X-Plane 11: Bendix/King KAP140 Autopilot Tutorial - What You Need To Know

Learn a few of the most common functions of the Bendix/King KAP140 Autopilot using X-Plane 11 in the Airfoillabs Cessna 172. Make the most out of your flight simulator experience or use the flight simulator to practice as a student pilot or beyond. Note that while the features of this unit in X-Plane closely mimic those of the real unit, there are some differences. This tutorial should be used for X-Plane purposes only. However, gaining a familiarity with this system will likely aid in your transition to units in the airplane.
In this video you will learn how to do the following on the X-Plane KAP140 Autopilot:
1. Activate the autopilot to hold the airplane level
2. Set the heading bug to hold a particular heading
3. Initiate a climb or descent
4. Set and arm a particular altitude to fly
5. Fly a GPS or VOR navigation course
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[@TheFlightLevel]

Great clear tutorial. Just watched it to brush up on the KAP140. Fantastic camera work!

[@randywhitney4882]

Thank you for your quick tutorial. I've just picked up the DHC-3 Turbo Otter for X-plane in which I'm having a lot of fun. I can usually figure out avionics but this AP wasn't responding to my attempts to control. You helped so much and I sure appreciate your helpful tutorials. I flew IRL over 45 years ago but the Cessna and Pipers didn't have these extras back then

[@robertbruni3567]

Great video! One correction: engaging ROL mode rolls the plane wings level. It will not maintain a bank.

[@Kreemerz]

Excellent to finally found someone who speaks english and wasn't 15 years old who knows what they're doing. Thanks for this video. You answered a bunch of questions I had. I've been using the Garmin system rather inefficiently but now, your video made me see things I hadn't seen before.

[@clayviation]

Haha well said, jujumediazone! I’m so glad I could be of service. Thanks for flying along!

[@lennyfernandes603]

Excellent tutorial. Thank you.

[@FlyingJournalism]

Seriously man this was a phenomenal autopilot tutorial. I watched your video on how to use this AP and made a world of a differnce on the sim training in kansas thank you for making this.

[@clayviation]

Great, thanks Flying Journalism! I’m glad you could benefit in your training!

[@FlyingJournalism]

@@clayviation yeah it was a struggle because being a pilot who flies rental planes prior to becoming a commercial pilot you always run into the problem of autopilot never work on flight school airplanes for they tell you hand fly to plan for experience it's a real world flying and everything is about autopilot.

[@thateuropaguy.1985]

Great vid I fly a real sp172 with this but don’t forget to set the barometric setting first!

[@jimpowers5932]

Best video tutorial of the 140 that I’ve watched

[@clayviation]

Thanks, Jim! I hope you found some helpful nuggets in there.

[@SteveSurgenor]

One thing about the autopilot that really threw me for a while was the way the vacuum gyro drifts over time and how far it was out after the plane was just started, I mapped a key to reset it as a stop gap until I can read up on what exactly is going on with it ! Loving the videos by the way, glad I stumbled upon your channel.

[@clayviation]

Thanks Safety Steve! And yes, you are right, that gyro drifts like the real airplane. It’s advisable to reset it to the magnetic compass every 15 minutes.

[@smaze1782]

What a great video. Just picked up this 172 myself. This was very helpful.

[@clayviation]

Thanks SMaze17 - glad you are enjoying some flying!

[@greghodges1786]

Excellent tutorial.

[@clayviation]

Thanks, Greg!

[@romanpenechko2717]

Огромное Вам спасибо. Наконец-то разобрался с некоторыми значениями автопилота. Без Вашего видое - всё бы пропало..) Собственно, я долго не мог понять, как встать на маршрут. А дело оказалось лишь в кнопке GPS.... ) Повторил ошибку начинающего пилота.

[@deskboundaviator7377]

Clay, in this excellent video you mention additional videos discussing other features of the 172 navigation instrument set. I am puzzled by some of these instruments and would love to watch your explanation of how they work. I did a search of your channel but could not find anything that goes into these instruments. If you have or know of anything that covers them in detail I would appreciate watching it. Excellent tutorial!

[@andrevdw747]

Thanks! Great short tutorial 🙂

[@Chikyel]

Thanks for the video, very instructive.

[@clayviation]

Absolutely, Jordi - thanks for watching!

[@VibeXplorer]

Another helpful tutorial! Thanks!

[@clayviation]

Thanks!

[@MrSameeg]

Sir. a great and well presented video on the KAP140!. Could you please make a video on using the KAP140 on ILS using the Approach keys. etc. Regards Mike from Scotland. UK.

[@clayviation]

Thank you Mike! Yes, those sorts of explorations are coming soon! Stayed tuned and thanks for watching!

[@crammydavisjr5813]

Awesome work!

[@clayviation]

Thanks, Crammy!

[@taeyoungyou705]

thank you!!! it is really helpful to me

[@clayviation]

Thanks, TAE!

[@jpalm32]

Well done

[@clayviation]

Thanks Jpalm!

[@davido1953]

You're good at this!

[@clayviation]

Thanks David! More than anything, I hope it helps your flight simulator experience so you can enjoy aviation to the fullest!

