gacoon

On mine I have electric trim that works with the Century autopilot, or separately just as an electric trim. I have an on/of rocker switch for the trim. Can you trim the aircraft with the autopilot off? If so, try pulling the circuit breaker on the master autopilot controller and see if the trim will work manually. I know mine works separately so if Trutrak comes up with a solution their trim can be interfaced to the trim motor.

I too have been trying to figure out next steps on autopilots as I have a Century 2000 driven by an Aspen unit. The Aspen is OK, fonts are small for my taste but it works. The Century is near end of life and does not work right and needs to go. So I have been looking at a lot of new stuff in anticipation of some changes. RC Allen has a nice new Attitude indicator/Backup Battery System that would let me go all electric. Autopilots are to the tough choice. Trutrak is nice in the experimental world, I had one in my previous Exp plane and it was awesome - but the new certified one in my mind in its present configuration with STC limitations wont cut it for IFR - cant use it for approaches, does not couple to VOR/LOC/ILS, wont fly a heading, limited to 700agl - also presently does not have trim capability. They are working on a Aspen interface and when that comes out we'll see which of the current limitations are removed - I'll wait till then and its good go with them or rip it all out and go with the new Gamin stuff. So if all you want is an en-route autopilot Truktrak is great. >1. Can we legally keep the electric trim from the KFC200 even though it would no longer be our autopilot? More than likely - does the electric trim manually work if the autopilot is shut off. Lots of airplanes have electric trim and no autopilot. You would be required to eliminate the autopilot connection to the trim motor. >2. Assuming we want to keep the KI256 (AI) and KI525A (HSI) until they fail, what parts can we legally remove? KI256 could remain as a standalone AI not hooked up to anything. HSI can certainly be kept, autopilot connection disconnected and its just like any other HSI system without autopilot. > I'm guessing the control panel and the annunciator would have to go, but does the computer have to stay for the HSI to work? No, HSI is an output to autopilot, inputs to HSI are power, compass heading from magnometer and Nav signals from VOR/GPS systems >That is, does the HSI get its course and glideslope info through the computer or does it get the information directly from the (in our case) GTN650? From the GTN650. If it were me I wouldn't remove the old autopilot until you were ready to install a new one - I think two separate steps would be extra labor. Gerry

Garmin pilot works just fine. Use it awhile and you will be happy how it interfaces with your avionics.

If its rough I would be more concerned with eventually breaking fuel tank gap sealant.

What does your POH say about this maneuver?

Any recommendations for a propeller balance in the Phoenix area?

I have a good one with up to date firmware. No battery, no AHRS version. No longer need it as I now have a Gtx 345. PM me at SOLD

Yes, thats the one. All this time I was under impression it was the Bendix dual mag, the gal flying is now a captain at the airlines, cant remember which one.

Cherokee 6 accident in Alaska many yesrs ago, air tour went down in water, several killed, I know pilot who survived. Cause magneto drive broke, same mag thats on our Mooneys, its rare, but has happened

Cheapper to get duall G5’s and GFC 500 than the stec price.

Those are my sentiments exactly. I an older Century autopilot that doesnt work half the time, I have been waiting to see if Stec would compete with Garmin, they will have to if they expect to sell against the GFC 500. They should make the price adjustment sooner than later or they will lose market share.

I dont believe this autopilot supports Heading Mode. Will work OK for VFR operations, but not so well for IFR where a lot a lot of vectors are based on heading. Sure you could track the assigned heading, but in any significant wind it would give ATC fits. I had this autopilot in a VFR experimental and it worked great.

This year I'll be in the Phoenix area when the annual for my M20J falls due at the end of March. I would be interested in hearing from others in the area where a good place might be to have the annual done. I am aware of the MSC in Chandler but have no experience with them. Interested in comments on them as well as other options in the area.

What was the part yhey blamed it on?

Electroair has been working on this forever. Have you heard some recent news on this?

My Aspen STC calls for retaining the Vacuum Gyro as backup - what did you do for a backup AI? I would love to eliminate vacuum system and associated backup.

Does anyone know if rudder pedal extensions removed from an M20C model work on an M20J? Friend has some and I would like a set of 3" for my J model. He'll pretty much give them to me if they will work - he did mention that they were adjustable from 1.5 or 3.0 inches, I'm unsure if the ones used on the J were adjustable.

I have done many Angel Flights in my '83 J. Here's what I do to ensure an acceptable mission: 1) does weight and balance work for the flight. Many customers will be quite large. I tended to ignore missions that comprised 2 passengers unless they had a combined reasonable weight. 2) are they capable of getting up and into the plane, ask when you schedule with them. Most will need some help as getting up on the wing can be tough, help them and let them know not to step on the flap. 3) ask what they are bringing, dont get surprised when you pick them up and they show up with something that wont fit in the plane, ie wheel chair. 4) many have a hard time finding where to meet at airports, make sure they know where to go to get picked up. 5) only happened to me once in the 50 flights that I have done but be prepared for air sickness, I always had a couple old bath towls and a plastic show box available. 6) if you have a buddy that likes to fly with you have him or her come along as a mission assistant. I do this most of the time and it usually limits the flight a single passenger flights because of weight. 7) lastly let them know when you schedule that the flight is in a small plane and is weather dependent, dont be afraid to cancel if the weather doesnt cooperate. Angel Flights are a good way to put purpose into our flying, give it a try and see how it works. Gerry

Brown on the ground

Ran mine on the glare shield for a couple of months to see how it worked. Recently hooked unit up to an old DME antenna on the belly and mounted the 39 under the dash on the left side of the center console. Still using cig lighter plug in. Its a nice neat installation, out of the way and works great. The belly mounted DME antenna actually works better than the stock antenna on the glare shield. Gerry M20J

I had this issue once on my STEC 50 with Alt Hold. Avionics shop adjusted/tightened up something and it cured it. Go to a shop that knows, STEC - hopefully its just some alignment adjustements.