cirrus aircraft

Ron Garret wrote:

Personally, if I ever lose the autopilot in IMC I'm probably diverting
to the nearest airport immediately.


That stikes me as an interesting comment, coming from a 172 owner
unable to afford to have George do the flying. Would people say that's
typical of Mooney 201/Bonanza and other planes of a similar class to
the SR series?

-cwk.

wrote:

Would people say that's
typical of Mooney 201/Bonanza and other planes of a similar class to
the SR series?

I cannot say what is typical but in my case (a Bonanza V35 owner who flies
a lot of single-pilot IFR), I always hand-fly at least the departure up
through cruise and the initial and final instrument approach of every
flight when in IMC to retain proficiency. Most times I let the AP handle
the straight and level flight, which allows me to prepare for the approach.

--
Peter
























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wrote:

Ron Garret wrote:
Personally, if I ever lose the autopilot in IMC I'm probably diverting
to the nearest airport immediately.

That stikes me as an interesting comment, coming from a 172 owner
unable to afford to have George do the flying. Would people say that's
typical of Mooney 201/Bonanza and other planes of a similar class to
the SR series?

Well, I don't have an auto-pilot in my ancient Bonanza. I manage to do
IFR without any problems. I must confess I rarely do any exceeding long
legs IFR, though. 2 to 3 hours at the most.


--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

I have been flying a v35 and it trims out fine. Its a lot better than my
Cherokee 180.
"Frank Stutzman" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Ron Garret wrote:
Personally, if I ever lose the autopilot in IMC I'm probably diverting
to the nearest airport immediately.

That stikes me as an interesting comment, coming from a 172 owner
unable to afford to have George do the flying. Would people say that's
typical of Mooney 201/Bonanza and other planes of a similar class to
the SR series?

Well, I don't have an auto-pilot in my ancient Bonanza. I manage to do
IFR without any problems. I must confess I rarely do any exceeding long
legs IFR, though. 2 to 3 hours at the most.


--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

There are many very experienced old-hats that are of the opinion that
autopilots are required equipment for single-pilot IFR. An STEC-30 or 50 is
high on my upgrade list. Until it's in the panel, I will not fly any
appreciable IMC (more than 1 hour) without an instrument rated co-pilot.

Marco Leon

wrote in message
ups.com...

Ron Garret wrote:

Personally, if I ever lose the autopilot in IMC I'm probably diverting
to the nearest airport immediately.


That stikes me as an interesting comment, coming from a 172 owner
unable to afford to have George do the flying. Would people say that's
typical of Mooney 201/Bonanza and other planes of a similar class to
the SR series?

-cwk.




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Marco Leon wrote:

There are many very experienced old-hats that are of the opinion that
autopilots are required equipment for single-pilot IFR. An STEC-30 or 50 is
high on my upgrade list. Until it's in the panel, I will not fly any
appreciable IMC (more than 1 hour) without an instrument rated co-pilot.

I'm glad I'm not an old hat. I flew single pilot IFR very frequently
for the six years that I owned a Skylane. And this was in the northeast
where we have a fairly wide range of weather during most of the year and
also fairly high traffic density. My airplane didn't have an autopilot
and I found flying IFR to be fairly easy most of the time. Last might
reroutes in turbulence could make reprogramming the GPS a little tricky
while flying, but even that was manageable.


Matt

Would people say that's
typical of Mooney 201/Bonanza and other planes of a similar class to
the SR series?


One data point: regulation in Germany (and other European countries)
prohibit single-pilot IFR flying without at least a two-axis autopilot
in the aircraft. One of the few German rules that make sense to me...

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)