Hello Peter,

Absolutely right! But you are assuming that there is a process for
feeding back the info from the original pilot. ...

Quite scary. In medical, if there isn't a process for that the FDA or
another agency shuts the place down.

I guess they survive because in a piece of avionics listing at $2000
the materials come to $100-$200. So the actual cost of supply of a
replacement is just the latter figure. This ratio would be true for
all avionics I've seen - right up to any IFR GPS.

I am not a pilot. My guess is that a roll servo failure usually doesn't
lead to a crisis situation but I don't know. If that happens on gear
that can cause grief the liability can be huge. $200 won't even pay for
a single attorney hour.

My warranty ended over 1 year ago. Honeywell offered me an indefinite
extension on the KFC225, all the time it keeps packing up. I also
purchased their extended warranty on all my other Honeywell kit -
$4000 for two extra years. I got that back within 6 months when the
KI229 RMI packed up (its 3rd failure) - that lists here in the UK at
about US$7000.

They really need to have someone look into that. Whenever I do that for
a client they usually break even on my fees within a month or so, just
because of reduced field returns. Others shy away from hiring a
consultant or other experts and try to hang on. Long term that won't work.

Just imagine if I would realize my dream of becoming a pilot. I'd
probably rent because of the cost but what if I didn't and needed an
autopilot? After reading your story here would I buy a Honeywell
autopilot? Probably not. That's the hidden cost of sub-par designs.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com