On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:10:45 -0500, "Peter Dohm"
wrote:

In an effort not to go too far beyond my own knowledge, I'll avoid detail.

My best recollection, being about twenty years from being current as either
a pilot or a technician, is that "wing leveler" is a very missleading term
applied
to a single axis auto-pilot. Typically, the single axis would be yaw
(heading)

Try a Cherokee. They turn just fine using the ailerons with very
little adverse yawh.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
and would have been accomplished be slaving to either a rate gyro (such as
a turn coordinator or turn and slip) and a potentiometer, or a system of an
air jet and heated resistors, to provide a correction signal with
considerable
integration (a/k/a damping or low pass filtering). Although it would seem
intuitive to have the wing leveler steer the plane with the rudder and have
the dihedral roll the wings, the only systems that I have seen used the
ailerons and depended on the vertical stabilizer to keep the resulting yaw
within reason.

If you are still interested in learning more about how autopilots work, I
would
suggest trying to obtain some of the factory trianing manuals for the
technicians who will work on them. Try Bendix/King, S-Tech, and others.
Some books may also be available at college bookstores on booksellers
like Borders or Barnes & Noble.




"Dick" wrote in message
. com...
Sitting around the hanger and discussing the possibility of somehow using
off-the-shelf electronic/computer components or gadgits for semi-automatic
wing leveling on lightly loaded, short wingspans.

Not being computer guys, the current thought is that something should be
out
there that is available cheaply and modifiable to use a simple wing
leveler.

Having heard someplace that automotive computers, as an example, sense
data
millions of times leads us to believe that sensing the wing tip initial
movement and counteracting very very quickly would be a good thing.

As an example: One fellow pictured a rolling ball bearing inside a tube
somehow activating a magnetic switch which in turn pulses a dc linear
motor
to operate the aileron minutely.

We are not sure how to detect the very earliest initial wing tip movement
or
drive the small trim type motor and would appreciate some thoughts or
site
recommendations to investigate.

Thanks, Dick