DME arcs and autopilots
Join Date: Nov 2005
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Sorry Keithl don't get to Aberdeen. Glasgow is as far North as I get in the UK.
I am definitely spoiled on the Bus with fully automated managed approaches, the odd circle to land to spice things up but 99% of the time its vectored ILS's and nice long hard runways with CAT II/III if we need it. Of course none of the above stops us from taking a visual and turning off the automatics on a nice day to keep your hand in.
I am definitely spoiled on the Bus with fully automated managed approaches, the odd circle to land to spice things up but 99% of the time its vectored ILS's and nice long hard runways with CAT II/III if we need it. Of course none of the above stops us from taking a visual and turning off the automatics on a nice day to keep your hand in.
Why do it if it's not fun?
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Of course none of the above stops us from taking a visual and turning off the automatics on a nice day to keep your hand in
pkb - I know, I know. It seems like a constant battle to keep "the craft" alive. I wonder if FlyingforFun agrees
FFF
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Autopilots will fly whatever's fed into them, so asking if the autopilot will fly an arc is perhaps the wrong question. Asking if they'll fly a DME arc...well, no. They won't.
You're going to find autopilots that have various input functions such as altitude mode and nav or horizontal mode functions, ranging from vertical speed, to GPS/INS, Heading, etc. However, you won't find an arc mode or a mode designed to fly a DME arc. So no, the autopilot won't fly a DME arc.
What the autopilot will do is follow the nav commands given it. When assigned to a FMS/FMS/INS/IRS/GPS, etc...it flies what's provided by the navigational unit. In the case of many of the units described, it follows the most accurate of multiple navigational signals received by the unit. In other cases such as GPS units, it follows only one navigational sensor...the GPS.
In any case the most accurate signal received (excepting cases of DME/DME operation) is not going to be the DME signal during the arc. It's going to be most likely GPS and other systems-derived information compared to an internal data base...one is not flying the DME arc. One is flying a patch that coincides with the depicted arc, using other information.
You can put the autopilot in heading mode and just bug it around the turn...made simple with an RMI fixing the navaid off the wing and a DME. However, most of us find it simpler to just tell the autopilot to folow the procedure in the database and let it do it's own thing.
You're going to find autopilots that have various input functions such as altitude mode and nav or horizontal mode functions, ranging from vertical speed, to GPS/INS, Heading, etc. However, you won't find an arc mode or a mode designed to fly a DME arc. So no, the autopilot won't fly a DME arc.
What the autopilot will do is follow the nav commands given it. When assigned to a FMS/FMS/INS/IRS/GPS, etc...it flies what's provided by the navigational unit. In the case of many of the units described, it follows the most accurate of multiple navigational signals received by the unit. In other cases such as GPS units, it follows only one navigational sensor...the GPS.
In any case the most accurate signal received (excepting cases of DME/DME operation) is not going to be the DME signal during the arc. It's going to be most likely GPS and other systems-derived information compared to an internal data base...one is not flying the DME arc. One is flying a patch that coincides with the depicted arc, using other information.
You can put the autopilot in heading mode and just bug it around the turn...made simple with an RMI fixing the navaid off the wing and a DME. However, most of us find it simpler to just tell the autopilot to folow the procedure in the database and let it do it's own thing.
