I like creating my own flights across the atlantic and stuff, but the problem for me is, no matter what settings I choose in the flight planner, the autopilot just sends the plane straight ahead! Is there anything I can do to make it go the way I want?

once the details have been punched into the flight planner, set the a/p altitude to the cruise altitude. thats now taken care of. set the gps/nav switch to gps, and turn on the nav button on the autopilot. simple

thank you

btw i got another problem, I can fly the plane where I want but landings a real pain, The autopilot doesnt follow the runway, and I can never tell which side of the runway to land on! do you have any tips on landing?

ok you still have your nav button on right? from there, once you get into the control zone of your desired airport. listen to ATIS and get the runway planes are landing on. if you use the radio to make your calls then that makes it a little simpler, if not, you have a choice of what runway you are landing on in the direction against the wind. so now that you have decided on your runway, bring up your GPS. press the 'direct to' button, the one with the D with an arrow going through it. using your minor arrows (garmin GPS), or the left/right arrows (other GPS) to select what letter of the airport code you want (eg YSBK), or use the major arrows/up/down arrows to select from airport code, to airport name, and do the same with minor/left/right arrows to change letters. so, once you are happy with your selection, press the enter button (ENT), and press it again to activate it.

ok so thats probably a recap for you, but i might as well have said it again. now from here, with the airport details in the GPS, press the approach procedure button (PROC). you have 3 options. only one can be used at this time. so press enter to select 'select approach'. you have a list of different approaches. ils, gps, ndb, vectors, and so on. choose the one that best suits your flight. for example, if you are landing on runway 29 in bad visibility, you would select ils 29. press ent. it will ask you to load or activate. if you load it, and nav is still on, it will show the path, but your aircraft will not fly towards it. if you activate it, your aircraft will start flying to the first waypoint on the approach. i recommend you first load it, and see where the aircraft will fly along, so you can judge for yourself where to go inbound, and how the circuit will be going along, then activate it once you are correctly positioned. now all you have to worry about is altitude, but this is rather easy, as you can judge for yourself by the VASI lights with the whole 2 white-2red lights. so all you have to worry about is speed (can be fixed with the autopilot), altitude, flaps and landing gear.

it may sound complicated, but once you get the hang of it, its a breeze.

thanks again