How often do pilots use autopilot?

Question

How often do pilots use the autopilot. i was unsure if they were required to take off and land manually and pretty much just use it for cruise. also, do any of them fly VOR or do they all just stick to IFR/ILS ? I am talking about 737/747 A320 type of aircraft

btw: when i say take off and land i mean ascend to cruise FL and approach because i know you have to deactivate 100-200 before landing.

Answer 1

well i know my dad dose when he flys. he uses it quite often. every time unless its really short or a lot of turbulence. he also sometimes lands using autopilot when at an airport like PDX

and yes 7737 747 777 they use it nearly the whole way through. there is little control that is done by humans except in stormy conditions esp when landing and takeoff

Answer 2

Most of the time.  Almost all the time except for takeoffs and landings.  Sometimes when it gets a little confused as to what you want it to do its easier to just click it off and hand fly.

Answer 3

V1, Rotate, V2.................Positive Climb.........Gear up please. Gear going up, up and off..............LNAV, VNAV, Center Autopilot in command please.

Answer 4

Rarely used for landing or take off

But at cruise we use it

Makes life easier on long flights

This website may help in the future:

http://www.aviationearth.com/

Answer 5

autopilot can be used from take off all the way to the aircraft landing if the airport is a category 3 airfield and the aircraft has the correct autoland equipment. This allows the aircraft to land in thick fog.

Answer 6

pilots use the autopilot shortly after takeoff and keep it on until just prior to landing when they revert back to manual flying.

Answer 7

At and above FL 290 an operational automatic pilot is required, but use of it is not required.

Answer 8

The autopilot is commonly used early in the climb, the entire cruise and disconnected during the approach to land. The autopilot is not used for takeoff (only the autothrottle) but can be used on a ILS for an autoland if the aircraft and runway is certified.

VOR approaches are still flown along with NDB. Although more common these days are RNAV GNSS (GPS approach) or RNP departures and arrivals. Visual approaches can be also flown using no navaids, just ground based slope guidance such as Papi or Tvasis.

I currently fly a B737 and have flown the B747. The autopilot can be engaged at 400' after takeoff and disconnected at the minimum altitude for the approach or if autoland approved is disconnected after touchdown.

When the  autopilot is used is a perference of the operating pilot. Personally I engage it at 10,000' on climb and often disconnect when the gear goes down (approx 2500')

Hope that helps

Answer 9

In cruise, I use it most of the time, hand flying only when there is turbulence.  I fly a C-172, either cross country or on Victor airways.  Approaches and landings are always by hand.

Answer 10

Most aircraft are hand flown below 1000ft AGL, but above that, all commercial aircraft are flown on autopilot.  In fact, at and above above FL290 (29,000ft) since RVSM (Reducted Verticle Seperation Minumums) came into effect (I want to say approx 3 years ago now) you need to be on autopilot... I believe to ensure verticle accuracy.

Answer 11

As much as they want. It is totally captain's discretion. But mostly in cruise.

Answer 12

The autolpilot systems of today do a better job than us mammals. I keep thinking about what the cockpit of the future will look like. A human "captain" sitting in the left seat. A big dog sitting in the right seat. The captain's job is to feed the dog. The dog's job is to bite the captain if he touches anything. Keep in mind, 85% of all aircraft accidents involve pilot error. Remove the pilot, remove 85% of problems that cause accidents. We'll get there someday. Glad I got my forty years in flying when I did.