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Autopilot Required for single pilot IFR (non commercial) (merged)?

LeSving wrote:

Why is that exactly? Why to EU member states have national legislation about the same things as EU legislation?

Well… Before EU regulations there had to be national regulations, right? And the scope of a particular national regulation may not be exactly the same as that of a new EU regulation so you can’t simply repeal the national regulation. It has to be rewritten.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Piotr_Szut wrote:

but if a state rule only add something to a EU regulation why wouldn’t it be valid?

No, because that would ruin the whole point of having EU regulations in the first place – having the same rules in all EU member states.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Badin Crouzet autopilot posts have been moved here

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

WhiskeyPapa wrote:

but can’t find any STCs that will allow installation in the Rallye

You might want to check out the EASA EASA administrative validation of FAA STC classified as Basic and limited to one serial number – not sure if any autopilot STC is “basic” but since it is only 233 Euro (1 hour on page 20 of this PDF) it might be an interesting proposition (and not only for autopilots).

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

Interested to know peoples attitude to the use of the autopilot, prompted by a recent flight where the other person was horrified at the thought of performing any IFR flight without using the autopilot.

I use it most or the time, especially during cruise. I see absolutely no point in hand flying several hours straight and level. And I am extremely grateful for having it when preparing my approach.

Hopefully my A/P-less days are over.

LFPT, LFPN

I would not depart on a trip of a few hours or more unless the autopilot was working, even for VFR. Too much hard work! And difficult to take photos, take a pee, etc

Of course one can do it. On my last trip I did 3hrs by hand, after the notorious torque sensor on the pitch servo failed (again).

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I would not depart on a trip of a few hours or more unless the autopilot was working, even for VFR.

I think this is a very personal thing. Most of my flights aren’t near as long as yours. For reasons of endurance, I won’t fly longer than 3.5 hours as a matter of personal fuel planning. The majority of my flights are less than 1.5 hours.

I have never used the autopilot for more than a few seconds to make sure that I remember how to use it! I figure that I’m paying the bills, so I’ll get to do the flying….not the autopilot!

Straight & level is fine for me. I find that if I really work hard to make perfectly straight lines (ones that it’s hard to tell looking at the breadcrumbs if it was flown on autopilot or not) then after a while this becomes a motor skills, and I can fly close to that without much thought. Then the winter comes, and I have to learn that skill again!

Part of it may be that generally I fly much lower, so am much more likely to manoeuvre to get a better view of something on the ground? Or maybe I’m more likely to manoeuvre to avoid weather?

EIWT Weston, Ireland

I’ve flown hundreds of hours, mostly on 2 hours+ trips without an AP. I did my IR SE without using it, unless during the short cruise of the skill test. I don’t have an autopilot on my 172, and yet I fly IFR anytime I have to.
I recently started an IR ME extension course and my main issue is with the auto pilot. It’s logic is … not logic. When I ask the instructor questions lilke “if I leave the AP like this, will it turn at the next waypoint?” The answer can be, yes, no, or maybe, and the actual behaviour is often different than the answer, without the instructor being able to explain why. I’m sure it’s a matter of practice, but so far I don’t find it really helpful, except during the cruise

Last Edited by Piotr_Szut at 23 Apr 08:20

I think you should make a point of hand flying for reasonable peroids of time, reasonably often, IFR and VFR.

It is like any other skill. It is also enjoyable.

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