How do you make your aircraft leveled off at an altitude. I'm really noobish in FSX but I'm trying to learn. I've had the game since 2007 and its still hard to fly professionally. I took the fsx lesson to learn how to level off the airplane, but I can't get it right. Can someone explain how? I keep going up or down, and I have to use the flaps just to try to stay at the same altitude.

in all truthness, your aircaft will NEVER be perfectly level.  In normal "level" flight, you will ALWAYS have a 1-3 degrees nose UP due to the lift of the wings.  If you have ever flown in a REAL airliner, when you are at a cruising altitude (oh lets just say 30,000 feet) have you ever tried to walk from the tail of the craft up to the cockpit?? If so, have you ever noticed that it feels like you are walking slightly UPHILL ???   Well, there you go. you will NEVER be perfectly level.

you can maintain a desired altitued through PITCH / Thrust, or by using AUTOPILOT.


if you want to use AutoPilot, hit SHIFT+Z+Z+Z and look at your altitude that is being shown, or just look at the gauges on the panel.  Your Altitude will be +/- 5 of whatever you have it set for because........ THE EARTH IS ROUND "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS!!!" You cant fly straight level from KSFO to KJFK.  you will have to start somewhere around 45-50,000 and you would end up at the same altitude with the middle being something like 15,000.  (exageration to set the point)

Also how do you set your desired altitude and speed?

I wanna learn how to use auto pilot, and make the airplane be able to ascend/descend to a desired altitude and level off there. But I don't know what exactly to do.

Even when you are perfectly trimmed for level flight, you still have to occasionally adjust by making small corrections on your controls.  When you trim your aircraft, ideally, it should relive the pressure that you have on the controls, so in a sense, you can almost fly it hands off as Mobius stated.  My flight instructor once said, "you should be able to fly with just your fingers [thumb and forefinger]."  So, if you are still wrestling with the controls in order to maintain your altitude, consider adjusting your trim a little more to make it easy on yourself.

I'm trying to fly jets, like the 737.

You gotta practice this stuff, and master the theories behind pitch/power, in small, slow airplanes first.

Even if you  DO  get things under control in a big jet, you aren't going to understand how it happened.

Park the jets.. fire up the C172 and work on these drills:

-Constant airspeed flight .. A climb, cruise, turns, climbing-turn, descending-turn, and approach.. ALL at 90 knots. This will give you a feel for the pitch/power relationship.

-Classic approach/landing ..  Several touch-n-goes getting a feel for controlling airspeed by pitch, and controlling vertical-speed by throttle.

-Hands-off level-flight  .. Pitch - Power - Trim ... in that order. Upon reaching your altitude, pitch to stop the climb... as airspeed increases to cruise-speed, reduce power... then adjust trim to maintain that airspeed. If the power setting is correct, that WIIL yield level-flight. If not, you need to practice the other fundementals.

Once you have a properly trimmed aircraft underneath you, you can a experiment to reinforce your instincts.. and get a feel for what being trimmed for a specific arspeed does for you. One test is to climb and descend by throttle alone. You can see that from level flight, a power change will NOT change the airspeed (a little at first) for a properly trimmed airplane.. but the altitude (vertical speed)  WILL change by power setting. In zero wind, properly trimmed; you can make an entire flight using nothing but the throttle and rudder pedals.

Learning this stuff in a big jet, is not a good idea. It's too heavy; too powerful, and jet engines don't respond immediatley...  ie.  a sloppy approach (or attempt at level-flight) is like a dog chasing his tail.. it just gets uglier if you're not understanding what's going on.. on a basic level.

olderndirt wrote on Aug 7^th, 2009 at 7:42pm:



Popular or not.. it's as applicable in the sim, as it is in real life. You can't expect to fly a 737 realistically.. if you haven't mastered the basics in a C172  

Things happen quickly and pile up on you during a complex approach. If things like airspeed and vertical-speed management aren't things you can do without having to think about it.. you're gonna mess up.. a lot. .. and forget things quicker than you learn them..

Stanley wrote on Aug 8^th, 2009 at 4:15am:


Those sound a lot like  JET  questions  

Let's get proficient in basics first  

While pitch references aren't ignored.. and power settings are critical.. it's all about AIRSPEED first. You have to get your brain thinking about pitch/power/trim by  AIRSPEED.

Flap use is situational. In the training airplane, it's all about landing.. In big jets, it's all about weight and situation. There could be a whole thread dedicated to flap-use in jets, but it might as well be in Greek, if you are still fumbling with the basics.