Hand Flying

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Scott@KTYR

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Scott@KTYR
Over the holidays my Autopilot decides to stop working. I had to hand fly 6 flights totaling 9 hours of flying time. I did not realize that my plane was so out of trim. I guess I got lazy using the AP so much. It is good to Hand Fly every now and then. Now on to the shop to have my Rigging checked and then to Autopilot shop. As we all know it is Money that keeps airplanes flying.:)
 
I would bet a buck that the plane being out of trim caused the AP to work to hard and go TU.

Let us know what they find.
 
After too much button pushing and A/P flying, I very purposefully went out with as safety pilot for a couple of flilghts and hand flew 5 approaches, 2 misses and some intercepts.

I knew my hand flying skills in the soup had deteriorated despite the fact that my button pushing was spot on. It was a pleasure watching how easily they come back.

I rediscovered what I already knew; there are not shortcuts to hand flying proficiency. But at the same time, it doesn't take much work to get much of it back.

Feels good.
 
Geico - I was thinking the same thing. I could kick myself for not Hand Flying sooner.

Mike - Thanks but it is a Piper Saratoga. My local guy is looking at it now. Hope to fly with him today to check out his work.

Bill - Two of my flights I had to go through an IMC layer and setup for an ILS approach. Yep, it is always a good thing to practice hand flying approaches. You never know what can happen.
 
I'm jealous... :D

All of the aircraft I fly have had the autopilot units removed. All of my instrument time is hand flying. It gets tiring after about an hour of actual.
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Mike - Thanks but it is a Piper Saratoga. My local guy is looking at it now. Hope to fly with him today to check out his work.
Click to expand...

Not much to rig on a Piper. Make sure the flaps are rigged by the book, ailerons in proper trail. One thing I've consistently found is turn coordinators installed without leveling the plane laterally. Thus, if you keep the ball centered the plane is not flying straight.
 
Have been doing a lot of hand flying lately,both vmc and IMC. Want to know I still have it if a/p fails.
 
In the old Commander I used to own there wasn't an A/P. I flew thousands and thousands of miles on long cross countries in that thing. And although I love having an A/P in the new 'craft (not gonna lie:D), I never thought it was that much hard work in the old one. Once at cruise it kind of became a game we had, maintaining equilibrium. The aim was to trim her so perfect she'd fly all by herself for long periods. And once everything was dialled in, she pretty much did. I used to steer her just by pushing on the pedals and could be hands off for long periods. Obviously, flying in the western parts of the US, air densities and turbulence will change a lot. A quick little spin on the trim once in a while took care of that, really no trouble at all. Only time it sucked when I had to reach into the cabin to get something or pee into the bottle...:eek::redface:
 
My first plane was a Piper 140 with no A/P. I would play the same trim game. I could steer the plane by shifting my weight.

stratobee said:
In the old Commander I used to own there wasn't an A/P. I flew thousands and thousands of miles on long cross countries in that thing. And although I love having an A/P in the new 'craft (not gonna lie:D), I never thought it was that much hard work in the old one. Once at cruise it kind of became a game we had, maintaining equilibrium. The aim was to trim her so perfect she'd fly all by herself for long periods. And once everything was dialled in, she pretty much did. I used to steer her just by pushing on the pedals and could be hands off for long periods. Obviously, flying in the western parts of the US, air densities and turbulence will change a lot. A quick little spin on the trim once in a while took care of that, really no trouble at all. Only time it sucked when I had to reach into the cabin to get something or pee into the bottle...:eek::redface:
Click to expand...
 
Great Scott.:thumbsup:

Yeah, for some reason it always turned really turbulent when you had to use both hands to pee into that bottle….;)
 
What is this autopilot thing of which you speak? Nothing I've flown has had an operational one. :D
 
WOW - just a small adjustment to the flaps makes a world of difference!!!!
I am now flying staight and level!
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Geico - I was thinking the same thing. I could kick myself for not Hand Flying sooner.

Mike - Thanks but it is a Piper Saratoga. My local guy is looking at it now. Hope to fly with him today to check out his work.

Bill - Two of my flights I had to go through an IMC layer and setup for an ILS approach. Yep, it is always a good thing to practice hand flying approaches. You never know what can happen.
Click to expand...

I noticed recently that our PA-32-300R was also out of trim with a "heavy" right wing. The ailerons are visibly out of trim. Annual coming up in a few weeks so we can address it then. Having to hand fly for over an hour does get tiring.
 
Corpsmaide - Yep I will hand fly a bit on every flight to make sure everything is in balance.

Mike - When all is adjusted correctly, it is no effort at all to hand fly.
 
I am my aircraft's autopilot. a properly trimmed out aircraft is a dream to fly. Doesn't always work out, but I've even had the Schweizer trimmed out so loose hands or left on the cyclic is easy.
 
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