How to “Use” Brittain Autopilot

[Missile=Awesome]

Vance, my Brittain documentation specifically stated NOT certified for approaches...

[Hector]

Really don’t know if it is approved for approaches or not but have used it as an aid many times. I don’t have a B-5, I just have the accutrack with no altitude hold (also have a brand new Accuflite with the DG with heading bug that I never installed). I set the CDI in my GPS to .3 NM fulls scale deflection of the CDI by default at all times (this is a setting in your GPS) and set the accutrack to high sensitivity. Using these settings the accutrack sticks to the magenta line like its on rails during all phases of flight, including approaches ( I rarely see lateral deviations of more than .1NM during flight as the accutrack is constantly correcting). Most of the time I only have to make small adjustments with the throttle to make sure I stay on glide path and the accutrack will take me to the numbers. If your GPS does not have the ability to do turn anticipation then use the turn knob in the a accutrack to turn to the new course before reaching the waypoint where a turn is required. I too am waiting for the TrueTrak or even the Garmin AP for my 67C when approved, however, I’m not in any hurry as my accutrack works quite well, has been very reliable, and I have learned how it works well enough to that I know how to test and fix most issues.


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[McMooney]

WHEN my nav flite II works, it tracks everything like it's on rails ;right down the middle of the runway for both green and magenta lines.

 

that being said, I lost a servo this weekend, anyone have a good bi-706 2983-3 servo?

[Vance Harral]

On 7/25/2020 at 6:52 PM, Missile=Awesome said:

Vance, my Brittain documentation specifically stated NOT certified for approaches...

Is it a B-5 system, or some other system?  Again, there are many models of Brittain autopilot, with different capabilities.  Some are approach certified, some are not.  The documents I posted about approaches are specific to the B-5.

I am not advocating using a Brittain autopilot to fly approaches that is not specifically certified to do so.

[Lawyerpilot]

I am so grateful for all of the suggestions and advice because I just had the best experience in my Mooney in an epic cross country that was so enjoyable due to the PC system being fully operational.  Phase one, to get the PC system operational complete!  Here is where I am at at this phase.  While the airplane was in annual I was unable to locate all the components I needed to restore the 1966 installation, but I was able to find an TC-100 from Wentworth Aviation here in Minneapolis.  This is not the TC-100 EVT, just a TC-100 without any output to a nav head.  I installed it in the only open hole in the instrument panel on the co-pilot side and it worked great!  I took it up for a test flight and let go of the controls and the airplane leveled the wings and flew strait.  This was just in time because I had planned a week off for an airplane trip after the annual was completed to see how well it worked on a long cross country.  Well I gave it a real cross country, lol.  I flew from Minnesota to Colorado Springs to spend a night visiting my son who is on a C-130 crew and was in Colorado Springs for a mission.  From there we crossed the Rocky Mountains to Northern California to visit my sister in law north of Sacramento.  The PC was so helpful as I flew through the smoke from the forest fires when even though I was VFR, the sky was extremely obscured with only the ground immediately below the aircraft as the only attitude reference and the PC made it relaxing instead of nerve racking.  Next we flew up the Pacific Coast highway to Seattle to visit my other son.  After that, we crossed the mountains again heading East to Glacier National Park, and home to Minnesota all in 7 days.  What a great trip and the wing leveler was very helpful.  I had to frequently (every ten minutes or so) very slightly trim the aircraft to account for the asymmetric fuel burn but the the ability to completely let the airplane fly itself was amazing because it allowed me to just watch the scenery of mountains both ways and greatly reduces pilot workload.  I also had the opportunity to verify that the service ceiling is 17,200 feet just like the book says!  Now during the next phase, I will get the nav head working so the airplane will hold a magnetic course without requiring the small frequent trim adjustments.  

Edited September 22, 2020 by Lawyerpilot

[Woodpile]

My B6 is also approved for approaches and I find it to be excellent at workload reduction and highly reliable in most conditions. I am not a mechanic but understand it is wired to the CDI, and does not care whether it is driven by a VOR, ILS or GPS signal. I find that the LOC setting (instead of track) seems to be more accurate in low crosswind conditions, but no so much in gusty crosswinds. Cecilia did say it can be wired to the analog output of G430W, as it is apparently the same signal anyway. Again, I could be wrong - I am new to civil flight.

[Hank]

10 minutes ago, Woodpile said:

My B6 is also approved for approaches and I find it to be excellent at workload reduction and highly reliable in most conditions. I am not a mechanic but understand it is wired to the CDI, and does not care whether it is driven by a VOR, ILS or GPS signal. I find that the LOC setting (instead of track) seems to be more accurate in low crosswind conditions, but no so much in gusty crosswinds. Cecilia did say it can be wired to the analog output of G430W, as it is apparently the same signal anyway. Again, I could be wrong - I am new to civil flight.

That's how my AccuTrak and AccuFlite work. A grear pair!

[corn_flake]

On 10/1/2020 at 6:30 PM, Woodpile said:

My B6 is also approved for approaches and I find it to be excellent at workload reduction and highly reliable in most conditions. I am not a mechanic but understand it is wired to the CDI, and does not care whether it is driven by a VOR, ILS or GPS signal. I find that the LOC setting (instead of track) seems to be more accurate in low crosswind conditions, but no so much in gusty crosswinds. Cecilia did say it can be wired to the analog output of G430W, as it is apparently the same signal anyway. Again, I could be wrong - I am new to civil flight.

I believe I may have a Mooney that actually has such set up as I was told by the previous owner.  Unfortunately, my TC100EVT went inop before I become familiar with the all aspect of flying a Mooney.  My PC system also developed a leak on one side.  I won't be able to confirm how well the system work until I have both fixed.  

For those of you that have the BI-601, can you confirm with electrical power in "on" position, if you turn the dial on the B-601, do you hear a faint click?  My unit clicks at 9 and 27, no matter the heading of the aircraft.  This leads me to believe either my BI-601 is not working or the remote compass in the tail cone is defective.  

With all the information in this thread, I now have renewed interest to get my system working as well.  

[Raymond J1]

Hello everyone,

I am reading with great interest this post, because I also decided to keep my Brittain Autopilot, which I have to restore however.

When I bought the aircraft, the "positiv control" was "inop" and there was no longer a B6 controller on the avionics panel. After 2 years and more investigations with the former owners, I managed to find the controller BI 603 originally mounted on the plane. My problem, today, is to rebuild the BI 502 wire harness that connects the B603 to the TC 100 and the BI 102 heading sensor... Because a  "* * * * * * * " (no translate possible) cut the beam to take less time to disassemble !

Question: is there a diagram among you for the interconnection BI 603-TC100 EVT (12) - BI 102 ? I specify for the more informed that the connector of my bi 603 Group I (no hold altitude) is a Winchester MRE 20 and not an Amphenol.

Thank you in advance, good health to all of you in these difficult times.

 

 

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard JR!

We have an interesting contact with the Brittain person...

When it comes to documentation she may be very helpful...

Cecilia Smith or @CSmith

It has been a few months since she was last here...
 

For better more direct contact, she has a real world address... and phone number...

If you search for the Brittain Guy... her contact details may show up...

https://mooneyspace.com/search/?q="Brittain guy"&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy

Best regards,

-a-

[Raymond J1]

Thanks Carusoam, I had from Cecilia all the documentation for my equipment, it was planned for Gerry to look at my full batch of parts for a refurbishment. But life decided otherwise in 2017. The documentation provided does not detail the connection diagram for Mooney.