What a fantastic experience it is to fly the FA-18C -especially after understanding the cockpit and its essential functions! Many thanks to this forum!
For everybody who might be interested in this detail (as far as I went through the numerous posts I think nobody has mentioned this before): the autopilot of the FA-18 offers the possibility to maintain a certain altitude.
- pressing the button on the left of :BALT will keep you precisely at the altitude which was indicated when pressing the button (maybe 512ft or so)
- the keyboard command 'CTRL+Z' results in flying at an altitude close to the altitude which was indicated when presing the keys - either brought up or down to a round figure. That means if you want to fly at - let' s say 500ft - it' s o.k. to press 'CTRL+Z' when you are at 512ft and the AP will automatically adjust your altitude to 500ft.
btw.: according to the FPL my last trip included a steep turn of more than 290°. It was for the first time that I let the AP follow the selected track. I was a little disappointed when I realized how the acft executed this 'steep turn'. Even my grandmother would have said 'this is what I call a smooth ride', I think. I would have expected a more military jet-like turn with a banking of more than 45° and pulling some g' s next to 2 or so. But ...
Nevertheless, a great plane!! I hope that there will be add ons like ext. fuel tanks, FA-18D version etc.
