IMC without an autopilot

Just curious as to opinions about flying in IMC without an autopilot?
Does an autopilot make flying in the clouds safer or is it just a crutch
for the lazy?
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

The autopilot can fly the airplane more smoothly than I can, so if I have
one, I use it. Hand-flying in the clouds for more than 30 minutes or so
takes a lot out of me, so if I am going to be solid for any length of time I
want an autopilot.

Bob Gardner

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
Just curious as to opinions about flying in IMC without an autopilot?
Does an autopilot make flying in the clouds safer or is it just a crutch
for the lazy?
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

Last trip through the clouds was like being in a ping pong ball, I was going
through ORD airspace and spent a little under an hour flying by hand even
though I had the autopilot. I just wanted to get some good practice in with
no vis. I shot a VOR A approach into my home airfield and broke out about
1400 AGL landed fine put the airplane away and then was so tired I had my
spouse drive home where I then took a 2 hour nap. It was real work, next
time autopilot!

Scott

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott F. Migaldi, K9PO
MI-150972
PP-ASEL-IA

Are you a PADI Instructor or DM? Then join the PADI
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www.hamwave.com


**"A long time ago being crazy meant something, nowadays everyone is
crazy" -- Charles Manson**
-------------------------------------
"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
news:A02cc.183588$_w.1847277@attbi_s53...
The autopilot can fly the airplane more smoothly than I can, so if I have
one, I use it. Hand-flying in the clouds for more than 30 minutes or so
takes a lot out of me, so if I am going to be solid for any length of time
I
want an autopilot.

Bob Gardner

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
Just curious as to opinions about flying in IMC without an autopilot?
Does an autopilot make flying in the clouds safer or is it just a crutch
for the lazy?
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

Fatigue is a sneaky killer, because you do not realize how severely your
mental processes and physical reactions have been affected. I'll take safety
over macho any day in the week.

Bob

"SFM" wrote in message
...
Last trip through the clouds was like being in a ping pong ball, I was
going
through ORD airspace and spent a little under an hour flying by hand even
though I had the autopilot. I just wanted to get some good practice in
with
no vis. I shot a VOR A approach into my home airfield and broke out about
1400 AGL landed fine put the airplane away and then was so tired I had my
spouse drive home where I then took a 2 hour nap. It was real work, next
time autopilot!

Scott

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott F. Migaldi, K9PO
MI-150972
PP-ASEL-IA

Are you a PADI Instructor or DM? Then join the PADI
Instructor Yahoo Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PADI-Instructors/join
-----------------------------------
Catch the wave!
www.hamwave.com


**"A long time ago being crazy meant something, nowadays everyone is
crazy" -- Charles Manson**
-------------------------------------
"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
news:A02cc.183588$_w.1847277@attbi_s53...
The autopilot can fly the airplane more smoothly than I can, so if I
have
one, I use it. Hand-flying in the clouds for more than 30 minutes or so
takes a lot out of me, so if I am going to be solid for any length of
time
I
want an autopilot.

Bob Gardner

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
Just curious as to opinions about flying in IMC without an autopilot?
Does an autopilot make flying in the clouds safer or is it just a
crutch
for the lazy?
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed
I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

In following this thread, I can't agree with the idea that prudent use of an
Autopilot can contribute to loss of proficency. I use the AP purhaps 80% of
the time - flying level on a heading. There's not much proficency to gain or
lose during this time.
I would think that we all hand fly the takeoff and landing. Here's where the
practice is useful and needed.

Chuck

PaulaJay1 wrote:
In following this thread, I can't agree with the idea that prudent use of an
Autopilot can contribute to loss of proficency. I use the AP purhaps 80% of
the time - flying level on a heading. There's not much proficency to gain or
lose during this time.
I would think that we all hand fly the takeoff and landing. Here's where the
practice is useful and needed.

Chuck

I disagree. Flying straight and level, and checking the weather, and
programming the GPS, etc., requires a fair bit of skill. After five
years of flying IFR with no AP, I literally got to the point where
flying the airplane was a completely subconcious activity that I
literally didn't even think about anymore. I could easily do several
other tasks and keep the airplane on the straight and narrow.

I agree with the others that an AP can probably reduce fatigue on a long
trip in the clouds, but I only had a handful of these in 300 or so hours
of instrument flying. However, once I got sufficiently proficient that
flying the airplane was essentially automatic, I found I didn't get all
that fatigued even on 4 hour flights in the soup. Yes, I had a couple
of those. Once I flew my niece to college in Ohio from PA. There was
about an 800' ceiling over the entire northeast. I was in the soup from
shortly after takeoff until touchdown in Dayton. Took about 3 hours
against a strong headwind. I then turned right around and flew home in
the same soup. I was a little tired by then, but more from the noise
and sitting in one place too long, than from flying in IMC. I got tired
on VFR fights of that lenght!


Matt

In article ,
Jon Kraus wrote:

Just curious as to opinions about flying in IMC without an autopilot?
Does an autopilot make flying in the clouds safer or is it just a crutch
for the lazy?
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

It's a useful tool if you use it wisely. It's a crutch if you let it be.

In article ,
Jon Kraus wrote:
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

It's easier, but it's worth practicing with one. If you've never used
a wing leveller and tried to control pitch yourself it's a very odd
feeling.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

My instrument instructor flew full-time as a King Air single pilot. He made
sure I knew I had to practice to keep non-autopilot skills up to par, but
for real-life IFR single-pilot flying he always said "make liberal use of
the autopilot". I fully agree. If it's visual weather you have to look for
traffic as well as fly your courses and approaches and the autopilot lets
you do that; if it's IMC the autopilot frees brain cells for important stuff
like situational awareness and unusual ATC calls, etc.

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message
news:et2cc.183846$_w.1849839@attbi_s53...
In article ,
Jon Kraus wrote:
For myself being new to IFR flying I feel safer knowing that if needed I
could turn the autopilot on. Maybe it is a false sense of security...

It's easier, but it's worth practicing with one. If you've never used
a wing leveller and tried to control pitch yourself it's a very odd
feeling.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Just curious as to opinions about flying in IMC without an autopilot?

An autopilot is nice; but for years, in military and private a/c, we
didnt have them, and we got along just fine.

vince norris