So – Not permanently fitted, no paperwork needed?
Presumably light weight.
Unfortunately only for yolk aircraft.
Price?
3.000 for a 172.
Looks very innovative. I hope they have thoroughly considered the failure modes.
Amazing that the FAA apparently does not take a very dim view of it.
That’s some very clever engineering. It’s very similar, in principle, to the “clamp on” autopilot used in sail boats.
eurogaguest1980 wrote:
I hope they have thoroughly considered the failure modes.
I can’t think of any that aren’t solved by simply removing the servo mechanism, which is done in less than a second.
If you think of IMC, that solution relying on pilot action (detect and correct misbehavior of the AP) can’t be fully considered.
byteworks wrote:
that solution relying on pilot action (detect and correct misbehavior of the AP)
Well, that is one of the main reason there are still pilots on board 
I have to say that the idea is clever enough.
The movement of the yoke should the the same as that produced by any normal autopilot.
It does amaze me this kind of product can be sold openly but I suppose it is covered by the “removable” concession. And there is no fundamental safety difference, so long as the drive mechanism can be overpowered in the usual way.
There needs to be enough spare length on the yoke tube for the clamp.
A lot of people mount Ipads and such on their yokes, in a way which restricts movement, and that is much worse.
Legislation – at least where FAA legislation applies – is “default allow”, if it’s not specifically disallowed, it’s by default allowed. If the FAA gets upset about this they would have to go through the whole process of making it illegal first – which will take years, and I’m sure be resisted by AOPA because writing the legislation without having unintended consequences is hard.