[@Brutalwhan]

Fantastic work, Gonna be ready for my PPL in no time ;-)

[@clayviation]

Hey you can do it! The sim is what made me realize that aviation was attainable. It's not hard, per se - it just takes focus and working consistently little by little.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

Nice video! If I were you, I'd add some hysteresis to the DME display, or only update it once or twice a second - those flickering numerals are weird!

[@thomasbriscoe120]

Great video and just purchased Airfoils 172 Cessna. Love the plane, but having issues with the GPS 430. When I insert the flight plan which includes all the waypoints, I can't get the Garmin 430 to follow the waypoints when I have the 430 set to GPS and the Bendix/King KAP 140 to Nav along with activating the autopilot. Please advise , Thanks

[@javev1772]

Where can I buy the kap140 for X-Plane?

[@tomasaguilo3099]

Nice video!. However, behavior of autopilot in navigation mode is wrong. That aircraft does not have an HSI but instead a DG/CDI pair of gauges, and in that case procedure to capture a VOR/GPS track is different than shown.

[@clayviation]

Hi Tomas! Thanks for watching. Reading your comment, I feel like we are on the same page with how this aircraft is set up. Perhaps you can expand on how it isn’t behaving correctly. In this Airfoillabs Cessna 172, the NAV mode of the autopilot will follow course guidance of CDI 1. The NAV/GPS button above CDI 1 toggles whether CDI 1 is receiving GPS navigation data (GPS) or radio navigation data from Nav 1 (NAV). I do agree that there is no HSI in this airplane. I’d love to understand more about your comment. Thanks again!

[@tomasaguilo3099]

Hi, the CDI unit signal is not strong enough to provide an accurate guidance, so the heading bug in the DG must be used as the primary guidance. In NAV/APR/REV modes (LOC/GPS,etc) the AP will follow heading bug signal crosschecked with OBS needle deviation for error compensation. You can download the original Bendix King KAP140 manual to check, it's free. Regards

[@clayviation]

Thanks interesting. I do see in the manual where it asks you to set the heading bug for an intercept, but I haven’t had any experience with one where the heading bug had to be placed for Nav mode - this X-Plane version hasn’t required it, so if the real 140 does, that is indeed a departure from the real thing. Thanks for the insight and if you have a link to the text that details that procedure, I’d love to explore it more. Thanks again!

[@tomasaguilo3099]

Here you have the link : www.bendixking.com/HWL/media/PDF/PilotsGuides/PG-KAP140.pdf

[@bobbnick]

How about a little focus so we can see your actions.

[@derekfrelow5367]

How do you get the Kap140 to descend? ? I set vertical speed to -1000 and I still climb at ~300fpm. The G1000 made flying too easy

[@clayviation]

Hmm that’s odd Derek. Without seeing your setup it’s hard to say, but normally once I set my vertical speed to the negative (down) selection, it begins to descent automatically. Could you have some weird mode active?

[@derekfrelow5367]

clayviation I guess I wasn’t reducing power enough, any chance of turboprop or multiengine videos in the future?

[@clayviation]

I’m curious how the autopilot is set up in the airplane you are using. In my configuration, reducing power won’t affect anything with the autopilot. The pitch is set to capture a specific vertical speed, so in my case, if I were in level cruise with AP on and reduced power, the airplane would slow down and work to hold a level pitch, even down to a stall. This can happen with a climb that’s too aggressive as well. For instance, if you take off and turn on the AP, let’s say it captures a 1000FPM climb. That might be fine for now, but as you climb, the performance of the airplane might cause you to slowly bleed off airspeed as the AP works to maintain a pitch for 1000fpm. This could ultimately lead to a stall as well. I’ll normally turn on the AP and then set something like an 800fpm climb in this airplane because I know that usually climbs me at a reasonable airspeed up to cruise altitude. The encore video of the Flying To Oshkosh series demos the Aerobask Velocity V-Twin, which I’ll probably use more in videos down the line. Thanks again for the great conversation!

[@kevindavis8175]

+clayviation. Can you choose the heading and altitude you want to fly using this autopilot? I tried to use the one from the default C172 (I'm new to XP11), but I can't select the heading and altitude I want, which is a major problem when flying IFR. It'll be worth an upgrade to another aircraft if I can get that feature. I also have the multi-panel and radio panel from Saitek. Thanks!

[@clayviation]

Mike, I haven't spent much time in the default C172, but in this one, you can indeed set heading using the heading bug and "HDG" key, and altitude by dialing in the desired altitude, initiating a climb or descent and then selecting the "ARM" key, which will capture the altitude you set and level you off.

[@kevindavis8175]

clayviation Thanks! When I fly offline IFR with the default Skyhawk, XP11’s ATC freaks out at me for not flying at the heading and altitude they want me at. However, I can’t set said altitude in the default aircraft! I wanted to get that resolved before I fly one PilotEdge or VATSIM! Also, does that plane fly erratically like the default one? Cheers, Kevin

[@clayviation]

I enjoy flying the Airfoillabs 172 as much as flying the real airplane (well, maybe like comparing turkey bacon to real bacon - it's just about there). You'd think they pay me to say that and use it - they don't :). It's really the best sim aircraft I've found so far.

[@clayviation]

Also, I've found that the default ATC has zero patience. Some of your issues might be from the default ATC itself.

[@DaveBrown1]

Excellent tutorial.

[@clayviation]

Dave Brown thank you kindly!