Setting Altitude with Garmin Auto Pilot Question

[tripper721 5]

I'm not sure if this is a broken AP issue or if I'm doing it wrong. When flying one of the prop planes, I'm able to turn on AP for altitude, but it seems to set the altitude to where my plane was at that level. But when I go and try to increase my altitude with the knobs, while the setting on the Garmin changes, the plane doesn't climb to that altitude. Is that a bug with AP or am I doing it wrong?

[ryanbatc 12,846]

Just now, tripper721 said:

I'm not sure if this is a broken AP issue or if I'm doing it wrong. When flying one of the prop planes, I'm able to turn on AP for altitude, but it seems to set the altitude to where my plane was at that level. But when I go and try to increase my altitude with the knobs, while the setting on the Garmin changes, the plane doesn't climb to that altitude. Is that a bug with AP or am I doing it wrong?

Which acft?  I've found some are like how they were in FSX.  Some will work correctly.

[Kopteeni 819]

I think you need to go to VS mode after setting the target altitude and then enter your rate of climb.

[MattNischan 3,778]

2 minutes ago, tripper721 said:

I'm not sure if this is a broken AP issue or if I'm doing it wrong. When flying one of the prop planes, I'm able to turn on AP for altitude, but it seems to set the altitude to where my plane was at that level. But when I go and try to increase my altitude with the knobs, while the setting on the Garmin changes, the plane doesn't climb to that altitude. Is that a bug with AP or am I doing it wrong?

ALT is a hold mode, so when you click it, it will set the current altitude to hold at, so that's what you're seeing.

If you want to climb to an altitude, use the knob to scroll to that altitude, then use either VS (for a fixed vertical speed) or FLC (for a airspeed). You can use the NOSE UP/NOSE DN buttons to control the set vertical speed or set airspeed.

[tripper721 5]

2 minutes ago, ryanbatcund said:

Which acft?  I've found some are like how they were in FSX.  Some will work correctly.

Beechcraft King Air 350i and Cessna 172 Skyhawk (G1000) are two off the top of my head that I'm running into issues with.

[FlyingInACessna 656]

You are treating the altitude hold button like a “climb to” feature, which isn’t how autopilots work in real life despite it doing this in FSX.

 

Do the following: Dial in your target altitude, click V/S, dial in a rate of climb, and then let the airplane do its thing. It will automatically level off at the selected altitude. You do not need to push ALT. It will automatically select itself once you level off. Only push ALT to maintain your current altitude.

[tripper721 5]

Thank you all, I'll give it a try!

[ryanbatc 12,846]

Yes you should see ALTS in white.  In real world while using a pitch mode (VS/FLC/IAS) the acft will not climb or descend above/below the altitude you select.

[DebauchedSloth 31]

1 hour ago, FlyingInACessna said:

You are treating the altitude hold button like a “climb to” feature, which isn’t how autopilots work in real life despite it doing this in FSX.

Thank you for explaining this. Sure would be nice if there was AP help or a tutorial available in the app!