Late reply, but I hope it will still be useful.

There's a lot of different questions here -- I'll try to get to them all.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

After take-off, do I hand fly or do I use auto-pilot to OSI? Based on the replies it looks like I'll have to hand fly during the climb since the GNS is not able to detect the VOR. Do I have that right? Kindly confirm.

The autopilot can track to the VOR. You would tune the VOR in the "VLOC" portion of the GNS 530, set the "NAV / GPS" switch to "NAV", and use the "NAV" mode on the autopilot. But, of course, you could hand-fly as well.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

If I hand fly, do I bank to the left and go over the ocean (my understanding is that it is a protected marine area of some sort and one is not supposed to fly over it), or do I go over the mountains (I believe KHAF has a fly pattern to the right from rwy 30) to go to OSI?

As discussed above, if you're flying IFR and the weather isn't good enough for you to maintain terrain clearance visually, you would have to fly the SEEMS ONE ODP (obstacle departure procedure). But that takes you to SEEMS, not to OSI, so you'll want your route to continue from SEEMS. I'll discuss this further below.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

If I want to use the auto-pilot at what altitude and when do I engage it? 

An autopilot will have a minimum altitude at which you can engage it, which will be noted in the POH. I'm not sure about this particular installation, but for sim purposes, you can go with 500 feet AGL. Above that altitude, engage the autopilot whenever you want, or continue hand-flying, as you see fit. In real life, you'd probably want to use the autopilot to reduce your workload, particularly when flying single-pilot.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

Should I set the CDI to VLOC (if I wanted to fly using a VOR) or GPS before I take-off?

Assuming you're flying the SEEMS ONE ODP, it should be set to GPS, as you'll be navigating to SEEMS, which is a GPS fix.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

Also, to where should I point my heading bug (it's set to 'N' by MSFS when  runway30 is selected as the departure in the flight planner)?

Set it to 302 degrees, the initial heading noted in the ODP.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

Is the test route I created flyable in real life?

As noted above, you'd probably want to file a route that connects to the ODP. So you'd start at SEEMS, and from there, it looks like SEEMS V27 SHOEY V230 SNS would be a suitable route.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

Will cruising at 4000 ft all the way to KMRY be ok (since I like flying low and slow).

No. The minimum enroute altitude (MEA) on the route I noted above is 6000 feet between HADLY and SHOEY, then 5000 feet to SNS.

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

If the route planner includes the SEEMS fix for the IFR flight as a fix, can I just ignore it (it's so out of the way and seems like a waste of fuel - the flight planner also includes SFO which doesn't make sense to me as a fix when selecting the SEEMS departure in the planner)?

If you're flying the ODP, you do have to go to SEEMS -- it's the only way you know you won't hit anything. 😉 In real life, it's possible though that the controller might give you a shortcut once you're above the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA).

On 10/8/2025 at 10:10 AM, Matt Sdeel said:

Given the location and route (near KSFO - a major airport hub) and problems with the airport - terrain, turbulence and lots of fog, do I need to contact ATC for VFR flights?

Just wanted to note that we were talking about IFR so far, and now we're talking about VFR.

If the weather conditions allow and you make sure to stay out of B, C and D airspace, you could fly this route VFR without contacting ATC until you need to enter KMRY's class C airspace. You would then need to establish two-way radio communication with KMRY's approach control to enter that airspace.

On 11/19/2025 at 12:32 PM, martinboehme said:

Late reply, but I hope it will still be useful.

There's a lot of different questions here -- I'll try to get to them all.

The autopilot can track to the VOR. You would tune the VOR in the "VLOC" portion of the GNS 530, set the "NAV / GPS" switch to "NAV", and use the "NAV" mode on the autopilot. But, of course, you could hand-fly as well.

As discussed above, if you're flying IFR and the weather isn't good enough for you to maintain terrain clearance visually, you would have to fly the SEEMS ONE ODP (obstacle departure procedure). But that takes you to SEEMS, not to OSI, so you'll want your route to continue from SEEMS. I'll discuss this further below.

An autopilot will have a minimum altitude at which you can engage it, which will be noted in the POH. I'm not sure about this particular installation, but for sim purposes, you can go with 500 feet AGL. Above that altitude, engage the autopilot whenever you want, or continue hand-flying, as you see fit. In real life, you'd probably want to use the autopilot to reduce your workload, particularly when flying single-pilot.

Assuming you're flying the SEEMS ONE ODP, it should be set to GPS, as you'll be navigating to SEEMS, which is a GPS fix.

Set it to 302 degrees, the initial heading noted in the ODP.

As noted above, you'd probably want to file a route that connects to the ODP. So you'd start at SEEMS, and from there, it looks like SEEMS V27 SHOEY V230 SNS would be a suitable route.

No. The minimum enroute altitude (MEA) on the route I noted above is 6000 feet between HADLY and SHOEY, then 5000 feet to SNS.

If you're flying the ODP, you do have to go to SEEMS -- it's the only way you know you won't hit anything. 😉 In real life, it's possible though that the controller might give you a shortcut once you're above the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA).

Just wanted to note that we were talking about IFR so far, and now we're talking about VFR.

If the weather conditions allow and you make sure to stay out of B, C and D airspace, you could fly this route VFR without contacting ATC until you need to enter KMRY's class C airspace. You would then need to establish two-way radio communication with KMRY's approach control to enter that airspace.

Thank you for this!