Why did my aircraft crash on autopilot in MSFS 2020?
Find why an aircraft stalls, dives or turns off course on autopilot in MSFS 2020, then fix modes, trim, controls, routes and approach setup.
Your aircraft usually crashes on autopilot in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 because the selected mode, speed, altitude, power or navigation source is wrong, or because trim, controller inputs, icing or loading make the commanded flight impossible. Autopilot follows its active modes; it does not rescue an unstable aircraft or avoid terrain.
I did activate it — why did it still crash?
Activating the AP master does not guarantee that the aircraft will climb, follow the route, manage speed or fly an approach. Depending on the aircraft, it may retain the existing pitch and roll, enter basic modes, or follow commands already selected on the flight guidance panel.
The flight mode annunciator is the source of truth. Check which lateral and vertical modes are active, which are merely armed, and what they are commanding. The colours and labels vary between avionics systems, so do not rely only on an illuminated button.
Autothrottle or autothrust is also separate from the autopilot. An aircraft in vertical-speed mode may keep pitching up for the selected climb rate while insufficient power lets the airspeed decay into a stall. Flight-level-change modes normally use pitch to control speed, but they still require suitable thrust or power.
If the AP button will not take control at all, use our separate checks for diagnosing an autopilot that refuses to engage.
Why does an aircraft crash on autopilot in MSFS 2020?
The motion immediately before the crash usually identifies the cause.
| What the aircraft does | Most likely cause | First thing to check |
|---|---|---|
| Pitches up, slows and stalls | An excessive VS climb, unrealistic selected speed, insufficient power, icing or excess weight | Active vertical mode, airspeed trend, thrust and angle of attack |
| Noses down and overspeeds | Aggressive descent command, low selected speed in some pitch-for-speed modes, or poor power and speedbrake management | Selected altitude, vertical mode, power and speed limits |
| Turns away from the magenta line | HDG remains active, the wrong navigation source is selected, or the active flight-plan leg is wrong | Mode annunciations, GPS/VLOC source, heading bug and next waypoint |
| Orbits a waypoint or makes a sudden reversal | A route discontinuity, duplicated waypoint, suspended sequencing or an active leg behind the aircraft | The flight plan and active-leg indication |
| Porpoises or rolls against the commanded path | Trim conflict, a noisy axis, duplicate bindings or an assistance feature supplying control inputs | Pitch, roll and trim inputs with hands off the controls |
| Disconnects without an obvious button press | Manual control input, a bound disconnect command, excessive attitude, trim trouble or an aircraft-specific limitation | Disconnect warning, controller assignments and trim position |
| Hits terrain while holding altitude | The selected altitude is below surrounding terrain, or vertical navigation is not actually flying the published constraints | Minimum safe altitude, procedure restrictions and active vertical mode |
| Fails only in cloud, icing or turbulence | Weather has pushed the aircraft outside the performance the autopilot can maintain | Ice accumulation, anti-ice use, speed, loading and simulation rate |
Which autopilot mode should you use?
Choose the mode according to what must be controlled, then monitor the remaining variables yourself.
| Mode | Use it for | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| ALT | Holding an altitude after the aircraft has captured it | Expecting altitude selection alone to start a climb or descent |
| VS | A controlled climb or descent while you monitor airspeed | Demanding a climb rate the available power cannot sustain |
| FLC, FLCH or IAS | Climbing or descending at a selected airspeed using pitch | Assuming the mode also sets thrust in an aircraft without active autothrottle |
| HDG | Flying a selected heading or intercepting a route or localiser | Leaving an old heading selected after expecting navigation mode to take over |
| NAV or LNAV | Following the active flight-plan leg or radio navigation source | Selecting the wrong source or failing to inspect the next leg |
| VNAV | Following a programmed vertical profile in aircraft that support it | Assuming every altitude restriction will be flown without valid route data, mode activation and a suitable selected altitude |
| APR | Capturing valid approach guidance after a suitable intercept | Arming it too high, too fast, on the wrong source, or assuming approach mode guarantees an automatic landing |
Across years of helping simmers, one mistake appears repeatedly: watching the control-panel buttons instead of the annunciated modes. A mode can be armed without being captured, and selecting a target altitude does not necessarily command the aircraft to move towards it.
How do we troubleshoot an autopilot crash?
The fastest diagnosis comes from reproducing the problem with as few variables as possible.
- Disconnect before the situation becomes unrecoverable. If the autopilot commands a dangerous pitch or bank, disconnect it rather than fighting it. Correct the attitude, airspeed and power manually; disconnect autothrottle separately if it is also making an unsuitable thrust command.
- Stabilise before re-engaging. Establish a sensible speed, moderate bank and pitch, correct power, and trimmed flight. Do not hand the autopilot an aircraft already close to a stall or overspeed.
- Read the active modes. Confirm the lateral mode, vertical mode, selected altitude and navigation source. An armed mode has not necessarily captured its guidance.
