User Guide

Learning To Fly with Rod Machado
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The attitude indicator is an artificial representation of the real horizon. Just as its name suggests, the
attitude indicator displays the airplane’s attitude (its upward or downward pitch and the bank the
wings make with the horizon). The upper half of the attitude indicator is blue (like the real sky, unless,
of course, you fly in Los Angeles), the bottom half is brown (like the surface below us). The thin white
line between these colors is the artificial horizon line. Pilots use the attitude indicator when they can’t
see the earth’s horizon because of restrictions to visibility or when it’s inconvenient to look at the
wing tips (which is your situation right now).
You’ve Got It
Okay, I think you’re ready to take the controls.
1. First, press Ctrl+V to disengage the autopilot’s wing leveler. This leaves only the altitude hold
feature active.
2. Place your hand on the joystick or flight yoke (I’ll use the term joystick from now on), and gently
move it about one inch to the left of its center (default) position.
3. Hold this position for about three seconds, then let the joystick return to its center position.
4. Watch the airplane’s response both on the attitude indicator and out
the front windscreen.
Moving the joystick to the left banks the airplane to the left, which dips
the left wing downward toward the ground. This is how you begin a left
turn. Notice that the miniature, orange-winged airplane in the attitude
indicator also appears to dip its left wing
toward the ground as shown in Figure 3A.
Mechanically speaking, it’s really the background
of the attitude indicator that moves and creates a
picture of the airplane’s attitude. Nevertheless, you can always tell
which way you’re banking by determining which one of the small
orange wings in the attitude indicator dips toward the ground (this is
easy since you only have two choices).
5. Gently move the joystick to the right in the same manner described
above. The attitude indicator now indicates a right turn since the right
wing dips toward the ground (Figure 3B).
6. Move the joystick to the right or left until both wings are parallel to the
artificial horizon line (Figure 3C), then return the joystick to its center
(default) position.
This is how you make the airplane fly straight. After all, if the wings
aren’t banked, the airplane isn’t turning.
7. Push Ctrl+V to reactivate the wing leveler and take a short break.
Figure 3A
Figure 3C
Figure 3B