Autopilot questions for small GA aircraft

Paul Tomblin writes:

Recent aircraft (like the Cirrus) have a switch that automatically trims
off all the control force that you or your autopilot are holding.

Sounds like aircraft will eventually go the way of cars, with only a few
idiot-light indicators and perhaps an airspeed indicator.

I can see trimming off force for the pilot, but I'm puzzled by the autopilot
interaction. Don't most autopilots work by adjusting trim to begin with (at
least for altitude)?

But the
sort of aircraft I can afford don't have that - you have to be pretty
close to trimmed before you can use the altitude hold.

What happens if you are far away when you engage the autopilot?

Sure, but it would be more logical to try out the autopilot when you're
checking out in the aircraft in the first place.

True, but when you're stuck in fog and you don't know anything about flying on
instruments, it might be instinctive to reach for something that could fly the
plane for you and give you some time to think of a way out of your situation.

Instrument Proficiency Check.

Were you engaged in unusual maneuvers that made you sick? I don't know what
an IPC involves. One of my concerns about ever flying in a small airplane is
that the movements might make me sick, although I've never been airsick in
large aircraft (apart from some queasiness on one or two flights when I was
already sick with something else and we were flying through turbulence).

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