when using the glass either 1000/3000/G3x

I want to turn on a/p and alt to hold my altitude but I want to manually control bank.

I can't seem to find a way. It seems my only options are lvl or hdg and then I have to use the heading knob to adjust my turning.

I want alt only, nothing else.

Is this possible? If so, how?

Old autopilots used to be able to do this, but modern ones do not. Since the sim is modeling modern autopilot with the 1000/3000's, you shouldn't be able to do it.

Back in the day I think I remember there was an addon gauge that allowed you to "cheat" and have an autopilot that unrealistically allowed you to lock in the altitude while manually controlling roll, but I don't think there's such an addon available for MSFS. At least, not yet.

That's fine. If it's more realistic then I'll accept it and move on. 

I find when I'm flying by hand with no a/p I'm trimming a lot and fairly aggressively. Anyone else?
Then again, I might be chasing the VSI indicator - I find myself focusing on that a bit much.

Yeah, that's common. Especially if you're changing speeds. If you're all nice and trimmed out for level flight and then you speed up, you'll start to climb and will have to re-trim. But what do you mean by "aggressively?" If you mean you're holding the trim button for a long time, that might not actually be all that aggressive. If you look at the trim wheel while you're holding the button down (assuming what you're flying has a trim wheel) you'll usually see that it's moving pretty slowly. 

In real life you trim by pushing the trim button until you don't have to put any pressure on the controls to maintain your attitude. That's a lot harder to pull off in the sim because we'd need force feedback to feel those pressures, and most controllers don't have it. But eventually you get used to the speed the trim adjusts at, and can move your control at the same speed in the opposite direction. Then you stop trimming when your stick/yoke is centered. It's not perfect, but it works.

 

38 minutes ago, briansommers said:

That's fine. If it's more realistic then I'll accept it and move on. 

I find when I'm flying by hand with no a/p I'm trimming a lot and fairly aggressively. Anyone else?
Then again, I might be chasing the VSI indicator - I find myself focusing on that a bit much.

In real life you would find an external attitude relative to the horizon that gives the climb rate you want and hold that with yoke,  and then trim until the yoke pressure disappears.  Basically just hold the yoke stationary and trim until it stays there by itself.

You cannot do that in game without FFB as eslader says, holding the yoke stationary as you trim will make the plane dive or climb - so you end up flying with the trim instead of elevator if your not careful.  Flying with trim is a bad thing.

Edited June 28, 20214 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

I have a rocker switch on my Logitech throttle quadrant assigned to my elev. trim - not ideal but will have to do.

yes, I do find that I'm holding down the button for a "long" time - but I don't think, like you said is all that long relative to the trim wheel turning.

5 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

In real life you would find an external attitude relative to the horizon that gives the climb rate you want and hold that with yoke,  and then trim until the yoke pressure disappears.  Basically just hold the yoke stationary and trim until it stays there by itself.

This is correct.  Even without force-feedback I can usually trim fairly well by simply slightly relaxing my hold on the stick/wheel. If she holds the attitude I'm good.  If not, I gently reapply pressure and trim a little more till she holds the attitude.

When turning I do what i used to do in the RW - add a little power and apply back pressure to hold the altitude.  After completing the turn I reduce power and release back pressure.  I normally don't have to change trim or retrim.

I noticed that you can still bank with AP On with the Islander, something I appreciate. Otherwise, yes, with most of aircrafts, if you bank, the AP disconnect.