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Hand flying vs. Autopilot

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Uncle Bunkle

Well-known member
Joined
May 20, 2005
Posts
1,232
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.
 
To add, why are the NWA 747s heading to all the way to Hawaii lining up on the numbers WITHOUT a "heavy turn" but we have RJ drivers on the way to KBHM doing "heavy turns" to line up on the piano keys saving all the runway they can on an 11,000ft runway? Embarrassing....
 
To add, why are the NWA 747s heading to all the way to Hawaii lining up on the numbers WITHOUT a "heavy turn" but we have RJ drivers on the way to KBHM doing "heavy turns" to line up on the piano keys saving all the runway they can on an 11,000ft runway? Embarrassing....

Not sure about that, but can I have some of that brown sugar on the couch?

<=========== :)
 
....

To add, why are the NWA 747s heading to all the way to Hawaii lining up on the numbers WITHOUT a "heavy turn" but we have RJ drivers on the way to KBHM doing "heavy turns" to line up on the piano keys saving all the runway they can on an 11,000ft runway? Embarrassing....

I see a decent amount of people who get really spooled-up and make posts over guys who wanna use as much runway as they can for takeoff....I mean who cares, he/she is staying on the safe/conservative end of things...(no matter what their real intentions are)....

trust me, it could be a lot worse, you guys must have never really experienced flying with/and around some real whackjob cowboys who did'nt really care about much at all.

If all i had to complain about was someones use of a squared off turn on lineup, id be a happy dude....
 
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.

Just so you could whine about it!

Didn't you mother teach you just to worry about yourself and not everyone else!

Dude life is to short!

701EV
 
If they are that bad at hand flying, then they need the practice. Maybe you can help them with a little critique.
 
There are pilots with horrible hand flying skills at all levels. He is just anti-regional, take what he says w/ a grain of salt.
 
I am all for hand flying if the workload permits (picking your way through storms while IMC is not the best time...you should be watching the radar). My big gripe is with people who "handfly" hands off, and keep trying to trim the plane to fly itself. They let go, the plane turns or climbs, they quickly snap it back, trim a little, and try again. You are never going to get these airliners trimmed out right. The flight attendants walking in the back will throw off your pitch, and numerous things will send the aircraft into a roll. Just keep one hand on the yoke, make the smoothest inputs the situation allows, and you will be fine. Fly it like a 172, and you will just leave the passengers wondering how you keep your license.

Practice makes perfect, but if you are having issues that leg, just put the autopilot on and try again next time.

Also remember that passengers notice. They are used to mainline flights, which are most often A/P on from flaps up to Vapp. If you can't fly as smooth as the autopilot, then you are giving the people a worse ride than they expect, which leaves a lasting negative impression.

Yes, there are lots of situations where hand flying makes more sense, and when a rough hand flying job is preferable to an even rougher job by George. But in general, keep the autopilot on unless you can do it better.
 
Last edited:
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.


I see you have flown with the illustrious "Gen Lee."
 

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