For many of us, one of the key reasons we chose to build and/or fly RV?s because of their wonderful handling characteristics. Light, nimble, maneuverable - perfect little fighter planes, a pilot?s airplane! When I get home in the evening, I can?t WAIT to go get in the plane and just fly it around the neighborhood a little - free as a bird!
But then, just as many of us go and put in autopilots - single axis, multi-axis, vertical speed hold with altitude capture, and even the ability to fly coupled approaches to minimums. We take these wonderful ?pilot?s machines? and then let another machine fly them for us! Lots of folks that haven?t installed an autopilot think we?re nuts.
This dilemma (why put an autopilot in a great-handling machine?) comes up in random posts now and again, so I thought maybe a thread devoted to the discussion might be useful. Pros and Cons for those trying to decide as they build - something for the archives (or the ?Never ending debates section...).
I have a nice autopilot that will hold altitude, hold a heading, or track the Guidance from my EFIS, NAV, or GPS (actually, from any of my three, sometimes four GPS?s?), and I think that for the way I use the airplane, the system is pretty much essential. I can go a week or two of local acrobatics, beat up the neighborhood flying, and never touch the A/P buttons, but when I am going someplace, I just have no real interest in being a meat-servo to keep the airplane wings level and on altitude. The Tru-trak can fly steady and on course much more efficiently than I can, saving gas and allowing me to do higher-order things, like looking at weather, and keeping an eye out for traffic. The nice thing about autopilots is that if you install them, you have them when you need them - and they come with an ?off? switch so that you can hand fly to your heart?s content?.
For IFR, I feel they are a huge safety enhancement - I?ve flown a lot of single-pilot, single engine IFR without them, and have no desire to go back to that mode. Possible - of course! Desirable? Not when I have the choice. If I?m stranded somewhere with an inoperative A/P, then sure - we can always dust off those skills.
Why put an autopilot in an RV? If you fly lots of cross-country, you already know the answer to the question in my opinion?. Just don?t forget that you can turn it off, and never know it?s there!
Paul
But then, just as many of us go and put in autopilots - single axis, multi-axis, vertical speed hold with altitude capture, and even the ability to fly coupled approaches to minimums. We take these wonderful ?pilot?s machines? and then let another machine fly them for us! Lots of folks that haven?t installed an autopilot think we?re nuts.
This dilemma (why put an autopilot in a great-handling machine?) comes up in random posts now and again, so I thought maybe a thread devoted to the discussion might be useful. Pros and Cons for those trying to decide as they build - something for the archives (or the ?Never ending debates section...).
I have a nice autopilot that will hold altitude, hold a heading, or track the Guidance from my EFIS, NAV, or GPS (actually, from any of my three, sometimes four GPS?s?), and I think that for the way I use the airplane, the system is pretty much essential. I can go a week or two of local acrobatics, beat up the neighborhood flying, and never touch the A/P buttons, but when I am going someplace, I just have no real interest in being a meat-servo to keep the airplane wings level and on altitude. The Tru-trak can fly steady and on course much more efficiently than I can, saving gas and allowing me to do higher-order things, like looking at weather, and keeping an eye out for traffic. The nice thing about autopilots is that if you install them, you have them when you need them - and they come with an ?off? switch so that you can hand fly to your heart?s content?.
For IFR, I feel they are a huge safety enhancement - I?ve flown a lot of single-pilot, single engine IFR without them, and have no desire to go back to that mode. Possible - of course! Desirable? Not when I have the choice. If I?m stranded somewhere with an inoperative A/P, then sure - we can always dust off those skills.
Why put an autopilot in an RV? If you fly lots of cross-country, you already know the answer to the question in my opinion?. Just don?t forget that you can turn it off, and never know it?s there!
Paul