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Climb-out/Enroute
CONTROL WHEEL STEERING MODE
Control Wheel Steering (CWS) mode is entered by pressing the
CWS button on the aircraft yoke in those aircraft that support this
functionality.
CWS mode allows the servos to be temporarily disengaged for
the duration that the CWS button is held down, providing an
opportunity for the pilot to manually maneuver the aircraft as
desired without disconnecting the autopilot. Typical uses for this
mode include an easy way to adjust the pitch and bank targets
while in PITCH and/or BANK hold modes, maneuvering to avoid
traffic, weather, or airspace conflicts, flying a more aggressive
intercept scenario than the autopilot would have provided, and an
alternative method of syncing the active vertical mode bugs (ALT,
IAS, or VS) to present aircraft state.
The flight director command bars will be removed from display for
the duration that the CWS mode is active.
During CWS, the horizontal targets (HDG or CRS) remain
unchanged and if either HDG or NAV modes were active
immediately prior to engaging CWS, the autopilot will
automatically re-establish its tracking of those modes and targets
when the CWS button is no longer depressed. If one of the
commandable vertical modes (ALT, IAS, or VS) were active
immediately prior to engaging CWS, the bug associated with the
active mode (e.g. altitude bug for ALT mode, IAS bug for IAS
mode, and VS bug for VS mode) will stay synchronized with the
actual aircraft state and when the CWS button is no longer
depressed, the new bug value becomes the new target.
If PITCH and/or BANK modes were active at the time of CWS
engagement, the pitch and bank values at the time of CWS
button release will become the new pitch and bank values the
autopilot will hold.
The autopilot modes annunciator indication is white
“
CWS
”. The
autopilot modes annunciators that were lit immediately prior to
entering CWS remain lit in the same manner and the
“
CWS
”
annunciation takes the place of the “AP”, “FD”, or “AP READY”
annunciation location while it is active.
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