If the FD indicates 15 degress nose up and a significant displacement to the right, does this mean :
- you must set 15 degress nose up and bank sharply to the right
or
- you move towards 15 degress nose up (set perhaps 12 degrees nose up) and bank normally to the right and then wait for the FD to move towards you ?
John, you move the controls towards the FD command, the greater the displacement from where you currently are, the more positive you need to be. As you approach the bars, use the controls as required to follow the bars. This may require backing off or slackening your inputs.
I have never flown FDs by saying "it is at 15° Nose Up so that's where I must put the nose". Roll commands are a good example. It doesn't indicate a bank angle as such: there are no bank angle scales in the middle of the AI/PFD. As you roll, the FD bar will appear to come in to meet you, but it's all intuitive and a "just follow it" thing. All the FDs I've flown do not overreact so as long as you are not rough with your handling, there is minimal overshooting. Generally speaking, when hand-flying a LLZ, I find I need to anticipate the FD commands: it's not sensitive enough to "blindly" follow and stay right on the LLZ. It's great with the AP in but not ideal when hand-flying.
My instructor at USAir beat into me: "Follow the Flight Director or turn it off!". Sound advice. Not routinely following the FD is a bad habit to get into IMO. More often than not, it
is telling you the right thing, and if one regularly ignores it, say by turning before the PM gets the new heading in, you'll not follow it one day when you should.