AUTOPILOT PROS & CONS

I've never seen a Bonanza without electric trim and an
autopilot installed. What you have seems to be just a wing
leveler with heading and [maybe] tracking.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
| In article 5u4ag.20816$ZW3.8687@dukeread04,
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| The auto-pilot should be running the trim, the
annunciation
| is intended to be advisory. Using the electric trim will
| disengage the auto-pilot. I'm guessing that you have a
bad
| relay.
|
| There is no electric trim. I believe it's an option, but
our boxes
| don't have it.

In article PG5ag.20818$ZW3.19044@dukeread04,
Jim Macklin wrote:
I've never seen a Bonanza without electric trim and an
autopilot installed.

Apparently not :-)

What you have seems to be just a wing leveler with heading and
[maybe] tracking.

Nope. It does heading, tracks nav, altitude hold, course intercepts,
and coupled ILS approaches. Once we get the kinks worked out of the
new add-on box, it'll be doing GPS roll steering too. We've got one
driven from a CDI, another with an HSI. It just doesn't have electric
trim. It's an option, and we don't have that option. Wish we did,
but we don't.

I would skip the fancy nav steering and coupling, you can
always use the heading bug to track the needle and get the
pitch trim ASAP. But, it isn't my airplane. A wing leveler
like Mooney installed is a big aid, but real altitude hold
and trim is just as important.

If you want to get spoiled, fly a $500,000 Sperry autopilot
in a King Air. I've flown a few hundred different Bonanzas,
from late 1940 models to the B36TC, if they had an
autopilot, [all the ones built after about 1965 that I flew
did] they had electric trim.

We did a Category II certification on the Beechjet and
encountered a problem caused by a poorly written flight test
schedule. The DER that was hired wrote a schedule that
called for the coupled approaches to be flown at a
stabilized speed of 1.3 Vso from the OM to landing or missed
approach. We could hand fly within the tolerances, but the
autopilot could not. We had to do extreme fore and aft CG
and the autopilot would get wild on the ILS. Came to find
out several things... FAR 25 requires that the airplane trim
function to 1.4 Vso, so 1.3 Vso might not be a trimable
speed, depending on CG. Also the autopilot was certified at
1.3 Vso +10, as far as those who did the original
certification could remember.
So we re-wrote the flight test schedule and the autopilot
flew well within the 95% 1 dot on all the approaches because
it was in trim at 1.3 Vso+10.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
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But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
| In article PG5ag.20818$ZW3.19044@dukeread04,
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| I've never seen a Bonanza without electric trim and an
| autopilot installed.
|
| Apparently not :-)
|
| What you have seems to be just a wing leveler with
heading and
| [maybe] tracking.
|
| Nope. It does heading, tracks nav, altitude hold, course
intercepts,
| and coupled ILS approaches. Once we get the kinks worked
out of the
| new add-on box, it'll be doing GPS roll steering too.
We've got one
| driven from a CDI, another with an HSI. It just doesn't
have electric
| trim. It's an option, and we don't have that option.
Wish we did,
| but we don't.

Jim Macklin wrote:


If you want to get spoiled, fly a $500,000 Sperry autopilot
in a King Air. I've flown a few hundred different Bonanzas,
from late 1940 models to the B36TC, if they had an
autopilot, [all the ones built after about 1965 that I flew
did] they had electric trim.

Try the autoflight in the 767 or L-1011, and would never look back at
the King Air.

But a J-3 or PA 18-150 is more fun than either.



"Sam Spade" wrote in message
news:LJ9ag.177039$bm6.20988@fed1read04...
| Jim Macklin wrote:
|
|
| If you want to get spoiled, fly a $500,000 Sperry
autopilot
| in a King Air. I've flown a few hundred different
Bonanzas,
| from late 1940 models to the B36TC, if they had an
| autopilot, [all the ones built after about 1965 that I
flew
| did] they had electric trim.
|
| Try the autoflight in the 767 or L-1011, and would never
look back at
| the King Air.

Jim Macklin wrote:
But a J-3 or PA 18-150 is more fun than either.

Now you're talking!! ;-)

A Super Cub with a Garmin 296.~

And a comfortable seat!
And a heater that heats both seats equally.


Karl
"Curator" N185KG

"Sam Spade" wrote in message
news:OOmag.177086$bm6.21618@fed1read04...
Jim Macklin wrote:
But a J-3 or PA 18-150 is more fun than either.

Now you're talking!! ;-)

A Super Cub with a Garmin 296.~

Even better, www.cubcrafters.com



"Sam Spade" wrote in message
news:OOmag.177086$bm6.21618@fed1read04...
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| But a J-3 or PA 18-150 is more fun than either.
|
| Now you're talking!! ;-)
|
| A Super Cub with a Garmin 296.~

RefrigiWear makes the heater redundant.
http://www.refrigiwear.com/

Good boots and socks, thick wool. Think winter motorcycle
gear.


"karl gruber" wrote in message
...
| And a comfortable seat!
| And a heater that heats both seats equally.
|
|
| Karl
| "Curator" N185KG
|
| "Sam Spade" wrote in message
| news:OOmag.177086$bm6.21618@fed1read04...
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| But a J-3 or PA 18-150 is more fun than either.
|
| Now you're talking!! ;-)
|
| A Super Cub with a Garmin 296.~
|
|

I've owned two Super Cubs. One that I bought brand new in 1966 and picked it
up in Lock Haven.
It cost just under $12,000.

I prefer to fly in shirtsleeves, and certainly would never climb into a
space suit to fly. The PA-18-150, as delivered from the factory has an
excellent front set heater. It's the PAX that freezes. Although a little
tape around the doors makes it more bearable.

There are some things that Cubcrafters do to make the situation better, but
Piper never cared to change the airplane much.

Karl
ATP CFI ETC
"Curator" N185KG


"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news:WToag.21671$ZW3.19218@dukeread04...
RefrigiWear makes the heater redundant.
http://www.refrigiwear.com/

Good boots and socks, thick wool. Think winter motorcycle
gear.


"karl gruber" wrote in message
...
| And a comfortable seat!
| And a heater that heats both seats equally.
|
|
| Karl
| "Curator" N185KG
|
| "Sam Spade" wrote in message
| news:OOmag.177086$bm6.21618@fed1read04...
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| But a J-3 or PA 18-150 is more fun than either.
|
| Now you're talking!! ;-)
|
| A Super Cub with a Garmin 296.~
|
|