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FLIGHT DIRECTOR

This flight director is the Collins FD-109. Unlike more modern systems, this flight director system is completely independent of the autopilot. It is possible to have each in two different modes, i.e. heading hold on the flight director and V/Loc mode on the autopilot. It is important that you cross-check both systems to make sure that they agree with each other. Hopefully you've read and understood how the autopilot works. This is similar.
The flight director control is located on the glareshield. It consists of two knobs, one for pitch control on the
right side and the other for roll mode on the left side. At the center is
a switch for altitude hold.
ROLL
Looking at the left knob, the default mode is off. Turning this knob clockwise will engage heading hold, vor/localizer hold,
auto glideslope, manual glideslope, and back beam (back course). They are labeled
GA, OFF, HDG, VOR/LOC, AUTO APP, MAN GS, and BB respectively. Command bars should drop down, and you'll get a temporary red "computer" flag until the bars align themselves.
The HSI course must be set to the correct ILS course to get proper approach guidance.
PITCH
The knob on the right side with the yellow airplane pointer controls the pitch of the command bars.
The scale is divided into five degree increments. You are able to dial
from 10 degrees nose down to 15 degrees nose up. If you want to climb at 10 degrees of pitch, for example, you would set the yellow pointer on
10 (straight up). That's all there is to it.
ALTITUDE HOLD
Flip the toggle switch in the middle of the
controller to hold altitude. You must have a valid roll command selected
before you can turn it on. Once turned on, the flight director will cue
you to hold whatever altitude you were at when you turned the switch on.
GO-AROUND MODE
One last mode I need to tell you about is the Go Around mode. On the real airplane, the go-around switches are located underneath the thrust levers. Due to the impracticality of adding these switches, there is a mouse click spot located just below your marker indicators labeled "G/A". You must have the flight director mode switch in the
AUTO APP position before you can engage the go-around mode. Once engaged, the G/S and V/Loc status on the APD will change to "Go Around". The command bars will pitch for 10 degrees and wings level. This is intended to serve as an aid to the pilot in establishing the go-around attitude, but it is not necessarily the optimum attitude. Once in a go-around, the pilot must then set up the flight director for the best pitch and desired heading. Also note that the autopilot does not
have a go-around mode and that it must be disconnected before attempting the maneuver. |