Or fly the FD all the time and then you just have to hit A/P to have it take over the flying. If you are climbing to an altitude set it and a capture mode and fly the bars.
Thanks for all your insights: And @JasonC yes activating the FD earlier is also a good idea and would fix the issue.
I reviewed the GFC 700 manual again and replayed the flight in my head and noticed that I actually made an error in my description: After engaging the FD/AP it goes into ROL PIT and arms the ALTS (“Selected Altitude Capture”) mode so I used the ALT button to actually put it into altitude hold mode (no pressing it twice), after it didn’t capture. Of course I am also not staying in ROL and PIT mode, but ALTS just remains white and doesn’t turn into the active mode.
In theory this should work as the manual says
“Pitch Hold Mode is selected by default. Pitch
Hold Mode is indicated as the active pitch mode by the
green annunciation ‘PIT’. This mode may be used for
climb or descent to the Selected Altitude (shown above
the Altimeter), since Selected Altitude Capture Mode is
automatically armed when the mode is activated.”
I just figured that I missed some procedure or button and it was a common thing that happens to people using the G1000, I will recheck my procedure for activating the FD and AP on my next flight, maybe there is something amiss.
And @JasonC thanks for pointing out that I should probably not be in ROL PIT mode and the FD discussion also made it clear that my way of engaging the AP directly and then activating the necessary modes, NAV and VS or ALT is probably not very smart and safe and it is far better practice to activate the FD first, set the modes, check that the FD indication actually displays what I want the plane to do and activate the AP from there.
Yes so with the G1000 I am either flying visually in which case I turn off the FD. Or if I am flying headings/ tracks/ altitudes etc I use it all the time. So if hand flying and told to climb to 5000ft, I change the alt selector, activate a vertical mode (VS or FLC) and then follow the bars. If you ever get overloaded you just press AP and there should be no change other than the servos kicking in and taking over.
If i am very close to the altitude I want I dial in the altitude I want and press “VS+ALT” if I’m above that altitude or if I’m coming from below I select the IAS i currently fly on the A/P (I have that preset always anyway) and press “IAS+ALT”… Bith will result in the A/P capturing and maintaining that altitude.
Mine’s a DFC90, but should be similar with the GFC7000 … I just would not do all that 50 feet from the the desired altitude but 500 …
WIth the DFC90 if you press A/P in any attitude it will hold that pitch and roll. That’s great if you want to fly a couple of circles for photos … or you get into stress after departure … you don’t have to worry about modes just press A/P … if the pitch was too high at that moment it would lower the nose automatically .. but that will not happen if you fly precisely
