Hey folks, I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately.
Let’s say I’m on approach at around 500 feet AGL, fully configured and with APPR mode active. The question is — do you guys usually disengage and hand-fly the final part, or do you let the autopilot stay on all the way to touchdown?
My APPR mode tracks the localizer and glideslope well, but if I leave it on all the way to touchdown, it starts to veer off and bounces the aircraft back up — plus I can’t deploy reverse thrust while APPR is still active.
So what do you recommend: stick with AP all the way down, or disconnect around minimums and hand-fly the rest?
This issue really bothers and worries me — the question of what’s better for landing: APPR or manual.
Looking forward to your thoughts — thanks in advance, captains
That’s not correct. It is designed therefore but should only be used til touchdown if the circumstances require it like in low visibility.
Of course you can use it at any landing, but your landing skills don’t improve that way. And the landings are almost every time pretty hard and not a butter.
I feel the same — it’s just that I see people on YouTube doing full landings with APPR, and the landings look stable and well-aligned, so I ask myself: is that real? How are they doing that?
I’m using APPR for initial aligning and I disengage it whenever I feel comfortable enough. Also depends on what camera I’m flying. If it’s on HUD I disengage it earlier than in cockpit view.
If im focused enough and the circumstances allow it, I try to disengage AP as soon as possible.
Alright, that sounds good.
I’ll keep disconnecting the AP whenever I feel comfortable, and I’ll let it stay on until I see the runway in low visibility conditions, then disconnect it before touchdown. Is that the best and most suitable approach?
Sometimes you need to do it with the HUD to have the FPV to get a good approach. If you feel confident enough, do it cockpit view without the hud. It’s more realistic. Focus on the PAPI lights for the glide slope and the runway to look like an “I” and not like an „/“ or „\“. Of course use the instruments to follow the ‘s on your main display for the ILS approach.
I fly by hand approach (even in poor visibility) as 1. I love a good challenge 2. If the plane isn’t in the right angle or position it just wants to belly slam the ground 3. I got a level 3 violation due to the jet belly slamming the ground bouncing up and put me on to the grass thats where i got the violation because I touched grass and so I got the violation overturned but yeah… I rarely use it more or less once in a blue moon.
I turn autopilot off for most of the approach if it’s a sunny day, could be from when I’m 5 miles from the runway, or descending still like 10 mins out. Of course though, I never fly manual below 10,000.
This might sound a little weird but I tend to disconnect A/P around 3000-2000ft, depending on whether I engage APPR or not. I tune NAV 1 and usually VNAV alt. Leaves at either too low or too high, needing manual flying. Also so I can tweak the TRIM if needed.
What I do during the landing phase is that I use VNAV and I deactivate the autopilot at 2500 feet. At 2500 feet I have the flaps full and the spoilers armed. At 1000 feet I extend the landing gear with the approach speed (160 knots). What I advise is to make the descent with the autopilot and deactivate it after 2500 feet and do the rest manually.
It depends if u have a planned flight route with altitude checkpoints all the way planned to the ground if not then i usually take control it depends on ur decision usually u can do either
‘s on your main display for the ILS approach.