autopilot fly the holdings by itself
Does the aircraft have the GFC 700 autopilot or the Bendix King KAP 140?
The GFC 700 will fly published holds, including the entry "by itself" if the GPS course needle is selected on the HSI.
The same for procedure turns.
The KAP 140 will not fly a published hold " by itself". You will have to change to HDG mode prior to the holding fix. At the holding fix the GPS course needle will automatically switch to display the inbound course of the hold.
If you are still in NAV mode on the autopilot it will turn over the holding fix trying to keep the needle centered.
So to fly the published hold you will have to use the HDG mode and maybe NAV on the inbound course but it is easier to just use HDG.
You can (more or less) create a hold at any waypoint which is in your GPS flightplan. The OBS soft key (bottom PFD) will stop automatic waypoint sequencing when selected.
Using the course select hard key you can rotate the GPS course needle to any desired bearing to the waypoint. You can now fly a hold using HDG mode on either teh GFC 700 or the KAP 140. Neither will fly this non published hold "by itself".
So:
- Autopilot on HDG
- Select GPS on bearing pointer 2 (BRG2) by selecting the PFD softkey and changing the function of bearing pointer 2.
- Prior to the waypoint you want to use for the hold select OBS and select the desired inbound course.
- Navigate the remaining distance to the waypoint using bearing pointer 2.
- Enter the hold using the recommended entry with the autopilot in HDG.
The G1000 will not depict the hold on the MFD, just the desired bearing to and from the fix.