Autopilot usage an Instrument Checkride

flyingron said:
Twenty years ago that was true. It's no any longer. Now it needs to be a PFD (with airspeed/altitude), MFD, plus 2-axis autopilot.
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Figured that would happen once the G1000s and their siblings populated the world. All seem about the same to me, especially since the near 100% replacement of the King family of APs by the GFC500/600/700 series.
 
Pinecone said:
I never did a civilian basic instrument checkride. My IA is from my military time. And none of the aircraft I flew in the military even had an autopilot.

I did do my CFII checkride, but did not use the autopilot at all. I don't even remember if it had one.

Until recently, I had maybe 15 - 20 minutes on autopilot. I joked I had more actual hands on flying time that over 10,000 hour airline pilots did. :D
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Wow! What did you fly in the military???
 
I was encouraged to use it on the ifr ride by my instructor, it’s a tool to help you stay on course while doing other things to get ready for an approach.

I was not advised to use it for approaches, the examiner in that area wanted the approaches by hand
 
Just don't say "What's it doing now?"
 
Took my instrument checkride in my RV in July. DPE let me use autopilot almost the whole time. Only requirement is to demonstrate one hand flown non-precision if my memory serves. Also had to do some hand flying for obvious things like unusual attitude. DPE said most people fail that checkride because they can't manage their avionics/autopilot.

P.S. I also asked him ahead of time. Don't be afraid to ask your DPE questions ahead. Had to also make sure I didn't waste money and time installing a whiskey compass as it's not required by regs sometimes but many DPEs want one anyways.
 
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