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STEC-30



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 16th 05, 11:26 PM
Jon Kraus
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Default STEC-30

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

  #2  
Old June 17th 05, 12:01 AM
Michael
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A student of mine has that setup in his Mooney. It's a hell of a seup
in terms of roll control. GPSS makes an autopilot behave the way you
expect - it gets you on course and keeps you on course without a
problem. 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.

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.

Michael

  #3  
Old June 17th 05, 09:13 PM
Dan Luke
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"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


  #4  
Old June 17th 05, 11:43 PM
Michael
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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

  #5  
Old June 18th 05, 01:22 AM
Dan Luke
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"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


  #6  
Old June 21st 05, 04:54 PM
Michael
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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

  #7  
Old June 17th 05, 01:58 AM
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I have the STEC30 in my C172, although no GPS steer since I doon't have
a GPS (that will be changing next month). As for the A/P I must say
that it is fabulous, imho. I don't have any experience with any other
A/P so I can't compare, but I can't imagine what more I could want
unless it was one with alt preselect and some o ther bells and
whistles. I figure I need to do some of the flying.
I don't understand the other writer's comment about the alt hold. Mine
holds flawlessly; no drift or variation at all, and it engages
immediately. Whether IFR or VFR, I would recommend it without
reservation. I also can't understand not having the alt hold; being
able to rely on the A/P to keep the alt lets me be comfortable while I
fold a map or reach in to the back seat without worrying that I'll
gradually and imperceptibly descend or bust an IFR altitude while my
attention is momentarily diverted. I agree that a perfectly trimmed
plane will theoretically fly nice and straight nut there always seems
to be something that changes what the trim should be as I fly along.
Also, a you know, the STEC is based on the electric turn coordinator,
so provides a huge safety cushion if (when) your vacuum system goes
haywire. How nice it is to know that the A/P will keep me straight and
level when the vacuum goes out!!

  #8  
Old June 17th 05, 08:25 AM
Thomas Borchert
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Jon,

we have the 50 in our Tobago. Great unit! Trim on the altitude hold is
a non-issue - you'd engage it only in trimmed condition anyway, so
there never is any "constantly adjusting the trim". The "electric
back-up" is reassuring.

GPSS is nice to have, but once you have it you realize how few bends
you have to fly anymore with GPS direct routings, so the thing rarely
gets a chance to do its magic. When it does, it is great fun to watch.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

  #9  
Old June 17th 05, 12:58 PM
Ron Natalie
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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?
  #10  
Old June 17th 05, 02:12 PM
Jon Kraus
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Ron,
We a Garmin 430 GPS in the Mooney. Now I am getting kinda excited about
getting an AP installed. Whatever we end up with will have the GPSS
installed. I figure that for the money the GPSS is a great deal.

Jon Kraus

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?


 




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