- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
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- 2,025
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Display name:
Jim
I've got a Piper Autocontrol III (same as Century II, with the three adjustment screws on the control head--not a Century IIB with 4 screws) with a radio coupler in my Cherokee 180. Ever since I got it, it's had a (very) small/gentle roll oscillation...small enough that I don't think pax ever noticed it. It's tied into my IFD540 via GPSS and has been a solid performer for years.
A year or so ago, my AI went TU and I had it overhauled. After the AI was reinstalled, I noticed the autopilot was much more twitchy, perhaps because the freshly-overhauled AI is more responsive? If yokes are allowed free motion, the oscillations will ramp up to become semi-violent; it is definitely an unpleasant experience.
I've lived with this behavior now for many months, but it's either gotten a little worse or else I'm just getting tired of it. I have to continually manually damp out the oscillations, and it can be quite a fight. In smooth air, it's not too bad...it'll fly for smoothly for ~15 sec before it will gradually walk off, so it's easy to keep it damped. But in any level of turbulence, it's a struggle to keep George under control, to the point that it's no longer worth using the autopilot and I just turn it off.
My mechanic has had struggles getting the Altimatic III in his Arrow dialed in, so I'm not sure he's interested in trying to solve my issue, and honestly I'm not sure I want him to try. I'm not sure where to look next.
I'm in SE TX. Should I be considering a trip to Autopilots Central in Tulsa, or is this something I should expect to be easier to solve closer to home?
A year or so ago, my AI went TU and I had it overhauled. After the AI was reinstalled, I noticed the autopilot was much more twitchy, perhaps because the freshly-overhauled AI is more responsive? If yokes are allowed free motion, the oscillations will ramp up to become semi-violent; it is definitely an unpleasant experience.
I've lived with this behavior now for many months, but it's either gotten a little worse or else I'm just getting tired of it. I have to continually manually damp out the oscillations, and it can be quite a fight. In smooth air, it's not too bad...it'll fly for smoothly for ~15 sec before it will gradually walk off, so it's easy to keep it damped. But in any level of turbulence, it's a struggle to keep George under control, to the point that it's no longer worth using the autopilot and I just turn it off.
My mechanic has had struggles getting the Altimatic III in his Arrow dialed in, so I'm not sure he's interested in trying to solve my issue, and honestly I'm not sure I want him to try. I'm not sure where to look next.
I'm in SE TX. Should I be considering a trip to Autopilots Central in Tulsa, or is this something I should expect to be easier to solve closer to home?