Carl Froehlich
Well Known Member
My Dynon SkyView autopilot has been flawless for 350 hours. On a hop from south Texas to the Phoenix area we hit a hard pocket - enough so that I hit my head on the cabin top.
Long story short the autopilot altitude hold stopped working. It took some time to figure this out as once the RV-10 is in trim it tends to hold altitude - and after the turbulence I was hand flying. Looking back I suspect I jerked the stick hard enough when we hit the pocket that I broke the shear screw. In other words the shear screw functioned as designed.
So - don't assume the nice smooth ride will stay smooth as you cross the western mountain range and keep the belts tight.
Dynon sent me a replacement screw and start to finish it took 60 minutes to remove the servo, replace the screw and reinstall the servo. Here is the link to watch how it is done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wFEY3kT97g&list=PLjU8CSiBHFbYBa4F1eagGA2q9l3_S4u-F
Carl
Long story short the autopilot altitude hold stopped working. It took some time to figure this out as once the RV-10 is in trim it tends to hold altitude - and after the turbulence I was hand flying. Looking back I suspect I jerked the stick hard enough when we hit the pocket that I broke the shear screw. In other words the shear screw functioned as designed.
So - don't assume the nice smooth ride will stay smooth as you cross the western mountain range and keep the belts tight.
Dynon sent me a replacement screw and start to finish it took 60 minutes to remove the servo, replace the screw and reinstall the servo. Here is the link to watch how it is done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wFEY3kT97g&list=PLjU8CSiBHFbYBa4F1eagGA2q9l3_S4u-F
Carl