Pitufo
New Member
Hi, there!
I'd like to share my experience with you.
I have a Pelican Sport 600 airplane.
Last year I had decided to buy a Trio Avionics Autopilot and I went to Sun N Fun to get it.
I also had planned to get an EFIS (to be decided between TruTrak and Dynon), but that was going to be after the AP installation.
In Sun N Fun I went to Dynon´s boot and learned that they were already developing an AP that only needed a couple of servos and a Software download.
One other thing that attracted me a lot was that I could interface the EFIS/AP with my Garmin 396 GPS.
That changed my mind immediately and decided to wait for the Dynon's EFIS+AP solution.
Last february I made my request for a Dynon D100, two SV32 servos and an AP74 panel.
It wasn't until May that I could find the time to mess with the Pelican's
Instrument panel.
Installation was pretty straight forward.
These guys at Dynon were very helpful at all times, they replaced me one of my SV32 standarad servos without any cost (not even S&H) when they released the new SV32C (Capstan) and then, when I noticed that I hadn't asked for the Wiring Harness, they sent me one without charging me for S&H.
I was already finishing the installation when I found out that Firmware Release 5.1 was ready so I got it.
My Test Flight was full of nice surprises.
EVERYTHING worked just FINE.
Some fine tuning was needed in the configuration (roll rate, etc...) but that was all.
On July 25th I started a long trip to Oshkosh, more than 1300 nm (almost 1500 miles) away from where I live.
After all the local flights I made and the in and out trips Green Bay - Oshkosh the trip resulted in a 3178 nm (more than 3600 miles) one.
Well ... I can tell you that the AP worked GREAT, following HDG, TRK and NAV.
ALT also worked perfectly.
By the way, ALT was very helpful when making approaches to OSH, because I could forget about holding altitude and concentrate in the approach itself.
Most of the time, during my trip, I used the NAV mode and I was simply IMPRESSED watching the AP taking the airplane right on the GOTO track, even with quite strong winds that made it fly with up to a a 20° crab angle (see picture).
Many times I used the TRK as well with the same amazing resluts.
ALT mode kept the plane in between a 20 ft range (in still air).
I have to tell that in turbulence, it's much better to hand fly the plane, but that happens with every AP, as far as I know.
I made lots of climbs and descents using the ALT feature, and it keeps the 400 fpm I programmed very precisely (still air, again
)
I even simulated IFR and made some RNAV approaches using NAV in the autopilot and the results were AMAZING!
I mean, the AP takes the airplane and puts it right on the track to the runway.
When in NAV or TRK mode, the NAV SOURCE LOST message appeared several times, sometimes I flew for more than one hour without a message, but sometimes it appeared every 10 or 20 minutes.
One day it kept appearing every one or two minutes in a 20 minutes period.
But everytime I had this NAV SOURCE LOST message, I could re-engage the very next second, no big deal, but It would be nice to have that solved by the tech guys at Dynon's.
Another feature I'd really love to have is:
Instead of (or other than) programming a vertical speed for climb/descents, why not to program a indicated speed to maintain while climbing?
Say, 70 kt for climb, no matter what the resulting feet per minute of vertical speed.
Other than this last request and the NAV SOURCE LOST bug, I have no more to say than:
CONGRATULATIONS!
This is a GREAT product
You've got a very happy customer in myself.
Regards!
I'd like to share my experience with you.
I have a Pelican Sport 600 airplane.
Last year I had decided to buy a Trio Avionics Autopilot and I went to Sun N Fun to get it.
I also had planned to get an EFIS (to be decided between TruTrak and Dynon), but that was going to be after the AP installation.
In Sun N Fun I went to Dynon´s boot and learned that they were already developing an AP that only needed a couple of servos and a Software download.
One other thing that attracted me a lot was that I could interface the EFIS/AP with my Garmin 396 GPS.
That changed my mind immediately and decided to wait for the Dynon's EFIS+AP solution.
Last february I made my request for a Dynon D100, two SV32 servos and an AP74 panel.
It wasn't until May that I could find the time to mess with the Pelican's
Instrument panel.
Installation was pretty straight forward.
These guys at Dynon were very helpful at all times, they replaced me one of my SV32 standarad servos without any cost (not even S&H) when they released the new SV32C (Capstan) and then, when I noticed that I hadn't asked for the Wiring Harness, they sent me one without charging me for S&H.
I was already finishing the installation when I found out that Firmware Release 5.1 was ready so I got it.
My Test Flight was full of nice surprises.
EVERYTHING worked just FINE.
Some fine tuning was needed in the configuration (roll rate, etc...) but that was all.
On July 25th I started a long trip to Oshkosh, more than 1300 nm (almost 1500 miles) away from where I live.
After all the local flights I made and the in and out trips Green Bay - Oshkosh the trip resulted in a 3178 nm (more than 3600 miles) one.
Well ... I can tell you that the AP worked GREAT, following HDG, TRK and NAV.
ALT also worked perfectly.
By the way, ALT was very helpful when making approaches to OSH, because I could forget about holding altitude and concentrate in the approach itself.
Most of the time, during my trip, I used the NAV mode and I was simply IMPRESSED watching the AP taking the airplane right on the GOTO track, even with quite strong winds that made it fly with up to a a 20° crab angle (see picture).
Many times I used the TRK as well with the same amazing resluts.
ALT mode kept the plane in between a 20 ft range (in still air).
I have to tell that in turbulence, it's much better to hand fly the plane, but that happens with every AP, as far as I know.
I made lots of climbs and descents using the ALT feature, and it keeps the 400 fpm I programmed very precisely (still air, again
)I even simulated IFR and made some RNAV approaches using NAV in the autopilot and the results were AMAZING!
I mean, the AP takes the airplane and puts it right on the track to the runway.
When in NAV or TRK mode, the NAV SOURCE LOST message appeared several times, sometimes I flew for more than one hour without a message, but sometimes it appeared every 10 or 20 minutes.
One day it kept appearing every one or two minutes in a 20 minutes period.
But everytime I had this NAV SOURCE LOST message, I could re-engage the very next second, no big deal, but It would be nice to have that solved by the tech guys at Dynon's.
Another feature I'd really love to have is:
Instead of (or other than) programming a vertical speed for climb/descents, why not to program a indicated speed to maintain while climbing?
Say, 70 kt for climb, no matter what the resulting feet per minute of vertical speed.
Other than this last request and the NAV SOURCE LOST bug, I have no more to say than:
CONGRATULATIONS!
This is a GREAT product
You've got a very happy customer in myself
.Regards!
