is a joy and is truly awesome. Thanks for sharing!Erv

And you can of course have similar fun hand flying the modern jets as well. I've got both the PMDG 747 and LDS 767 and spend a lot of time doing visual circuits or cross country jaunts with basic radio nav - mainly because I can't be bothered to set up a long flight plan in the FMC. The 767 in particular is excellent for some low-level VFR flying - get it nicely trimmed out at 2,000 ft at say 220 knots with a bit of flap and you're laughing!!! :-lol I haven't got the 727 but I'm weakening - don't think I've heard a bad word against it. I may get it when the CD comes out (soon I hope)See youIan

>Hi Erv>>Don't miss out on the joy of hand flying her all the way.>>With all the high tech offerings now available, I use my DF727>to get back to the basic joys of flying/navigating and ignore>the somewhat basic autopilot anyway.>>Wonder how others feel?>>Regards>>GraemeI have not bought this one yet, but I will soon. I fly all my modern aircraft (PDMG NG etc) by hand until I hit cruise, and I fly the stars/decents by hand. Although the ATC as good as it is; compared to not having anything. It can be a challenge trying to acknowledge all those course changes on approach, when they are being fired at you like from a rapid fire cannon :-eekFor short hauls on my PDMG737-700, I plot my course/cargo and hit LNAV and VNAV sans the autopilot and fly that baby through all kinds of weather. FMC is not all about automation to me (although it is quite capable of it quite well) But it is about efficient use of the aircraft resources. Pretty accurate in todays ever rising cost of everything.