Quote:

I took it out yesterday and had better results. I just maintained rwy heading and climbed then descended. I found if I nudge it forward and little and hold it the cs will engage and hold the pitch. A few times it seemed to disengage completely and I had complete control.

So this time did you use both AIL and ELEV (both switched ON)?
Or was this with the AIL switch ON, and ELEV switch OFF?

With the AIL switch ON the CWS will hold any bank angle that you select to do a turn at, but because the ELEV switch is OFF, you must control the pitch (the CWS should not have control of it). I actually crashed my 737 yesterday when I was making absolutely certain that the ELEV switch (which was OFF) had no control over the pitch of the 737-200 at all. It didn't and the pitch kept on going down until the 737 ploughed into the ground at a very steep angle!


Quote:

I just need to gain a few more hours with this bird and I'm sure I'll have it down.

Yep. Practice makes perfect. You will get better as you get more familiar with it. ;)