What do you all do while flying long flights on Auto Pilot?

What do you all do while flying long flights on Auto Pilot? Do you just walk away and monitor the flight periodically or.....?

I don't...

Watch TV and surf the web.

Sorta reminds me of the question..."What does a pilot have in his hand on a long flight"?

 

1. cup of coffee?

 

2. Flight books?

 

3. Yoke?

 

4. Something else, entirely???:eek:;)

 

Watch at your own risk!

 

Yoke.

What do you all do while flying long flights on Auto Pilot? Do you just walk away and monitor the flight periodically or.....?

 

don't use autopilot. it makes simming boring. why play a game if you're just going to watch?

don't use autopilot. it makes simming boring. why play a game if you're just going to watch?

 

Yes, use an autopilot if you're simulating a long-haul flight. And to do that, to actually simulate a long-haul from startup, taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, approach, landing, taxi, park, and shutdown, that takes determination and discipline, qualities that many people lack. Take a look at Vatsim on any day and you'll see plenty of flight simmers who are not "playing a game", but who are simulating what real airplanes do - fly long distances, and almost always flying on autopilot to get the job done with minimal risk and best navigation accuracy.

 

I often enjoy long hauls, and while I don't stay glued to my seat, I do monitor the flight's progress, the fuel consumption, check the destination's STAR charts and its weather, check flightsim.com posts and other sites, look at other aircraft on my pc, i.e. the aircraft.cfg, etc., maybe download performance data on planes for future reference, locate and download charts for future flights. And sometimes even an inflight movie on my second screen. :)

Depends on what I am flying and where. I prefer VFR flights of 1-3 hours so there's little need for an AP unless there's a 30min+ leg of straight level flight, during which I spin my chair round and do something on another computer.

 

The occasions I take to the heavies I do everything manually til cruising at altitude and on course, turn it over to the AP and 4x time, and do something on the other computer, watch TV, do the dishes ....if the flight is long enough with no course attention needed, I go to bed. Return in time to take over for approach and landing. During the cruise portion of such a flight there is little to do and less to see, so the copilot gets to handle that.

 

Also prone to read, do crossword puzzles, or even doze off (remember when an afternoon nap was a horrible event?).

Set a GPS course, set autopilot to track, when reaching cruise altitude activate time acceleration to x4, x8, or x16 depending on distance. Return to x1 when it is time to start your descend for destination airport. This way I can always complete even intercontinental flights in one sitting.

If I fly long haul, I use the F-22 Raptor, climb to FL500-FL650 depending on distance and cruise at mach 2.35 which places me at around 1500 MPH ground speed. I try to make my flights no longer than an hour. So if I go across the pond I make stops between Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland. Then onto Scotland.

 

Since I have dual monitors I can play music on the second monitor or play Pandora. I can even surf the net.

 

Having a second monitor is nice for LittleNavmap. I can see the taxiways and my plane as I taxi.

This thread comes up every few months - but it bears repeating ... there is no right answer to this. And none of the answers are wrong!

 

I usually fly the Piper Aztec and only use the ap to go to the toilet or grab a drink. Once a week or so I fly short haul, using the modified default 737, or Just Flight A320, with GSX and downloaded cabin announcements (can't remember the name of the software, it automates all the announcements, and I've replaced them with airline specific samples taken from You Tube). I have full cockpit set up with seat Buttkicker - I sounds and feels great! So I err on the side of 'staying in my seat' otherwise I spoil the effect of all that immersion. I sometimes fly long haul, but do not sit in for that, but go out, go to bed ... let the 'relief crew' fly that bit while I get some rest. With short haul, I'm mostluy following my progress on the map.

This thread comes up every few months - but it bears repeating ... there is no right answer to this. And none of the answers are wrong!

 

Wow! You ain't kidding. Just look at the similar threads.