When will glass cockpits add a wing leveller feature?

Since the major glass cockpits (Dynon, AFS, etc) all have a good grasp of what level is, it appears to me that the addition of a little software to drive a servo, to provide a wing leveller capability, is a relatively minor addition.

Any ideas if/when this will happen?

PS A secondary question about the Truetrack servos. Am I correct in thinking the pilot override of the servo command is simply the pilot input overriding the magnetic force of the stepper motor, rather than a friction based clutch?(Hope I have explained what I mean understandably.)

Fly it!!

Why do so many people seem intent on not flying their aeroplanes these days? (muses...)

Steve Sampson said:

Since the major glass cockpits (Dynon, AFS, etc) all have a good grasp of what level is, it appears to me that the addition of a little software to drive a servo, to provide a wing leveller capability, is a relatively minor addition.

Any ideas if/when this will happen?

Click to expand...

It has already happened.

Kevin Horton said:

It has already happened.

Click to expand...

Blue Mountain has been doing it for years.

I guess it dpends on customer demand....when customers want it to happen, companies do it! I think I remember reading that GRT might add an A/P feature to the Sport system, but not to the Horizon EFIS. The idea is that keeping things modular allows more choices.

It's a little bit of a Mac vs. PC thing.......

Paul

I like the idea of separates. If the EFIS shoots craps in the clouds, the autopilot still knows which way is up, and can fly the airplane for you.

You are correct about the TruTrak servos. There is a torque setting that you set that allows it to be strong enough to fly the airplane, but weak enough that you can over power it in an emergency. You can program it in flight, so you just play with it until it feels right.

John

Steve,

I think you would be surprised how difficult it is to make an autopilot with good dynamic behaviour. Although Blue Mountain have tried it how many good reports have you heard about their system? How many good reports have you heard about Trutrak autopilots?

Knowing where level is is only a small part of the equation - working out what to do when things are not level is the hard part, and it will be different for each different design, and perhaps each different aircraft of apparently "the same" design. I would stick with an AP from a specialist manufacturer, such as Trutrak or Trio.

Yours, Pete

We installed the autopilot as a backup to the EFIS ... since it can drive either on the GPS or it's own it's a great backup to an EFIS failure.

Thanks for all the input!