For me, the real advantage of the autopilot with it's own gyro is that when
the donkey stops I can rely on it to keep me the right way up without
exercising my 'needle and ball' skills (hah!) while descending through cloud
with no vacuum instruments - should I find myself in that situation. In such
stressful circumstances that facility would be a godsend...
Simon Miles,
Builder #508
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Fillinger" <n3eu@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Autopilot Advice
>
>
>> I particularly like the 'get me out of IMC' button - just press and
>> hold for 3 seconds - Autopilot comes on, turns you through 180
> degrees....
>
> I don't wish to start a debate over the concept of....if you need an
> autopilot to 180 out of IMC...and arguable wisdom of periodic dual
> instruction in that regard. :-)
>
> IMO, the issue is how well the thing will do the job in turbulence, as
> an instrument-rated pilot knows any +/- excursions from what you want
> it to do don't mean anything. There's conditions where turning the
> aircraft as per ATC or the approach plate is easier to do manually,
> since there's simply less thinking to do in the instrument scan. But
> for a VFR-only pilot, those excursions might be disconcerting, the
> first of a chain of events potentially leading to a "problem."
>
> With such a feature, I think it would be good to thoroughly and
> periodically test it in turbulence, to get used to what the panel
> instruments will be doing, so as to better monitor how well the
> autopilot is bailing you out. Just like an IR pilot would do, with
> that box optionally doing what the subconscious brain has been trained
> to do.
>
> Reg,
> Fred F.
>
>
>
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