If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
"Michael" wrote: Without GPSS, an STEC might as well be a decades-old Autocontrol/Altimatic - it will hunt so much in nav track mode that you will wind up just using it in heading hold mode. Something's wrong with your student's S-Tec installation. Mine doesn't have GPSS, but when it's set to "Approach" mode and the CDI scale is set at one mile, it will hold me within 50' of my course line for 100's of miles without hunting. If I let the autopilot turn me to a new heading, it will hunt for a while. GPSS would fix this, but I can't bring myself to pony up the $1800 to add it. I'm not that impressed with the altitude hold function. The installation I've seen lacks auto-trim. I would say that if you have a Mooney without electric trim, the altitude hold is not worth buying. If the air is smooth, a properly trimmed plane will hold altitude anyway. If it's not, constantly retrimming when the thing beeps at you isn't any less work than just holding altitude manually. Once again, this doesn't sound right. Turbulence has to be pretty close to moderate before I'll turn altitude hold off. -- Dan C172RG at BFM |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
If I let the autopilot turn me to a new heading, it will hunt for a
while. Well, that's the least of it. The real issue is when you change course, or just hit direct-to and nav. With GPSS, it gets on course and stays on course, smooth as you please. Without, you need to get it on course manually, set the heading bug correctly, then when all is good select nav track. And even then, you have a choice of hunting in enroute mode, or annoying wing waggle in approach mode. I suspect you have fewer issues with this because you fly a much more stable, solid airplane. The experience I have with these gadgets is in Mooneys and Bonanzas. I suspect the same issue applies to altitude hold. When I'm talking about smooth air, I don't so much mean lack of turbulence as lack of lift/sink. Your airplane doesn't have nearly the tendency to pick up speed when the nose is pointed down that a Mooney or Bonanza does, but the flip side of this is that lift and sink don't affect your airspeed (and thus your pitch trim) near as much. Thus you don't get beeped at to retrim every time the vertical speed of the air mass changes by 200 fpm - but in a Mooney without autotrim, you will. Michael |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
"Michael" wrote: And even then, you have a choice of hunting in enroute mode, or annoying wing waggle in approach mode. If it does this, something's wrong. It's not a difficult control task. You should be able to pick a combination of approach/enroute mode and CDI scale that produces a smooth, on course track. Try approach mode with a 1-mile CDI. If that doesn't do it, I would suspect some binding in the aileron controls or a faulty roll servo. -- Dan C172RG at BFM |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Ron Natalie wrote:
Jon Kraus wrote: Thinking about putting a STEC-30 with the GPS Steer in our '79 Mooney M20J. Anyone have one of these that would care to give a PIREP? We are located in the Inidianapolis area so fi yu know a good shop we'd appreciate it. Thanks!! A number of my fellow Navion owners have that autopilot. I've got the 55X with GPSS. They're happy with theirs, I'm more than happy with mine. Can't help you with a shop in Indiana (got a good one here in Virginia if you want to come that far). GPSS is way cool. What do you have for a GPS? What's the shop? I'm planning on having a autopilot installed later this year. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
We are going with Tim Matteson down in Lafayette Georgia. He comes
highly recommended by several Mooney owners in the Mooney email list. I called and talked to him and got a quote today. Auto pilots and panel upgrades are all that he does. He also was was $2500 less than the nearest bid. We have an appointment on August 5th for the install. He said it will only take him 3 days for the install. Other shops were quoting a week or 2. Email me if you need any other info. Jon Kraus '79 Mooney 201 Student Stec-30 owner Jimmy B. wrote: Ron Natalie wrote: Jon Kraus wrote: Thinking about putting a STEC-30 with the GPS Steer in our '79 Mooney M20J. Anyone have one of these that would care to give a PIREP? We are located in the Inidianapolis area so fi yu know a good shop we'd appreciate it. Thanks!! A number of my fellow Navion owners have that autopilot. I've got the 55X with GPSS. They're happy with theirs, I'm more than happy with mine. Can't help you with a shop in Indiana (got a good one here in Virginia if you want to come that far). GPSS is way cool. What do you have for a GPS? What's the shop? I'm planning on having a autopilot installed later this year. |
