Originally Posted by
alex_b
I have a question. I know that modern autopilots can follow waypoints. When programming them do you program them point by point or do you program a destination and it works out the most sensible waypoint route? The reason for asking is if a pilot mis-selected the destination when attempting a turnaround, could that explain the new apparent flight path?
this is about the 25th post that has mentioned "programming the autopilot to fly a route" ... as I mentioned a day or so ago, it's been a long time since I was in Boeing Flight Test, but I am pretty sure that the autopilot only has two principal modes (altitude hold and heading hold); the Flight Management System (FMS) (or Flight Management Computer -- FMC) is what's used to enter the waypoints for the route of flight
any experts out there, please feel free to elaborate as necessary