Hand flying vs. Autopilot

[Flybywire44]

I absolutely love it when the other guy kicks off the autopilot 40 miles out from landing, then proceeds to fly all over the friggin sky like a bat on a mosquito hunt. Hey all you RJ jockeys who can't hold altitude worth a crap, or constantly zig zag back and forth chasing the localizer (on a VFR approach no less): Leave the freakin AP on and quit embarrassing yourselves.
And when landing on a 10,000' runway, why must you slam on the brakes and go full reverse thrust just to make the first highspeed and perhaps save 10 seconds on the taxi? Why?
That's all.

Maybe you should instruct them? You're part of the problem for not handling this on a person by person basis.

 

[777forever]

I generally hand fly as much as possible my first leg of the day as PF. All other legs AP on ASAP. Im lazy plus I like to enjoy the view, especially flying out of outstations. Now some visual approaches, especially those in the NE, I handfly all the time since they are an absolute joy to fly and I'm looking outside anyway. Hope ASA returns to DCA soon!

 

[papanovember]

Guys who do "heavy turns" onto the runway are dragging the inside tires in the turn. I've seen someone blow out a tire at high speed. It could have been due to the heavy turn it might not have.

I've seen someone turn the nose wheel beyond 90 degrees on 32L T 10 and get stuck. That was real popular with ORD tower.

I've flown with someone who while lining up doing a heavy turn said to me "you know how cool this looks." I just shook my head.

I've ridden around 500 Airbus and Boeing jumpseats and I'd say 25% of the pilots turn the auto pilot on below 10,000 feet and the other 75% turn it on above. From what I've seen, the bigger the airplane the higher they hand fly. Most 757/767/777 guys hand fly well into the 20s.

On landing I'd say 25% turn it off below 1000ft and that includes autolands. The majority turn it off when cleared for the visual but I have seen someone handfly the 777 from TNP when descending into LAX and I've seen many turn it off descending through 10,000.

 

[papanovember]

I absolutely love it when the other guy kicks off the autopilot 40 miles out from landing, then proceeds to fly all over the friggin sky like a bat on a mosquito hunt. Hey all you RJ jockeys who can't hold altitude worth a crap, or constantly zig zag back and forth chasing the localizer (on a VFR approach no less): Leave the freakin AP on and quit embarrassing yourselves.
And when landing on a 10,000' runway, why must you slam on the brakes and go full reverse thrust just to make the first highspeed and perhaps save 10 seconds on the taxi? Why?
That's all.

That first part sounds like an Embraer Autopilot trying to track a localizer. The second part sounds like Southwest, I've actually seen them use autobrake 2 in a 300 on 24R at LAX to make the reverse.

 

[CX880]

I absolutely love it when the other guy kicks off the autopilot 40 miles out from landing, then proceeds to fly all over the friggin sky like a bat on a mosquito hunt. Hey all you RJ jockeys who can't hold altitude worth a crap, or constantly zig zag back and forth chasing the localizer (on a VFR approach no less): Leave the freakin AP on and quit embarrassing yourselves.
And when landing on a 10,000' runway, why must you slam on the brakes and go full reverse thrust just to make the first highspeed and perhaps save 10 seconds on the taxi? Why?
That's all.

If it was an ERJ with distinctive zigzagging down low, it's the ********************ty embraer autopilot trying to track a vor or localizer. But yes I do agree with you, I hate it when RJ pilots disconnect the AP it's very uncomfortable. I love the sound of the AP disconnecting 200 feet above the ground, that meant we had less chance of crashing during the approach.

 

[Dubya]

If it was an ERJ with distinctive zigzagging down low, it's the ********************ty embraer autopilot trying to track a vor or localizer. But yes I do agree with you, I hate it when RJ pilots disconnect the AP it's very uncomfortable. I love the sound of the AP disconnecting 200 feet above the ground, that meant we had less chance of crashing during the approach.

.......said the Gojet hack.

 

[altimaklr]

The CRJ will overshoot the LOC every time and usually will swing back twice to line up correctly. This can be dangerous on simultaneous approaches, hence why people often dc the autopilot around that time.

 

[Dumb Pilot]

Originally Posted by Minimaniac
Also remember that passengers notice. They are used to mainline flights, which are most often A/P on from flaps up to Vapp.

Not true, a lot of guys hand fly the heavy Iron all the time.

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

Not true, a lot of guys hand fly the heavy Iron all the time.

Yep... it's typical over here to handfly up to at least 18.

On long ILS finals it'll typically come off around the marker. Visuals are always handflown the whole way through manytimes without the FD.

 

[AAsRedHeadedbro]

I hand fly every climbout until I'm pointed in the right direction and am at enroute climb speed above 10,000 feet. I also pretty much hand fly every approach - good weather or bad. I've done this for most of my career and because of that I'm smooth. Trust me, nobody in back knows the autopilot is off, and the reason for that is that BECAUSE I turn off the autopilot and hand fly frequently, I'm comfortable with it.

More guys should do it. They might be better stick and rudder pilots if they did.

As for the 90 degree turn onto the runway - who gives a $h1t? Does it affect you? Or are you just a typical know-it-all busy body?