Does Autopilot and FMC make the job boring?
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Join Date: Jan 2004
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Does Autopilot and FMC make the job boring?
I was just wondering if its as much fun twisting nobs and pushing buttons as it is hand flying? Im on the turbo prop rung of the ladder with around 1000 hrs and aspire to a nice comfy Airbus one day, i was wondering if anyone from the same background could comment on the merits of flying automatically?
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It's great fun hand flying a turboprop around, but with the longer flights of jets, an autopilot is absolutely necessary. At those speeds, you can't handfly smoothly and it's very hard work, as well as not fair on the passengers. So it is great to plug in the autopilot and relax a bit. I'm happy to plug in the autopilot on a 747 for 12 hours with a brief burst of hand flying at either end. Not as much fun as BFS-GLA hand flown low level up the Clyde, but still a rewarding experience. Would I go back? Funnily enough, it is tempting if someone takes my 747 away! Yes I would.
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At the end of another 11 hour, 4 sector duty day after a cruddy nights rest in a baking hotel and all the hassle of flying into Heathrow I can't be bothered to hand fly. If its a nice day, the weathers good, there's no other traffic and you're not tired then handfly it and have fun. Unfortunately the more common scenario is cruddy weather, busy skies, holding and being tired so the autopilot is a godsend. It doesn't stop you thinking, it just means you can take your hands off the controls.
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Like Notso said, bring out the autopilot in the cruise and try to keep it level and on the right heading. After five minues your head will hurt.
A/P - it's a fact of life sadly. But that and the FMC make your life SO much easier!
A/P - it's a fact of life sadly. But that and the FMC make your life SO much easier!
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Lancaster over Germany
Can you imagine a 6 or 8 hour flight, hand flown all the way, in a big piston banger over a rather unfriendly country at night? It must have been exhausting, to say the least.
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Pushing the AP and then FMC
If You understand the system and know the perfomance well
then the automation is a challenge itself as well. If you put the
AP on means not turn the brain off. You need to know what the
maschine is doing and suppose to do. It is a great relief but
never boring itself. Stay ahead of the game, the AP and the FMC
is a good tool to assist you and not to replace you. Enjoy the
rides and land allways happy. Congratulaions to the first 1.000!.
NG
then the automation is a challenge itself as well. If you put the
AP on means not turn the brain off. You need to know what the
maschine is doing and suppose to do. It is a great relief but
never boring itself. Stay ahead of the game, the AP and the FMC
is a good tool to assist you and not to replace you. Enjoy the
rides and land allways happy. Congratulaions to the first 1.000!.
NG
