![stec 50 autopilot hold altitude problems stec 50 autopilot hold altitude problems](https://img.yumpu.com/54312951/1/500x640/s-tec-fifty-five-sr-autopilot.jpg)
When I made the decision to install a new autopilot in my aircraft more than 10 years ago, I had the option of going with a more sophisticated autopilot, but declined because it would cause me to become lazy and lose my proficiency in hand flying approaches.Īsk yourself this question: If I lost my autopilot in hard instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), could I safely fly an approach to minimums? If you answer “No” to that question, go and see your local certified instrument flight instructor (CFII), or come and see me and get proficient again. I hand fly all of my transitions and approaches. Once I have established my aircraft on a VOR radial or GPS course, the autopilot will track it but nothing more. It will not descend or climb with altitude preselect or intercept and fly a radial or glideslope or create a top of descent profile (TOD). The autopilot in my Bonanza is an S-Tec 50, and it does just that and does it well. One way to do that would be to make a heading and altitude hold autopilot only, but pilots and aircraft owners ask for much more. The manufacturers of autopilots have the responsibility to provide as many fail-safe features as they can in order to avoid crashing the airplane. Over the years, which I have been giving instrument and proficiency training, about one out of four pilots complain or have a comment on their autopilot. I would like to mention that Greg Gorak was one of my instructors and mentors in the late 1960s, and I consider him one of the top aviation educators of our time. I have been in similar conditions myself, and my lack of being assertive with ATC almost ended in disaster. That plan may be a climb to VFR conditions on top or a descent to a lower altitude, if the air is warmer below as per Greg’s article. Without repeating myself like a defective vinyl record, I need to say that if you should get into icing conditions of any magnitude, report it to air traffic control (ATC) without delay, and have a plan to get out of it ASAP.
#Stec 50 autopilot hold altitude problems full#
Also in this issue, I will touch on the new Avidyne IFD-540 GPS navigator based on some recent flights, and do a full review in a future issue of Midwest Flyer Magazine. In this issue, I will cover “autopilot glitches, failures and anomalies”– what to do in each case and why some of those things happen. It was unfortunate that Wisconsin got to see another fatal GA icing accident since that publication. In my previous column, I again addressed the issue of “icing,” as did Greg Gorak in his excellent article.