Changing altitude in the Cessna G1000?

[Nats]

How do I have my plane change to my set altitude in the autopilot and how do I adjust vertical rate? At the moment all I seem to be able to do is have it fly level.

[Echo Kilo]

Off the top of my head and I'm unable to double check in the sim at the moment, but try following.

1. Set your desired (new) target altitude.
2. Click "VS" button on the autopilot controls (right G1000 unit) to switch into vertical speed mode.
3. Use the nearby "up/dn" buttons to tell the autopilot what rate you wish to descend/climb. The selected rate will be indicated by a blue caret in the vertical speed indicator on the PFD, as well as green text near the top edge of the same display.

Once the aircraft reaches the preset altitude, it'll capture it and switch to ALT hold mode.

The X-Plane 11 G1000 is a joy to use and fly with!

[Nats]

Originally posted by Echo Kilo:

Off the top of my head and I'm unable to double check in the sim at the moment, but try following.

1. Set your desired (new) target altitude.
2. Click "VS" button on the autopilot controls (right G1000 unit) to switch into vertical speed mode.
3. Use the nearby "up/dn" buttons to tell the autopilot what rate you wish to descend/climb. The selected rate will be indicated by a blue caret in the vertical speed indicator on the PFD, as well as green text near the top edge of the same display.

Once the aircraft reaches the preset altitude, it'll capture it and switch to ALT hold mode.

The X-Plane 11 G1000 is a joy to use and fly with!

Thanks I will have to look for the up/down buttons again because its those I couldnt see. I thought there must be some somewhere, theres a knob for altitude and heading but none for telling the autopliot you want to descend. I am still retively new to flight sims though and obviously need to learn more about all these autopilots etc.

[Echo Kilo]

You're welcome. I just got home so I could check how the G1000 actually looks like. The "Nose UP" and "Nose DN" buttons are the bottom two buttons on the right side column of the autopilot buttons, just above the ALT rotary knob. "VS" button is to the left of them, just above the FLC (Flight Level Change?) button (I don't know yet how to use that one).

[Nats]

Ah I tried those last night and they didnt seem to do anything - I will give them another go now cheers! It is a very nice plane indeed for flying around local landmarks/sightseeing/VFR flying etc - you get great views because of the high wings.

[Virtual Insanity]

Originally posted by Echo Kilo:

...FLC (Flight Level Change?) button (I don't know yet how to use that one).

FLC is indeed Flight Level Change.
With FLC you set a fixed airspeed to climb / descend at.
I use it 90% of the time and prefer it to VS mode as it just about eliminates risk of a stall if you're not watching closely.

To use it...

Set desired altitude
Press [FLC] - the AP captures current airspeed (96Kts for example) and attempts to maintain that speed
Set desired climb/descend throttle setting
If adding throttle the nose will pitch up so as not to exceed 96Kts
If intending to descend then reduce throttle, nose will pitch down to maintain 96 Kts
To climb faster, add power, to climb slower reduce.
Same in reverse for descending.

The desired airspeed can be raised by pressing [Nose Dn] or lowered with [Nose Up]

The benefit of FLC over VS is that in VS mode the aircraft might run out of energy/power to maintain a certain FPS climb rate and stall causing the AP to turnoff.
In FLC mode as the engine looses power with altitude it will maintain a healthy airspeed and sacrifice climb rate.

[Funky Stunt]

Originally posted by Virtual Insanity:

snipped for brevity

If he didn't learn how to adjust altitude more than a year ago, rest assured, he's since run out of fuel.

[greg.woods]

But still useful 5 years later :)