how on earth do you fly long distances with no auto-throttle? The citation X has no auto-throttle and to me it just seems ridiculous to not have one, especially on an airplane so advanced in every other way. Thoughts?

Real aircraft aren't nearly as finicky with airspeed changes as they can be in MSFS. For the most part in cruise you're going to set the thrust for whatever airspeed you want and it's not really going to need to be moved from there... When climbing and descending, you're just gonna use a constant power setting and then change pitch to control the speed.

Change this on your aircraft.cfg from this.[Autopilot]autothrottle_available = 0autothrottle_arming_required = 0to this[Autopilot]autothrottle_available = 1autothrottle_arming_required = 0Use CTRL +R to hold your speed if you dont plan on addding any buttons or control knobs.

I can't say how I've given this a lot of thought. I use a joystick with a big throttle lever on it. I just set the throttle to the cruise detent, adjust my engine(s) and trim for speed, and then I don't worry about it much. Aircraft that have significant spooling times, like the old Korean-era fighter jets, as well as aircraft with multiple engines require more care and attention, so an authothrottle is welcome in those cases, I think.Jeff ShylukAssistant Manging EditorSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

>how on earth do you fly long distances with no auto-throttle? The same way they did with the 707, DC-8 etc.. which didn't have autothrottles ;)>The citation X has no auto-throttle and to me it just seems ridiculous to not have one, especially on an airplane so advanced in every other way.It's a way too expensive and complex system for small planes like the citation X. Even 'airliner' like the CRJ don't have an autothrottle system. Basically, if you don't need autoland, you don't need autothrottles.If you set the thrust during cruise let the speed fluctuate.When you dial in e.g. mach 0.8 on the 767 the speed fluctuates between .78 and .82 RegardsBernt Capt 767

Aircraft such as the Citation X have FADEC. FADEC is an extremely efficient thrust control system that controls the thrust settings directly at the engine without moving the throttles.For instance once you program the FMC with the prerequisite takeoff and cruise data FADEC is ready with TO (TO-1, TO-2), CLB and CRZ modes. Once you start the engines you need to input the final engine data and that's it. If you do not program the engine data then the FADEC settings will be off and require more throttle management.Now, once you advance the throttles to the TO Mode FADEC will prevent the thrust from going past the TO mode setting even if you firewall the throttles. Once you are airborne and ready to set climb thrust, you select CLB mode and FADEC will change the thrust settings without moving the throttles for your selected climb profile. Once you reach cruise, simply select CRZ and FADEC will reduce thrust for your chosen Mach number for a given altitude.FADEC still requires some throttle trimming from the pilot but very little. FADEC administeres thrust settings without moving the throttles and is as efficient as an autopilot and over long range cruise, very little throttle movement is necessary since it calculates thrust reductions as fuel burns also.Once decent is necessary then the pilot must reduce the throttles as necessary and then increase as required during step decents. But on long range cruise, only perioding throttle trimming is necessary as well as periodic monitoring of your speeds. It's not as "automatic" as a full autothottle but by no means does it make FADEC equipped aircraft labor intensive. You can cruise for hours and barely touch the throttles.Aircraft such as the ERJ, CRJ, CitX, etc have FADEC and are a perfecly acceptable automated system vis a v a full autothrottle.EDIT: BTW, FADEC stands for Full Authority Digital Engine ControlHTH,Mike T.

Thanks everyone, and thanks Mike for that explanation. I guess the problem I have is with the constant wind shifts in flight sim that are not an accurate representation of reality, but when I fly long distances, even with wind smoothing enabled, my airplane gets shot out like a cannon and overspeeds, or gets dragged down and almost stalls. especially over the ocean.If for the most part a certain thrust setting on older aircrafts keeps you around the same speed in real life, then it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I've just never been lucky enough to pilot a jumbo across long distances!

Fwiw, I've flown several long flights in the Lear45 (sim only :-P) and the autopilot does a perfect job of holding speed (um, with one caveat).The longest trips were from Kennedy to Le Bourget (LFPB) that was 7.6 hrs and another from Dover AFB to Alert, Canada (CYLT) was 7.2hrs. I set the A/P speed for like .79M or .80M and cruise at 43,000 or 44,000 feet. Never a worry as it did a perfect job holding speed (I never remember an overspeed). I believe I was using static wx themes (like the Fair Wx theme).I reckon I could try using real-world wx for the Christchurch, NZ (NZCH) to McMurdo (NZPG) I want to do in a few days, but if I walk away for a short while (to the cabin's potty of course :-P ) and come back to my computer to find my aircraft has crashed I will be so | | |Recently, I did go to the kitchen to get coffee when on a long descent enroute from Santiago, Chile to Easter Island. I was 4 1/2hrs done with what was to be about a 5 hour flight... and had left the speed set to .80M for the 1000fpm descent (any Pro Pilots laughing now?) only to comeback just in time to hear the Overspeed "siren" and then see "Aircraft Overstressed" before I could do a thing about it. Ah well, my aviation mantra is: "Live and learn... if you live..." :-SRob O.

>how on earth do you fly long distances with no auto-throttle?>The citation X has no auto-throttle and to me it just seems>ridiculous to not have one, especially on an airplane so>advanced in every other way. Thoughts?Whos Citation X are you referring to Eaglesoft's or Wilco's?In either case how is the aircraft?

I still enjoy eaglesoft's, but wilcos is more up to date until eaglesoft releases their new version. I dont fly the wilco X that much so I cant give you any list of issues but I enjoy it a lot.

>>how on earth do you fly long distances with no auto-throttle?>>The citation X has no auto-throttle and to me it just seems>>ridiculous to not have one, especially on an airplane so>>advanced in every other way. Thoughts?>>>Whos Citation X are you referring to Eaglesoft's or Wilco's?>because of user pressure wanting a non-real 'feature' the feelThere CX has an autothrottle cheat the works only during cruise.--