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Personal Autopilot Altitude Warning presetting on ground

Hello all

On my IFR training, I had no recommendation given for presetting the autopilot altitude bug on ground, BEFORE getting my clearance.

So I started to use a personal setting from my knowledge of some airline procedures :
I put in the expected altitude +100 feets.

In that way, I know by looking at my bug that I don’t have received my clearance (as I will never get a XX100 feets clearance in our countries).

The other day, flying with a professional instructor, he said in his school they habit to put the airfield MSA, so they know when they get the clearance, that they are cleared ABOVE the MSA.

And you, what “procedure” do you use ?

LFBZ, France

If on ground without a clearance I set the altitude I want to climb to (presumably to keep me terrain safe and OCAS).

EGTK Oxford

I would never set anything in any field in any instrument or navaid without calculating first (speeds, power settings) or being instructed (altitude, heading, …).
An empty field catches one’s attention (mine at least) more than a value deliberately entered wrong.

Last Edited by what_next at 03 Oct 14:06
EDDS - Stuttgart

Leaving from my home field on a Z FPL I set the AP to the MVA of 3600 ft, or higher if it’s clear, but lower than 4500 ft, because of AS C above. Taking off VFR I set it to 4300 ft, i can always interrupt the climb with simply pressing ALT.
At 500 ft I switch on the AP with “NAV ALT+IAS” on an IFR departure (having selected and activated the SID before TO) … or hand fly out of the traffic pattern VFR.

what_next wrote:

An empty field catches one’s attention (mine at least) more than a value deliberately entered wrong

sure, but on some EFIS system (G500 for speaking of systems I know), there is always an altitude set : the last altitude entered.

So if on the last landing, the last altitude set by the pilot was 6000 fts, 6000 is what’s gonna be displayed on the PFD on power-up.

As 0 is non existent, you can still set 0100 for sure, or the Airfield Elevation.

LFBZ, France

jeff64 wrote:

sure, but on some EFIS system (G500 for speaking of systems I know), there is always an altitude set : the last altitude entered.

So if on the last landing, the last altitude set by the pilot was 6000 fts, 6000 is what’s gonna be displayed on the PFD on power-up.

Really? if that is true I am shocked. Why would the last altitude ever carry over? It is not like it is a transponder setting.

EGTK Oxford

The KFC225 also keeps the last altitude preselect.

I normally set this to the base of CAS minus a bit, initially.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

The KFC225 also keeps the last altitude preselect.

Sure but I haven’t seen it on any modern glass before.

EGTK Oxford

I never noticed that on the G500 either, but tomorrow I will fly with a student on a G500 equipped plane and verify… On our Honeywell stuff at work the fields will just remain blank. One can’t really miss that.

EDDS - Stuttgart

Aspen PFD’s also show last selected altitude (and bugged IAS) at power-up.

Friedrichshafen EDNY
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