CRJ 600ft

The only possible danger I can see of engaging the autopilot too early is if it has a malfuntion (not detected in ground testing) and pitches down or some other unpleasant maneuvre. To have some hundreds of feet height would give the pilot a chance to disconnect it again and gain control.

Lear 31A - 200' minimum on approach (CAT I aircraft), 1000' enroute. The latter must mean not to engange until 1000' AGL I suppose.

TD

Slasher; Why at minimums if you can leave it engaged until 50'? Make use of the facilities!!
On occaisions of steady cross wind, low cloud and perhaps rain, poor vis etc. leaving the autopilot engaged until 50agl is a real help. All you have to do is flare and retard the power. QED

Thanks for answering my questions guys. Now that I know what the minimums are for engaging the AP, I am wondering what the standard operating procedure is. That is to say - in your flying when do you engage the AP. Is it after levelling off at the initial cruising altitude?

Also what does TOPD and TOPC stand for.

Thanks once again.

shon7...

TOPD = Top of Descent (ie the point at which a descent is initiated).
TOPC = Top of Climb (ie the point at which a climb is terminated).

In HMFC's quaint old Vickers Funbus, after the noise and smoke of the take-off one instructs one's man to retard the thrust to noise abatement levels at 1500' agl. One then climbs to 3000' agl before accelerating to flap retraction speed. When the flaps and slats are UP and IN, one instructs one's man to set climb power and one then engages the autopilot of choice. One then consults one's directional consultant as to the health of the FMS. If all is well, one engages the lateral navigation mode and the autopilot may remain engaged until 200' agl on final approach - at which point one disengages the autopilot and autothrottles and one's man advises the % RPM set. One completes the final approach and commands one's man to select idle thrust before flaring the old lady to a featherlight touchdown..............

Rubik101
 

Boeing stipulate 50 ft for single AP operations. The limitations I described are Company requirements which can differ from operator to operator. Here in the tropics bad wx is usualy heavey rain combined with strong variable crosswinds (thunderstorms) precluding the use of AP down to 50ft. Further, 50 ft is too late in getting the feel of the aircraft and the crosswind (esp in cases of engine-out and/or flight-control malfunctions). Lastly, only a few of our airports are equipped with ILSs. Most are NDBs and the odd VOR.

As I recall there are also AP-hardover issues for B737-200/300/400/500 single AP use. This could be related to undetected or late IRS faults at low heights but Im not sure.

For the B757 Boeing says one can engage auto pilot at 400' agl.

In a VC10??........... that made I larf :D :D :D :D

Ah yes BEagle...but one has to have a (shishhh now, not to wake the younger guys), dare I say it...Flight Engineer. That fellow back there that keeps all the fluids, air, electrics...in their proper places...mostly by sheer skill....and all without the need of magic black boxes.
Simply amazing.
And never appreciated today by one's directional advisor.

411A

Ummmmm - isn't your thinking on flight engineers just a little bit TRIDENT oriented - I mean the 1E, as the 1c, 2e and 3b all had 2nd officers as they moved on in their thinking a little bit ;)

Thats the problem, Final 3 Greens.....2nd officers, completely different than PROFESSIONAL Flight Engineers...some of these guys were only warming the seat...waiting for a front view.
And yes, the Trident pioneered autoland technology....but the big three engine Lockheed does it better. And certainly better than Boeings of the past. :rolleyes:

Hmm, a sure way to **** of your colleauges is to invent SOP's, when all else fails do what the book says

F100
NAV engages at 30' AGL and AP can be engaged at a minimum of 35'


mmmmm Fokker:)

411A

Didn't the 2 nd officers get promoted to fly 737 and 757s and other new gen jets that were even better and didn't need FEs?

BTW - only teasing really - only ever went on the 1011 as a Pax and that was pretty good! All the best.

;)