There are currently four autopilot modes, with one mode exclusive to the AV-42C Kestrel. The player may disable a mode by overriding the relevant control axis, or changing thruster tilt to less than 90 degrees.
- NAV: flies towards the current waypoint's bearing and altitude. It will also fly through the sequence of points in a path.
- ALT: Holds the current altitude using pitch. The plane will automatically pitch up to maintain altitude when banking making this useful for manually orbiting or skimming close to the sea. In VTOL mode, this manages throttles to control vertical movement or altitude as indicated by the player within a maximum rate of 25 units per second up or down.
- HDG: Holds the current heading using roll and yaw. The player may provide pitch input without overriding this setting.
- HVR: Unique to the AV-42C, and can only be toggled when engines are 90 degrees up. The autopilot will attempt tp cancel out any horizontal movement. The player can move the stick without the autopilot turning off.
Coupling
The autopilot couples to other avionics and controls.
- HDG holds the heading at time of toggling, but can be changed in the F/A-26B using a knob on the Horizontal Situation Indicator. The autopilot will instantly enter a bank to match the selected heading.
- Moving the throttle in the AV-42C will set the descent rate in VTOL mode.
Notable Combinations
NAV and HDG conflict with each other.
NAV and ALT allows the player to fly towards the way point's bearing, but overrides the WPT's altitude. Useful if the way point is at an undesirable level.
HVR and ALT allow the VTOL to essentially translate through space without the coordination needed for a manually flown helicopter. The player may temporarily control the throttle or stick at any time without turning off autopilot.