#16
|
|||
|
|||
We are going with Tim Mattheson down in Lafayette Georgia. He comes
highly recommended by several Mooney owners in the Mooney email list. I called and talked to him and got a quote today. Auto pilots and panel upgrades are all that he does. He also was was $2500 less than the nearest bid. We have an appointment on August 5th for the install. He said it will only take him 3 days for the install. Other shops were quoting a week or 2. Email me if you need any other info. Jon Kraus '79 Mooney 201 Student Stec-30 owner Jimmy B. wrote: Ron Natalie wrote: Jon Kraus wrote: Thinking about putting a STEC-30 with the GPS Steer in our '79 Mooney M20J. Anyone have one of these that would care to give a PIREP? We are located in the Inidianapolis area so fi yu know a good shop we'd appreciate it. Thanks!! A number of my fellow Navion owners have that autopilot. I've got the 55X with GPSS. They're happy with theirs, I'm more than happy with mine. Can't help you with a shop in Indiana (got a good one here in Virginia if you want to come that far). GPSS is way cool. What do you have for a GPS? What's the shop? I'm planning on having a autopilot installed later this year. |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
I have had very good results with Mid America Avionics in Auburn, Indiana
(KGWB). Recently had a GNS430, 340 and 106A done. Rick Morris, is the guy who runs the place and will deliver on time and on budget. His prices are lower than the shops at Metro and Muncie. ....Robbie. "Jon Kraus" wrote in message .. . Thinking about putting a STEC-30 with the GPS Steer in our '79 Mooney M20J. Anyone have one of these that would care to give a PIREP? We are located in the Inidianapolis area so fi yu know a good shop we'd appreciate it. Thanks!! Jon Kraus |
#18
|
|||
|
|||
Jimmy B. wrote:
What's the shop? I'm planning on having a autopilot installed later this year. Bay Avionics at Hampton Roads Airport (KPVG). |
#19
|
|||
|
|||
If it does this, something's wrong. It's not a difficult control task.
I don't doubt it - but every installation I've seen does it. I know full well it's not a difficult control task, but I also know it's not the same control task for all airplanes. The more roll stability the plane has, the easier the task. A friend of mine who flew 727's for a while says that the autopilots on those were the same way - they never used nav track enroute because twiddling the heading bug (or even the roll trim) worked better. Michael |
#20
|
|||
|
|||
"Michael" wrote: If it does this, something's wrong. It's not a difficult control task. I don't doubt it - but every installation I've seen does it. I know full well it's not a difficult control task, but I also know it's not the same control task for all airplanes. The more roll stability the plane has, the easier the task. Nevertheless, the S-Tec autopilot is not much different from an industrial PLC. Such devices --even cheap ones-- can handle all sorts of PV upsets with rapid overshoot damping. The S-Tec should do as well. Admittedly, my airplane is quite stable in roll, but really, so is a Mooney. And if things are a bit bumpy, the Mooney might even be better, due to higher wing loading. A friend of mine who flew 727's for a while says that the autopilots on those were the same way - they never used nav track enroute because twiddling the heading bug (or even the roll trim) worked better. Well, it depends on what one is tracking. Attempting to track a wavering CDI off a distant VOR will certainly produce oscillations. Tracking a CDI driven by a GPS is quite another matter. -- Dan C-172RG at BFM |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
DGs and Autopilots | Andrew Gideon | Owning | 11 | April 14th 05 06:04 PM |
DGs and Autopilots | Andrew Gideon | Products | 11 | April 14th 05 06:04 PM |
ALTRAK pitch system flight report | optics student | Home Built | 2 | September 21st 03 11:49 PM |