Hey all, I've got a couple questions about autopilot and autothrottle procedures.

1) After takeoff, I have trouble staying below 250 knots while under 10,000 feet. Is it normal to arm the autothrottle, set it to 250 knots, and turn it on, so that the aircraft starts going due to the autothrottle being turned on? If not, should I just adjust throttle manually after takeoff to maintain a speed below 250 knots? Would doing what I suggested be harmful to the engines?

2) When is autopilot typically turned on? Right after takeoff, or once cruising altitude is reached? I usually fly almost my entire flight via autopilot. Is this the sign of a rookie pilot, or is that common?

3) When does autothrottle get turned off? Since I have a hard time maintaining proper speeds (especially in large jets), I typically use autothrottle from just after takeoff until I'm on short final. Is this poor practice?

Hopefully I'm making sense with what I'm asking. Thanks in advance for any help!

Jimmy

At a fixed power setting, say, climb power, airspeed is controlled by pitch attitude. You could reduce the airspeed by climbing more steeply. If the pitch attitude looks unrealistically steep, reduce power, and again adjust airspeed with pitch.

If you want to learn how to do it on your own, leave the autopilot off, climb at climb power, and shoot for different airspeeds by adjusting pitch. Also notice the relation between power, pitch, airspeed, and rate of climb.

The "Airplane Flying Handbook" is available online at www.faa.gov. Load up your printer and print the sections you need -- FREE! Click on "Regulations & Policies," then "Handbooks and Manuals." It's listed on the next screen.

You'll enjoy FltSim much more as you learn to do more yourself.

Art

Actually, I found the same high-power problem on a sim of the Boeing 707-436. Even when climbing at 4000 fpm, the Mach bell starts ringing due to the overspeed. There is a note in the text file that came with the airplane saying that it does not have autothrottle, so watch the power settings. Autothrottle is an aircraft.cfg setting in the [autopilot] section, and can be added by changing the 0 to 1. But that still leaves the high speed problem when hand flying. Someone suggested that I reduce the power value in aircraft.cfg, but also said that there was a lot more to it. I think the answer for both of us is to just reduce the throttle setting to keep climb rates and speeds within realistic limits.