[pierre smith]

I've never been more impressed with a product than I was on Saturday as I flew to an EAA meeting in Covington, Ga, about a 35 minute flight. I had just completed the installation a day earlier with a short test flight in lumpy air and still had the right side floorboard removed to watch the servo action.

Saturday was crisp and clear and glass smooth. It looked as if the stick was welded to the floor, it stood so still....with little to no motion as the altitude and heading never moved!

The couple of calls to Tru Trak were very courteously handled by them and my dumb questions...a very good experience and with Stein's harness, it's a great setup.

regards,

 

[Rosie]

Me too!

Hey Pierre, I just finished up installing a Trutrak Pictoral Pilot and Altrak (with vertical speed) about a month ago. Last night was the first time I used it on any trip of length, from Las Vegas, about 1:20 flight.

It's rock-solid on course and altitude, and it was VERY weird to be looking all around with my hands in my lap Installation drawings and parts for the RV installation were included with the kit, and it took a weekend to install/wire both servos.

If you are installing Trutrak, you will be very happy with its operation Rosie

 

[pierre smith]

Now how do you....

....wire an alarm clock to wake you up on arrival?? Yeah, it's weird just sitting there like a 2 X 4. Descending, I unlocked the alt hold and trimmed for a nice 185MPH descent while still tracking the GPS.

BTW...at first, it wouldn't track a waypoint so I called TruTrak from inside the airplane. I have an older Apollo GX55 that talks to the TruTrak but I just booted it up with the previous day's waypoint. We figured it out that there was no line drawn on the screen from my airport to the other airport and thus it didn't have anything to tell the Trutrak. After pressing D> again, a line was then drawn and it tracked to that waypoint. Senior moment

Regards,

 

[gasman]

PIERRE, Did you replace an old a/p with the tru track, or was it a new installation? If it was a new installation, did you have to take the plane back into phase one due to a major alteration?

 

[jjconstant]

emergency uses

I've installed a Digiflight II in mine. I did transition training with Reuven Silberman (great instructor) a few weeks ago and he has the same TT in his
7A. I asked whether it was true that the TT DFII would recover from unusual attitudes and we tested it. Descending left spiral, hands off, hit the on button and then the Alt button and the plane simultaneously put on some G to pull up and at first leveled the wings and then banked back until we were level and on the same course when ON was pushed! Same with climbing turns. Put it in Alt hold and pulled the throttle back-held Altitude until, I think, 75 or 80 knots, then flashed Airspeed, and let us descend at that airspeed.

I'm REALLY pleased I intalled this autopilot in my 7A! It might go on my passenger briefing checklist for pilot incapacitation.

Jeremy

 

[tomcostanza]

Mega-dittoes ;-)

I purchased 2 axis TruTrak from an ebay vendor with the understanding that I could return it within 7 days if there was a problem.

Had the vendor send it to TruTrak to be checked, so I could return it if there was a problem.

TruTrak fixed a plethora of problems, updated the software and send it to me. Total cost was $0.00. They didn't even charge me shipping. I was reluctant to ask why, but did anyway. I was told, "All our warranties are transferrable." I told them I had no reason to believe it was still under warranty, and was told, "They're lifetime warranties."

I've heard of the "no-win" situation, but this is my first experience with "can't lose". PLUS, you can upgrade, and they'll give you full credit for your old unit.

 

[pierre smith]

Negative....

PIERRE, Did you replace an old a/p with the tru track, or was it a new installation? If it was a new installation, did you have to take the plane back into phase one due to a major alteration?

....because I don't believe that rule applies to EAB airplanes. I'll do a new W&B though.

It was a first time install.....homegrown..lots of aches 'n pains crawling into the rear fuselage and under the dash...AAAArrrgggh.....put those servo mounts in during the build, guys....and adding a harness while you're at it would be advisable too....and a wire run from your GPS to the "to-be" autopilot, in our case an RS232 output....just in case you change your mind down the road.

Regards,

Regards,

 

[Rosie]

Hey Pierre, I just finished up installing a Trutrak Pictoral Pilot and Altrak (with vertical speed) about a month ago. Last night was the first time I used it on any trip of length, from Las Vegas, about 1:20 flight.

It's rock-solid on course and altitude, and it was VERY weird to be looking all around with my hands in my lap Installation drawings and parts for the RV installation were included with the kit, and it took a weekend to install/wire both servos.

If you are installing Trutrak, you will be very happy with its operation Rosie

Updated 2/9/2011: Here's a picture of our new TruTrak Panel: ADI, Pictorial Pilot and Altrak (plus a new CDI). Lucas at TruTrak was very helpful, and once again, I highly recommend them! "Round-gauge" Rosie

 

[newtech]

Love mine

I have a DF II two axis in my RV-7A and drive it with my Garmin 696. A side story, my wife made me get the 696 with XM weather after she flew with Pierre in his Sojourner. Any way, I do my flight planning in fltplan.com and save it on a SD memory card in Garmin format. The 696 will input the complete flight plan with way points from the SD card. Activate the flight plan, take off, and let George fly the entire flight plan for you. Just remember to wake up before the last waypoint.

 

[bkthomps]

aren't all autopilots that way?

i.e, boring, autonomous

 

[Bobstern]

Tru Track Autopilot

I have a Tru TRack Autopilot I just removed from my Rv7A to replace with full Garmin avionics. Looking to sell for a reasonable offer. It is the Gemeni model and comes with servos. It is around 4 years old. WOrked perfectly when removed.