Climb-out/Enroute
3-5
ALTITUDE HOLD (ALT) MODE
Altitude Hold mode is entered by pressing the “ALT” button on the
autopilot control panel. In many cases, since Altitude Hold mode
defaults to armed, this press of the ALT button will toggle the ALT
button from armed (cyan) to engaged (green) and disengage the
previously engaged vertical channel autopilot mode. The system
will light the control panel button in green, and hold the altitude at
the time of mode entry. It will not sync the altitude bug on the
altimeter to current altitude and will only turn the altitude bug solid
if the bug is moved to be within 50 feet of the autopilot holding
altitude.
If the barometric setting is subsequently adjusted, the airplane will
automatically climb or descend as required to reacquire the
selected altitude.
If the altitude bug is moved more than 50’ away from the holding
altitude, it will turn hollow. The autopilot does not command an
aircraft altitude change at this point and it provides a means for a
new future altitude target to be preset.
The primary place to set the Altitude bug is via the dedicated
knob on the keyboard. An additional means is provided via a LSK
on the “Bug Select” tab of the PFD page.
The autopilot modes annunciator indication for an engaged
Altitude Hold mode is a green “
ALT
”.
INDICATED AIRSPEED (IAS) HOLD MODE
Indicated Airspeed Hold mode is entered by pressing the “IAS”
button on the autopilot control panel. The system will light the
control panel button in green, and adjust the aircraft pitch as
required to achieve the bugged indicated airspeed target and turn
the IAS bug solid. If already in IAS mode, any subsequent
adjustments to the IAS bug sets a new IAS target for the system
and aircraft pitch is automatically adjusted to achieve that new
IAS target. Pushing the IAS knob will sync the IAS bug to the
current indicated airspeed.
If an unterminated IAS climb or descent is desired, a second
press of the “IAS” button on the autopilot control head may be
required to disarm altitude capture. This is because ALT defaults