FAA: Pilots should be capable of flying aircraft manually when needed

Sundancer said:
I don't like single pilot in real IMC without an AP, or at least a wing leveler - IMHO it's a necessary avioincs item for serious IFR.
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I guess I’ve been fortunate…all of the airplanes I’ve flown IFR (single pilot or not) have been trimmable.
 
Sundancer said:
I don't like single pilot in real IMC without an AP, or at least a wing leveler - IMHO it's a necessary avioincs item for serious IFR. Yeah, it can break - but it it ain't broke I want to use it.
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one size doesn’t fit all

in my cherokee 140 I did real IMC without an autopilot. Don’t get me wrong, I am not playing oneupmanship - rather the 140 is so slow that it is hard to get behind the plane

having said that, I did put a single-axis AP in the airplane . . . because I could
 
Bob Noel said:
one size doesn’t fit all

in my cherokee 140 I did real IMC without an autopilot. Don’t get me wrong, I am not playing oneupmanship - rather the 140 is so slow that it is hard to get behind the plane

having said that, I did put a single-axis AP in the airplane . . . because I could
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No offense, but ur kinda nutz if you're doing what I call "real IMC" in a 140 no matter what it's equipped with.
 
Salty said:
No offense, but ur kinda nutz if you're doing what I call "real IMC" in a 140 no matter what it's equipped with.
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chuckle (no offense) - I knew people would have some thoughts about using a 140 for "real IMC". Sure, it's not going to do well in icing. But, the 140 will fly just fine in clouds. It'll fly down the ILS just fine. It's just pretty slow and has a relatively low service ceiling.

Of relevance is that it's easy to hand fly - much easier than some other airplanes
 
Bob Noel said:
chuckle (no offense) - I knew people would have some thoughts about using a 140 for "real IMC". Sure, it's not going to do well in icing. But, the 140 will fly just fine in clouds. It'll fly down the ILS just fine. It's just pretty slow and has a relatively low service ceiling.

Of relevance is that it's easy to hand fly - much easier than some other airplanes
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Not easy at all to hand fly in the weather that typically accompanies IMC. JMO
 
My old partner flew out old c-150 IFR with just a single vor. He had to routinely request climb vectors.
 
FORANE said:
My old partner flew out old c-150 IFR with just a single vor. He had to routinely request climb vectors.
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Asking for a VOR approach and advising them that you’ll be requesting a Special VFR to exit the Class E surface area is far more entertaining. ;)
 
Bob Noel said:
one size doesn’t fit all

in my cherokee 140 I did real IMC without an autopilot. Don’t get me wrong, I am not playing oneupmanship - rather the 140 is so slow that it is hard to get behind the plane

having said that, I did put a single-axis AP in the airplane . . . because I could
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I'm doing it now in a Cherokee - I'll like it more when our single axis AP is fixed.
 
Sundancer said:
I'm doing it now in a Cherokee - I'll like it more when our single axis AP is fixed.
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a friend had a single-axis AP in his cherokee 180 - he called it his wing-wobbler. :)
 
Kristin said:
Flying approaches is too much fun to let the autopilot do it, IMO.
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LOL! Our old Century I will definitely NOT fly an approach! With the "Tracker" option it'll just barely track a course. When I contrast flyng it without the Century, with a Cirrus (older SR20, STEC 55) I notice the workload reduction allows me more time to do other things, anticipate events, broaden my scan. It's a real convenience - both airplanes are pretty easy to fly in the approach phase, the speeds aren't that dramatically different, and they don't wander off if you glance at an approach plate. But dang, hand flying 2.5 in the clag and then doing an IMC approach . . .a wing levler id a nice luxury,
 
Sundancer said:
LOL! Our old Century I will definitely NOT fly an approach! With the "Tracker" option it'll just barely track a course. When I contrast flyng it without the Century, with a Cirrus (older SR20, STEC 55) I notice the workload reduction allows me more time to do other things, anticipate events, broaden my scan. It's a real convenience - both airplanes are pretty easy to fly in the approach phase, the speeds aren't that dramatically different, and they don't wander off if you glance at an approach plate. But dang, hand flying 2.5 in the clag and then doing an IMC approach . . .a wing levler id a nice luxury,
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I love me an autopilot for droning along in cruise. But once I get myself set up for the approach, the autopilot comes off. I used to hand fly 310's for night cargo runs. I was about 35 years younger. I don't think I have it in me to do that anymore, night after night.
 
IMO, most pilots who have moved on to corporate/ airlines would tell you the hardest approach they've ever flown was in a Cessna 172 IMC hand flown.
 
TooTall said:
IMO, most pilots who have moved on to corporate/ airlines would tell you the hardest approach they've ever flown was in a Cessna 172 IMC hand flown.
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I got my rating in a T-41, no AP of course. We did it mostly at night (winter) and it was hard work.
 
Kristin said:
I love me an autopilot for droning along in cruise. But once I get myself set up for the approach, the autopilot comes off.
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I have a small LSA that has an autopilot for cruise but it gets shut down when approaching the airport ...
 
I'm pretty new to this world where I don't have to single pilot hand fly every single approach (or basically the entire flight for that matter, with no FDs/magenta/FMS/guidance), but what I have gathered is that there is a time and a place for automation. Like how am I gonna eat my damn meal while I hand fly at FL370? That's nonsense. What I will do is hand fly the departure to 18K and dabble in hand flying the arrival and approach. But cruise? That's me time.
 
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