How do I turn on the autopilot in the Cessna Skyhawk in XPlane 11 (beta 6)?

Question

Hi,

I'm new to flying and I've downloaded the X-Plane 11 beta, which just updated itself to beta 6.

I can now reasonably fly the Skyhawk from KSEA and land at one of the nearby airports.  Next I'd like to learn how to use the autopilot to hold an altitude and/or heading.  I see the "HDG" switch on the compass, but I don't see a master autopilot switch, nor a switch to hold the altitude.  In other posts on this forum, there was an answer for X-Plane 10 in which the "flight director" button was located near one of the radios, but I don't see that in X-Plane 11.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious?  Thanks in advance!  X-Plane is amazing :-)

Answer 1

Hi,

It differs from plane to plane. In aforementioned plane you have 7 buttons and a knob in a cockpit section above throttle and mix levers.

From left to right:

AP - autopilot
HDG - hold heading set by heading bug
NAV - fly accordingly to navigation source
APR - fly an approach
REV - fly reversed approach
ALT - hold attitude
VS - vertical speed
Knob - sets VS

(more here http://www.x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/#usingtheautopilot but I recommend reading whole previous sections to have idea what is it all about; the manual is written in a very good way, not boring at all)

Good luck!

Comments

Thanks I'll take a look and see if I can find those controls!

---

The existing X-Plane 11 manual -- in as much as I can find it in the internet-- appears to describe a much different set of autopilot controls than are presented in the X-Plane 11 Cessna 172 cockpit. Also, there are no pictures of the autopilot for reference in the manual. It would be nice if the manual were either updated or if there were a web site devoted to a tutorial on the X-Plane 11 Cessna autopilot.