Autopilot questions for small GA aircraft

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Chris Nielsen writes:

Why?? What difference does it make?

You never know when having something to fly the plane for you for a
few minutes (or longer) might come in handy.

You don;t fly fjukkwit. Therefore you are talking out of your ass.


And they';re called airplanes, retard.

Bertie


Berti e

"Maxwell" wrote in
m:


"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...


You never know when having something to fly the plane for you for a
few minutes (or longer) might come in handy. Additionally, on trips
of any length, I'm pretty sure I'd get very tired of holding the
controls all the time.

Just demonstrates how little you know. Maybe you should actually try
flying an airplane sometime.


Do you really want him in a perfectly good airplane?
Have you no respect for flying macines?

Bertie

On May 23, 7:18 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
Chris Nielsen writes:
Why?? What difference does it make?

You never know when having something to fly the plane for you for a few
minutes (or longer) might come in handy. Additionally, on trips of any
length, I'm pretty sure I'd get very tired of holding the controls all the
time.

For IFR flights, especially alone, an autopilot would be invaluable. It would
also be extremely useful in congested airspace when there are many other
things to do besides flying the plane.

At least that's how I see it. I like to have lots of options.

Well I don't know **** about IFR and don't claim to. Autopilot for a
small plane VFR, i.e. Warrior, is just about pointless for short trips
at least. Yeah, it's nice to be able to hold heading but you still
got to keep the bug in the right place so it flies where you want. And
you gotta trim it up nicely before engaging it or you end up with a
constant bank. And you got to maintain your altitude yourself. On
the Archers I have flown it takes so long to get the thing trimmed up
nicely, especially elevator trim, that for a short trip it's more
trouble than it's worth.

I did a couple of 300nm trips recently in a 172 without autopilot or
rudder trim and found I didn't miss the autopilot one little bit.
Missed the rudder trim though, especially since it was 180hp and
whenever you had a high cruise power setting you had to hold constant
pressure on the rudder. And the ball on 172s swings from side to side
in turbulence, I've found, so it makes it harder to know how much
rudder to hold. Oh, and the because of uneven loading (me sitting on
one side) it was leaning to one side the whole trip - had to hold
right aileron the whole way. Autopilot would not have helped me
very much.


It does sound a bit strange, but as far as I am concerned you would have
to experience it to actually judge that.

Mooney aircraft seem to be unusual in many respects. Their Web site makes
them look like they build racing aircraft.

They're known for being fast, that's for sure

"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
. 130...

Do you really want him in a perfectly good airplane?
Have you no respect for flying macines?


Ah, we both know it's like asking a dog not to bark.

Maxwell writes:

I hear your website makes you like like an absolute dope.

Why not visit it and find out for sure? It's best not to rely on hearsay.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Maxwell" wrote in news:46539f8a$0$13704
:


"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
. 130...

Do you really want him in a perfectly good airplane?
Have you no respect for flying macines?


Ah, we both know it's like asking a dog not to bark.


Point taken


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Maxwell writes:

I hear your website makes you like like an absolute dope.

Why not visit it and find out for sure? It's best not to rely on
hearsay.

I've alwyas heard **** doesn't taste nice as well.


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

You never know when having something to fly the plane for you for a
few minutes (or longer) might come in handy. Additionally, on trips
of any length, I'm pretty sure I'd get very tired of holding the
controls all the time.

It's *usually* not that bad. In good weather, with fairly stable air,
it's less effort than driving a car for hours on end - much less. And
frankly, the little extra work of controlling the yoke helps keep you
awake on long flights. [The danger is not so much actually falling
asleep, as getting into the flight equivalent of "highway hypnosis."]

For IFR flights, especially alone, an autopilot would be invaluable.
It would also be extremely useful in congested airspace when there are
many other things to do besides flying the plane.

Very true. While the pilot should ALWAYS be able to complete the flight
flying manually, a working autopilot on a single-pilot IFR flight can be
a BIG work saver. There is a lot of other things to do in the cockpit:
Charts to find and unfold/fold, approach plates to brief, fixes and
routing changes to study, radios and instruments to adjust,... and of
course on long flights, lunch!

An autopilot, even a simple wing leveler or another set of hands to find
or hold stuff for you, can really make life better.

Mooney aircraft seem to be unusual in many respects. Their Web site
makes them look like they build racing aircraft.

Traditionally they built fast aircraft for the power. Not the fastest
airplanes in the air, but certainly the fastest on the fuel flow. Now
days they have gotten a bit away from that and are pushing higher
powered turbocharged models. They are still among the most efficient
production aircraft.

Their full-time wing-leveler autopilot (standard equipment) was, for
years, touted as a significant safety feature.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1300 Koenig Lane West fax 512-371-5716
Suite 200
Austin, Tx 78756
-----------------------------------------------

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Maxwell writes:

I hear your website makes you like like an absolute dope.

Why not visit it and find out for sure? It's best not to rely on hearsay.


No thanks, I get quite enough of you clueless blather right here.

I can't imagine an entire website dedicated to it, a virtual electronic
stockyards of e-manure.