Autoland for Skyview?

After reading with interest about the newly introduced "Autoland" from Garmin, I got to turn into a wild dream about a version for the Skyview that I call "Autoland for the poor man". I even planted this kind of a virus on the Skyview Forum, just for the fun of it! Here is what I posted:

After reading about the Garmin Autoland, I get the feeling that the Autopilot of the Skyview could be tweaked to provide a kind of Autoland service with the following additional simple tasks for the non-pilot:
- As we do not have Auto-throttle, the operator would have to move the throttle under the oral guidance of the system
- Same for the flaps although flaps are not necessary to land in normal conditions
- Same thing for the brakes - may be a little bit of differential brake training could help too
- Same thing for engine cutoff and cockpit exit

What says you Mister Dynon!

It would be really interesting to see an auto land system on a tail dragger.

Norman CYYJ said:

It would be really interesting to see an auto land system on a tail dragger.

Click to expand...

All landings end with a pirouette.



So with a TD, you don't have to worry about braking to a stop.

It already has gyroscopic data. With individual braking, rudder control and some programing code I bet it could land and roll out just fine on a TD.

WingedFrog said:

After reading about the Garmin Autoland, I get the feeling that the Autopilot of the Skyview could be tweaked to provide a kind of Autoland service with the following additional simple tasks for the non-pilot:
- As we do not have Auto-throttle, the operator would have to move the throttle under the oral guidance of the system
- Same for the flaps although flaps are not necessary to land in normal conditions
- Same thing for the brakes - may be a little bit of differential brake training could help too
- Same thing for engine cutoff and cockpit exit

Click to expand...

If I want a nagging voice telling me everything to do when I'm flying, I'll go get a flight review.

Even if the avionics had the precision and capability, who would want the potential liability problem with that. Can you imagine the lawsuits that that could generate (most unfortunately!)

Guys, let's put my post in the right context:

- I am talking of a solution to the problem of having you flying your plane with your wife who is not a pilot and suddenly collapsing and/or becoming incapacitated

- Regarding the liabilities, I am posting this in the context of Experimental Aviation. The simple fact of putting the Skyview into an experimental aircraft built by an amateur is way above the level of liability of completing (with a little assistance) a flight that the current version of the Skyview is already able to bring to the Threshold of the Airport.

Autoland

Dynon may come up with an autoland - hope that is arrives in the form of a software update to my existing Dynon set up. I'd even pay to have a Dynon software update. A nice addition.

You've got it

At the RV-12 Symposium a few years back, the Dynon Rep demonstrated exactly what WingedFrog is proposing.

He requested and got a volunteer non-pilot from the audience, then sat her at a control console with Skyview (projected on the big screen).

Then using Flight Sim he started her at cruise speed and altitude and announced that her husband had suddenly fallen out of the plane or become incapacitated in some way (I thought falling out was more fun).

Next as I recall he coached her to set up the Dynon Autopilot, find the nearest airport, set it as a destination, fly the approach using throttle and the AP knob (track the centerline), pull power and land. Touchdown was a little rough but not bad at all, no damage likely. And the husband made a miraculous recovery.

Several others on the forum were there also and can fill in details or correct errors in my feeble memory. Point is that with minimal coaching or even a written procedure, most folks should be able to get down safely using Dynon Skyview just as Wingedfrog described.

May be a good thing to rehearse with our favorite co-pilots now that I think about it.

I think ballistic parachutes and auto land are great safety advances, but I do worry about buttons I don?t want passengers to mess with. I worked in the management of nuclear power plants for 35 years, and I always put my hands in my pockets when I went into the control room.