- Reduce the vertical demand. Use a gentler climb or descent and watch the airspeed trend. In a climb, decreasing speed means the aircraft cannot sustain the command with its present power and configuration.
- Inspect the active route leg. Check that the next waypoint is ahead, there is no discontinuity, and GPS, VLOC or another radio source is selected as required by the procedure and aircraft.
- Test at normal simulation rate. Time acceleration can exaggerate oscillations and leave complex avionics struggling to keep up. Reproduce the flight at normal rate before blaming the autopilot.
- Remove weather and loading variables. Test in calm, clear conditions with a normal centre of gravity and balanced fuel. Icing is particularly deceptive because the autopilot can conceal worsening handling until it reaches its control limit.
- Check controllers and assistance settings. Unplug spare yokes, gamepads, trim wheels and pedals. Look for duplicate pitch, roll, trim and autopilot-disconnect assignments, then disable AI control or assistance features that can move the controls.
- Test without third-party content. Temporarily move add-ons out of the
Communityfolder and try a stock aircraft at a default airport. Add packages back individually rather than deleting them. - Compare aircraft. If several stock aircraft behave normally but one add-on does not, concentrate on that aircraft, its avionics package and its required dependencies rather than changing simulator-wide settings.
Can trim or controller input fight the autopilot?
Yes. Many autopilots use pitch trim while controlling the aircraft, but a second trim command, noisy axis or assistance feature can make the system oscillate or disconnect. A small unnoticed input from a gamepad stored beside the desk is enough to spoil an otherwise correct setup.
Watch the cockpit controls and trim indicator while your hands are off every device. If trim repeatedly snaps back, runs away or returns to neutral, follow our trim-conflict and control-binding checks.
What should the aircraft be doing before autopilot is engaged?
The aircraft should already be easy to control by hand.
- Trimmed: no large or continuous control pressure is needed.
- At a safe speed: comfortably above the stall and below configuration or structural limits.
- Within a modest attitude: not halfway through a steep turn, stall recovery or abrupt level-off.
- Correctly powered: enough power for the intended climb, or controlled power for the descent.
- Properly loaded: weight, centre of gravity and fuel balance are within the aircraft’s limits.
- Correctly programmed: the route, active leg, selected altitude and navigation source match the intended flight.
If the aircraft is difficult to hand-fly, autopilot will usually hide the problem briefly rather than solve it.
Can autopilot prevent a stall or terrain collision?
Standard autopilot is not a universal stall-protection or terrain-avoidance system. Some aircraft model envelope protections, but those protections vary and cannot create lift when the aircraft is too slow, iced up, overloaded or short of power.
Altitude hold also knows nothing about mountains ahead. Flight-plan altitude constraints are not automatically flown unless the aircraft supports the required vertical-navigation logic, the route data is valid and the correct mode is active. Pilots must still check terrain clearance, minimum altitudes and descent restrictions.
Why does it crash only on approach?
Approach crashes usually come from late configuration, excessive speed, the wrong navigation source or guidance that was armed but never captured.
- For an ILS: tune or confirm the localiser as required, select the correct source, intercept at a modest angle and approach the glideslope from below.
- For an RNAV approach: keep the appropriate GPS source and confirm that the aircraft supports the published type of vertical guidance.
- Before capture: slow down, configure the aircraft and verify that both lateral and vertical guidance are behaving as expected.
- At the runway: do not assume APR means autoland. Unless that aircraft explicitly models a properly configured automatic landing system, disconnect and land manually at the appropriate point.
Our MSFS 2020 localiser, glideslope and approach-mode guide covers the ILS setup in more detail.
Is MSFS 2020 crashing to desktop instead?
If the whole simulator freezes or closes, that is an MSFS 2020 stability problem rather than the aircraft physically crashing. An autopilot command cannot normally close the application, although a faulty aircraft, avionics package or conflicting add-on may trigger a crash when a particular system is used.
- Establish which failure occurred. A stall, dive or terrain impact while the simulator remains open is a flight-control problem. A freeze or return to the desktop is an application crash.
- Launch in Safe Mode if MSFS offers it. This provides a useful test without third-party content. Otherwise, temporarily empty the
Communityfolder. - Create a stock baseline. Load a default aircraft at a default airport in clear weather and use normal simulation rate. If that works, restore add-ons one at a time.
- Isolate aircraft-specific packages. If the crash occurs only when one add-on aircraft engages AP, NAV or glass-cockpit functions, reinstall or update that aircraft and any required avionics dependency using its supplied installation method.
- Remove system instability. Return CPU and GPU overclocks to standard settings, close external overlays and monitoring utilities, restart the computer, and use a stable graphics driver.
- Separate stutter from a crash. Hitches and pauses require different remedies; use our MSFS 2020 stutter and micro-pause troubleshooting if the simulator remains open.