Kidding aside, the autopilot takes the monotony and boredom out of IFR. To
me, there is nothing challenging about maintaining altitude and track for
hours at a time in the clouds. It is just boring as hell. The autopilot is
not a substitute for hand-flying skills. One must always be sharp enough to
go without. I usually hand fly approaches, because I enjoy it. If I am
really tired for some reason, or the ceilings are really low, it is actually
safer to use the autopilot which can fly the approach better than I can.

My initial and instrument flight instructor back in the early '90s went on
to flying ATR turboprops for American Eagle. One time he called me up out
of the blue to see if I wanted to go fly some practice approaches in my
plane. I was amazed to find out that the commuter planes then were not
equipped with autopilots. He said with two pilots on board, and short, fast
hops between stops, it was never really an issue.

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
IMHO an autopilot is a must have if you are flying IFR. :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

Matthew S. Whiting wrote:

Dan Thompson wrote:

Are you kidding? The autopilot is a go/no-go item.

"Hankal" wrote in message
...

Study my Garmin 530 manual and learn three more things it does. Or
do a


VOR

cross check. Or total up the columns in my log book. Or trim


fingernails,

finish the crossword puzzle. If it is a real cross country you have


plenty

of dead time.


You are either a super pilot or have a autopilot.





What's an autopilot? :-)

Matt