Autopilot Tutorial

To the left is the autopilot in Infinite Flight: the five buttons of SPD (speed), HDG (heading), ALT (altitude), VS (vertical speed) and A/P (autopilot).

The main use of the autopilot is when manual control is not needed, the autopilot controls the aircraft automatically based on the settings inputted.

Speed, or  Autothrottle
This aspect of the autopilot controls the speed. This mode will try its best to reach the airspeed, if there isn't enough power available, the airspeed might not ever be reached.

Heading
This aspect of the autopilot controls the heading of the aircraft. If you turn it on and inputted a different heading than your current one, it will turn your aircraft for you. You can check your heading on the bottom bar, next to messages, in a format of xxx°

Altitude
This aspect of the autopilot does not do anything if you don't input anything into the vertical speed. Entering a number into altitude makes sure that your aircraft would stop descending or climbing once it reaches the aim. When first turned on, the ALT mode immediately tries to maintain the current altitude, this can cause control issues if the airplane is climbing or descending too rapidly. Make sure you set the ALT mode when the airplane climb rate is less than 500ft/min.

Vertical Speed
This aspect of the autopilot controls the rate of your climb or descent. Note that this mode may sometimes result in sudden input, resulting in a loss of control, or even a stall. This mode tries its best to reach the climb rate you inputted, but may make the aircraft stall if your speed is too low or the climb rate is too great. In this case, you should disengage the autopilot immediately.
How to recover from stall: http://www.infiniteflight.tk/2014/06/stall-recovery.html

Notes:

• You can engage only one aspect of the autopilot by just pressing either SPD, HDG, or VS.
• If you press the A/P button when the autopilot is off, the autopilot input is automatically set to your current state.
• Effective use of the autopilot is shown here: http://www.infiniteflight.tk/2014/10/full-flight-tutorial.html
• The autopilot may put the aircraft into an out of control state. In this case, the autopilot should be disengaged immediately.
• As there is no autopilot ILS system yet, it is not recommended to land with the autopilot. The speed autopilot can be on however.

The Year It Was: 2014

First of all, have a nice holiday! The long break is finally here and it is time to relax. Both me, and Vish wish you a merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.
Now that the year is almost over, it is time to review the year, noting the major events.

2014 was quite a bad year for the aviation industry.
The major events include: the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines 370, and the shooting of MH17. With this, the aviation industry may have taken a hit, especially Malaysia Airlines. But both of these incidents weren't their fault.

Looking on to the bright side now.
The release of the A350!A environmentally friendly wide body jet, similar to the Boeing 787.
Infinite Flight has improved drastically in this year. If you look at the 2013 Infinite Flight and the current Infinite Flight: better graphics, better interface, MULTIPLAYER, more planes and much more. Let's hope that 2015 will bring even more improvements to Infinite Flight.

The Infinite Flight Tutorials website launched in May, created to help all aviation enthusiasts. We now receive over 500 pageviews a day. Thank you for your support.

Here's what we are working on:
-Website design
-More content
-Improving content
We have already changed the design a bit, please let us know what you think. It's your opinions that shape our website.

This concludes the 2014 review. Leave in the comments below your thoughts. What have you accomplished this year? I remember at the start of the year been a complete noob in flight, landing at 400 knots.

Flight Planning

A flight plan from YSSY to YSRI (Sydney to Richmond)

Flight planning is a simple yet compulsory piece of information you need to know. It is necessary to complete full flights.In this tutorial, I will tell you how to make a flight plan.

1. Start up a flight, and switch to the page "map".
2. On the bottom right corner, press the button until it changes to 'MAP FPL"
3. Zoom in to your current aircraft location. You will notice some triangles. These triangles are called 'waypoints' and they are legs for a flight plan. Press on your current airport, and press 'Add to FPL' (flight plan). In some cases, it would be more accurate to press on the triangle your aircraft is on, and add that to your flight plan instead of your starting airport.
4. Decide an arrival airport. Make sure it is suited for your aircraft.
5. Now, from your current location, add waypoints to your arrival airport. Make sure the airport is your last flight plan item.

Notes

• Make sure each turn is not too steep. 45 degrees is the maximum.
• Keep in mind when in high altitude, your turns will be slower.
• Make sure you are well alligned with the arrival runway not too late.
• On your bottom information bar, there would be many information displayed. The last item is 'BRG' (bearing), and this typically instructs on which heading your aircraft should be at.
• The autopilot does not follow your flight plan. You will need to adjust the heading yourself on the autopilot panel.
• Make sure to check the map often, and be sure you are on the right flight path. You should start descending the aircraft halfway throughout your flight, at a verticle speed of up to 2400feet/min.

Any questions, make sure to leave a comment and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Post by: Michael Chen