Comments on: Partisan Autopilots

By: Kinder

Kinder — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:36:13 +0000

А мне нравится этот блог, только авторам надо помнить , что посетители разные бывают. Короче учитывайте возростной ценс посетителей.

By: Slow Softball

Slow Softball — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:15:40 +0000

Hey, is there a section just for latest news

By: automotive jacks

automotive jacks — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:34:09 +0000

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By: George Horn

George Horn — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:36:25 +0000

In a Cheyenne II at FL 240 northwest of DFW, high-speed cruise, a windshield suddenly FULL of terrain! We were pitched so violently DOWN (about 25-degrees) that the passenger cut his scalp on the bulkhead/stringer above/thru the headliner. A Delta heavy had passed westbound 20 minutes prior at FL 240, according to FTW center.
Autopilot? or Upset?
Either way, keep seatbelts fastened TIGHT and practice a rapid-disconnect occasionally. Disconnect the AP FIRST rather than attempt to overcome it’s ability to trim further out-of-trim.

By: Cary Alburn

Cary Alburn — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:06:31 +0000

My experiences with autopilots, good or bad, are relatively few, since the airplanes I’ve flown over the years that had them, I tended not to use them or to use them only for a few minutes while I attended to some other chore, like chart reading. But one bad experience soured me on relying on them.

I was flying an overly equipped Mooney 231, which had a King flight director/HSI and a 3 axis autopilot with altitude hold. On an IFR but in VMC flight across eastern Wyoming late at night, the autopilot suddenly commanded a quick roll to the right and at a pretty steep bank, disconnected, the nose dropped, and the airplane continued to roll to a very steep bank, all before I reacted and righted the airplane. I lost enough altitude that ATC called and asked what was going on.

So far as I know, I didn’t do anything to encourage Otto to do what it did, but Otto certainly discouraged me from doing any coupled approaches, in that airplane or any other since. Murphy: What can go wrong, will.

Cary

By: Douglas Drummond

Douglas Drummond — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:36:35 +0000

The first responder to this situation, Bob Ferguson said: “I always tell them that the aircraft master switch is a positive disconnect. ” Well it is, but, if the A/P relays have stuck, it may re-engage when the master is reset. I heard this story from my first flight instructor back in 1974 when I was a pre-solo student — it happened to him in a Piper Arrow. He went around, put the gear down, and then switched off the master when on final. In his case, the A/P was stuck in a heading hold mode, so he flew the pattern using the heading bug on Directional Gyro.

When I am in a Piper, or other airplane with A/P or power trim, I ALWAYS make sure I know where the appropriate breaker is located.

By: Marty Coddington

Marty Coddington — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:20:04 +0000

Hi Bruce. Back in my charter pilot days I sometimes flew doctors out into the boondocks to conduct clinics. It was easy when the weather was nice but as you can imagine, if the airport did not have weather reporting and things were marginal, it was a different story. We used a straight Navajo for this work. On a day when everything had gone perfect, we were on the return trip to home plate VFR @ 5500. The a/p was engaged on “altitude hold”. Suddenly the plane pitched up to what seemed like vertical. It sucked the blood out of my head and I remember feeling a bit incapacitated. I could not gain any useful information from the flight instruments as they were a blur. For some reason my peripheral vision took over or perhaps I turned my head to the side where I instantly learned of my unusual attitude. I pushed forward on the wheel as hard as I could and eventually brought the nose level. Now it was apparent that the plane was way out of trim and I turned the wheel for what seemed like an eternity. I commented to the doctors that this was the worst clear air turbulence I’d ever experienced. Back at base I told the harrowing story to one of our senior pilots and the Director of Maint and their response was “you mean you did not have your right calf leaning up against the trim wheel? ALL Navajo pilots guard against this by keeping in contact with the wheel!” So, perhaps ALL Navajo pilots really don’t do that but on that day one more was added to the list who do. They went on to say that “runaway trim” was not unusual and that the a/p doesn’t know the trim is running away but it does know when the forces needed to hold an altitude exceed a certain number of pounds and then it disengages. It seems my plane was trimming nose up for some time and when the force was reached, the a/p decided to exit the argument which left me pointed at the heavens.I flew another 500 hours in Navajos, mostly Chieftains, and never had a repeat. Not many solutions here but perhaps someone out there is driving a Navajo and has not heard of the “calf” technique.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:30:07 +0000

Scott…..

Good question and beyond my level of technical knowledge. You need to consult with a VERY good avionics shop.

Thanks for the comment ……Bruce

By: scott sulentich

scott sulentich — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:22:57 +0000

bruce,
i actually flew my seneca to bob ferguson in tulsa to have him check my a/p. he says all is well, but…. i have had instances in which “it” seems to fly to the beat of it’s own drummer. this obviously decreases my ifr comfort level. assuming bob is correct, and i have every reason to believe he is, could a malfunctioning flight director be to blame? can an avionics shop diagnose this?
thanks,
scott

By: Manny DeReyes

Manny DeReyes — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:56:07 +0000

Sometimes before the pilot has an inkling that the AP is acting-up, it surprizes you. It would be a thought if the manufacturers put in a trim-in-motion alert or clicker to advise you what “it” is doing and when. I advocate at the first sign of trouble, looking at your trim indicator, then punching-off the AP to deal with the problem. This has 2 effects; one is it stops a potential runaway condition; two, is if caught early enough, it prevents heavy forces from occurring in pitch or roll. Looking at the trim tells you what you may expect. It is also worth it to look at any aircraft changes that may have caused it; a possible change in configuration, icing, split flap, aileron trim problem, wing heavy condition from unbalanced fuel, etc. Nose down at cruise or descent is a big problem, nose up at slow speed is a greater one. Banking recovery keeps near 1 g on the airframe, fuel and oil systems.

MD 577496