cliffy Posted February 26 Report Posted February 26 Started new thread so it would be easier for someone later on to find the info Aerocruz100 in the 2 1/4 inch round body form with blue button "One Push" for level flight 3rd cross country (1.5 each way) today Dead calm going , moderate turbulence returning to home port Installed in M20D (short body) with Dynon HDX panel but no IFR GPS navigator as I only do Day VFR in SE airplanes anymore. A/P follows its own control head in heading and altitude mode perfectly Transfer to "Skyview" mode and it follows Dynon flight plan and Dynon control of vertical mode perfectly In climb or descent mode (either Dynon or AC100 control) the vertical speed called for vs what it attains is somewhat sloppy but close (maybe vertical gusts outside have a strong affect) Altitude Hold works perfectly within 20 ft straight and level or in turns. Altitude level off (up or down) works as advertised Very strong up or down drafts in Alt Hold will affect airspeed as the AP tries to maintain altitude. Not unexpected. Just as Boeings do. Lateral tracking on GPS flight plan is dead on centerline, always; Makes turns in flight plan as required If flown from home port out to a point it will return to home if home is next waypoint. 180 degree turn around. When engaged after takeoff it will assume current heading and climb rate. Altitude to climb to can be preset if desired. Trim indicator is sensitive but getting used to it you learn to ignore the prompts if in up and down drafts An easy way to tell if trim is needed is by feeling the trim wheel to see if undue pressure is on the trim system. You can feel the midpoint as you trim to know where the setting needs to be, The trim wheel moves freer there. Another way is to get it close (or if it comes on in level flight) and to tap the control wheel the way it says it needs trim. If it is in trim (or very near) the trim indicator will disappear with just the tap on the wheel. Holding the control wheel and disconnecting the AP will also tell you if you are near perfect trim. All in all. Up , down, left , right all work as needed for a decent price. If it has a GPS navigator it will do GPSS. If you have more questions ask away 8 Quote
KSMooniac Posted February 26 Report Posted February 26 Great report! How does the integration with Dynon work, exactly? Can you control modes and such through the Skyview, or does it just blindly feed a heading to the autopilot? Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk Quote
ProtoFly Posted February 26 Report Posted February 26 Just waiting for the STC for my F model for either the Aerocruze or Trio. First one out wins my $.... 1 Quote
cliffy Posted February 26 Author Report Posted February 26 13 hours ago, cliffy said: A/P follows its own control head in heading and altitude mode perfectly Transfer to "Skyview" mode and it follows Dynon flight plan and Dynon control of vertical mode perfectly When control is from the AC 100 control head IT controls both heading and vertical modes When control is swapped to Dynon IT controls lateral GPS tracking and vertical modes Control head controls HEADING mode when in command position Dynon controls GPS tracking mode when in command position Command position is dictated by the MODE button on the AC 100 control head Either one ( AC 100 or Dynon) will do all functions of vertical when in command mode I have been told there is a way to have the Dynon control HEADING selection on the Dynon but so far I haven't figured that one out yet. Its not really an issue for me but I will be looking in to it. 1 Quote
cliffy Posted February 26 Author Report Posted February 26 The actual STC certificate from Duncan Aerocruze 100 STC says it covers all modals of the Mooney M20 Quote
ProtoFly Posted February 26 Report Posted February 26 3 hours ago, cliffy said: The actual STC certificate from Duncan Aerocruze 100 STC says it covers all modals of the Mooney M20 I've been in contact with Duncan since about September last year. There were problems with brackets, which required them to re-engineer some of the parts, and thus, while I could have purchased and worked with a DER for field approval, the STC was not valid for my model 'as is'. They've been very communicative, and it looks like hopefully Q2 this year the STC will be finalized. 1 Quote
Florian Guthardt Posted February 26 Report Posted February 26 M20F works on the original STC with minor mods ( if your installer is willing to do it) - I can share details if someone is interested… Dynon heading control works if you don’t have a source like GPS / Nav or Dynon FPL selected on the Dynon HSI… we hoped to have the Dynon AP on our M20F as this did not happen the Aerocruze is the only option and it is OK from a price to capability standpoint 1 Quote
ProtoFly Posted February 27 Report Posted February 27 (edited) 16 hours ago, Florian Guthardt said: M20F works on the original STC with minor mods ( if your installer is willing to do it) - I can share details if someone is interested… Dynon heading control works if you don’t have a source like GPS / Nav or Dynon FPL selected on the Dynon HSI… we hoped to have the Dynon AP on our M20F as this did not happen the Aerocruze is the only option and it is OK from a price to capability standpoint I looked into this - would still require a field approval, since Duncan pulled the STC for the F, pending new drawings. Installer (me) is willing, but dealing with FSDO....maybe not so much. I've been told that Q2 is the timeframe, and I can wait... Edited February 27 by ProtoFly Clarify Quote
Florian Guthardt Posted February 28 Report Posted February 28 On 2/27/2025 at 4:14 PM, ProtoFly said: I looked into this - would still require a field approval, since Duncan pulled the STC for the F, pending new drawings. Installer (me) is willing, but dealing with FSDO....maybe not so much. I've been told that Q2 is the timeframe, and I can wait... Sorry I was not specific enough - it worked on our 1967 F - for later ones like your 1970 you might indeed need the new drawings… Quote
cliffy Posted March 11 Author Report Posted March 11 They are step motors controlled by digital commands from the control head Quote
takair Posted March 16 Report Posted March 16 Cliff, if I understand correctly it will do LPV approaches if one has a navigator, correct? Is it also true that it will not do an ILS approach? Quote
cliffy Posted March 17 Author Report Posted March 17 @takair That is correct. It will follow LPV GPSS maneuvering but it has an altitude restriction of 700 AGL so no "coupled" LPVs down to minimums. Disconnect and hand fly from 700 AGL Its feed is strictly GPS so no VOR or ILS approaches are possible except one can us the "track" heading to fly a VOR/ILS down to 700 AGL. One could also us the altitude mode and manual descent control and capture down to 700 AGL- Might be easier just to hand fly those AND I will say (again)- If you can't fly an ILS you shouldn't be flying IFR. IF your flying entails LOTS of IMC down to mins or near mins spend the money and go Garmin If you are a VFR mostly pilot and your IMC is an occasional climb out or let down to 500 or more ceilings then the AeroCruze 100 will do just fine for you. If you are strictly a VFR pilot then the AeroCruze 100 is the PERFECT answer for a "cheap" autopilot for VFR flying. Its biggest feature for the VFR only pilot is the "One button push" to straight and level flight. As long as the A/P has power (whether or not it is in use) it will connect up and go straight and level with a one button push on the BLUE button panel mounted. This is the best safety feature that any VFR pilot can have and the FAA drags their feet in bureaucratic red tape and CYA in the approval of this safety device. They've been doing it for years and people die because of it. 4 Quote
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