Plane Answers: When do pilots use the autopilot?

Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Just like to clarify a few points:

Many modern but slightly older aircraft do not have auto-throttles even though have sophisticated autopilots.

Some airlines encouraging use of auto-pilot from 1000ft after takeoff until near landing due to inexperience of crew to minimise work load and risk.

The "hunting" described relating to climb (and descent as well) is generally in turbulence and can be overcome by selecting "Pitch" mode on the autopilot rather than a speed on climb or rate of descent on descent. Works really well and there is no need to hand-fly and passengers get a smoother ride than hand-flying or using other modes on the autopilot.

Aircraft without an autoland can fly an precision instrument approach (ILS) down to 200ft above ground level on auto-pilot.

5-03-2008 @ 2:53PM

Kent Wien said...

Hi Paul,

I've tried every mode in the 737-800 and I've never been able to get it to stabilize on descent, except for vertical speed. This isn't the case with the 757, 767 or 777 though. The autopilots in those airplanes are extremely smooth.

>>Some airlines encouraging use of auto-pilot from 1000ft after takeoff until near landing due to inexperience of crew to minimise work load and risk.>>

Two schools of thought there. I'd encourage co-pilots to hand fly approaches (especially visual approaches) if they're inexperienced. But if workload doesn't permit it, then certainly, use the level of automation you're comfortable with.

It's true many aircraft with sophisticated autopilots don't have autothrottles. This is very often the case in the latest corporate jets. It doesn't apply to any Boeings or Airbus products, though.

Thanks for taking the time to point out some other points of view. There's always more than one way to do it, and I can only refer to the aircraft I fly at the company I work for. So it's nice to hear what others are doing.

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.