Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 29,943
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
I've been blessed with a very capable autopilot that came with my Aztec. Unfortunately it's an Altimatic/Century IIIB that hasn't worked fully properly since three owners ago when it was on 135 operation. I ended up spending the first 250 hours or so hand flying the thing, finally getting the autopilot working in January of this year.
At Gaston's, Lance and I went flying and he diagnosed a good number of the problems with the unit, including teaching me where the on/off switch is (it's not actually labeled on/off). I then took it to Griffin Avionics in Hyannis, MA to get some work done on it and since then, the roll has worked well, the pitch has worked pretty well, and the altitude hold still doesn't work. I need to take it back again for some more work, it's just difficult considering the amount that the plane gets used.
Anyway, the most recent issue that's come up on it is that the on/off switch now only turns on when it feels like. It seems to be dependent on the flight. This weekend on two legs it refused to turn on or even try to catch. On one flight it caught, worked flawlessly for the entire flight, and if I turned it off it would turn right back on without issue.
This sounds simple to me, but I'm confused that it seems to vary with the flight. Any ideas for something that my A&P and I can do without taking it anywhere? His philosophy on autopilots is to rip them out entirely and send them off somewhere to get fixed. However that somewhere he sends them tends to not fix them (they come back broken), which defeats the purpose in my opinion.
In a few months I'm hoping to take it back to Hyannis for some additional work and hopefully get the altitude hold functioning, then I'll have a proper autopilot. The roll does 90% of what I want, though. The altitude hold I can live without, I'd just like for it to be all functioning properly.
Thanks in advance, I really don't feel like buying an S-Tec for the thing, even though that's probably what I should do.
At Gaston's, Lance and I went flying and he diagnosed a good number of the problems with the unit, including teaching me where the on/off switch is (it's not actually labeled on/off). I then took it to Griffin Avionics in Hyannis, MA to get some work done on it and since then, the roll has worked well, the pitch has worked pretty well, and the altitude hold still doesn't work. I need to take it back again for some more work, it's just difficult considering the amount that the plane gets used.
Anyway, the most recent issue that's come up on it is that the on/off switch now only turns on when it feels like. It seems to be dependent on the flight. This weekend on two legs it refused to turn on or even try to catch. On one flight it caught, worked flawlessly for the entire flight, and if I turned it off it would turn right back on without issue.
This sounds simple to me, but I'm confused that it seems to vary with the flight. Any ideas for something that my A&P and I can do without taking it anywhere? His philosophy on autopilots is to rip them out entirely and send them off somewhere to get fixed. However that somewhere he sends them tends to not fix them (they come back broken), which defeats the purpose in my opinion.
In a few months I'm hoping to take it back to Hyannis for some additional work and hopefully get the altitude hold functioning, then I'll have a proper autopilot. The roll does 90% of what I want, though. The altitude hold I can live without, I'd just like for it to be all functioning properly.
Thanks in advance, I really don't feel like buying an S-Tec for the thing, even though that's probably what I should do.